AI Daily: Senate to keep ban on state AI rules in Trump tax package for now

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

SENATE TAX BILL: A Republican effort to block U.S. states from enforcing new artificial intelligence regulations will remain in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending package for now, Bloomberg’s Emily Birnbaum and Steven T. Dennis AI moratorium would deny states federal funding for broadband internet projects if they enforce AI regulations. The provision would benefit many of the U.S.’s largest tech and AI companies, which have lobbied against a state-by-state “patchwork” of rules governing AI.

META RECRUITITNG AI TALENT: Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past few months sending emails and WhatsApp messages to the smartest AI researchers in an effort to play catch-up, Meghan Bobrowsky, Berber Jin, and Ben Cohen of The Wall Street Journal reported. He has personally reached out to hundreds of researchers, scientists, infrastructure engineers, etc. to try to get them to join a new Superintelligence lab. Additionally, Zuckerberg is also offering pay packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars as part of the effort.

THINKING MACHINES LAB FUNDRAISING: OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati has raised $2B for her new artificial intelligence start-up, in a deal which values the mysterious six-month-old company at $10B, Financial Times’ Cristina Criddle, George Hammond, and Robin Wigglesworth reported. The deal, which closed recently, according to multiple people familiar with the transaction, was one of the largest “seed” – or initial – funding rounds in Silicon Valley’s history. Thinking Machines Lab has not declared what it is working on, instead using Murati’s name and reputation to attract investors, said those familiar with the fundraiser.

COPILOT FOR GAMING: Microsoft’s (MSFT)T Xbox said in a blog post that Copilot for Gaming, its AI chatbot for video game players, is available now for early preview on mobile and will be coming to PC soon. “We are introducing the ultimate gaming sidekick that helps players get to play faster, sharpen their skills with expert coaching, and enjoy a more interactive and social gaming experience,” the company said. “Currently available for early preview in the beta version of the Xbox mobile app, available on iOS and Android, and coming this holiday on the ROG Xbox Ally. In this early version, players can ask Copilot about any games, including the game they’re currently playing, or seek assistance if they encounter difficulties. Try asking Copilot for tips, guidance, or even video to help guide you through your next quest. For more suggestions on what to try, see the official announcement here. Stay tuned for more.”

APPLE NEEDS AI M&A: Apple (AAPL) has taken a conservative approach to M&A, which may need to change to catch up in AI by acquiring a startup like Perplexity, Cohere, Sierra AI, or Mistral, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman argues. Gurman says OpenAI and Anthropic, two leading AI developers, are “not likely” acquisition targets for Apple. Gurman previously wrote that Apple executives had internal conversations about potentially bidding for Perplexity AI in order to gain more AI talent and technology.