Tech Brew Ride Home - Uncle Sam’s Intel Stake

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

The government has indeed taken a stake in Intel. Apple might turn to Google to save Siri. Meta turns to Midjourney. Perplexity wants to cut publishers in on the action. And how DHL is using AI to shore up a workforce that is aging out. Links: Trump, Intel Agree to 10% U.S. Stake as President Promises More Deals (NYTimes) Apple Explores Using Google Gemini AI to Power Revamped Siri (Bloomberg) Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models (TechCrunch) Perplexity to Let Publishers Share in Revenue from AI Searches (Bloomberg) Netflix Sets Opening Dates for Permanent Entertainment and Shopping Venues in Philadelphia, Dallas (Variety) Inside DHL’s AI upgrade: ‘Love it or hate it, you have to work with it’ (FT) 8 Women, 4 Bedrooms and 1 Cause: Breaking A.I.’s Glass Ceiling (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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GoogleFi Wireless is not subject to data traffic deprioritization during times of high network usage. Welcome to the Tech Brew Ride Home for Monday, August 25th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, the government has indeed taken a stake in Intel. Apple might turn to Google to save Siri, meta turns to mid-jury, perplexity wants to cut publishers in on the action, and how DHL is using AI to shore up a workforce that is aging out. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get. The best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College deal, everything you need, to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 premium and a year of Xbox GamePass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at Windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th, terms at AKA.m.S. College PC.

Need to catch you up on this real quick because it is big news. The U.S. government has indeed taken a 10% stake in. Intel. Howard Lutnik said earlier that the U.S. won't be on Intel's board or play a role in Intel's governance, but Intel says the U.S. will make an $8.9 billion investment by purchasing 433.3 million primary shares of Intel common stock for $20.47 per share. Intel closed on August 22nd at $24.80 per share. Quoting the journal, the deal is a remarkable turnaround just over two weeks ago. Trump called for Intel CEO Lipboot Tan to be fired for his ties to China. After meeting Tan and talking about the business last week, Trump became a fan and saw an opportunity to deepen their

partnership, he said Friday. I said, I think you should pay us 10% of the company. And they said yes, Trump said in the Oval Office. Tan was photographed smiling with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik in Washington to celebrate the deal. Under the terms of the agreement, the government would become Intel's largest shareholder. Intel previously received $2.2 billion in Chips Act. grants. The U.S. is paying $20.47. A share, a discount to the $23 per share, Japan's SoftBank Group recently agreed to pay as part of a $2 billion investment. The stock closed at $24.80 on Friday. The deal gets better for the government if Intel does a deal for its contract manufacturing business. If Intel's ownership in its foundry falls below 51 percent, the government

gets the option to acquire an additional 5 percent stake at $20 per share. This is the government big-footing its way in, said Gantam Makunda, a lecturer at the Yale University School of Management who studies innovation and leadership. Macunda characterized the arrangement as unprecedented interference in a company that isn't in dire straits, as banks were during the 2008 financial crisis, say. Analysts have speculated the government could help arrange deals or urge companies to buy from Intel. Announcing the deal, the president promised to do more like it in the future, since his reelection, he has already intervened in the commercial sector in novel ways. Trump has agreed for the U.S. to take a 15% cut of AI chip sales to China from

Nvidia and advanced microdevices and been given a, quote, golden share, giving him sway over how Nippon Steel operates U.S. Steel following a recent takeover, end quote. Sources tell Mark German that Apple is in talks with Google about using Gemini to power a revamped Siri. Google has even started training a model that could run on Apple's server. quote, the work is part of an effort to catch up in generative AI, a field where Apple arrived late and then struggled to gain traction. Earlier this year, Apple also explored partnerships with Anthropic and Open AI, weighing weather, clawed, or chat chippy T could serve as Siri's new brain. Apple is still several weeks away from making a decision on whether to continue using internal

models for Siri or move to a partner, and it hasn't yet determined who that partner may be. Spokespeople for Apple and Google declined to comment. The Siri update was originally designed around technology developed by the Apple Foundation models team. That group also created the on-device large language models that power Apple intelligence features, like summarizing text and creating custom emoji, aiming to fix series flaws and bring the delayed features to market. Apple executives and Apple's corporate development team run by Adrian Parika started meeting with Anthropic and opening eye about a potential deal. Internally, Apple is holding a bakeoff to see which approach will work best. The company is simultaneously developing two versions of the new series, one dubbed

Linwood that is powered by its models and another codenamed Glenwood that runs on outside technology. Executives had long viewed Anthropic as the leading candidate for a partnership, but the financial terms demanded by that company led Apple to broaden the search and bring others into the mix. Apple certainly hasn't ruled out sticking to its own models either. These talks are separate from other deals to integrate chatbots into Apple intelligence. Last year, Apple added ChatGBTBT as a Siri fallback for general knowledge questions, an area where the assistant has long underperformed. And both Apple and Google have already publicly signaled plans for a similar Gemini integration.

The talks about using Google Gemini models to power Siri remain exploratory with no formal commercial negotiations currently underway. Google has made similar deals before and powers much of the AI functionality on phones sold by Samsung, end quote. Meanwhile, Meta announced a partnership with Mid Journey to license the startup's so-called aesthetic technology for meta's future models and products. The announcement was made by Alexander Wang himself on X, quoting TechCrunch. To ensure meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people, it will require

taking an all-of-the-above approach, Wang said. This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry. The Mid-Journey partnership could help meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and video models such as OpenAIs SORA, Black Forest Labs, Flux, and Google's VEO. Last year, Meta rolled out its own AI image, tool Imagine into several of its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta also has an AI video generation tool movie gen that allows users to create videos from prompts.

While the terms of Meta's deal with Mid Journey remain unknown, the startup CEO David Holtz said in a post on X that his company remains independent with no investors. Mid Journey is one of the few leading AI model developers that has never taken an outside funding. At one point, Meta talked with Mid Journey about acquiring the startup, according to Upstarts Media. Mid Journey was founded in 2022 and quickly became a leader in the AI image generation space for its realistic, unique style. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on pace to generate $200 million in revenue. The startup sells subscriptions starting at $10 per month. It offers pricier tiers, which offer more AI image generations that cost as much as $120 per month.

In June, the startup released its first AI video model V1. Meta's partnership with Mid Journey comes just two months after the startup was sued by Disney and University. alleging that it trained AI image models on copyrighted works. Several AI model developers, including meta, face similar allegations from copyright holders. However, recent court cases pertaining to AI training data have cited with tech companies, end quote. Meanwhile, meanwhile, perplexity has launched Comet Plus, a $5 per month tier offering curated content, and said it has allocated $42.5 million for publishers of that content, which will receive 80% of the revenue. quoting Bloomberg.

AI is helping to create a better internet, but publishers still need to get paid, said CEO Arvon Shrinivas. So we think this is actually the right solution, and we're happy to make adjustments along the way. The media industry has clashed with artificial intelligence companies over concerns that AI generated responses from tools like OpenAI's chat GPT and Google's AI overviews have cut valuable web traffic to their sites. Jessica Chan, head of publisher partnerships and perplexity said in an interview that the traditional model where media outlets rely on web traffic and clicks is a, quote, old model. We just want to create a new standard for compensation, she said. In the new program, publishers will be able to earn money when their content

receives web traffic through perplexity's comment internet browser, appears in search queries on comment and when it's used to complete tasks by Comet's AI assistant. The funds for compensating publishers comes from the revenue earned from Comet Plus, a new subscription tier for the comment browser that Shereenovas described as being similar to Apple's Apple News Plus. Customers will pay $5 a month to access a curated selection of content from publishers and Perplexity's new program. Publishers will get 80% of the revenue, while Perplexity gets the rest. While AI companies like OpenA.I. and Google have made bespoke multi-million dollar deals with major publishers to license and distribute content, perplexity is one of the first AI

startups to introduce a new method of sharing revenue based on how often content appears or assists in user queries. Chan declined to say which publishers are already participating in the program, but said that Perplexity is in talks with previous media partners. The startup has previously teamed up with outlets like Time, the Los Angeles Times, and Fortune on a program for sharing ad revenue. Perplexity has also scuffled with some media organizations with outlets like Forbes and Condé Nast, accusing the company of using their content and AI news summaries without permission. The startup also lost a bid last week to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by News Corp's Dow Jones and the New York Post.

We are confident AI companies will win all of these lawsuits. Perplexity spokesperson, Jesse Dwyer said in a statement, we look forward to settling the law on the early on so that everyone can benefit from AI, end quote. Netflix plans to open its first so-called Netflix house locations. 100,000 square foot entertainment and shopping venues in Philadelphia on November 12th and Dallas on December 11th. Quoting variety. The free-to-enter venues will include paid activities, merchandise, and food all tied

to top Netflix IP, including Wednesday, Squid Game, One Piece, Stranger Things, K-pop Demon Hunters, Love is Blind, Sakamoto Days, and a Knives Out mystery franchise, and more. Per Netflix description for the Netflix house location's offerings, they include experiences and activities that will be refreshed regularly, and ticket prices will vary, so there's truly something for everyone and opportunities for a different adventure each time you visit a Netflix house. Top nine mini golf at Netflix House Philadelphia offers nine holes of gamified minigolf where every golf ball and hole is connected with a live leaderboard. allowing for more fun and competitive play. Each hole is themed to characters and stories from popular series and events, including Bridgeton, Is It Cake, Stranger Things, WWE, Squid Game, and more. Netflix virtuals at Netflix House, Philadelphia,

lets fans play as the main character inside the worlds of Netflix shows and movies with immersive VR games, including Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Rebel Moon. Netflix replay at Netflix House Dallas includes interactive and fresh takes on traditional arcade games that you can play with friends. Fans will join the action of favorite shows and films such as Sakamoto days, Floor is Lava, Love is Blind, Army of the Dead, Big Mouth and more. Larger scale feature experiences at both locations allow fans to transport themselves into some of Netflix's most popular series. One Piece, Quest for the Devil Fruit, and Wednesday Eve of the Outcast in Philadelphia, Stranger Things Escape the Dark and Squid Games survived the trials in Dallas. A wait list is now open to sign up to buy tickets for the paid experiences at Netflix House, which will go on sale October.

17th for Philadelphia and November 18th for Dallas, end quote. Ready to soundtrack your summer? With Red Bull Summer All Day Play, you choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end DJ, a road dog, or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit Red Bull.com slash Bright Summer ahead to learn more. See you this summer. This weekend, the Financial Times took a look at how German delivery giant DHS uses automation and AI to help offset an aging workforce.

I'm flagging this one because this looks like it could be a model for how AI will transform the workforce, not necessarily by stealing jobs, but like by sliding into DMs, if you will. It's not been all smooth going when DHS's AI-powered voice bot first launch, managers discovered it struggled to recognize Jha. Yes, a reminder that close an hour. is critical to refining AI systems. The bot now handles a million calls a month, resolving half without human help, freeing agents up to tackle complex issues and even retrain as conversation designers or quality supervisors. For DHS, AI isn't about cutting jobs, but adapting to a shrinking labor pool. One third of support staff will retire in the next five years. Automation and AI already optimized warehouse operations from sequencing orders to predicting shipping volumes,

helping offset demographic pressures while employment in logistics continues to grow. Everyone in Germany understands that if you don't automate, you won't manage the shrinking workforce, says CIO-Berned Gaiman. Still integrating AI requires careful negotiation. Work councils pushed for strict guidelines to prevent sensitive data leaks and regulations limit how advanced some tools can become. Yet D.HL's internal Gaia AI Hub encourages experimentation from streamlining customs paperwork to generating training materials, ensuring, ensuring,

employees see AI as a supportive colleague rather than as a threat. The company frames AI as a partner, helping new hires access institutional knowledge, translating customer instructions into 20 languages, and simplifying repetitive tasks. Though economic pressures have driven some job cuts, DHS emphasizes that AI adoption is about sustaining operations in a challenging environment. As one work council leader put it, whether you love it or hate it, you have to work with it, so make the best of it, end quote. Finally today, also from the weekend, but from the New York times a look at Found Her House, an all-female hacker house in San Francisco that has become a hotspot for dinners and panel discussions sponsored by the likes of A16Z and others.

In San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood, eight young women transformed a rented stucco home into found her house, an all-female hacker house aimed at shattering the male-dominated glass ceiling in artificial intelligence. Founded in May by University of Southern California students Miki Safronov Yamamoto, 18, and Anatika Manby, 21, the co-living space provided a supportive environment for residents to build startups while sharing expenses amid storing rents. The residents aged 18 to 21 included Ava Poole, developing an AI payment agent, Chloe Hughes, creating an AI real estate platform, Sonia Jin, training AI agents, Danica Sun, focusing on clean energy, Fatima Hussein, building a mentoring program, Nassir. Mohamed, designing an AI tool for pediatric medical explanations and others pursuing innovative ventures. Motivated by the AI boom's gender disparity were fewer than 20% of the 3,212 venture deals

this year involved female-founded companies, the House-fustered collaboration with six startups launching products and two securing funding. Facing challenges like male-heavy hacker houses and underfunded women-led AI firms, as noted by CRETO CEO Navrina Singh, the group defraied $40,000. summer rent costs through donations from investors like Brad Feld, who kicked in $10,000. The house became a hub for VC-sponsored events from firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, culminating in an August 19th demo day attended by 150 investors, praised by Cowboy Ventures Eileen Lee, as exceptional. Found her house closed today, actually, as most residents are returning to college,

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