Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

💸 World Labs raises $1B to advance spatial intelligence.
🌊 Google unveils new subsea fiber routes linking the U.S. and India.
⚖️ Kalshi loses bid to halt Nevada lawsuit over contracts.
🪖 Pentagon threatens Anthropic over surveillance and weapons dispute.
🤖 Unity announces an AI tool generating full games from prompts.

TECHNOLOGY

• Google launches music generation model to make songs 30 seconds at a time (Gizmodo)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, The Decoder}}

  • Google's Lyria 3 model is rolling out in beta within Gemini, generating 30-second tracks from text or photos.

  • Tracks include auto-generated lyrics, custom cover art via Nano Banana, and SynthID watermarking for AI detection.

  • Available to all 18+ users in eight languages; paid subscribers receive higher generation limits.

• Audible’s new “Read & Listen” feature syncs your Kindle ebooks with audiobooks (TechCrunch)

  • Audible's new feature lets users seamlessly switch between reading a Kindle ebook and listening to its audiobook version.

  • The tool syncs position across both formats, enabling a unified reading and listening experience within Amazon's ecosystem.

  • The feature targets commuters and multitaskers who toggle between text and audio consumption throughout the day.

• Microsoft says bug causes Copilot to summarize confidential emails (BleepingComputer) 

  _{^{More: TechCrunch, PCWorld}}

  • A coding error in Microsoft 365 Copilot has caused it to read and summarize confidential emails in Sent and Drafts since late January.

  • The bug bypassed data loss prevention policies and sensitivity labels explicitly set to block automated AI access.

  • Microsoft began rolling out a fix in early February and has not disclosed how many organizations were affected.

BUSINESS

• Microsoft says it is on pace to invest $50B in 'Global South' AI push (Reuters) 

  ^{_{More: CNN}}

  • Microsoft announced at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi that it is on pace to invest $50B in developing nations by 2030.

  • The five-part program covers data center infrastructure, AI skills, multilingual models, local innovation, and adoption measurement.

  • AI usage in the Global North currently runs roughly twice that of the Global South and is widening, per a Microsoft report.

• NVIDIA is partnering with major indian VC firms in search for the country's next AI startups (CNBC) 

  • NVIDIA is partnering with Peak XV, Z47, Elevation Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Accel India to identify and fund AI startups.

  • Over 4k Indian AI startups already participate in Nvidia's global Inception program, with more expected to join.

  • India's government anticipates up to $200B in data center investment; Adani alone has pledged $100B for AI-ready facilities.

• AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li's startup World Labs raises $1B (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance, The Decoder}}

  • World Labs raised $1B from Autodesk, Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, AMD, Fidelity, and others to advance spatial intelligence.

  • Autodesk contributed $200M and will partner to explore how world models can integrate with its 3D design tools.

  • The funding will accelerate World Labs' Marble product and expand into robotics and scientific discovery applications.

• LLM feature integration with real APIs*

  Building LLM-powered features means handling real APIs, real users, and real edge cases. You need engineers who can do the glue work that makes AI actually usable—Python, JavaScript, and everything in between.

  • Full-stack LLM integration

  • Production-ready implementation

  • 40–60% cost savings

MARKETS

WORLD

• Google plans new fiber-optic routes between the U.S. and India (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: Asharq Al-Awsat, BusinessToday}}

  • Google unveiled "America-India Connect," which will build three subsea paths linking India to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia.

  • Four new strategic fiber-optic routes will bolster capacity and resilience between the U.S., India, and the Southern Hemisphere.

  • A new international cable landing hub is planned near Visakhapatnam, establishing it as a major global subsea gateway.

• How U.S. citizens, clergy, and elected officials in conservative communities are leading a grassroots rebellion against the Trump-backed AI boom (Financial Times) 

  _{^{More: NPR, Washington Post, NBC News}}

  • Conservative communities in states like Missouri are organizing against data centers over rising electricity bills and water use.

  • Sen. Josh Hawley introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent data center energy costs from being passed to residential ratepayers.

  • Over 142 activist groups across 24 states are now organized in opposition, with roughly $64B in projects delayed or blocked.

• Kalshi loses bid to stop Nevada from proceeding with case against the platform (WSJ) 

  _{^{More: PBS NewsHour, Nevada Independent, NBC News}}

  • The 9th Circuit denied Kalshi's request to pause enforcement in Nevada, clearing the way for the state to pursue a civil lawsuit against the platform.

  • Nevada argues that Kalshi operates an unlicensed sports betting business; roughly 90% of Kalshi's volume comes from sports-related contracts.

  • The CFTC filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing Kalshi, escalating a federal vs. state jurisdictional battle over prediction markets.

FUTURISM

• Pentagon issues threat to Anthropic (Futurism)

  • Defense Secretary Hegseth is close to designating Anthropic a "supply chain risk," which would force DoD vendors to cut ties with the company.

  • The dispute centers on Anthropic's refusal to allow Claude for mass surveillance of Americans or fully autonomous weapons deployment.

  • The $200M Pentagon contract is at stake; Claude is currently the only AI model deployed on the military's classified networks.

• Chinese robots can now run up walls (Futurism)

  • Chinese humanoid robots performed synchronized martial arts at the Spring Festival Gala, including a live wall-flip maneuver at the 3:16 mark.

  • The performance marks a dramatic leap from last year's gala, where robots awkwardly shuffled across the stage waving handkerchiefs.

  • Analysts note the display bundles China's AI capability, hardware supply chain, and manufacturing ambition into a single powerful narrative.

• Unity says it has a new product that cooks up entire games using AI (Futurism)

  • Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg announced a new AI beta at GDC in March that generates full casual games from natural language prompts alone.

  • The tool aims to eliminate coding entirely, allowing non-developers to move from a creative concept to a finished, monetizable product within Unity.

  • Over half of game industry workers surveyed at GDC believe generative AI is harmful to the industry, reflecting deep internal resistance.

CONTENT

• 'Josh Kushner – Concentration and conviction’ (Invest Like the Best)

  • Josh Kushner explains how Thrive Capital built a concentrated portfolio backing category-defining technology companies across multiple cycles.

  • He discusses conviction-driven investing, board dynamics, and supporting founders through volatility, competition, and public market transitions.

  • The conversation explores capital concentration, long-term relationships, and how patience compounds advantages in venture investing.

• 'Ramp founder Eric Glyman on AI and corporate spending’ (Cheeky Pint)

  • Eric Glyman details how Ramp scaled to over $1B in revenue by automating corporate finance workflows.

  • He explains how AI agents review 100k expenses daily with high accuracy, reshaping compliance and cost control.

  • The discussion challenges traditional SaaS models, arguing that fintech’s future lies in selling time and efficiency.

• 'Tom Blomfield, partner at Y Combinator; co-founder of Monzo’ (The Social Radars

  • Tom Blomfield reflects on building Monzo into a leading digital bank and navigating intense regulatory scrutiny.

  • He discusses leadership challenges, founder burnout, and lessons from scaling rapidly in competitive fintech markets.

  • Now a Y Combinator partner, he shares insights on mentoring founders and evaluating resilience.

EXTRAS

• Meta begins $65M election push to advance A.I. agenda (NYT) 

  • Meta will spend $65M through super PACs this election cycle to support state legislators who are friendly to AI development.

  • Spending begins in Texas and Illinois, where state legislatures have passed or proposed regulations that Meta views as inhibiting.

  • The effort marks Meta's largest-ever election investment, a sharp shift from its previously cautious approach to campaign politics.

• Sports-focused prediction market Novig raises $75M to challenge Kalshi and Polymarket (Fortune) 

  • Sports prediction market Novig raised a $75M Series B led by Pantera Capital, with Multicoin Capital also participating.

  • Novig targets the same sports-contract market as Kalshi and Polymarket, entering amid intense legal and regulatory scrutiny.

  • The rise signals continued investor appetite for prediction markets even as state regulators escalate enforcement actions.

• AI ads debate is more about culture war than business decision (Semafor) 

  _{^{More: Rolling Stone, Fortune, AdWeek}}

  • The debate over AI in advertising is driven more by political and cultural identity than by any clear business calculus.

  • Nearly 23% of Super Bowl 60 ads featured AI, yet public sentiment has shifted toward skepticism and friction with tech products.

  • The Anthropic vs. OpenAI ad feud illustrated how AI brand wars now play out as much in culture as in product competition.

AND MORE

• U.S.-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva ended without a major breakthrough.

• Indian AI lab Sarvam announces new models for feature phones, cars, and smart glasses.

• Canva reports it has achieved $4B in revenue amid growing AI referral traffic.

• European Parliament votes to block AI on lawmakers’ devices over security concerns.

• Your brand deserves to be in front of people who actually make decisions. That’s Memo’s audience.

• Tesla avoids a 30-day suspension in California after removing its ‘Autopilot’ wording.

• Intellexa’s Predator spyware reportedly used to hack an Angolan journalist’s iPhone.

• India hosts the AI Impact Summit, with major global tech leaders in attendance.

• World leaders and diplomats wrapped up the Munich Security Conference, addressing global instabilities.