An OpenAI social network!?
Plus: Topgolf for pool; Hugging Face’s robotics acquisition
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⚡ Tech News Takes ⚡
An OpenAI social network!?
What’s up: OpenAI is working on a prototype of a social network. For now, it has a feed focused on image generation, and is rumored to be integrated with ChatGPT, the same way xAI’s Grok is integrated with X. CEO Sam Altman is secretly requesting feedback on the idea from a small group of people, and there are no concrete plans to launch it.
So what: This is pretty fascinating. First, Sam is clearly pumped about their new, wildly popular image generation tool (and all the Studio Ghibli memes and content it spawned). And he’s likely wondering how the benefits of viral moments like that can be captured on a platform OpenAI owns, rather than going to X and xAI, where people are posting the memes/images. Second, I’m still very bearish on OpenAI’s long term prospects as a purely AI-focused frontier model company. Making moves towards being a social media app, a messaging app, etc. would do wonders for their longevity.
Topgolf founders are doing tech-infused pool now
What’s up: The creators of Topgolf have raised $34 million to launch Poolhouse, a chain for augmented reality-enhanced pool and high-end food and drink. The first location will open near London’s Liverpool Street Station in January 2026. They plan to expand to franchises and U.S. locations, trying to replicate Topgolf’s success in the growing “competitive socialization” space.
So what: I love this idea. Topgolf has been a huge success because it infused tech into an already popular sport, used that tech to make it easier for beginners to enjoy, and created an atmosphere that was fun for all (kids, adults, non-golfers, dates, parties, etc.). I think we’ll continue to see the trend of competition-oriented, tech-infused 3rd places for people to come together. Plus, Poolhouse has a much smaller footprint than the 5+ football fields Topgolf needs, so there’s potential for it to grow even faster.
Hugging Face bought a robotics company
What’s up: Hugging Face, an open-source AI development platform, has acquired France-based Pollen Robotics, the maker of the open-source humanoid robot Reachy 2. Before the acquisition, Pollen had raised ~$3M and had collaborated with Hugging Face on a smaller robot. Hugging Face has hired a former Tesla Optimus engineer to run the robotics team, and they plan to sell Reachy 2 and make its code open-source.
So what: This is a great move by Hugging Face. First, they have direct knowledge of the Pollen robots’ quality, so they don’t need to struggle through those early development milestones. Plus, they can continue living up to their open-source ethos, putting pressure on the closed-source robotics companies that are (for now) out ahead — Figure AI, Agility Robotics, etc.
Self-driving truck company going public via SPAC
What’s up: Kodiak Robotics is going public through a SPAC merger with Ares Acquisition Corporation II, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. Kodiak, founded in 2018, has logged 2.6 million autonomous miles, deployed fully driverless trucks in Texas, and holds a $30 million defense contract. Its Driver-as-a-Service model charges per mile or per truck, targeting a $1T U.S. and $4T global market. The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2025.
So what: On the one hand, I’ll admit I’m biased in favor of most self-driving efforts. Self-driving will make us safer and free up more leisure time… and self-driving trucks deliver even more benefits — lowering shipping costs, expanding available routes, etc. So for those reasons, I’m excited about Kodiak. But on the other hand, I can’t believe they’re doing this via a SPAC. Compared to going public with a traditional IPO, SPACs tend to have less due diligence, higher projections, misaligned incentives (since Ares, the SPAC sponsor, just needs ANY deal to happen to get 20% of it), and lower performance. Plus, for a company like Kodiak with strong momentum, why not just continue raising private rounds? Fingers crossed for them, but I don’t fully get it.
Other quick hits
Yesterday, Nvidia wrote-off $5.5B… due to the Trump administration’s export restrictions to China. That surprised the markets (and yours truly), since CEO Jensen Huang had a meeting with Trump just last week, where it sounded like Nvidia negotiated to avoid those restrictions.
Perplexity to partner with Samsung… to get their AI assistant onto Samsung’s Galaxy devices. It could be pre-loaded, or available for Perplexity users to set as the default AI tool on-device. They’ve already inked a similar deal with Motorola.
xAI‘s Grok model gets memory… so users get better responses. With the feature, Grok will take prior chats into account. This is a feature ChatGPT has had for a while, but that others have struggled to match. Microsoft’s “recall” feature, for example, was delayed an entire year over user privacy concerns.
🌲 F/T Shoutouts 🌲
Visualizing the US economy — The team at Visual Capitalist always delivers. Can’t believe the size of housing and healthcare… more than $6 trillion total!
More Kodiak — Aside from the awkward Q&A at the beginning (haha), this is a short/sweet intro to Kodiak, the self-driving truck co we talked about earlier
Kodiak Robotics CEO on self-driving semi-trucks, launch to highways and technology
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