Musk brings Zuck into OpenAI drama

PLUS: Meta's $10B Google cloud deal

AuthorAuthor

Jennifer Mossalgue & Rowan Cheung
August 22, 2025

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Elon Musk once wanted to cage-fight Mark Zuckerberg — now he’s tried to recruit him for a nearly $100B raid on OpenAI.

Court filings hint at backroom pitches and billionaire power plays, with Musk as both attacker and would-be buyer. The only sure thing? This AI drama is only just getting started.

P.S. Our next live workshop is today at 4 PM EST with The Rundown’s AI Educator, Nate Grahek. Learn how to use AI as an operating system for the future of work: RSVP here.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Musk tried to enlist Zuckerberg in OpenAI bid

  • Meta signs $10B cloud deal with Google

  • Nuro gets $203M lift from Uber, Nvidia

  • Smart glasses that ‘augment’ intelligence

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

META/OPEN AI

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: New court filings reportedly reveal that Elon Musk asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help finance a $97.4B takeover of OpenAI back in February, aiming to seize control of the company amid its sky-high valuation.

The details:

  • According to the court filings, neither Zuckerberg nor Meta agreed to the letter of intent or took part in Musk’s deal.

  • The legal saga is part of Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI, where he is attempting to block the company from pursuing a for-profit structure.

  • The federal court in California recently allowed OpenAI to pursue counterclaims against Musk, widening the legal battle between the two camps.

  • Back in February, OpenAI's board shot the offer down cold, branding it a publicity stunt amid Musk’s ongoing lawsuit over its for-profit pivot.

Why it matters: OpenAI is now subpoenaing Meta for any communications with Musk, while Meta fires back: “We never signed up.” What unfolds is a high-stakes showdown — part courtroom drama, part strategic battle for AI dominance — set to hit the stage in spring 2026.

TOGETHER WITH BUF

The Rundown: Nike reduced the time to create new APIs from many months to days. They switched to a Protobuf-first approach and moved from a monorepo nightmare to versioned remote modules with the Buf Schema Registry.

Proper data architecture pays massive dividends:

  • Backward compatibility guaranteed: Impossible to force breaking changes

  • Type safety at compile time: Catch errors before production

  • Decentralized collaboration: Teams work autonomously while sharing schemas

META/GOOGLE

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: Meta just signed a six-year, $10 billion+ deal with Google Cloud, marking one of the largest contracts in Google’s history and the first major public cloud agreement between the two tech giants.

The details:

  • Meta will leverage Google Cloud’s servers, advanced storage, networking, and, crucially, its 7th-gen Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and Vertex AI platform.

  • The deal comes as Meta pursues aggressive expansion in AI, with Zuckerberg pledging to invest "hundreds of billions of dollars.”

  • The partnership allows Meta to continue operating its own vast private data center fleet while supplementing it with resources from Google Cloud.

Why it matters: This isn’t just a cloud deal — it’s a strategic power play. By combining Meta’s massive infrastructure with Google’s cloud tech, both tech giants are doubling down on scale, speed, and AI capability. It’s not just about owning data centers anymore, but rather forging partnerships to shift how things work.

NURO

Image source: Nuro

The Rundown: Nuro, the self-driving tech startup founded by two former Waymo engineers and backed by SoftBank, snagged a hefty $203M, pulling in heavyweight new investors Uber and Nvidia.

The details:

  • The fresh funding sets Nuro’s valuation at $6B, one of the highest for a private self-driving tech company.

  • Founded in 2016, Nuro has evolved from a delivery robot startup to a leading software licensor for commercial fleets, robotaxis, and EVs.

  • Uber plans to roll out more than 20K Lucid SUVs using Nuro’s autonomous “Nuro Driver” system in international robotaxi services starting in 2026.

  • Waymo’s success in rolling out its fleet of robotaxis across several U.S. cities has also fueled investor interest in the space.

Why it matters: Nuro has made huge strides in Level 4 autonomy, and this cash infusion validates its shift from operating its own small-scale delivery services to becoming a foundational AI and autonomy platform for large fleets. If this investment is any sign, we’re likely to see a lot more next-gen robotaxis on roads soon.

BRILLIANT LABS

Image source: Brilliant Labs

The Rundown: Two former Harvard students just launched Halo, a pair of “always-on” AI-powered smart glasses that continuously listen, record, and transcribe every conversation, instantly feeding relevant information to the wearer.

The details:

  • Co-founder Caine Ardayfio describes the tech as enabling users to “cheat” in real-life situations, from interviews to exams, similar to Cluely.

  • The smart glasses use a microphone and display (but no camera) and leverage Google’s Gemini for reasoning along with Perplexity for online info.

  • The glasses run an open-source AI stack that enables a voice assistant, secure personal memory encoding, and instant creation of custom voice-driven apps.

  • Halo’s founders claim their device is the next step in augmenting human intelligence, while critics warn it could open Pandora’s box for consent.

Why it matters: With a 14-hour battery, on-device processing, and a $299 price tag, these glasses sound almost too good to be true. Plus, by omitting a camera, Halo sidesteps major privacy concerns and enables use in sensitive and public places where other smart glasses might be restricted.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Every SpaceX Starship launch from Kennedy Space Center could trigger up to two-hour flight delays at major Florida airports due to required airspace closures.

Canva, the Australian graphic design platform, reached a $42B valuation after launching a major employee stock sale ahead of a potential IPO.

Toyoake, Japan, proposed a non-binding ordinance urging residents to limit personal smartphone use to two hours a day and set evening cutoff times for students.

Google agreed to pay $30M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it illegally collected personal data from children under 13 on YouTube without parental consent.

Sony announced that U.S. prices for PlayStation 5 consoles will rise by $50 each, primarily due to new U.S. tariffs on imported electronics.

Great Western Railway said its battery-powered passenger train completed a 200-mile journey, setting a new world record for the longest distance on a single charge.

Scientists created the most detailed genetic map of frailty in older adults, opening new paths for anti-aging therapies by pinpointing genes linked to health risks.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

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