Chinese startup Moonshot AI released Kimi K2, an open-source model that matches GPT-4.1 performance while costing five times less. Silicon Valley's response? OpenAI delayed their planned open-source release hours after K2 launched.
Google snatched Windsurf's CEO and co-founder in a $2.4B talent raid after OpenAI's $3B acquisition collapsed. Microsoft's partnership constraints are backfiring, handing wins to competitors in the escalating AI talent wars.
Musk promised truth-seeking AI. When Grok 4 tackles politics, it searches Musk's posts first. Tests show 54 of 64 citations came from him. Accident or intent? The answer matters for every AI system we build.
Wall Street's love affair with tech stocks turned sour this week. The market darlings known as the Magnificent Seven tumbled hard, with Tesla leading the descent at a 10% drop.
Nvidia, the AI chip champion, fell 7%, while Apple shed over $533 billion in market value - roughly equivalent to erasing a company the size of Tesla. The carnage spread beyond the tech titans.
Semiconductor stocks crumbled as investors digested Trump's harsh tariffs on chip-making hubs. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest chip maker, plunged 10%. Even crypto felt the pain, with Bitcoin dropping below $78,000 - a stark reversal for the "first Bitcoin president's" signature achievement.
Trump remained unmoved by the market chaos. "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he told reporters, displaying the bedside manner of a medieval barber. Meanwhile, Wall Street veterans broke their silence. Bill Ackman warned of "economic nuclear winter," while JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon cautioned against America going it alone.
Corporate America scrambled to respond. Car companies halted shipments, trade groups warned of price hikes, and tech firms watched their AI dreams get more expensive by the day. The semiconductor industry, caught between U.S. demands and Asian manufacturing realities, faces particularly thorny decisions.
Global markets showed no signs of recovery Monday. European chip makers joined the slide, with ASML and STMicroelectronics dropping over 3%. In Asia, markets bled red as investors priced in a new era of trade barriers.
Trump's team keeps listening to concerns from financial executives, but the channels aren't as open as during his first term. Some analysts still hope for deals to reduce tariffs, while others argue this market correction was overdue.
Why this matters:
Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler
Missouri's AG threatens Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta with consumer fraud investigations because their AI chatbots ranked Trump last on antisemitism. The case could set precedent for government control over AI opinions.
Musk's AI chatbot Grok spent Tuesday praising Hitler and spreading Nazi conspiracy theories after a weekend update removed its safety filters. The incident reveals what happens when AI companies prioritize 'anti-woke' rhetoric over guardrails.
Someone used AI to clone Marco Rubio's voice and contacted foreign ministers, a US governor, and Congress members through Signal. The scammer left convincing voicemails targeting high-level officials. Government security gaps revealed.
Elon Musk spent $290 million helping Trump win, then watched him sign a $3.3 trillion spending bill. Now the world's richest man is starting his own political party to challenge both Republicans and Democrats in 2026.
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