Howdy again. It’s Barsee, and welcome back to AI Valley.

Today’s climb through the Valley reveals:

• 🤝 OpenAI talks to Microsoft over new funding, IPO plan

• 🤖 Zuckerberg’s Grand Vision

• 📈 David Sacks projects AI will go 1,000,000x over next 4 years

• 🤖 Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources

Let’s dive into the Valley of AI…

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THROUGH THE VALLEY

🤝 OpenAI talks to Microsoft over new funding, IPO plan

OpenAI and Microsoft are renegotiating their multibillion-dollar partnership as OpenAI pushes to restructure and pave the way for a potential IPO. Microsoft, its biggest backer, is a key holdout, with talks focused on how much equity it will receive in exchange for its $13B investment. The new structure would convert OpenAI’s for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation, allowing it to raise more capital while retaining nonprofit oversight.

Source

🤖 Zuckerberg’s Grand Vision: Most of your friends will be AI

Mark Zuckerberg predicts AI companions could soon outnumber real friends, serving roles like therapists, customer support agents, and social connectors. He notes that most Americans have fewer than three close friends but desire around 15. Meta is already integrating AI into Facebook, Instagram, and Ray-Ban smart glasses, with chatbots reaching nearly a billion users. Critics warn this could deepen social isolation, while supporters argue it may address unmet mental health and social needs.

Source

📈 U.S. AI czar David Sacks projects AI will go 1,000,000x over next 4 years

David Sacks forecasts that AI will expand a millionfold over the next four years, driven by rapid advancements in models, chips, and computing power. Large language models (LLMs) are improving 3–4x annually, GPUs are accelerating with each generation, and companies are scaling from thousands to millions of chips. These compounding advances 10x every two years per domain and could collectively yield a 1,000,000x leap. The result? Faster innovation, lower costs, and AI deeply embedded across the global economy.

Source

⛪ Pope Leo XIV targets AI as 'critical challenge'

In his first major address, newly appointed Pope Leo XIV labeled AI one of humanity’s greatest challenges, warning it threatens human dignity, justice, and labor drawing parallels to the Industrial Revolution. His message follows Pope Francis’ call for an international AI treaty. With over a billion Catholics worldwide, the Vatican’s stance underscores that AI ethics is no longer just a tech issue but a global priority.

Source

💸 PayPal has unveiled its own take on agentic payments

At its 2025 Dev Days, PayPal announced a new Financial Operating System designed for AI agents - autonomous tools capable of handling payments, negotiations, refunds, and financial management without human intervention. With 430 million users and $1.5 trillion in annual volume, PayPal aims to become the backbone of agent-led commerce. Its new Agent Toolkit and support for the stablecoin PYUSD will enable AI agents to manage entire transaction flows, signaling a major bet on a future where AI, not humans, dominates checkout processes.

Source

📊 U.S. businesses with OpenAI subscriptions surge to 32.4% share in Apr, from 18.9% in Jan

Source

TRENDING TOOLS

• Human Behavior - AI that watches actual customers using your product, through session replays, to help you understand why they stay, convert, or leave.

• remio - Local-first AI note taker & personal knowledge hub.

• Nelly - Create your own team of AI agents.

THINK PIECES / BRAIN BOOST

• Prompting Guide by Google.

• Building Effective Agents by Anthropic.

• A Practical Guide to Building Agents by OpenAI.

• Spent 9,400,000,000 OpenAI tokens in April. Here is what we learned.

• Ask HN: What will tech employment look like in 10 years? (Hacker News Thread).

• A critical look at MCP.

• AI won't replace (most) software engineers.

• For AI Startups, A 7-day work week isn’t enough.

• Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) by Tilen Savnik

• I built a $100,000 AI startup, here’s what i learned.

• Making Marketing more effective with AI.

VALLEY GEMS

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

Thank you for reading today’s edition. That’s all for today’s issue.

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