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This week in tech: employees beg Amazon for AI transparency, OpenAI “suggestions” get mistaken for ads, and AWS promises cheap AI at scale to power billions of agents—right as Simular raises $21.5M to literally run your computer.
Meanwhile Neuralink’s first patient is due for an upgrade after 8+ hours a day of use, the EU turns Ukraine into a defence-tech fast lane, and Bryan Johnson livestreams a psychedelic trip because the timeline has zero adult supervision. Oh—and big tech salary bands dropped, minus the PR gloss.
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Seven bullets of updates
🤖 Over 1,000 employees urge Amazon to rethink its AI strategy and transparency in an anonymous open letter to the CEO.
🧪 OpenAI’s test run of in-app app suggestions sparked debate as users mistook them for ads—though OpenAI says they weren’t paid placements.
🧬 Biotech scaleup launches a new $30k global award to advance innovation in cellular health research worldwide.
🧑💻 Neuralink’s first patient may soon get an implant upgrade after using the device for over 8 hours a day to play games and study.
🤖 AWS bets big on cheaper, reliable AI at scale, aiming to power billions of agents as rivals pour billions into genAI.
🍄 Bryan Johnson streamed a psychedelic trip with Grimes and Benioff, logging over 70,000 live viewers in his latest longevity experiment.
🛡️ EU startups can now fast-track defence tech by piloting with live testing sites in Ukraine, unlocking faster innovation cycles.
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Simular raised $21.5M to be your computer’s hands
Photo by Andrew Petrov on Unsplash
Simular is an AI-agent startup that wants to control your entire computer (Mac + Windows), not just your browser. It just raised a $21.5M Series A led by Felicis, with NVentures (Nvidia’s VC arm) and South Park Commons joining, bringing total funding to about $27M.
What’s notable: Simular’s agent can move the mouse, click, and perform on-screen actions, like a human—useful for repetitive workflows (e.g., copying data into spreadsheets). It launched v1.0 on Mac and is working with Microsoft on a Windows agent via the Windows 365 for Agents program.
Their approach aims to reduce AI “mess-ups” during long, multi-step tasks: the agent explores with a human guiding it, then turns a successful workflow into repeatable, inspectable code the user can audit. Early use cases include automating VIN lookups for a car dealership and extracting contract info from PDFs for HOAs.
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How to Get Startup Funding: What Convinces An Investor?
Most startups fail (often quoted at 75–90%), but VC investing isn’t built for steady profits or dividends—it’s built for the rare breakout. In this video, we explain why VCs chase outlier “unicorn” outcomes, why early profits can actually be a red flag, and how dilution + exits shape what investors really earn. You’ll see the math of turning a $1M check into $60M—if you back the right team. This isn’t about small wins; it’s moonshots, risk, and why startup investing can feel like a bubble… while still making billionaires.
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$1K Could’ve Made $2.5M
In 1999, $1K in Nvidia’s IPO would be worth $2.5M today. Now another early-stage AI tech startup is breaking through—and it’s still early.
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📣 Three college friends turned $100 and a WhatsApp chat into a $20M fan media business in sports.
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Big tech pay, presented without the marketing team
Photo by Javier Sierra on Unsplash
H-1B filings are a rare peek at what big companies pay in salary—and salary only (no bonus, no stock). In that snapshot: Microsoft software engineers range from $83k–$284k, Google from $109k–$340k, and Meta from $120k–$480k. A few other standouts: Walmart’s top architects reach $338k, Apple machine-learning roles peak around $312k, and Palantir AI roles land around $210k–$250k.
A quick reminder: these numbers are shaped by rules and location, and they don’t include the extra money that often matters most. Use them as a salary gut-check, not the final word.
The takeaway for smaller teams: you probably won’t win a pure salary bidding war—but you can win with meaningful work, faster growth, and real ownership.