AI science lab...no humans allowed, Meta poaching & more (July 30, 2025)

Good morning,

AI partnerships are evolving fast, and Microsoft just made its boldest play yet. From Stanford’s 24/7 AI science team to Meta rewriting job interviews, the line between human and agent just keeps blurring. Let’s jump in.

🤖 Agents, Collabs & Labs

🎞 Microsoft Moves to Lock In OpenAI Access Post-AGI

Microsoft is reportedly finalizing a deal that would ensure continued access to OpenAI’s models, even if OpenAI hits AGI and pivots operations. This comes amid internal debates over what AGI would mean for OpenAI’s commercial partnerships.

🧪 Stanford’s Virtual AI Lab

Stanford & Chan Zuckerberg Biohub built a fully autonomous AI lab with agents that design, test, and validate biomedical discoveries, generating working COVID-19 nanobodies in days. Human intervention? Just 1%.

👔 Meta Greenlights AI in Interviews

Meta will now let candidates use AI tools in coding interviews. The move, meant to reflect real-world conditions, could set a new norm across tech hiring.

📚 Study Mode, Startup FOMO & Murati Watch

📖 ChatGPT’s New Study Mode

OpenAI launched “Study Mode,” a feature guiding students with Socratic questions, hints, and adaptive quizzes. Available for all user tiers, it resists shortcuts and focuses on real understanding.

💰 Anthropic Eyes $170B Valuation

Anthropic is reportedly raising at a $170B valuation, just four months after its $61.5B round. That’s nearly 3x growth, and a signal that competition with OpenAI and Google is heating up.

🧠 Meta Tries to Poach Murati’s Startup

Meta offered Thinking Machines Lab employees up to $1B each to join Zuck’s superintelligence team. So far? Zero takers, but it reveals Meta’s aggressive push to corner AI talent.

🛠️ Tools of the Day

• Mapify – Turn anything into a mind map

• Nitrode – Node-based AI game engine

• Layout.dev – Turn prompts into working software prototypes

🧠 Prompt of the Day

⚡ Quick Hits

• Ideogram now supports consistent character creation from a single image

• Google’s NotebookLM adds Video Overviews + Search Live camera inputs

• ElevenLabs CLI lets you code and deploy AI agents in voice/chat

• Adobe Photoshop adds Generative Upscale + Object Insertion

🧾 TLDR

Stanford’s AI lab runs 24/7 with agent scientists. Meta now welcomes AI during interviews, while OpenAI pivots ChatGPT into a true learning assistant. Anthropic may hit a $170B valuation, and Meta’s billion-dollar recruiting blitz is making waves, but not hires.

Until next time,
David