Musk launches Macrohard AI venture

The AI industry witnessed dramatic shifts this week as Elon Musk unveiled his latest venture Macrohard, a direct challenge to Microsoft’s dominance, while OpenAI issued stern warnings about unauthorized investment vehicles. Meanwhile, the talent wars intensified with Amazon defending its controversial “reverse acquihire” strategy and Apple pursuing legal action against a former engineer for allegedly stealing Apple Watch secrets.

Elon Musk Unveils Macrohard AI Company

Elon Musk announced a new company called Macrohard, an AI software venture tied to xAI that will generate hundreds of specialized coding agents to simulate products from rivals like Microsoft. The project will be powered by the Colossus 2 supercomputer, a cluster being expanded with millions of Nvidia GPUs in a high-stakes race for computing power. The Grok model will spawn specialized coding and image generation agents that work together, emulating humans interacting with software in virtual machines until results are excellent.

OpenAI Warns Against Unauthorized SPV Investments

OpenAI published a blog post cautioning investors about firms offering exposure to OpenAI equity through SPVs or other indirect means, calling these “unauthorized opportunities.” The company stated such sales may violate transfer restrictions and would not be recognized, meaning investors could end up holding worthless paper. The warning follows growing use of SPVs to access top AI startups, with reports that Anthropic has also restricted investors like Menlo Ventures from using them in funding rounds.

xAI Open Sources Grok 2.5 Model

xAI has released the weights of Grok 2.5, last year’s flagship model, on Hugging Face, with Musk saying Grok 3 will also be open sourced in about six months. The release comes with a “custom license” that AI engineers noted includes some anti-competitive restrictions, limiting full openness. Grok has been controversial due to extremist responses and political bias, though Musk insists newer versions like Grok 4 are designed to be “maximally truth-seeking.”

OpenAI Expands to India with New Delhi Office

OpenAI will open its first office in New Delhi and hire a local team to strengthen ties with partners, government, businesses, and universities, while tailoring features for Indian users. The move comes right after launching ChatGPT Go at ₹399/month, making it the most affordable plan globally, as India is now OpenAI’s second-largest market by users. Despite the opportunity, OpenAI faces hurdles such as lawsuits from publishers over copyright use and the challenge of converting a massive free user base into paying customers.

Y Combinator Challenges Apple’s App Store Monopoly

Y Combinator filed an amicus brief in the Apple vs. Epic Games case, arguing that Apple’s 30% App Store fee created a “barrier to entry” that deterred investors from backing app-based startups. The filing supports a ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer alternative payment options without excessive fees, saying this finally makes app startups more investable. YC urged the court to deny Apple’s appeal, calling the Apple Tax a long-standing obstacle that stifled competition and innovation for nearly two decades.

Meta Partners with Midjourney for AI Models

Meta will license Midjourney’s AI image and video generation technology, integrating it into future products and models as part of its push to lead in AI. The deal follows Meta’s earlier AI investments, including $14 billion into Scale AI and the acquisition of Play AI, while competing with tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo. Midjourney, known for its unique style and subscription-based business, remains independent with no outside investors and recently launched its first AI video model, V1.

Apple Explores Google Gemini for Siri Revamp

Apple is exploring a partnership with Google to power Siri with Gemini, as it struggles to match rival AI assistants in capability. The company has also held talks with OpenAI and Anthropic, signaling it may outsource rather than fully rely on in-house development. A decision isn’t expected for several weeks, but Google has reportedly started training a model designed to run on Apple’s servers.

Nvidia Halts China AI Chip Production

Nvidia has told suppliers to stop producing its H20 AI chips after Beijing warned Chinese companies against using them, citing security concerns and fears of U.S. backdoors. The halt comes just a month after Nvidia was allowed to resume selling AI chips designed for China, highlighting the volatility of U.S.–China tech relations. Nvidia denied the existence of any backdoors in its chips, saying cybersecurity is critical and urging the market to use the H20 “with confidence.”

Amazon’s AGI Lab Chief Defends Reverse Acquihire

David Luan, Adept’s co-founder and now head of Amazon’s AGI Lab, defended Amazon’s decision to hire his team and license Adept’s tech instead of acquiring the startup. Luan said he joined Amazon because Adept would have been limited to selling smaller enterprise models, while solving the “four crucial problems left to AGI” demands multi-billion-dollar compute clusters. He emphasized his goal is to be remembered for AI research, not deal structures, framing the move as necessary to pursue true AGI.

Apple Sues Ex-Employee for Trade Secret Theft

Apple is suing former engineer Chen Shi for allegedly copying 63 confidential files containing Apple Watch health secrets like ECG and temperature sensing methods before joining rival Oppo. The complaint claims Shi told an Oppo executive he was collecting information to share and downloaded proprietary files with chip engineering documents to a USB drive. While downloading the data, Shi allegedly searched online how to wipe a MacBook and lied to coworkers about his plans.

This week’s developments underscore the intensifying competition in AI, with major players making bold strategic moves while navigating complex regulatory and security challenges. The emergence of Macrohard signals Musk’s continued disruption of established tech giants, while the industry grapples with talent acquisition ethics and international trade tensions.