$32B and still no product & more (April 14, 2025)

Hey friends,

Startups with no product are now worth $32B. Microsoft wants to remember everything you do. And ChatGPT is turning people into anime characters... and action figures.

2025 is wild. Let’s break it down.

🚨 THE BIG MONEY + MODEL DROPS

💰 Ilya's $32B Superintelligence Bet

Safe Superintelligence Inc. (SSI), co-founded by former OpenAI scientist Ilya Sutskever, just raised $2B at a $32B valuation — with no product and no roadmap, just a mission: build “safe superintelligence.”

• Investors include Alphabet, Nvidia, a16z, and Greenoaks
• Valuation is up 6x since September 2024
• Still no launch, just vibes and a mountain metaphor

📢Model Drop Madness

OpenAI is reportedly launching GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 Mini, GPT-4.1 Nano, o4-Mini, and the full o3 model set this week. Also coming soon: an autonomous software engineering agent (A-SWE) to help with bug fixes and documentation.

• Safety testing windows for models have been cut drastically
• API access will require government-issued ID for orgs — one per 90 days
• GPT-5 still on the horizon

🧑‍⚖️ The OpenAI Legal Saga

12 former OpenAI employees just filed an amicus brief in support of Elon Musk’s lawsuit, calling the company's for-profit pivot a betrayal of its original mission.

• Altman called “a person of low integrity” by a former colleague
• Trial is scheduled for Spring 2026
• OpenAI insists the nonprofit is still intact (technically)

🌍 AI HITS THE MAINSTREAM

🎨ChatGPT’s Ghibli Glow-Up

OpenAI’s image gen feature is the new viral toy. Millions of people are turning selfies into Studio Ghibli-style artwork — and now action figures.

• 1M new users per hour during peak
• India is now ChatGPT’s fastest-growing market
• Sam Altman’s cricket avatar may have sparked the trend

🖥️ Microsoft’s “Recall” = Your Computer Never Forgets

New feature rolling out to Copilot+ PCs will log everything you do, so you can “search your past.”

• Strictly opt-in — for now
• Still captures sensitive info, say early testers
• Feels like Black Mirror... but with bullet points

⚕️ WHERE AI ACTUALLY DELIVERS

🩺Diagnosing TB with a Smartphone

Swiss researchers created ULTR-AI, a TB-detection system that reads lung ultrasounds through a smartphone. It’s outperforming human experts by a solid margin.

• 93% sensitivity, 81% specificity
• Works in real time, even in remote clinics
• Beats the pants off traditional diagnostics in low-resource settings

⚡ QUICK HITS

• Grok-3 mini tops reasoning benchmarks, even beating GPT-4.5 on OTIS Mock AIME
• YouTube’s Music Assistant will generate instrumental tracks based on prompts
• Google’s Veo 2 video model creates 8-second cinematic clips for $0.35/sec
• Meta’s AI lab is reportedly in decline, though Yann LeCun says “it’s a new beginning”
• A high schooler used AI to identify 1.5M unknown objects in space (casual)

🧰 TOOLS TO TRY

• Voicenotes – Turn brain dumps into insights and follow-ups
• SimplAI – Build no-code agentic AI apps for the enterprise
• Lindy – Automate lead research + email drafting
• Lovable – Prompt → working app prototype
• HeyBoss – AI-powered website builder (no templates required)

✍️ PROMPT OF THE DAY

Write a Cold Outreach Email That Doesn’t Suck

Prompt:

Act as a B2B copywriter. I’m selling [product] to [audience] who struggle with [pain point]. Make the tone curious + personal. Include: 2 subject lines, a fun opener, a clear CTA (like “Worth a quick chat?”), and a clever pop culture reference if it fits. Optional: recent social proof or name drop.

TL;DR WRAP-UP

• SSI is now worth $32B with zero product in sight
• OpenAI’s new models drop this week, and their safety review process is shrinking
• ChatGPT’s anime moment is driving insane user growth
• Microsoft wants your memory, and it’s calling it a feature
• AI is quietly revolutionizing medicine, one smartphone at a time
• New tools keep shipping, making it easier to build without code

That’s all for now. Back soon with more breakthroughs, beef, and billion-dollar bets.

Stay weird,
—David ☕

P.S. If I get turned into an action figure, I want a tiny MacBook, a hoodie, and a reusable cold brew cup.