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1.	OpenAI CEO: Google’s AI Breakthrough Could Cause ‘Headwinds’ For OpenAI By Amir Efrati Source: The Information

In an internal memo, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that Google’s recent progress in artificial intelligence could create “temporary economic headwinds” for his company, The Information reported Thursday. The memo anticipated Google’s launch of its Gemini 3 model, suggesting OpenAI’s once-dominant technological lead is narrowing, particularly in the crucial pretraining phase of AI model development where OpenAI has faced challenges.

This competitive pressure highlights a financial disparity betwen the companies: OpenAI projects a cash burn of more than $100 billion in the coming years, while the far more profitable Google has more resources to sustain a costly AI race. Despite these challenges, Altman assured staff OpenAI would catch up and is focusing on ambitious long-term bets, such as automating AI research.

2.	Walmart Boosts Outlook, Says Consumer Demand Remains Resilient By Ann Gehan Source: The Information

Walmart grew sales nearly 6% to $179.5 billion in the third quarter of its current fiscal year, helped by robust growth from the retail giant’s e-commerce and advertising businesses. Executives said Thursday that consumer demand remained mostly resilient and that the holiday shopping season was off to a good start, boosting the company’s outlook for the full year to 4.8% to 5.1% net sales growth.

E-commerce sales grew 27% and advertising revenue, which includes the Vizio business Walmart acquired last year, increased 53%. Membership revenue, which includes the Walmart+ program, a competitor to Amazon’s Prime program, grew 17%. Walmart didn’t break out exact revenue figures for any of those segments.

Walmart executives also highlighted the company’s partnership with OpenAI, which includes an agreement to sell Walmart and Sam’s Club products through ChatGPT. They also highlighted other AI features Walmart is testing in other markets, like a feature in Chile that creates a basket of items for customers then prompts them via WhatsApp to ask them if they want to complete the purchase.

3.	Deel Labeled Alleged Spy Payment As Expense By Michael Roddan Source: The Information

Global payroll startup Deel labeled as an expense a $6,000 payment it made to the wife of the company’s chief operating officer–cash that was sent to an alleged spy inside rival firm Rippling 56 seconds later–according to newly unsealed documents in a lawsuit between the two Silicon Valley companies.

The funds in question came from an entity, Lets Deel Ltd., which is incorporated in the U.K. and counts Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz and his father, Deel chairman Philippe Bouaziz, as directors, according to a copy of the account statement filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California. On Nov. 4, 2024, Lets Deel transferred $6,000 to a Revolut account owned by Alba Basha, the wife of Deel chief operating officer Dan Westgath, the documents show. Basha’s account sent $6,000 in another transaction moments later to Keith O’Brien, the alleged spy, the documents show.

Basha, a former compliance officer at Revolut, has not responded to requests from The Information. She is now employed as a compliance specialist at Dubai-based fintech Ziina, according to her Linkedin profile. Ziina co-founder Faisal Toukan did not respond to earlier requests for comment.

Rippling accused Deel and its top brass earlier this year of recruiting and paying its now-former Irish employee O’Brien to pass internal information to Deel. O’Brien later confessed to the alleged scheme in an affidavit filed in the High Court of Ireland. Deel has countersued Rippling for defamation and is defending the lawsuit. Deel has pointed to an agreement in which Rippling promised to cover O’Brien’s legal, travel and associated costs as validation of O’Brien’s “conflict as a trustworthy source.”

“We believe that information will show he has even more financial incentive to align himself with Rippling,” a Deel spokesperson said.

In a court filing, Rippling alleged: “The records involve only two transactions: Deel corporate funds entering Basha’s account and immediately exiting to pay a corporate spy. Her account balance before and after: $8.16. This is not personal financial activity. It is money laundering.”

4.	Google Updates “Nano Banana” Image Editing Model By Erin Woo Source: The Information

Google released a new version of its “Nano Banana” image generation model on Thursday, updating a model that had gone viral earlier in the year. Google highlighted the ability of the new model, dubbed “Nano Banana Pro,” to create infographics and posters, as well as its ability to keep elements like faces consistent when editing images.

The new model continues a successful run for Google’s DeepMind AI research unit, which released the new flagship model Gemini 3.0 earlier this week to strong reviews. Consumer usage of Google’s models has also increased: Google said last month that it had 650 million monthly users on its Gemini app, growth driven in part by the virality of the initial Nano Banana model, a Google vice president has said.

5.	Waymo Adds 3 More U.S. Cities to Expansion Plan By Theo Wayt Source: The Information

Waymo said Thursday that it’s added New Orleans, Minneapolis and Tampa to the list of cities where it plans to launch its autonomous ride-hailing service. That brings the total number of new cities where it’s announced launch plans to more than 20, according to the company.

For now, Waymo will operate vehicles with human drivers in the three new cities. The company also said earlier this week that it will start driving vehicles without humans in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Miami and Orlando in the coming weeks, with plans to offer ride-hailing to the public in those cities in 2026. The Alphabet-owned company also said it plans to launch in London, Washington, D.C., Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Nashville and San Diego next year.

Waymo already offers autonomous rides in five U.S. cities: Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta. That means the company is far-and-away beating Tesla’s Robotaxi service, which has launched in Austin and San Francisco but includes backup humans in vehicles in both cities.

6.	Physical Intelligence Raises $600 Million at $5 Billion Valuation By Rocket Drew Source: Bloomberg

Physical Intelligence, the robotic AI company, raised $600 million at a $5 billion valuation, excluding the investment, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The Information broke the news of the potential funding round in September.

Alphabet’s CapitalG led the round. Existing investors Lux Capital, Thrive Capital and Jeff Bezos participated, along with new investors Index Ventures and T. Rowe Price, according to the report.

Pi develops AI models intended to power a wide variety of robots to perform a wide variety of tasks. On Monday, Pi announced its latest model, π*0.6, which learned in part from its own experiences operating a robot in the real world. That training made the model faster at tasks such as assembling boxes and folding laundry than previous models.

The one-year-old startup was founded by former Google employees and professors from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, as well as early Stripe employee and venture capitalist Lachy Groom. Pi previously raised about $470 million from investors, most recently at a valuation of $2.4 billion including the money, from investors including Thrive Capital, Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Bond Capital.