Rishi Sunak joins Microsoft, Altman's AI campus & more (October 10, 2025)

Good morning,

From ElevenLabs’ sleek new developer toolkit to Rishi Sunak’s surprising move into AI governance, today’s stories reveal how innovation and influence are shaping the next phase of the industry. Musk expands his infrastructure empire, Prosus leans deeper into commercial AI, and Sam Altman is backing a new kind of AI education.

Let's dig in👇

🚀 New Moves

🤝 Former UK PM Sunak to advise Microsoft & Anthropic

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will join Microsoft and Anthropic as a senior adviser. The partnership will leverage his geopolitical and regulatory expertise as both firms navigate global AI policy. It’s a clear signal that AI governance is now as much about diplomacy as data, with political figures becoming key strategic assets.

📢 Musk’s Memphis AI empire

Elon Musk is accelerating AI infrastructure development in Memphis, integrating Starlink, energy, and autonomous systems into a consolidated hub. This physical expansion grounds AI in real-world industry rather than just cloud ecosystems. Memphis could become a vital node in a distributed AI grid connecting production, data, and logistics.

🏫 Sam Altman & Shaq-backed AI startup campus launches

A new AI startup campus backed by Sam Altman and Shaquille O’Neal has officially launched, aiming to cultivate young founders through on-site training and direct funding from major tech players like Meta. The project is designed to merge academic learning with practical AI entrepreneurship. It signals a shift toward institutionalizing AI innovation at the student level, potentially creating the next generation of top founders.

💰 Money Moves

📊 Prosus Revolutionizes Ecommerce with Large Commercial Model

Prosus has launched a large-scale AI model focused on global ecommerce applications, designed to optimize pricing, fraud detection, and logistics efficiency. The model enhances personalization and predictive analytics across retail networks. As competition intensifies, Prosus is positioning itself as the intelligence infrastructure behind digital commerce.

💾 Jony Ive's 'peaceful' AI hardware vision

Jony Ive’s plans with OpenAI to create a ‘peaceful’ AI device have drawn attention amid whispers of production and design challenges. The vision centers on calm, tactile design that minimizes digital noise while enhancing everyday AI interactions. If realized, it could reshape the emotional tone of human-AI relationships, trading overstimulation for elegance.

🎤 ElevenLabs launches “ElevenLabs UI” for voice app builders

ElevenLabs has introduced “ElevenLabs UI,” a new open-source component library for voice and audio AI apps. The launch lets developers integrate natural-sounding speech interfaces faster using modular, pre-built UI blocks. It positions ElevenLabs as a foundational platform for AI audio experiences, driving rapid innovation across creative, assistive, and conversational tools.

🧰 Tools of the Day

→ Androidify - The classic bot creator is back with Gemini
→ Attrove AI - Summarizes Slack, Gmail, Calendar notifs into clear updates
→ Intryc - AI scores tickets to your SOPs with 90% precision

✍️ Prompt of the Day

“You’re an AI product mentor. Review this startup pitch [paste it] and provide a 3-part roadmap: funding strategy, MVP feature set, and go-to-market plan. Frame the advice like you’re coaching a founder at Y Combinator.”

⚡ Quick Hits

→ Survey: AI adoption grows, but distrust in AI news remains.
→ Warp CEO Zach Lloyd says AI should enhance developers, not replace them.
→ SoftBank in talks for $5B Arm-backed loan to expand global AI investments.
→ Shuttle Pharma signs LOI with Molecule to advance AI drug discovery.

🧾 TLDR

AI’s expansion this week was all about convergence, where academia, politics, and design meet innovation. ElevenLabs democratized voice UI, Rishi Sunak joined the Microsoft-Anthropic advisory circle, and Sam Altman backed an AI founder campus to grow the next generation. Meanwhile, Prosus and Musk are building the backbone for global AI infrastructure. The insight: AI is no longer a niche, it’s becoming an ecosystem for every industry and generation.

Cheers,
David