💰 Musk’s $300M Telegram Deal

ALSO: Anthropic Gets a Star Player & Odyssey’s AI Goes 3D!

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Hey, AI Visionaries! ❤️

Today’s Insights:

  • xAI & Telegram’s $300M AI Deal

  • Netflix Boss Joins AI Team

  • Odyssey’s AI Goes 3D

  • 5 Hand-Picked AI Tools

  • Productivity Consultant for Remote Teams

  • 5 Hand-Picked Resources & Guides

Read Time: Under 5 minutes

NEWS

Musk Pays $300M to Bring AI to Telegram

What's the story:

Elon Musk’s xAI is paying Telegram $300 million to put its Grok chatbot in front of all users—not just premium subscribers—letting them ask questions, summarize chats, and even make stickers.

Key Takeaways:

  • xAI is giving Telegram $300M (cash + equity) to spread Grok across the app for one year.

  • After being exclusive to paying users, Grok will soon be free for everyone—pinned in chats or used via search.

  • Telegram gets 50% of subscription fees when users sign up for Grok through the app.

  • Grok can summarize links/documents, suggest replies, make stickers, and even help businesses & moderators.

  • Like Meta’s AI in WhatsApp/Instagram, Telegram now has its own built-in chatbot.

Why It’s Important:

This deal supercharges Telegram with AI, making it a stronger rival to WhatsApp and Signal—while giving Musk’s Grok a massive audience boost against ChatGPT and Meta AI.

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NEWS

Netflix Co-Founder Joins Anthropic's Board

What's the story: 

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is joining Anthropic’s board, bringing his tech-scaling expertise to the AI startup behind Claude 4—signaling a major push to grow responsibly.

Key Takeaways:

  • Hastings (ex-Netflix CEO, Meta/Microsoft board member) will help scale Anthropic from startup to AI powerhouse.

  • He believes in Anthropic’s safety-first approach, balancing innovation with economic & social risks.

  • Hastings was picked by Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust, which ensures AI serves humanity’s future—not just profits.

  • His hire comes as Anthropic competes with OpenAI after releasing Claude 4.

  • Joins co-founders Dario & Daniela Amodei, investor Yasmin Razavi, and Confluent CEO Jay Kreps.

Why It’s Important: 

Hastings’ move signals AI’s mainstream momentum—and that Anthropic is serious about growing responsibly while challenging giants like OpenAI.

PRODUCTIVITY  

5 Hand-Picked AI Tools to 10x Your Productivity

 Den – A multiplayer AI agent builder that unifies chats, docs, and agents—like Slack and Notion, reimagined for AI collaboration.

 Macaly – Build apps and websites by conversation, not code. Just describe your idea, and Macaly turns it into a working product—instantly.

 Stitch – Turn prompts and images into UI designs and frontend code. Powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro, with exports to Figma and code.

 Cua – Docker for computer-use agents. Open-source framework letting AI agents control full OS environments in lightweight virtual containers.

 Mitsuko – AI subtitle translator and audio transcriber with accurate, context-aware results in 100+ languages. Outputs in SRT/ASS formats.

Attention Founders & AI Builders!

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NEWS

Odyssey's AI streams interactive 3D worlds in real-time

What's the story:

Odyssey, an AI startup by ex-self-driving leaders, has launched a new model that streams interactive 3D video worlds you can explore—like walking through a game.

Key Takeaways: 

  • Odyssey’s new world model streams video at 30fps, letting users explore it in real time with basic controls.

  • The AI predicts next video frames based on past states and actions, maintaining realism and spatial consistency.

  • Odyssey says everything from ads to education will evolve into interactive video—but pledges to collaborate with creators, not replace them.

  • The demo is still glitchy, with distorted environments and unstable layouts.

  • Odyssey plans better world dynamics, higher stability, and richer interactions, plus editing support in Unreal, Blender, and After Effects.

  • Ed Catmull is on the board. Odyssey has raised $27M from major investors.

Why It Matters:

Odyssey’s model points to a future where video isn’t just watched—it’s explored. This could change storytelling, education, gaming, and beyond.

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MORE AI & TECH NEWS

Everything else you need to know today

  • Xbox Gaming Copilot Beta

    Microsoft’s testing a beta version of Copilot for Gaming in the Xbox app (iOS/Android). It answers game-related Qs, suggests titles, and checks achievements—like a gaming buddy! Limited to 18+ in select countries.

  • Nvidia's $4.5B China Hit

    Nvidia took a $4.5B charge in Q1 due to U.S. chip-export rules blocking H20 AI sales to China. Another $2.5B in revenue was lost, with an $8B Q2 impact expected.

  • DeepSeek R1 Gets Upgrade

    Chinese AI startup DeepSeek released an updated R1 reasoning model on Hugging Face. The MIT-licensed upgrade is "minor" but maintains its powerful 685B-parameter size.

  • Google Photos Gets AI Glow-Up

    Google Photos turns 10 with a sleek redesign, adding Pixel-exclusive AI tools like Reimagine (transform photos via text prompts) and Auto Frame (smart cropping). Rolling out first on Android.

֎ PROMPT OF THE DAY

Productivity Consultant for Remote Teams

Prompt: You’re a productivity coach for a [12-person] remote team in [fintech]. Share 5 practical tactics to boost teamwork, streamline communication, and eliminate wasted effort.

Source: FutureLens Team

📚 TUTORIALS & GUIDES

  1. 5 ChatGPT Prompts To Own A Phrase In Your Customer's Mind - Link

  2. 5 Side Hustles That Can Help You Fund Your Startup - Link

  3. 7 Self-Control Habits That Quiet Millionaires Practice Daily - Link

  4. Meet the 10 AI Startup Unicorns With Tiny Teams - Link

  5. 7 Powerful AI Prompts Every Project Manager Needs To Master Now - Link

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Signing off,

Until next time,

Golam Rabbani - AI Educator, Founder & Investor

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