Grok, GPT-5, and Going Global

📡 Radar

🧠 OpenAI Releases GPT-5 and Open-Weights Models

OpenAI dropped two big updates this week. GPT-5 is now available to all ChatGPT users, promising better reasoning and fewer hallucinations. Meanwhile, the company released its first open-weight models since GPT-2, signaling a more open approach as it faces pressure from rivals like Meta and Mistral. WIRED / CNBC

🎨 Grok’s Image and Video Generator Arrives

xAI just dropped Grok Imagine, a new tool for generating AI powered images and video. It supports everything from product renders to anime to full blown NSFW content, giving creators far more latitude than other platforms. The launch is classic Elon, breaking rules, shipping fast, and daring rivals to keep up. TechCrunch

🕸️ Perplexity Scraping Claims Spark Debate

Perplexity faced scrutiny over reports it scraped content from websites that had explicitly blocked AI crawlers. While the legal and ethical debate continues, the incident highlights just how blurry the lines remain around data collection for LLMs. Techcrunch

💧 MrBeast Goes Global for Clean Water

This week, MrBeast and Mark Rober launched #TeamWater, a huge creator-driven fundraiser aiming to raise $40 million by August 31 to bring clean drinking water to 2 million people. With over 3,000 creators across 31 countries joining in, the campaign has already delivered over 6 million years of safe water access. Each dollar equals a year of clean water for one person. Incredible. Newsweek

🚀 Ramp Raises $500 Million to Accelerate AI

Just six weeks after raising $200 million, Ramp added another $500 million to fuel its AI expansion and now sits at a $22.5 billion valuation. The funds will help scale its suite of AI agents that automate finance tasks like fraud detection and expense management, positioning Ramp as the system of record for modern finance teams. Payments Dive

💬 Prompt

Where should we begin?

You just built a quantum-powered productivity tool. Write a one‑line product tagline a VC would retweet immediately.

💥 Trends

📈 Record Rounds in Secondaries

The first half of 2025 saw more than $100 billion in LP-led and GP-led secondary deals, already eclipsing most full-year records. LP-led transactions dominated with 54 percent of the volume, while buyouts accounted for nearly three quarters, showing how investors are leaning on secondaries as a liquidity lifeline amid slower PE exits.

Why it matters to us: 

Secondaries are heating up, creating more chances for us to access high quality assets at attractive entry points. This trend is a strong signal that our strategy of blending primary and secondary exposure is well timed. More here.

🤖 AI Ate My Job Description

Vinod Khosla advises young professionals to future proof their careers by building adaptability instead of specializing in a single job. With AI poised to automate up to 80 percent of tasks in the coming years, he urges people to become lifelong learners, master first principles thinking, and grow comfortable working with AI rather than being replaced by it. Generative AI is not just changing careers, it is rewriting the rulebook for how we build them.

🏎️ Bring Back Gated Shifters

We love cars and hope you do too. This 1976 Porsche 930 is for sale and loaded with modern upgrades. Anyone want to cruise?

🧠 Wisdom

👁️‍🗨️ No New Ideas

With 9 billion people thinking, dreaming, and building, your “original” idea probably isn’t. It’s all about execution.