Musk(et)s fired in the AI war

Author

Noel Moldvai
August 28, 2025

TL;DR. Elon Musk’s warpath continues with a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging anticompetitive collusion. Meanwhile, Anthropic is reportedly raising $10B amid surging investor demand for the top OpenAI rival. And as the AI talent wars escalate, xAI poaches 18 of Meta’s top engineers despite $250M retention offers from Zuckerberg.

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Apple and OpenAI, alleging anticompetitive collusion

Elon Musk’s xAI has filed a lawsuit accusing Apple and OpenAI of conspiring to suppress AI competition. The suit claims Apple is using its platform power to favor OpenAI, making it nearly impossible for rivals to succeed in the App Store. This marks another escalation in Musk’s long-running feud with Sam Altman.

Anthropic in talks to raise $10B as AI boom continues

Anthropic is reportedly finalizing a $10B funding round led by Iconiq Capital, doubling its previous target due to high investor demand. The raise would significantly boost its valuation beyond $170B. The funds will help Anthropic scale its Claude models, compete with OpenAI and xAI, and expand global infrastructure.

Elon Musk just stole 18 of Mark Zuckerberg's best AI engineers

In one of the boldest AI talent raids yet, xAI lured away 18 top Meta engineers, even after Zuckerberg offered $250M retention packages. Why did they leave? They chose mission, speed, and equity upside over just money. At a smaller company like xAI, they can ship faster and their equity has higher upside. Meta is already a trillion-dollar company, which makes it far harder for equity to 10x or 100x compared to xAI.

How investors are using SPVs to access private markets

Special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are becoming a go-to tool for private market access, letting investors pool funds into single-company deals. While SPVs offer simplicity and lower capital requirements, they come with tradeoffs like limited rights, higher fees, and lack of direct access. Fee structures like 2/20 and 0/0 can also impact returns, making it critical to choose the right structure based on your goals.

Quick Takes

Cheerio! Until next week.
-Noel