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‘Going with the Flow’ in AI. SpaceXAI, AT&T & Apple. ARD #139

Author
Michael Parekh AI: Reset to Zero
19 hours ago
10 MIN READ

Today’s theme is ‘Going with the Flow’, and I mean it as a compliment. This AI Tech Wave is moving faster than almost any tech wave I have had the opportunity to study since the PC era of the late seventies. The best operators are not fighting the currents. They are reading where the river is actually running, and steering into it.

Three very different companies doing exactly that today: Elon’s SpaceXAI steering its mountain of compute into the frontier model race. AT&T steering 45 billion daily tokens toward open models. And Apple steering its executive bench into Washington DC. My take on each, then my Overall Take. Plus a Gadget AI on Google’s new Pixel 11 lineup going with the memory pricing flow. Complete with new ‘RAMageddon’ pricing attached, and your questions.

(1) SpaceXAI’s Grok 4.6 Joins the Frontier Race with the Big Dogs

MP TAKE: Remember why Elon is doing this. He took SpaceX public, with SpaceX valued around a trillion and a half dollars and Tesla another trillion and a half: three trillion of public market currency to play with. Right before the IPO he made one of the biggest acquisitions in tech, buying Cursor, the leading AI-native coding company, for $60 billion. Grok 4.6 is the proof of the validity of that purchase.

The mechanics, per SpaceXAI’s release: Grok 4.6 focuses on long-running agents and ambitious interactive and visual work, and on the benchmarks it now sits right up against Anthropic’s latest Fable and Mythos models and OpenAI’s GPT 5.6, with OpenAI’s Astra next up. We will see how the market assesses the benchmarks in the coming days, but 4.6 is a big deal, done in record time.

The context is the compute. As covered in the SpaceXAI IPO filing and Elon’s mega AI data center supply ambitions: hundreds of billions invested in the biggest AI infrastructure buildout anywhere, with a big chunk rented to Anthropic, his core rival, at 2x or more the market rate. The bet is that his own models get to use that mountain instead of just renting it out. Anthropic’s Claude Code and Claude Cowork are the gold standard for tens of millions of AI coders, on track for over $60 billion in revenues, the Coke that demoted OpenAI to Pepsi. Elon wants into that race, Starlink-rebuild style. Going with the frontier flow.

Sources:

For longtime readers:

(2) A Case Study: AT&T Bets Big on Open AI Models

MP TAKE: This is the living case study for everything we have covered on open source AI this year: most big and small US companies are going to run a PORTFOLIO of models, open and closed, with a router in the middle deciding which flow each token takes.

The mechanics, per the WSJ: AT&T runs an average of 45 billion AI tokens every day across more than a thousand internal uses. Open models power about 25% of that today, and their Chief Data and AI Officer expects 70 to 80% over time. Switching from closed to open models has already saved 80 to 90% in certain applications. They built a ‘smart router’ to send each task to the most cost-effective model, including powerful new open models from China, with much of it running in AT&T’s own data centers.

And the infrastructure players, Microsoft to Palantir, are making the pitch to companies like AT&T: do not hand your data straight to the closed model companies; host a portfolio of models on our infrastructure and protect your golden goose. AT&T’s money quote says it all: ‘The enterprise data is the gold mine, and the tools are just a way to mine the gold.’ They call AI sovereignty ‘truly paramount’. Going with the open flow, 45 billion tokens a day.

Sources:

For longtime readers:

(3) Apple’s New Government Affairs Head in Washington DC

MP TAKE: ‘Government Affairs’ is now a first-team position at every US Big Tech company, and Apple just went outside to fill it. The issues ahead get thornier by the day: China, chip sourcing, supply chains, tariffs, and hundreds of billions in US-versus-overseas investment questions. Apple is steering its team toward the government reality in DC as it actually is, not just through this year and the midterms, but for the next three years.

The mechanics, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman: Apple hired Nate Gatten, a near-decade veteran of American Airlines government affairs, JPMorgan before that, with a strong Republican background, adept with both the executive and legislative branches. He leads Apple’s entire government affairs operation globally. And the timing tells the story: John Ternus becomes CEO on September 1, Johny Srouji steps up as Chief Hardware Officer, and Tim Cook elevates to executive chairman, keeping the government relationships he has built across administrations.

Remember, Cook has been very hands-on at the White House for months, on tariffs and supply chains, gold trophy and all. And the big number two meeting between President Xi and President Trump comes to the White House in September, with Apple, Nvidia and a whole lot of US tech having a lot riding on it, as we covered in ‘RAMageddon’ lobbies DC. Mr. Gatten will be working closely with Tim Cook in his new responsibility. Going with the flow, Washington edition.

Sources:

For longtime readers:

MP OVERALL TAKE: All three companies are going with the flow, making the best of the AI Tech Wave opportunities in all the directions it is leading. Elon is striving hard to join the frontier AI model flow, to make sure his infrastructure gets used for his models and his revenue streams. AT&T is showing that companies are routing to a whole host of models, not just Anthropic and OpenAI, but a whole portfolio of open and closed. And Apple is readying its new executive team for the near-term lobbying priorities in today’s Washington DC.

A sign of the times, in ‘going with the flow’. The operators are not fighting the currents this year. They are absolutely steering into them.

GADGET AI

Google’s New Pixel 11 Lineup, with ‘RAMageddon’ Pricing

MP TAKE: The core takeaway: even Google is not immune from ‘RAMageddon’. The supply chain of chips and memory prices hitting bills of materials is hitting even Google. All their models from low end to high end are up meaningfully: phones up $100, wearables up $50 and more. And most importantly, they reduced the RAM in the top phones from last year’s 16 gigabytes to 12. This is Google, whose Gemini AI is the biggest consumer AI offering out there, one even Apple is leveraging, moving DOWN in memory because of pricing pressures. I have already covered Apple raising prices, with Tim Cook calling it a ‘hundred-year flood’. This is with us for the next three or four years at least, as we called in ‘RAMageddon really here to stay’.

The launch itself, per TechCrunch and Engadget: the Pixel 11 series is a Gemini launch wearing a phone launch’s clothes. Gemini agents that order groceries, book rides and call businesses, Magic Cue context, Rambler dictation, Magic Capture, live translation across content, the new Tensor G6, and 120x zoom on the Pro XL.

Sources:

For longtime readers:

Q1: What’s MP’s favorite feature of Pixel smartphones?

Stock Android. Every Pixel is the pure Android experience: no vendor overlays, no bloatware, no software upsells. And the fastest Android upgrades anywhere: we are on Android 17 today, some of my Samsung phones still sit on 16, and even my three-year-old Pixel Fold is running 17.

Q2: The most disappointing aspect of the new Pixel releases?

That even Google felt the need to reduce RAM in its top-level phones, despite Gemini needing all the RAM it can get to deliver its best to mainstream users. More RAM at lower prices is not happening anytime soon. A reality of the current environment: making do with less to do more.

WRAP

Today’s AI-RTZ #1176 is on Anthropic getting ready for its mega-AI IPO: rehearsing the roadshow with investors, with a lot of moves under the currents. And tonight’s AI-RTZ #1177 profiles Google’s new AI chief, running a product, not a lab.

These are the impacts of the AI Tech Wave we track every day for you, the AI Curious Folk, including all our new members this week. Welcome aboard.

Tomorrow, it’s ARD 140 and AI-RTZ #1177.

Thanks for joining us today, AI Curious Folk.

— MP

Full Source Reading

For those who want to go deeper on today’s stories:

(1) Grok 4.6 and the frontier race

(2) AT&T’s open model bet

(3) Apple in Washington DC

Gadget AI: Pixel 11 and RAMageddon

Clips from today

Clip 1. Apple’s New Government Affairs Lead

Nate Gatten, a near-decade American Airlines government affairs veteran, takes Apple’s DC lead just as Ternus becomes CEO and Cook elevates to chairman with the government portfolio.

MP Take: the issues get thornier daily: China, chips, tariffs, and the September Xi-Trump meeting. Going with the flow, Washington edition.

Clip 2. Elon Musk’s Trillion-Dollar AI Bet

SpaceX around $1.5 trillion, Tesla another $1.5 trillion, and a $60 billion Cursor acquisition right before the IPO.

MP Take: hundreds of billions of AI infrastructure, rented to Anthropic at premium rates today, aimed at his own models tomorrow.

Clip 3. Google Pixel: Stock Android & Fast Upgrades

Why the Pixel: pure stock Android with no overlays, and the fastest upgrades anywhere.

MP Take: my three-year-old Pixel Fold runs Android 17 while some Samsungs sit on 16. That is the Pixel case in two features.

Clip 4. Elon’s $60B Cursor Bet & Grok 4.6

The $60 billion Cursor purchase, and Grok 4.6 benchmarking right up against Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s best as the proof.

MP Take: Claude Code and Cowork are the Coke that demoted OpenAI to Pepsi. Elon wants into that race on his own compute. Going with the frontier flow.

(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)





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