Return of the Jed(AI): Welcome Week (Test)

Sharp takes on AI, innovation, and the future — weekly.

Author

Ishan Yash
April 15, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

🌟 Editor's Note
Welcome back, rebels of the algorithmic frontier. This week, we're diving into AI's latest plot twists—from startups raising billions with just a whisper of a product, to robots assembling themselves from mere text prompts. Buckle up; it's a wild ride through the galaxy of innovation.

🚀 Stay Inspired

Alphabet and Nvidia have invested in Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), an AI startup co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. SSI, valued at $32 billion, aims to develop safe superintelligent AI systems. Alphabet's cloud unit will supply SSI with its proprietary tensor processing units (TPUs), highlighting the growing competition among tech giants to provide infrastructure for AI development.

Microsoft is recalibrating its AI infrastructure investments, slowing or pausing early-stage projects due to overestimated growth. The company is shifting focus from acquiring real estate to investing in GPUs and compute resources, and from AI training to inference, which is more scalable and cost-effective. Despite these adjustments, Microsoft plans $80 billion in capital expenditures for fiscal year 2025. ​

OpenAI is reportedly considering acquiring io Products, a startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, for at least $500 million. The acquisition would potentially include io Products’ design team and could position OpenAI in direct competition with Apple, which has faced delays in launching AI features for Siri. ​

Tech investors are expressing concerns about a potential "funding winter" due to recent market volatility sparked by new tariffs. Venture capitalists advise startups to close ongoing fundraising rounds quickly, as institutional investors may pause investments amid economic uncertainty. Fundraising in Q1 2025 reached a six-year low, with many limited partners hesitating amid the turmoil. ​

🦄 Startup Spotlight

Cognition AI: Automating Software Development

Cognition AI is behind Devin, an autonomous AI software engineer that can plan, code, debug, and deploy applications end-to-end—all without human intervention. It's designed to free up developers from repetitive tasks and accelerate engineering workflows at scale.

The Backstory: Founded in 2023 by Scott Wu, Steven Hao, and Walden Yan—three elite competitive programmers who saw a future where AI could handle entire engineering sprints solo.

Key Innovation: Devin can autonomously complete real-world GitHub issues, update pull requests, and self-correct through live debugging—bringing the dream of fully automated software engineering closer to reality.

Funding: Raised $21M in March 2024, led by Founders Fund, with a $2B+ valuation.

🔥 In Case You Missed It…

🤖 Figure AI's Bold Valuation

  • Figure AI, a robotics startup, has raised eyebrows with its ambitious $39.5 billion valuation despite minimal revenue. The company aims to deploy over 200,000 humanoid robots by 2029, attracting investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos' firm. ​

🔐 Palo Alto Networks Eyes ProtectAI Acquisition

  • Palo Alto Networks is reportedly considering acquiring AI cybersecurity startup ProtectAI for up to $700 million. This move aligns with Palo Alto's strategy to expand into AI security, addressing the growing demand for protecting AI systems. ​

🧬 Isomorphic Labs Secures $600 Million

  • Isomorphic Labs, an AI-driven drug discovery company spun out of DeepMind, has raised $600 million in its first external funding round. The company leverages AI to predict protein structures, aiming to accelerate drug discovery processes. ​

👀 Innovator of the Week

Bob McGrew – AI Health Guardian

 🌉 Background: Bob McGrew, former Chief Research Officer at OpenAI

👑 Achievement: Now advising Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati

🙈 Quirk: Known for his minimalist lifestyle, McGrew reportedly prefers handwritten notes over digital devices during brainstorming sessions​

Bob McGrew, a veteran in AI research, has joined Thinking Machines Lab as an advisor. The startup, founded by Mira Murati, has attracted several ex-OpenAI employees and is reportedly aiming to raise a substantial funding round. McGrew's involvement brings a wealth of experience to the team, further solidifying the startup's position in the AI landscape. ​

Did You Know? The first computer bug was literally a bug—in 1947, Grace Hopper found a moth trapped in a Harvard Mark II computer, coining the term "debugging" in the process.

Stay curious, stay informed, and may the (AI) force be with you!

Return of the Jed(AI)