Google acquires Windsurf 💰, SpaceX funds xAI 🤖, vibe coding interviews 👨‍💻

TLDR 2025-07-14

Jul 14, 2025

Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in $2.4 billion AI talent deal (3 minute read)

Google has signed an agreement to hire Varum Mohan, the co-founder of AI coding startup, Windsurf, and other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google will not invest in Windsurf, but it will receive a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology. Windsurf is free to license its technology to others. Google is paying $2.4 billion for the deal. Windsurf had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, but the finalization period expired.

SpaceX to Invest $2 Billion Into Elon Musk's xAI (3 minute read)

SpaceX agreed to invest $2 billion into xAI as part of xAI's $5 billion equity fundraise announced by Morgan Stanley last month. This is not the first time Elon Musk has mobilized his business empire to boost the AI startup. More business partnerships between SpaceX and xAI are likely in the future. SpaceX recently had more than $3 billion in cash on hand - the company rarely makes investments in outside ventures.

🚀Science & Futuristic Technology

Lucid absolutely smashes Guinness World Record for the longest EV drive on a single charge (4 minute read)

Lucid Motors just set a Guinness World Record for the longest journey by an electric car on a single charge using its Air Grand Touring car, covering a distance of around 768 miles. The previous record of 649 miles was achieved by the Mercedes-Benz ETS450+ in June 2025. Lucid Motors' EV traveled between St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Munich, Germany through highways, secondary roads, and alpine roads. The Air Grand Touring, starting at $112,650, has two all-wheel drive electric motors with a combined system output of 611 kW (819 horsepower) and 1,200 Nm (885 lb-ft) of torque.

A Never-Ending Supply of Drones Has Frozen the Front Lines in Ukraine (7 minute read)

Drones are dominating the battlefield in the fight for Ukraine. Both sides have hundreds of them constantly in the air across the 750-mile front line. Drones can lay mines, deliver ammunition and medication, and even evacuate wounded or dead soldiers. They are being used to spot movement along the front line and dispatched to strike enemy troops and vehicles. Drones are so cheap to make that both sides can expend them on any target, including individual soldiers. Due to their size and speed, they are difficult to shoot down, so the main defense against them has been electronic jamming systems - but these can be overcome with fiber-optic drones.

💻Programming, Design & Data Science

Announcing GenAI Processors: Build powerful and flexible Gemini applications (6 minute read)

Google DeepMind has released an open-source Python library designed to bring structure and simplicity to the changes of building AI applications with large language models. GenAI Processors provides an abstraction layer that defines a consistent interface for everything from input handling and pre-processing to model calls and output processing. The stream-based API allows for seamless chaining and composition of different operations. GenAI Processors helps developers write responsive applications without making code more complex.

I messed up my Google PM Vibe Coding Interview (2 minute read)

A Reddit user attended the second round of their Google Product Management interview and was surprised when it turned out to be a vibe coding interview. This caused them to become flustered and underperform - they had the knowledge, but the stress caused them to blank on the exact implementation. Those interviewing for similar roles should take this post as a warning - be prepared for the possibility of a vibe coding interview format. The Reddit user was interviewing for an L5 PM role that had a strong focus on AI/ML.

🎁Miscellaneous

Tim Cook Isn't Going Anywhere Soon, But an Apple Shake-Up Looms (16 minute read)

Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is probably not going to leave anytime soon despite being mired in Apple's biggest crisis in years. Cook's longtime No. 2, Jeff Williams, just announced plans to retire, so there's no immediate successor ready to take the helm, and there haven't been signs that Cook has begun the process of grooming a replacement. The board also doesn't feel the need to make a change - while shares are down 16% this year, they've surged about 1,500% since he became CEO in 2011. While Cook is staying, the company has started a broad management shake-up - roughly half of Cook's direct reports could depart within the next few years.

Hypercapitalism and the AI talent wars (18 minute read)

The hypercapitalist AI talent wars will rewrite employment contracts and investment norms, concentrate returns, and raise the bar for mission and capital required to create great new companies. The social contracts between employees, startups, and investors must be rewritten. Founders must prepare themselves for the step-function increase in mercenary firepower. The M&A talent war is just beginning - as the numbers get bigger for talent and companies, all sides need to reimagine the social contract.

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