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OpenAI and Microsoft are headed to court with Elon Musk, another AI startup is casually claiming $200M in ARR, and OpenAI is also cutting checks to Sam Altman’s brain startup—because if AI growth slows, maybe humans need an upgrade. Meanwhile, non-developers are shipping micro-apps at record pace while only 1.1% of VC dollars reach minority founders, TikTok is turning soap operas into 60-second dopamine hits, and X is down again.
Video pick: THIS Could Finally End Misinformation (seriously)
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Seven bullets of updates
⚖️ OpenAI and Microsoft must face Elon Musk in court after a judge denied their bid to dismiss his lawsuit.
🪙 Startups lose out as only 1.1% of VC funding went to minority founders last year, held back by red tape and bias.
🛠️ Non-developers are building 10x more micro-apps than last year as DIY app creation takes off.
🪙 Creators discussing topics like self-harm or abuse can now earn ad revenue under YouTube’s relaxed rules for “controversial issues.”
⚡ Nearly 80,000 users reported disruptions as X suffered its second major outage this week.
🎧 Security flaws left 17 Bluetooth audio models open to eavesdropping via Google's Fast Pair, affecting millions of users.
🎬 TikTok debuts a new micro-drama app, letting users binge 60-second soap operas as part of its content experiment.
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Another AI startup claims $200M ARR
Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash
Higgsfield, an AI video startup founded by a former Snap executive, says it’s already hitting a $200M revenue run rate. The company reopened its Series A to raise an additional $80M, pushing the round to $130M total and valuing the business at $1.3B.
If the numbers hold, that’s rarefied territory: just nine months post-launch, 15M users, and a deliberate shift away from “AI slop” toward professional social marketers. The real questions now are durability and discipline—how stable is revenue when usage can spike and crash, how margins hold up against GPU costs, and how the company manages content risk.
With Runway, Pika, and OpenAI all circling the same space, the next phase isn’t about growth headlines—it’s about retention and unit economics.
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THIS Could Finally End Misinformation (seriously)
What’s true on the internet anymore? 🧠 From Yellow Journalism to AI-generated “news anchors” trust in media has collapsed — and artificial intelligence might be our only shot at fixing it. This episode traces how truth broke online and explores how tools like C2PA and ChatGPT could actually help rebuild it.
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Payroll errors cost more than you think
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Slidebean Revenue Data
Mistakes were made as we grew Slidebean, but those mistakes shaped the lessons that helped us thrive. The journey wasn’t just about surviving—it was about learning and evolving.
To give you an honest glimpse into what growth really looks like, we’re sharing our actual financial numbers from the formative years of Slidebean. Download them now and see the ups, downs, and everything in between that built the company we are today.
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
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OpenAI invests in Sam Altman’s brain startup
Photo by Bret Kavanaugh on Unsplash
OpenAI led the largest check in a $250M seed round for Merge Labs, Sam Altman’s brain–computer interface startup, at an $850M valuation. Circular? A bit.
Merge’s pitch is a non-invasive alternative to Neuralink: using a combination of molecules and ultrasound instead of implanted hardware. If it works, OpenAI gains a powerful new input layer for AI—and a defensible distribution moat. If it doesn’t, the bet risks becoming expensive sci-fi slowed down by years of FDA approvals.
The broader implications are hard to ignore. Mega-sized seed rounds for deep-tech are back. Neuralink now faces a less invasive competitor. And the governance questions around Altman, OpenAI, and adjacent ventures will only get louder. Expect tighter AI–hardware bundles, messy debates over neural data rights, and a long, uncertain path from lab demos to regulated, real-world products.