Meta x Prada, $100M bonuses & more (June 18, 2025)

The AI news cycle isn’t slowing down. From China’s $7M AI avatar streamers to Meta’s eyewear empire and Altman’s anti-poaching flex, today’s newsletter is a front-row seat to the future.

🚀 Big Launches & Power Plays

🤖 Gemini 2.5 Goes GA

Google’s Gemini 2.5 family, Pro, Flash, and the new Flash-Lite, is now generally available. Flash-Lite offers a speedy, budget-friendly option that still handles a million-token context window and beats older models in math and coding. Tool integrations and “thinking budgets” give developers full control.

🕶️ Meta Expands AI Glasses with Prada & Oakley

Meta is extending its AI wearables empire through new partnerships with Oakley and Prada. Oakley’s version will be $360 and weather-resistant, while Prada’s is still under wraps. This builds on the success of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have sold over 2 million units.

💸 Meta Tries to Poach OpenAI Talent

Sam Altman confirmed that Meta offered $100M signing bonuses to OpenAI staff. He claims no one left. The move underscores Meta’s aggressive expansion, especially with its new Llama Startup Program and its push to keep devs inside its AI ecosystem.

🧬 Real-World AI Shifts

📺 China’s AI Avatars Outsell Humans

Entrepreneur Luo Yonghao used a hyper-realistic AI twin in a 6-hour livestream that topped $7M in sales, surpassing his human-led streams. Baidu’s tech enabled dual AI hosts that could interact in real time, marking a tipping point in automated e-commerce.

🧑‍💼 Amazon’s CEO Talks AI Job Cuts

Andy Jassy sent a company-wide memo signaling that AI will soon impact headcount. The twist? He also urged employees to explore AI, attend trainings, and find ways to reimagine their roles. Gallup reports 40% of workers have tried AI in the past year, up from 21%.

🧠 MiniMax’s Monster Model

The Chinese AI company released M1, a model with a 1M-token context window and hybrid MoE architecture. It’s competing directly with DeepSeek R1 and GPT-4o, and early demos include building Netflix clones with just prompts.

🛠️ Tools of the Day

• Keevx – Generate studio-quality AI avatar videos
• Morphic – Design assets for ads, games, and content
• Liveblocks – Ready-made AI copilots and collaboration for your product

🎯 Prompt of the Day

Prompt:
I want you to become my Expert Prompt Creator. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt you provide should be written from my perspective and consider my prior tone and communication style...

⚡ Quick Hits

• WhatsApp tests an AI Studio for custom chatbot creation
• OpenAI releases a frontend testing agent on GitHub
• Adobe Firefly now available on mobile with video-gen tools
• Krea 1 launches with photorealistic image generation

🧾 TLDR

AI is going enterprise and entertainment all at once. Gemini 2.5 hits general release, Meta doubles down on AI wearables and recruiting, and China’s AI avatars redefine livestream commerce. Meanwhile, Amazon acknowledges AI-led layoffs, but urges employees to adapt, and new multimodal tools and mega-models are launching faster than ever.

Until tomorrow,
David