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My fellow AI explorers

In a span of days, Google hijacked OpenAI’s $3B deal, Sam Altman got grilled on regulation and politics, and Google quietly dropped the biggest Gemini integration yet.

Oh — and Windsurf pulled off one of the smartest “talent saves” we’ve seen all year.

In today’s edition:

• 🤝 The new playbook for AI acquisitions — and why employee-owned resets might be next

• 🧠 Google puts custom agents directly in your Docs and Sheets

• 🎙️ Sam Altman opens up on losing talent, regulating chaos, and feeling politically homeless

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AI Company Acquired

🤝 Cognition + Windsurf: The New Blueprint for AI Acquisitions?

In a whirlwind 72 hours, AI agent company Cognition officially acquired what remained of Windsurf — and it wasn’t your typical M&A. It’s a case study in how “acquihires” are evolving into strategic talent mergers, with product and team intact.

Here’s what actually happened:

• 🧠 Windsurf built one of the top dev tools in AI — a platform designed to supercharge software engineers.

• 🧑‍💻 Cognition, known for Devin (the first “AI software engineer”), wanted to go deeper into real-world code automation.

• 🔀 Google’s surprise licensing deal gutted Windsurf, taking top execs and engineers — leaving behind a still-incredible team and product.

Rather than walk away, Windsurf’s interim CEO Jeff Wang worked with Cognition CEO Scott Wu to fast-track a full acquisition. The result? A new kind of AI merger:

✔️ All 250+ Windsurf employees retained
✔️ IP, customers, and go-to-market strategy preserved
✔️ Devin + Windsurf now tightly integrated into one product suite

The motivation was simple: both teams believed in making software engineering faster, smarter, and usable at scale.

💡 On a tech level, the synergy is real:

• Delegate dev tasks to Devin, refine them using Windsurf

• Use Windsurf’s idea planner (ADT) to set goals, Devin executes

• Joint customers already include Goldman Sachs, Citi, and JPMorgan

🔮 Prediction: This might be the new model for struggling AI teams with strong tech — rather than a typical acquihire or liquidation, the “clean cut” employee-owned reset plus integration into a larger ecosystem will likely become more common.

And in an unusual twist, all investors and founder shares were wiped off the cap table — giving every employee direct equity in the new combined company.

Expect to see more of these fast-turn AI mergers as the talent wars escalate, IP becomes commoditized, and mission-aligned teams find each other mid-crisis.

▶️ Watch the full Windsurf x Cognition breakdown

Google AI

🧠 Google’s Gems Break Free Into Docs & Sheets

Google is finally making good on the promise of personalized AI agents.

Gems — their GPT-style custom agents — are now integrated directly into Workspace apps like Google Docs and Sheets.

Here’s what that means:

• 🧩 Create a custom Gem with instructions + files

• 🗂️ Use that Gem directly inside Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail

• 📎 Share it with teammates, just like a regular Google Doc

Until now, these “agentic” features were stuck inside the Gemini app. Now they’re accessible where real work happens.

This week also brought several Flow updates:

• 🎨 Image-to-video from your own uploads, not just prompts

• 🔊 Automatic audio narration for generated videos

• 💾 Integration with Gemini 1.5 Pro’s context engine

💡 Why it matters: AI agents are no longer sandboxed. Google is leading the push to embed them into daily workflows — and doing it in a way Microsoft hasn’t caught up to yet.

🔮 Prediction: Expect LLMs to become less like a chatbot and more like your creative co-worker. The next 6 months will blur the lines between "apps" and "agents."

🔗 Read Workspace Gem Update
🔗 Try Flow with Veo 3 Upgrades

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Interview with Open AI CEO…

🧠 Sam Altman Speaks: Talent Wars, Regulation Chaos, and Feeling Politically Homeless

💼 On the Talent Wars:

• Altman remains publicly unbothered by Meta’s aggressive poaching.

• “Some people will go to different places… there’s a lot of excitement in the industry. But no, I think we feel fine.”

• He praised his “incredible team” but dodged directly commenting on losing staff to Zuckerberg or Apple.

🏛️ On AI Regulation:

• Called the new Trump-backed bill (which lets all 50 U.S. states regulate AI individually) a “we’ll figure it out as we go” situation.

• Admits even “the experts don’t know how this will go.”

• Advocates for federal-level regulation focused on “frontier model risk,” with freedom for smaller startups.

🧑‍💻 On Jobs and Growth:

• Acknowledges AI will eliminate some jobs, transform others, and create entirely new sectors.

• “Every major tech wave has done this. This one’s just faster.”

🏗️ On Infrastructure:

• Says growth in AI is outpacing compute capacity: “We need to build more computers — faster than we ever thought.”

• Reaffirms OpenAI’s strong relationship with Microsoft and active talks with Satya Nadella.

🗳️ On Politics:

• Admitted he feels “politically homeless”, distancing from mainstream Democrats.

• Believes America should double down on growth, innovation, and inclusive capitalism.

• Was asked about Elon’s rumored “America Party” — hadn’t read up, but seemed open-minded.

🔮 Prediction: Altman is quietly recalibrating. While keeping a cool face in public, the subtext shows pressure — on retaining top talent, navigating fragmented regulation, and staking a place in the new AI-aligned political landscape. His next moves will shape not just OpenAI, but how the U.S. handles the AI age.

▶️ Watch the full Altman interview here

30-Second AI Play

🎮 Use Google Flow to Turn Your Image into a Talking Video

Got an image you love and want to animate it into a narrated video?

Here’s how to do it with Google’s Flow:

1. Open Google Flow

2. Upload your own image (new feature!)

3. Choose “Animate Image”

4. Add a short script or let Gemini generate it

5. Hit Generate and Flow will turn it into a full video with voice and background

🎙️ Why this is useful:

• It auto-generates natural speech and syncs visuals

• You control camera angle, style, and mood

• Great for storytelling, marketing, or pitching

💡 Pro tip: Pair this with Gemini mind maps for rapid idea-to-video workflows

Other Relevant AI News!

🧠 Perplexity’s Comet AI Browser is now in closed beta — a $200/month browser powered by Perplexity’s LLM and live search. First Look

📝 Genspark AI Docs offers an AI-native doc editor where you chat your way through Word-style drafts. Preview It

🎨 Higgsfield’s latest video AI adds inpainting and 10 new presets. Their Soul model has a cinematic feel. View Presets

🎬 Veo 3 now lets you upload images and turn them into videos — with matching voiceover. Test It

🧬 Meta may abandon open-source Behemoth in favor of closed models — signaling a deep strategic shift. Full Story

Golden Nuggets

• 🤖 Windsurf’s comeback with Cognition sets a new M&A blueprint — team-first, IP-second

• 📎 Google Gems in Workspace makes agents part of your daily doc stack — finally usable

• 🎤 Altman’s interview revealed a rare moment of public vulnerability — and major pressure

• 💡 Flow’s image-to-video upgrade is the most underrated storytelling tool right now

• 🧬 Meta’s open-source pivot may hand China the lead in AI transparency and tooling

Until our next AI rendezvous,

Anthony | Founder of Uncover AI