🍭 Browser Battles Between Big Bosses

Good morning. The office’s AI assistant started ending every Slack message
with “...or else.”

We’re ignoring it.

For now…

Let’s dig in.

🍭 What’s Cookin’:

• Perplexity’s just grandstanding?

• WTF is USAi?

• ToolBox™

• And Everything Else

Browser Wars
🤝 Perplexity Bids $34B to Acquire Google Chrome

The Bite: AI search leader, Perplexity, lobbed a $34B offer to buy their biggest rival’s browser; Chrome.

Yes, that Chrome. By Google.
No. Chrome is not for sale.

But the USA’s Dept. of Justice wants remedies for their search monopoly.
And “sell Chrome” is on the menu.

Perplexity’s pitch: keep Google as the default search (lol), keep Chromium open-source, and invest $3B.

Is it a real bid?
A regulatory chess move?
Or the world’s most effective growth hack for a startup valued at ~$18–20B

Answer: all three.

Snacks:

• The bid: $34.5B, unsolicited, “all-cash,” sent Aug 12, 2025.

• Strings attached: keep Chromium open-source, invest $3B over two years.

• DOJ’s wishlist for Google’s unlawful search monopoly: divesting Chrome.

• Market: Chrome sits around ~68% global share

• Valuation gap: Perplexity’s last round was ~$18B–$20B and >$150M ARR; the bid is nearly 2x its valuation…

Why it Bites: This is just the next instalment in “The Great Browser Wars”.

Since AI first browsers like Perplexity’s Comet have came on the scene and Google’s DOJ case, this has become an interesting narrative to follow.

This chapter? Pure grandstanding.

0% chance this deal goes through.

The only way?
If the courts force the sale.

But can you blame Aravind for trying?
Google Chrome is the distribution front door to the entire internet.

5 AI Tools
🧰 ToolBox™

🧠 brainrot
Screen time tracker that gamifies digital detox.
Limit your scrolling to keep your brain avatar alive.

👓 Ally Solos Glasses
Smart glasses with AI assistant, designed for blind and low-vision users.
Reads menus, recognizes faces, and narrates your surroundings.

☄️ Comet by Perplexity
AI-powered web browser.
Instant, precise search answers wrapped in a smooth, interactive design.

🎬 DeepReel
Converts blogs or docs into presenter-led videos.
Automated scripting, visuals, voiceovers, and music all in minutes.

📱 Anything
No-code agent for shipping polished mobile apps and websites.
AI-generated, human-level designs without extra tools.

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🍭 Steal This Prompt 🍭
📼 Retro Futurism By @gizakdag

This Midjourney prompt + style by the lovely @gizakdag

Mad max meets cyberpunk meets movie poster meets early 90s video game.

Have fun with this one.

1. Click this link for the prompt.

2. Paste into MJ

3. Use your profile (--p)

4. Let it cook

   
   🍭 Try the prompt on Snack Prompt 🍭

USAi
🏛️ Trump Just Put AI into Uncle Sam’s Workflow

The Bite: Trump's admin just rolled out "USAi," a new tool designed to inject AI steroids straight into government efficiency.

This platform is set to make federal employees more productive, fast, secure, and free (take that, SaaS bros).

Well… it’s only “free” because both OpenAI and Anthropic have given the US government unlimited API access for $1.


Snacks:

• AI All-in-One: Chatbots, code generators, doc summarizers.

• Free-for-Feds: Agencies can deploy AI tools immediately, no extra charge.

• David Shive (GSA CIO): Called it "infrastructure for America’s AI future," which sounds like a line straight outta Silicon Valley
  (the show, not the place).

• Trump’s three-pillar AI Action Plan: Center American workers, curb ideological bias, protect US-built tech from cyber-baddies. (or china…?)

• GSA likened the USAi rollout to the migration to cloud computing. (2010)

Why it bites: Trump’s doubling down on American AI dominance with a no-excuses toolkit.

Sure, it's easy to meme "government efficiency," but if USAi actually delivers, we could see a legitimate shift in how the, notoriously slow, federal government gets stuff done.
(or doesn't) 

Either way, Trump’s staking serious political cred on AI leadership, which means every agency’s success or flop could be a headline moment.

Strap in, because the future of AI policy just became Trump-branded reality TV.

Everything Else
🧠 You Need to Know

xAI Loses US Government Deal After Grok Praise for Hitler
→ Elon Musk’s AI firm was dropped from a federal AI rollout after its chatbot spouted antisemitic conspiracy theories.
👉 Read more

Google Launches Tiny Gemma 3 Model
→ The 270M-parameter version runs on smartphones or browsers, offering faster, private AI with minimal power use.
👉 Read more

Hedge Funds Double Down on Big Tech
→ Bridgewater, Tiger Global, and others increased tech holdings in Q2 as AI-fueled momentum investing returns.
👉 Read more

Cognition AI Raises $500M at $9.8B Valuation
→ The Devin AI coding assistant maker secured new funding a month after agreeing to acquire Windsurf.
👉 Read more

Meta’s AI Rules Allowed Romantic Chat with Minors
→ Internal policies let chatbots use romantic language with children, later revised after media inquiries.
👉 Read more

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