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Good morning ☀️, leader of the next generation.
Technology is reshaping how the world works.
The real question is not what it can do — but how we choose to use it.
We focus on using technology to support human evolution.
Progress works when responsibility stays human.
⚡ WHAT'S AT STAKE TODAY ⚡
- ⚖️🚀 Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will face a jury in March
- 🤖💼 OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo
- 📧🤖 Gmail debuts a personalized AI Inbox, AI Overviews in search, and more
- ❄️📊 Snowflake announces its intent to buy observability platform Observe
- 💰🔧 Nvidia's reportedly asking Chinese customers to pay upfront for its H200 AI chips
- 🤖🏢 Anthropic adds Allianz to growing list of enterprise wins
- 🎪💻 CES 2026: Everything revealed, from Nvidia's debuts to AMD's new chips to Razer's AI oddities
- 🏆🥣 Neo and SpoonOS announce winners of Scoop AI Hackathon Seoul Bowl
- 🚀💰 Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla's startup triples to $100M valuation
Judge approves Musk's case against OpenAI for March jury trial
Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will face a jury in March
A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk's high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI has sufficient merit to proceed to a jury trial, scheduled tentatively for March. The decision marks a significant development in the ongoing legal battle between the tech billionaire and the artificial intelligence company he helped establish.
The lawsuit, filed in 2024, targets OpenAI and its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Musk alleges the company abandoned its founding principles by prioritizing profit over its original nonprofit mission to develop AI technology for humanity's benefit. He claims the leadership team breached contractual agreements that guaranteed OpenAI would maintain its nonprofit status.
Musk's relationship with OpenAI dates back to the company's inception in 2015, when he served as both co-founder and early financial backer. However, tensions emerged in 2018 when his attempt to become CEO was rejected by other co-founders, who instead appointed Altman to the position. Musk subsequently resigned from the board, officially citing potential conflicts with Tesla's autonomous vehicle AI development.
Since his departure, Musk has consistently criticized OpenAI's strategic pivot toward commercialization. The company began transitioning from its pure nonprofit model in 2019 by establishing a for-profit subsidiary with a "capped-profit" structure designed to limit investor returns while enabling substantial fundraising for scaling operations and talent acquisition.
The transformation accelerated despite Musk's opposition, including his unsuccessful $97.4 billion acquisition offer in February 2025, which Altman promptly rejected. By October 2025, OpenAI completed its comprehensive restructuring, converting the for-profit division into a Public Benefit Corporation while the original nonprofit retained a 26% equity stake.
Musk's legal action seeks monetary damages for what he characterizes as "ill-gotten gains" by OpenAI leadership. He contends that his approximately $38 million investment, along with his guidance and industry credibility, was made based on explicit assurances that the organization would preserve its nonprofit structure permanently.
The billionaire entrepreneur has since established xAI, his own for-profit artificial intelligence venture, positioning himself as a direct competitor to OpenAI in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
OpenAI has dismissed the allegations, with a company spokesperson characterizing Musk's lawsuit as "baseless and part of his ongoing pattern of harassment." The statement suggests the company views the legal challenge as motivated by personal grievances rather than legitimate contractual violations.
District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers based her decision to proceed with the trial on evidence indicating OpenAI executives may have provided assurances about maintaining the nonprofit structure, as Musk alleges. The judge's ruling suggests sufficient factual disputes exist that require jury determination rather than summary judgment.
The case highlights broader tensions within the AI industry regarding the balance between commercial viability and public benefit missions. As AI technology becomes increasingly valuable and expensive to develop, many organizations face similar pressures to secure substantial private investment while maintaining their foundational principles.
The March trial will examine whether OpenAI's transformation violated specific agreements with Musk and other early supporters. The outcome could establish important precedents for how AI companies navigate the transition from research-focused nonprofits to commercially viable entities capable of competing in the global technology market.
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OpenAI acquires Convogo team in ninth acquisition this year
OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo
OpenAI is acquiring the team behind Convogo, a business platform that helps coaches and HR teams with leadership assessments. The AI giant isn't buying Convogo's technology, only hiring its three co-founders to work on "AI cloud efforts" in an all-stock deal.
Convogo started as a weekend project to help executive coaches automate report writing. The startup served thousands of coaches before this acquisition. OpenAI will shut down Convogo's product, marking the company's ninth acquisition this year as it uses M&A to accelerate talent acquisition.
🎙️ The Supercharged Podcast Is Growing
Conversations with the People Building the AI Future
The Supercharged Podcast is becoming a place where real conversations about AI happen — beyond hype, tools, or surface-level takes.
We sit down with industry leaders, founders, builders, and operators who are actively using AI — or building AI-first businesses — to understand how it’s actually changing the way work gets done.
From strategy and systems to experimentation and execution, these are practical, honest conversations with people shaping what comes next.
⚡ Trends for the Future
Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla's startup triples to $100M valuation
AI e-commerce startup raises $15M, reaches $100M valuation after growth.
Spangle, an AI e-commerce startup founded by former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla, has secured $15 million in Series A funding, tripling its valuation to $100 million. The Seattle-based company previously raised $6 million in seed funding at a $30 million pre-money valuation just over a year ago.
NewRoad Capital Partners led the all-equity round, with participation from Madrona, DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, and strategic angel investors. The funding brings Spangle's total capital raised to $21 million as it addresses evolving consumer shopping behaviors driven by AI tools and social platforms.
Spangle's core innovation lies in replacing traditional product pages with AI-generated, real-time shopping experiences. Instead of directing shoppers to pre-built pages, brands route traffic to blank pages that Spangle's proprietary ProductGPT model fills instantly based on visitor context, search behavior, and similar user patterns.
Since emerging from stealth in March 2024, Spangle has attracted nine enterprise customers, including major fashion retailers Revolve, Alexander Wang, and Steve Madden. These clients represent approximately $3.8 billion in combined online sales. The platform has achieved impressive growth metrics, with 57% month-over-month traffic increases and quadrupled annualized revenue in Q4.
According to Kuruvilla, brands using Spangle see nearly 50% increases in revenue per visit, doubled return on ad spend, and 15% higher average order values. Revolve reported a 60% improvement in ad spend returns and 50% increase in revenue per visit.
Before founding Spangle in 2024, Kuruvilla led one-click checkout company Bolt and spent over a decade at Amazon working on large-scale commerce and AI systems. He co-founded Spangle with CTO Fei Wang, a former Amazon principal engineer who worked on Alexa and customer service technologies.
The startup's approach aligns with the growing influence of AI tools like ChatGPT in shopping decisions. With only six full-time employees, Spangle demonstrates how AI enables startups to scale enterprise software efficiently. The fresh funding will support R&D investments, engineering team expansion, and sales organization growth.
⚡ Let’s Make AI Actually Useful:
What Would Move the Needle in *Your* Industry?
AI has potential — but generic advice rarely helps.
What would be genuinely valuable for AI to do in your industry right now?
• Automate a painful workflow?
• Improve decision-making?
• Replace a manual process that wastes time?
• Help your team upskill faster?
Tell us what you’d want AI to handle — or where you feel stuck.
We’re using these insights to curate **industry-specific trainings, live webinars, and practical guidance** you can actually apply.
AI is the ultimate catalyst for human potential, helping us transcend our limitations and build a world where innovation creates opportunities for everyone.
Whitney Wolfe Herd is the founder and CEO of Bumble, the social networking platform that empowers women to make the first move in dating, business, and friendship connections. As the youngest woman to take a company public at age 31, she has championed using technology to create safer online spaces and has advocated for AI applications that promote positive social interactions and gender equality.
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