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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
🧠 Neural Dispatch: Google's student outreach, Jensen Huang's praise for Chinese AI, and Meta's Prometheus
ALGORITHM In this edition, we chat about Google's offer for a free AI Pro subscription for students in India, what exactly is the status with Windsurf (at least at the time of writing this), and Meta's Prometheus project and what it means for the still vague superintelligence conversations. Google's free AI, but what does free mean? Google launched a free one-year Gemini Pro subscription for Indian students (mind you, must be above the age of 18, with a valid student ID and a working university email address), basically the Google AI Pro plan that includes access to premium tools including Gemini, Gemini Live, Deep Research, NotebookLM (with 5x limits), Gemini Live, Veo 3 for AI video creation, and AI integration across Gmail as well as Docs, and 2TB worth of cloud storage space on Drive. This looks great value on paper, and for 12 months, it certainly will be – it's strategic attempt at cornering the market. Google is hoping an entire generation of Indian students, who'd grow up to perhaps become developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs, pledges allegiance to its AI ecosystem. Much like enterprise business, and every bit of that is a long term bet. Think of it this way, once you start using Google AI Pro, the chances of going back to a Google One plan that's inferior, reside between little and zero. And that's when students or their parents will be spending ₹19,500 annually, to continue the subscription. Students must register by September 15 this year. Expect more AI companies to release similar offers for students in India. Neural Windsurf wars, AI's billion-dollar thriller Silicon Valley witnessed its most dramatic corporate saga this week as AI coding startup Windsurf became the center of a multi-billion-dollar acquisition battle involving every major tech giant. OpenAI's planned $3 billion acquisition of Windsurf collapsed in mid-July (Microsoft may have had something to do with it, as was the public displeasure expressed by Windsurf model-provider Anthropic). The collapse triggered a domino effect that revealed the brutal dynamics of AI competition. Google swooped in immediately, hiring Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen along with key staff for its DeepMind unit in what sources describe as a $2.4 billion deal — think of this as not a formal acquisition but a licensing agreement plus a hiring deal. Google did not buy Windsurf. It poached talent and licensed IP, which may or may not be exclusive. But the story didn't end there. Cognition, maker of AI coding agent Devin, announced it would acquire Windsurf's remaining intellectual property, product, trademark, brand and talent, effectively splitting the company between Google and Cognition. The saga is somehow (most likely an unintended consequence) illustrating how AI model access has become a weapon: Anthropic cut Windsurf's direct access to Claude models because of OpenAI acquisition rumours, with co-founder Jared Kaplan stating "it would be odd for us to be selling Claude to OpenAI". For businesses, this perhaps reveals fragility in AI supply chains – access to critical models can be used as leverage. Meta's Prometheus, and a super-intelligence timeline No one knows what exactly super-intelligence will be like, or when it'll truly see the light of the day. But well, that's keeping the AI system busy these days, and so be it. Meta says its 1-gigawatt AI supercluster "Prometheus" will come online in 2026, making it one of the first tech companies to control an AI data center of this scale. Mark Zuckerberg revealed plans to spend "hundreds of billions of dollars" on AI infrastructure, with Prometheus part of a larger initiative to build multiple multi-gigawatt clusters. This supercluster is located in New Albany, Ohio Meta's bid for AI supremacy, chapter 2? The scale is unprecedented, mind you – 1 gigawatt could power 700,000 homes. This clearly isn't just about better chatbots; it's about training models that could achieve artificial general intelligence, or AGI. For businesses, it could signal AI capabilities will soon dwarf current limitations, and optics may well work for AI companies in the meantime. The investment also reveals Meta's long-term vision: controlling the infrastructure that powers the next generation of AI, potentially becoming the "electricity company" of artificial intelligence. The arms race is intensifying – OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are all racing to build similar mega-clusters, suggesting the next phase of AI development will be defined by raw computational power working alongside algorithmic innovation. PROMPT AI This week, we'll chat about an AI tool called Runway ML's Gen-3 Video Generator. This AI tool can be used to eventually create what may be called as 'professional-quality' videos, from the text prompts or images that you provide. Runway's AI subscription tiers start with a free one that includes a one-time credit bundle for generations, but for anything genuinely useful, you'll be paying either $12 per month for the Standard plan (access to Gen-4 and Gen-3 models with 625 monthly credits and 100GB storage), $28 for the Pro plan (adds custom voices for lip-sync and text to speech as well as 500GB storage), or the top-tier Unlimited plan for $76 that, as the name suggests, that gets you unlimited generations of Gen-4 Turbo, Gen-4 (Image and Video), Gen-3 Alpha Turbo, Gen-3 Alpha as well as Act-One in Explore mode (though not the newer Act-Two). Here's how you go about it > Choose your input method: Text prompt (For instance: 'A golden retriever playing in a park at sunset") or upload an image to animate > Set parameters such as duration, aspect ratio, and style preferences > click on Generate. Even after the generation, you can still further refine the generation, by editing the original prompt. Along the way, detailed prompts that mention what sort of lighting, camera angles, and movement you want, will get the generation closer to what you want — for instance, 'close-up of hands typing on a MacBook, soft morning light, shallow depth of field" works better than "person typing on a laptop.' Keep in mind: Human faces still have visible inconsistencies (that's a common fixture across video generation models), as do any generations of a product (if it is a phone for instance, app icons may look weird). Secondly, be careful what you use it for though, because platforms such as YouTube will certainly give less weightage to content that is AI generated. Interesting use-cases may emerge though, in the workplace. THINKING 'Models like DeepSeek, Alibaba, Tencent, MiniMax, and Baidu Ernie bot are world class, developed here and shared openly [and] have spurred AI developments worldwide.' Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO, at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, July 16, 2025 The context: Huang made these comments, just as Nvidia announced it will resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China. The timing isn't coincidental. Huang also called China's open-source AI a "catalyst for global progress" and said it is "revolutionising" supply chains. This comes from the CEO whose company last week became the first to touch $4 trillion in market value – largely thanks to AI chip demand. A reality check: Huang's statement can be seen as a direct contradiction of the narrative and indeed the policy in the US, where export controls are very much in place. By publicly acknowledging Chinese AI models as "world class," is Huang hinting (or challenging the Trump administration?) that restrictions haven't really worked? Huang's praise for Chinese companies specifically references an open-source approach to AI, a stark contrast to the closed and proprietary model approach that most big tech companies in the US and elsewhere have followed. The question therefore is — if Chinese AI models truly match Western capabilities while being open-source, why would consumers, businesses and enterprises pay premium subscription prices for something from OpenAI or Anthropic or Meta? The fine distinction here is, and you may have noticed I'm not including Google in the list, because their Workplace bundles add a lot more to the platter. Think of Huang's praise as part diplomatic politeness, and part strategic positioning. Earlier this year, he warned that "China is not behind" in AI and called Huawei "one of the most formidable technology companies in the world". Does this lend credence to an argument that the global AI landscape is multipolar, not American-dominated, as is often perceived to be? Neural Dispatch is your weekly decoder ring for the AI revolution. Forward this to a colleague or a friend who needs to understand what's really happening in artificial intelligence.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vinod Khosla says Windsurf's founders abandoned their team: 'I definitely would not work with their founders next time'
AI startup Windsurf has had a whirlwind few weeks. Its founders, Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen, left for Google just after a deal with OpenAI fell apart. Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said the founders left the Windsurf team "behind." The founders of Windsurf, the now much talked about AI startup, are having a roller coaster couple of weeks. Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen nearly struck a deal to sell the company to OpenAI for $3 billion before it suddenly fell through. Then, the two decamped to Google DeepMind, leaving the rest of the company scrambling. Windsurf's remaining executives struck a deal with another AI startup, Cognition, the following weekend, which its new CEO, Jeff Wang, described as "crazy." Now, legendary venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has weighed in on the drama, criticizing the founders' decision to leave. Khosla Ventures is an investor in Cognition. "Windsurf and others are really bad examples of founders leaving their teams behind and not even sharing the proceeds with their team," Khosla said in an X post. "I definitely would not work with their founders next time." Khosla's remarks were in response to a clip from "The Twenty Minute VC" podcast featuring Cognition founder Scott Wu, who said, "There's an unspoken covenant that as a founder, you go down with the ship." "And I think that, for better or worse, it's changed a bit over the last year, and I think it's a bit disappointing to be honest," Wu said. One X user suggested Khosla's response was hypocritical, prompting him to expand further on Sunday. "Absolutely not hypocritical about it. I would not work with the WeWork founder either! Working without trust is a sure way to be unhappy," Khosla said on X. "I honestly asked myself if I made $1b on this 'deal', would I accept it and be quiet or fight for the rest of the team? Or give part of my money to the rest of the team? Hard to say without being in the situation but I feel I'd definitely fight for those left behind," he added. Khosla, Mohan, and Chen did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Wang, who previously served as head of business at Windsurf, recounted on X on Saturday his experience informing the Windsurf staff that not only had the OpenAI deal fallen through, but its two cofounders had left. "The mood was very bleak," Wang wrote. "Some people were upset about financial outcomes or colleagues leaving, while others were worried about the future. A few were in tears." Still, Wang praised Mohan and Chen. He said they were "great founders and this company meant a lot to them, and it should be acknowledged that this whole situation must have been difficult for them as well." Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
India.com
16-07-2025
- Business
- India.com
Who is Varun Mohan? Meet man who rejected Rs 25000 crore offer from OpenAI to join Google for Rs..., not from IIM, IIIT, NIT, VIT, or BIT
In a push to enhance its AI code generation abilities, Google has hired a number of employees from Windsurf, a quickly growing AI infrastructure startup, including Varun Mohan, Windsurf's co-founder and CEO. He and co-founder Douglas Chen are now going to Google after a tense corporate face-off which saw OpenAI in advanced talks to acquire Windsurf just a month ago. Varun Mohan is of Indian descent, having been born and raised in Sunnyvale, California, by children of Indian immigrants. He went to The Harker School in San Jose, and then to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a Bachelor's and Master of Engineering in Computer Science. According to his LinkedIn profile, Varun Mohan co-founded Windsurf in June 2021. The startup was based in Mountain View and received attention after launching AI tools that would reduce friction and speed up the process of software development. During this time, Windsurf quickly became a prominent player in the AI infrastructure space under his leadership. Before starting Windsurf, Varun Mohan spent over three years at autonomous vehicle company Nuro. He joined in early 2018 as a software engineer, was promoted to tech lead for autonomy infrastructure by August 2019, and became tech lead manager in 2020. Varun Mohan's resume also highlights engineering-related internships at several prominent Silicon Valley tech companies. In 2017, he started at Databricks, where he worked on machine learning systems; earlier that same year, he interned at Cloudian Inc., where he contributed to S3 storage infrastructure; and in 2016, he interned as a software engineer at Quora, with a focus on data infrastructure.
Deccan Herald
15-07-2025
- Business
- Deccan Herald
Google hires Windsurf CEO and researchers to advance AI ambitions
Alphabet's Google has hired several key staff members from AI code generation startup Windsurf, a Google spokesperson said on Friday, in a surprise move following an attempt by its rival OpenAI to acquire the startup. Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and select members of the coding tool's research and development team will join Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence division, the Google spokesperson said. The former Windsurf team will focus on agentic coding initiatives at Google DeepMind, primarily working on the Gemini project. ChatGPT maker OpenAI was in talks to buy Windsurf, one of the hottest startups disrupting software development, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in June. OpenAI could not immediately be reached for a comment. "We're excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf's team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding," the Google spokesperson said. As part of the deal, the search engine giant is entering a non-exclusive license for certain Windsurf technology, according to a source familiar with the matter. Google will not take a stake in Windsurf, the person said. Windsurf investors will receive liquidity as part of the deal, sources told Reuters. Google's surprise swoop mirrors a deal in August 2024 to hire key employees from chatbot startup Big Tech peers, including Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, have similarly taken to these so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticised as an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
AI startup Windsurf sold to AI engineer Devin's maker Cognition just days after OpenAI acquisition fails and Google ‘poaches' CEO
Windsurf is being acquired by Cognition AI , the makers of AI engineering tool Devin, for an undisclosed sum just days after news broke that OpenAI would not be acquiring the startup and that Google had hired away CEO Varun Mohan , co-founder Douglas Chen , and several R&D employees to join the Google DeepMind team. Google's strategic talent raid leaves Windsurf vulnerable Last week, Google DeepMind announced it had hired Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan and co-founder Douglas Chen, along with several R&D employees, while securing a non-exclusive license to Windsurf's technology, all for $2.4 billion. The move followed the breakdown of OpenAI's acquisition talks, where Microsoft's insistence on intellectual property access created insurmountable obstacles. The OpenAI deal was reported to be valued at $3 billion. "Among all the teams in the AI space, Cognition was literally the one we have respected the most," Wang said in an email to employees Monday, announcing the deal that includes Windsurf's intellectual property, remaining workforce, and $82 million in annual recurring revenue. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Esta nueva alarma con cámara es casi regalada en Alejandro Korn (ver precio) Verisure Más información Undo The Google deal left Windsurf in a precarious position as a standalone company, prompting weekend negotiations that resulted in Cognition's acquisition offer. The acquisition caps off what Windsurf's interim CEO Jeff Wang described as "a really volatile time" for the startup, which saw its $3 billion acquisition deal with OpenAI collapse before Google swooped in to hire away key leadership and research staff. Windsurf workers get financial protection in Cognition deal Cognition, which develops the Devin AI coding assistant, structured the deal to include all remaining Windsurf employees, intellectual property, and assets. The company emphasized that all Windsurf staff would receive accelerated vesting schedules and financial participation in the transaction. "Jeff and I worked together to ensure that every single employee is treated with respect and well taken care of," wrote Cognition CEO Scott Wu in a staff note. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
