🧠 OpenAI raids Thinking Machines

Good Morning! OpenAI is aggressively hiring from Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab, reigniting industry drama and signaling how intense the talent war has become. Plus, I’ll show you how to build and deploy a full App just by chatting with AI.

In today’s AI newsletter:

• How to Build and Deploy a Full App Just by Chatting with AI

• OpenAI Raids Thinking Machines Lab

• Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing

• Google Launches TranslateGemma Models

• 4 new AI tools worth trying

TALENT WAR

🧠 OpenAI Raids Thinking Machines Lab

OpenAI has rehired Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, cofounders of Thinking Machines Lab, with more researchers expected to follow. The move has sparked controversy, internal disputes, and fresh questions around ethics, trust, and competition inside elite AI labs.

• Two Thinking Machines cofounders rejoin OpenAI after leaving in late 2024

• Sources allege internal misconduct and trust breakdowns at Thinking Machines

• OpenAI denies ethical concerns and says the hires were planned weeks ago

• More researchers are expected to move from Thinking Machines to OpenAI soon

It shows how scarce top AI talent has become and how power struggles between frontier labs are intensifying. As billions flow into AI and AGI stakes rise, people, not models, are the real battleground.

AI NEWS

⚡Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing 

The U.S. and Taiwan finalized a multibillion-dollar agreement aimed at strengthening America’s domestic semiconductor supply chain. Taiwanese chip and tech companies will invest heavily across semiconductors, AI, and energy production in the U.S.

• $250B in direct investments from Taiwanese semiconductor and tech firms

• Additional $250B in credit guarantees to support future investments

• Investments span semiconductors, AI production, and energy infrastructure

• Deal follows new U.S. tariffs on advanced AI chips and push for reshoring

The U.S. currently makes only ~10% of the world’s semiconductors. This deal signals a major geopolitical and AI supply-chain shift, as chips become central to national security, defense, and AI leadership.

AI MODELS

🌍 Google Launches TranslateGemma Models

TranslateGemma is a specialized translation-focused extension of the Gemma family, designed to deliver better translations than much larger models, while still running efficiently on everyday hardware.

• Supports 55 languages, with major gains in low-resource language pairs

• Comes in 3 sizes: 4B (mobile), 12B (laptops), and 27B (single H100 / TPU)

• 12B model outperforms a 27B base model, cutting translation errors by ~26%

• Retains multimodal abilities, including translating text directly from images

TranslateGemma shows that smaller, specialized models can beat bigger ones. By open-weighting high-quality translation across devices, Google is pushing powerful multilingual AI out of the cloud and into local, everyday use.

HOW TO AI

🗂️ How to Build and Deploy a Full App Just by Chatting with AI

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a working web app by simply describing it in plain English. You talk to the AI, watch your app come to life in real time, and deploy it to a live URL with a single click.

🧰 Who is This For

• Builders who want AI to execute, not just suggest

• Creators and founders tired of juggling multiple AI subscriptions

• Non-technical users who want apps, automations, and designs without code

• Anyone curious about where autonomous AI agents are headed next

STEP 1: Aceess the Tool

Head over to Kilo Code and open the App Builder tab from a write side bar.

Here, you’ll see a prompt box at the middle of the screen and below the prompt box there will be a model selector with access top AI models, including frontier options like Claude 4.5 Sonnet and Gemini 3 Pro.

Here you can simply describe what you want to build using normal language and Kilo will immediately begins generating the full app structure for you.

STEP 2: Write a simle prompt

Once you’re ready, start typing your prompt. For example, I type: “build 2d platformer game“.

As soon as you send this, Kilo begins generating the full app structure for you.

On the screen, you’ll see a Live Preview panel where your app renders instantly. Every change you request appears in real time, just like working with a designer and developer at once.

STEP 3: Refine Your App with Live Preview

As the conversation continues, Kilo writes and updates the code automatically.

To make updates, simply describe what you want to change.

Example: “Change the color scheme to black and yellow“

Kilo understands the request, rewrites the necessary parts of the app, and refreshes the preview automatically, no code editing required.

STEP 4: Deploy to a Live URL with One Click

Once you’re happy with the app, publishing it takes seconds.

Click the Deploy button in the top-right corner of the App Builder dashboard.
If prompted, connect your GitHub account.

Kilo automatically builds your project, sets up hosting, and generates a public URL you can share instantly.

From this point on, every change you make through Kilo can be redeployed automatically, your app stays live and up to date without extra work.

The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral joined Wikimedia Enterprise to get “tuned” API access; Google is already a member.

Replit launches Mobile Apps on Replit, which enables vibe-coding of iOS apps with integrated Stripe monetization.

Brain-computer interface startup Merge Labs, which Sam Altman co-founded, raised a $252M seed from OpenAI, Bain Capital, Gabe Newell, and others.

Apple now needs to fight for TSMC production capacity amid the AI boom; Nvidia was likely TSMC's top customer in at least one or two quarters in 2025.

🤖 Claude Cowork: Anthropic’s feature that turns Claude into a fully autonomous virtual assistant

🧠 Personal Intelligence: Gemini that uses your Gmail & app data to personalize responses

🎇 GLM-Image: Z AI’s open-source image generator

💬 Slackbot: Slack’s smarter built-in AI assistant

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY

Thanks for making it to the end! I put my heart into every email I send, I hope you are enjoying it. Let me know your thoughts so I can make the next one even better!

See you tomorrow :)

- Dr. Alvaro Cintas