Google scuttled OpenAI’s negotiations to purchase AI coding firm Windsurf (formerly Codeium), by agreeing to pay roughly $2.4 billion to license the startup’s core technology, hire co-founder and CEO Varun Mohan and bring a passel of employees with him to Alphabet. The license is non-exclusive and Google is not taking a stake in Windsurf. Days after the Google deal, AI startup Cognition announced it would be acquiring Windsurf (both startups are backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund). Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and some members of the Windsurf R&D team are moving to Google to work primarily with DeepMind on agentic coding. The $2.4 billion covers licensing fees and compensation. Continue reading Cognition Acquires Windsurf Following Google Licensing Deal

Meta Platforms has purchased artificial intelligence voice technology startup PlayAI for an undisclosed sum. The entire PlayAI staff will segue to Meta this month, reporting to Johan Schalkwyk, who was recently hired by the social giant from another voice startup, Sesame AI. Co-founded at Y Combinator by Mahmoud Felfel and Hammad Syed, PlayAI launched with a Chrome plugin that delivered audio versions of printed articles, later evolving into a broader AI voice platform. The main product, the Play 3.0 model, supports more than 30 languages and enables the quick creation of voice agents for things like sales and customer support. Continue reading Meta Platforms Acquires Real-Time Voice Tech Startup PlayAI

Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) is the name of the new AI unit for which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been aggressively recruiting. The division will be led by Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined last month after Zuckerberg paid an estimated $15 billion for Scale AI, where Wang was CEO and co-founder. Nat Friedman, who ran GitHub for Microsoft from 2018 to 2021, will “partner with Alex to lead MSL” heading products and applied research, Zuckerberg said in an internal memo. The new group will encompass Meta’s AI foundations, product and FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) teams as well as the lab for next generation models. Continue reading Meta Bows Superintelligence Labs, Continues AI Recruitment

Determined to rebound from the Llama 4 Behemoth delay, Meta Platforms is swinging for the fences in its artificial intelligence efforts, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally supervising creation of a new AI lab focused on superintelligence. Meta has reportedly reached a deal to pay up to $15 billion for a stake in a startup called Scale AI that would bring its 28-year-old co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang in-house to lead the effort. Other leading Scale AI staff would also come aboard, and Meta is said to be recruiting researchers from OpenAI and Google by dangling “seven- to nine-figure compensation packages,” reports indicate. Continue reading Meta Said to Be Planning Major Push into AI Superintelligence