Google Releases Gemini 2.5
Gemini 2.5 dropped this week for developers. Google says it’s better at reasoning, code, and multimodal tasks than GPT-4. Early testers agree, but there’s no API-wide rollout yet.
xAI Buys X for $45B
Elon Musk’s AI company xAI is buying the X platform in a $45 billion all-stock deal. The goal? Combine compute, data, and distribution. Musk says this gives xAI an edge over OpenAI and others. Skeptics think it’s a glorified accounting stunt.
Apple Will Use Maps Data to Train Its AI Models
Apple says it's starting to use data from its "Look Around" Maps feature to improve image generation and AI tools like "Image Playground." The move raised some privacy eyebrows, but Apple promises face/license blurring.
The Apple Maps turnaround has been legit. Total flop at launch in 2012 and used TomTom maps for years.
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) March 29, 2025
Got roasted, so spent billions on van fleet to map >5mn miles of road…and stuck goofy backpacks on people to walk around for the “Look Around” feature. pic.twitter.com/gWyc5Yqv2G
Nvidia Says AI Compute Needs to 100x
At GTC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the world needs 100 times more compute to handle what’s coming in AI. Translation: AI infra still has a long way to go. Expect a gold rush in chips, cooling, and data centers.
94 Startups Raised $5.1B Last Week
Last week, 94 startups raised $5.1B in venture funding, here are a few of our favorites to watch:
Mercury - Raised a $300M Series C Round
Mercury provides online banking solutions for startups and technology-focused businesses. It offers business checking and savings accounts, corporate credit cards, and cash management tools.
Nexthop AI - Raised a $110M Venture Round
Nexthop AI launched this week with a massive $110M round, they develop AI infrastructure and custom networking solutions for large cloud operators, focusing on enhancing operational efficiency and connectivity within complex network environments.
That's it for this edition of This Week in AI. You can sign up here if you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it.
