Sunday Snacks — Vol. 5: A little Different This Time Around..

Hello friends!
Sorry for missing last Sunday’s edition. Was busy celebrating a special someone’s birthday! This week’s edition is a little different; A little experiment can’t hurt!

It’s August already… how did that happen? If your summer has been anything like the tech industry’s, you’ve probably been busy trying to keep up with AI hype, creator‑platform wars and a flood of business news. This edition brings you a curated selection of the week’s most intriguing stories in tech, business, productivity, and the creator economy. Grab a coffee and let’s dig in.

🍿 Quick Takes

🇺🇸 U.S. doubles down on AI dominance

America’s AI Action Plan unveiled on 23 July 2025 aims to cement U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence by deregulating at the federal level, investing in infrastructure and conditioning state funding on pro‑AI. The plan encourages states to align their regulations with federal priorities, provides tax incentives for AI skills training and uses export controls to help U.S. companies compete. Expect the AI race (and the politics around it) to heat up as we head into the 2026 elections.

🦾 Moonshot’s trillion‑parameter model goes open‑source

Beijing‑based Moonshot AI released Kimi K2, a trillion‑parameter Mixture‑of‑Experts language model, and made its weights openly available. K2 uses a sparse architecture where only 32 billion parameters activate per token, providing the power of a 1T‑parameter model at the cost of a 30B model. Moonshot also offers an API priced at roughly $0.15/million input tokens, orders of magnitude cheaper than Claude or GPT‑4. The open‑weight strategy quickly paid off: K2 became the fastest‑downloaded model on Hugging Face, positioning China as an open‑source rival to U.S. AI leaders.

🧑‍💻 Bank of America’s $4 B AI bet

Bank of America is ploughing $4 billion nearly one‑third of its tech budget into AI projects in 2025. Its virtual assistant Erica has already handled 2.5 billion client interactions, and over 90% of employees use an internal version that cuts IT service‑desk calls by half. The bank reports a 20% boost in developer productivity, thanks to AI that drafts meeting materials and improves customer engagement. With 7,400 patents (1,200 AI‑specific) and a vast proprietary dataset, the firm hopes to keep an edge while regulators figure out how to govern AI.

⚠️ White‑collar jobs on the chopping block?

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warns that AI could eliminate up to 50% of entry‑level white‑collar jobs in the next five years. He calls for retraining programs and even proposes a 3% “token tax” on AI revenues to fund social support. The warning aligns with early signs: companies like Microsoft and Walmart have slowed hiring, and AI governance is becoming a bipartisan issue.

🚫 States reject blanket AI deregulation

A GOP proposal for a 10‑year moratorium on state‑level AI regulation was struck down 99–1 in the U.S. Senate. Critics argued that states need flexibility to protect consumers and artists from issues like deepfakes and voice replication. The defeat signals momentum for comprehensive federal regulation while preserving state authority. A tug‑of‑war likely to define U.S. AI policy.

🔬 Tech & AI

🪐 Perplexity launches Comet an AI‑powered browser

Start‑up Perplexity unveiled Comet, a Chromium‑based browser with built‑in AI that summarizes pages, manages tasks, books meetings and answers questions in real time. Comet supports Chrome extensions, integrates calendars and email, and doesn’t train on user data. Currently in limited beta for $200/month, Comet blends AI search with personal assistance, signalling a new front in the browser wars. Expect privacy‑centric, AI‑integrated browsers to challenge Chrome and Safari.

🍏 WWDC 2025: Apple’s Liquid Glass and on‑device AI

At WWDC, Apple unveiled iOS 26, macOS Tahoe and visionOS 26, all sporting a sleek “Liquid Glass” interface and emphasizing on‑device AI. The updates signal Apple’s push to keep user data private while leveraging AI locally. Expect improved Siri interactions and new AI‑powered editing tools baked directly into your devices.

💬 Grok 4, bias and a $200 M contract

Elon Musk’s xAI rolled out Grok 4, an AI chatbot that, when asked sensitive questions, fetches Musk’s X posts for guidance. Critics worry the founder‑centric design bakes Musk’s views into responses. Despite the controversy, the U.S. government awarded xAI a contract worth up to $200 million to modernize the Defense Department. If bias was concerning before, imagine your tax dollars training MechaHitler.

📱 New features for creators on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram

A mid‑year report on the creator economy reveals a flurry of platform updates:

• YouTube introduced viewer‑segment analytics (“New,” “Casual” and “Regular”), opened Community Tabs to all channels and rolled out shopping stickers inside Shorts that boosted product click‑throughs by 40%. It also launched auto‑sync video editing and a fan leaderboard for livestreams. A new Player for Education pays creators when their videos are used in classrooms.

• TikTok debuted Market Scope ad analytics, a Brand Consideration objective and an Insight Spotlight dashboard to help brands find trending creators. It integrated AI‑powered search ads and expanded the Symphony AI video‑generation platform.

• Instagram allowed users to edit their photo grid, display real‑time music status via Spotify and phased out Story highlights for a dedicated Highlights tab. Creators can bulk‑share old Reels to Facebook for monetization and post in 3:4 aspect ratio. Meta also released Edits, a free standalone video‑editing app with teleprompter and overlay tools.

• Twitch announced dual‑format streaming (horizontal and vertical) and 2K streaming support. It introduced Combos viewer‑triggered on‑screen effects and allowed streamers to run their own discounted subscription promos. New features aim to boost interactivity and give smaller creators more monetization options.

• X (formerly Twitter) banned clickable hashtags in ads, shifted ad billing based on visual size rather than engagement, and introduced a follower‑vs‑non‑follower engagement metric revealing that only ~2–3% of engagement comes from followers. A new Video tab competes with TikTok and Reels, while mandatory parody labels aim to curb impersonation.

🧠 AI spending fuels markets while consumers wobble

Reuters reports that AI‑focused firms like Alphabet, SK Hynix and Infosys are thriving this earnings season, while consumer‑facing industries struggle. The surge in AI spending is boosting semiconductor and software giants (SK Hynix supplies Nvidia). Meanwhile, companies in sectors from luxury goods to food manufacturing report softer demand amid tariff uncertainty. The “Magnificent Seven” tech giants now account for over 30% of the S&P 500’s value, highlighting how AI enthusiasm is propping up markets even as consumer spending cools.

💼 Business & Markets

🏆 Nvidia becomes the world’s most valuable company

Nvidia’s market cap hit $3.92 trillion in July 2025, surpassing Microsoft and Apple. Its valuation now exceeds the combined worth of the Canadian and Mexican stock markets, and the top five companies (Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet) make up 28% of the S&P 500. Analysts attribute the surge to a “competitive race” among tech giants to build AI data centers. The July 7 ranking of the most valuable firms shows Saudi Aramco and TSMC as the only non‑U.S. entries in the top ten.

📉 AI boom vs. consumer gloom

The earnings dichotomy continues. Alphabet, SK Hynix and Infosys beat forecasts and plan to boost spending, capitalizing on AI demand. In contrast, consumer giants like LVMH, Nestle, Hasbro and airlines Southwest and American report weaker outlooks due to tariffs and cautious shoppers. IBM’s AI business grew 25% to $7.5 billion but its software segment lagged. Tariff deals between the U.S. and Japan/Europe buoyed markets, yet automakers warn of billions in potential costs.

📈 Creator & Platform Economy

💸 Monetization and analytics heat up

Our mid‑year creator report highlights how platforms are doubling down on monetization:

• YouTube’s Player for Education pays creators when their videos are used in classrooms, while shopping stickers inside Shorts drive 40% higher click‑through rates.

• TikTok’s Market Scope analytics and new Brand Consideration objective give brands deeper funnel insights. TikTok is also testing AI‑powered search ads and improved video‑generation tools.

• Instagram has unlocked grid customization, real‑time music status and cross‑posting of Reels to Facebook for extra ad revenue. Its new Edits app signals Meta’s ambitions to keep creators within its ecosystem.

• Twitch’s Combos feature and streamer‑led subscription promos aim to boost revenue for mid‑tier streamers.

🧠 Productivity & Work

😃 Four‑day workweek improves well‑being without hurting output

The largest four‑day workweek trial to date, involving 141 companies across six countries, found that compressing work into four days makes employees happier and leaves productivity unchanged. Workers experienced less burnout, higher job satisfaction and improved mental health. After six months, 90% of companies decided to keep the shorter schedule, suggesting the old five‑day model may soon look antiquated.

✍️ Voicenotes AI gets a desktop upgrade

Voicenotes AI, originally a voice‑note app, added a full Windows client and features for typing notes, podcasts and meeting summaries. The Windows version complements its web and mobile apps, making it easier for users to capture and manage meeting notes from their desktops. With competition heating up in the note‑taking arena, expect more AI‑assisted note tools to follow.

🎙️ Granola: AI meeting assistant of the moment

If you like taking notes and still want rich AI summaries, Granola might be your new meeting buddy. The tool automatically transcribes, summarizes and analyzes meetings. It acts as a live notepad that enhances your notes with context from the transcript and works with any video‑conferencing platform by capturing audio from your device. Granola integrates with HubSpot, Slack, Notion and thousands of apps via Zapier. The free tier covers 25 meeting transcripts; paid plans start at $18/month.

🔮 What’s Next?

• AI regulation watch: Expect more states to introduce their own AI laws after the federal moratorium died. The AI Action Plan will likely face court challenges and corporate lobbying, so keep an eye on how quickly guidelines turn into enforceable rules.

• Autonomous agents go mainstream: Open models like Kimi K2 lower the barrier for indie developers to build advanced AI agents. We may see a Cambrian explosion of agentic tools in the coming months.

• Creator revenue diversification: Shopping integrations, educational revenue and subscription promos show platforms seeking to diversify monetization beyond ads. Expect further experiments as competition intensifies.

• Four‑day workweek momentum: With strong data supporting shorter weeks, companies outside the trial may pilot condensed schedules. Will governments step in with policy incentives? Watch this space.

🧠 Final Bite

In a week when AI is both lifting corporate profits and threatening white‑collar careers, it’s clear we’re living in a transitional era. The challenge for companies and individuals is to harness AI’s productivity gains without sidelining human creativity and well‑being. Whether you’re building the next billion‑parameter model or just trying to finish your to‑do list in four days, remember: technology should serve us, not consume us.

That’s it for this week. Stay weird, stay learning.

—Fahad

www.linkedin.com/in/fahadaldulaimi/