US vs China AI race, green energy boom & more (October 8, 2025)

Good morning,

From Nvidia’s take on the global AI race to Altman’s bold claim that AI is already enabling scientific breakthroughs, today’s updates spotlight how technology, talent, and power are converging fast. Google’s new Code Mender agent and a green-energy AI surge round out another day of infrastructure and intelligence shaping the future.

Let's dig in👇

💰 Money Moves

👔 Nvidia CEO Huang says US not far ahead of China on AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the U.S. is only slightly ahead of China in AI development, warning that leadership could shift quickly. His remarks highlight growing concern that export controls and supply chain constraints might not be enough to slow Chinese innovation. As both nations scale AI infrastructure, the race increasingly hinges on compute access, chip design, and energy efficiency.

💰 AI's Power Hunger Ignites a $20 Billion Green Energy Revival

A surge in AI-driven electricity demand is fueling $20 billion in new green energy investments. Tech giants are racing to build solar, wind, and nuclear-powered data centers to meet the growing compute appetite of LLMs. This could mark a new era where AI becomes both the catalyst and consumer of renewable energy innovation.

🧠 Altman Says AI’s “Novel Discovery” Era Has Begun

Sam Altman said AI is now driving genuine “novel discovery,” helping scientists uncover new insights across chemistry, biology, and physics. Researchers are already using GPT-based models to generate hypotheses, analyze experimental data, and accelerate lab breakthroughs. Altman’s comments hint that the next frontier of AI innovation may not be productivity, it’s scientific creativity.

🚀 New Launches

👁️ Google releases Gemini 2.5 Computer Use

Google’s Gemini 2.5 update enables the model to control on-screen actions like file uploads, form completions, and app management. The feature demonstrates Google's continued march toward fully autonomous computer interaction. As this capability evolves, it could redefine how agents perform complex digital tasks without human oversight.

🤝 UK Elevates Regional AI Partnership To Drive Growth

The UK government announced a strengthened regional AI partnership, expanding funding for innovation hubs and research collaborations. The initiative aims to reduce London-centric tech concentration and empower emerging regional clusters. As AI becomes critical to national productivity, distributed innovation could help the UK compete globally.

🦾 Automated Web Searches Using Perplexity AI & Zapier

Perplexity AI teamed up with Zapier to launch automated web search workflows that integrate directly into business tools. The partnership enables dynamic, no-code research automation for teams across industries. This could reshape knowledge work, allowing users to run real-time data queries directly from spreadsheets or CRMs.

📈 Still Trending from Yesterday

Google’s New AI Agent Rewrites Vulnerable Code

Google’s Code Mender continues to draw attention for its ability to automatically identify and patch insecure codebases. Developers see it as a powerful step toward proactive cybersecurity and safer AI systems. The tool’s rapid adoption signals growing trust in self-healing software.

🧰 Tools of the Day

→ ProhostAI - AI assistant for Airbnb messaging, tasks, and cleanings
→ Promptius AI - Build production-grade AI agents using natural language
→ AI AppGen in Retool - Build editable secure schema-aware dashboards

✍️ Prompt of the Day

“You’re a research strategist. Summarize how AI could accelerate scientific discovery in your field. Identify 3 practical use cases where LLMs could assist researchers, and outline what data or partnerships would make them most effective.”

⚡ Quick Hits

→ Dash0 raises $35M to expand its AI infrastructure and agent tooling ecosystem.
→ Bubble or not, AI is continues to draw billions in investments.
→ Google conversational AI search rolls out to more languages, regions.
→ Jonas fitness announces multi-million-dollar commitment to AI innovation
→ Anthropic expands horizons with new AI hub in India

🧾 TLDR

Altman says AI is crossing into true discovery, Google launches a self-repairing code agent, and the global AI race is tightening fast. From green-powered data centers to regional partnerships, the infrastructure of intelligence is taking shape. The story of AI’s next decade won’t just be about smarter tools, it’ll be about what humanity discovers with them.

Cheers,

David