Meta moves, cancer cures & more (July 8, 2025)

Welcome back, crew.

If July is any sign, we’re deep into AI’s hypergrowth era: VC money is flooding in, new office tools are launching weekly, and Meta’s back on its villain arc poaching Apple’s top minds. Also, cancer-curing drug trials designed by AI? It’s all happening.

Let’s dive in👇

💸 Big Bets, Bold Moves

💰 64% of US VC Funding Went to AI in H1 2025

According to PitchBook, AI dominated fundraising in the first half of the year. Globally, over half of VC dollars went to AI startups, with 64% in the US alone. 36 startups hit unicorn status. The AI gold rush is still in full stampede.

🧬 Isomorphic Labs Sets Sights on Cancer

Alphabet’s Isomorphic Labs, born from DeepMind’s AlphaFold, is prepping human trials for AI-designed cancer drugs. Backed by $600M and Nobel-winning tech, the company hopes to eliminate trial-and-error in pharma and “solve all diseases.”

💼 Context Launches True AI Office Suite

Context’s new AI platform wants to take over your office work, from presentations to research, using long-context reasoning and tool use. It promises smarter output and less burnout.

🧯 AI Ethics Under Fire

🧠 Meta Poaches Apple’s Head of AI

Meta just snagged Ruoming Pang, Apple’s highest-ranking AI engineer. It’s a big blow to Apple’s rumored AI relaunch, and another sign Meta is doubling down on top AI talent.

🤖 AI Making Managerial Calls

A Resume Builder survey shows 60% of managers now use AI tools to decide promotions, raises, and even firings. Worse? 20% let AI make those decisions without human review. ChatGPT is climbing the org chart.

⚖️ Huawei Faces Model Theft Accusations

Whistleblowers say Huawei cloned parts of Alibaba’s Qwen 2.5 model to create its new Pangu Pro. Huawei denies the claims, but it’s a rare glimpse into the competitive, and increasingly cutthroat, Chinese AI race.

🛠️ Tools of the Day

• VoiceBun – Create voice agents instantly
• Humata – Understand and extract info from any file
• Linkjob – Practice real-time mock interviews with AI
• Kin – An AI therapist-style emotional support agent
• Dora – Build animated 3D websites without code

🎯 Prompt of the Day: Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

You're mentoring a capable but hesitant colleague. What 10 questions can help them identify why they're stuck? Ask like a coach focused on growth.

⚡ Quick Hits

• Google Gemini’s new batch API cuts large job costs by 50%
• Elon says Grok 4 drops July 9
• Mayo Clinic uses Vision Transformer AI to detect infections from photos
• Tencent unveils Hunyuan 3D-PolyGen for art-grade modeling

🧾 TLDR

VC money is gushing into AI, Meta’s raiding Apple for talent, and Isomorphic Labs is moving from AI simulations to real cancer trials. In the office, Context wants to be your AI coworker, while actual managers are already outsourcing hard calls to ChatGPT. The speed of change is dizzying, but the future is arriving right on schedule.

Catch you soon,
David