Connex AI Newsletter - Week of 16th June 2025

The AI edge + economic tremors. Your cheat sheet to what actually matters.

🔥 This Week’s AI Power Plays

1. OpenAI-Microsoft Alliance Hits Breaking Point: IP battles, cloud tension, and a $3B acquisition blow-up. OpenAI is prepping legal nukes, and the AI bromance is looking over.
2. Apple’s WWDC Delivers AI Light, Not AI Heavy: New translation and GPT-powered shortcuts land, but Apple Intelligence still feels like a beta in an AGI world.
3. Midjourney Steps Into Video – Right After a Lawsuit Bombshell: Days after Disney and Universal sued them, Midjourney dropped its first video model. 5-second clips, slick animation, no audio… yet.
4. Meta Tried a $100M Talent Raid on OpenAI – And Lost: Sam Altman says Meta offered up to $100M to poach top OpenAI minds. Nobody took the bait. Culture 1, Cash 0.

📉 This Week in Market Volatility

1. Fed Holds Rates, But Jobs Data Keeps Everyone Guessing: The Fed kept interest rates steady, but June’s hotter-than-expected jobs report threw cold water on rate-cut optimism. The labour market’s strength keeps delaying cuts, and markets are twitchy.
2. US Services PMI Slips Below 50: The flash services PMI came in at 47.8, signaling contraction. Cue more whispers of recession and soft landings.
3. China's $140B Stimulus Gets a Lukewarm Reception: Markets barely moved despite Beijing’s latest support package, a sign that confidence in China’s recovery is still shaky.

⚔️ OpenAI vs Microsoft: The Gloves Are Off

Update: WSJ broke the story: OpenAI is seriously considering filing antitrust complaints against Microsoft, yes, the company that’s invested over $13B into them.

Inside the Rift: The latest drama? OpenAI’s $3B acquisition of Windsurf, where it wants to withhold IP from Microsoft due to Copilot overlap. Microsoft’s pushback on OpenAI’s PBC restructuring didn’t help either. The two parties recently met to rework the terms of their partnership. Meanwhile, OpenAI is diversifying, tapping Google Cloud for compute.

So What? This is no ordinary spat; this is the backbone of enterprise AI showing stress fractures. If OpenAI breaks out, expect market ripples, legal fireworks, and major shifts in cloud AI dominance.

🍏 Apple’s AI Efforts Still Feel Like a Beta Test

Update: Apple’s WWDC 2025 focused on polish, not power. It dropped some AI features, but nothing close to a generational leap.

The Details

• Live Translation across Messages and calls, all on-device.
• Visual Search with GPT-backed image Q&A.
• ChatGPT in Shortcuts for smarter automation.
• Workout Buddy brings real-time biometric coaching to Apple Watch.
• Apple Intelligence SDK opens local AI to devs — no cloud API fees.

What’s at Stake? The vibe? Low-key. In a year where every major player is shouting about AI, Apple is whispering. Their “gap year” narrative might be real, and it shows.

🎬 Midjourney Goes From Stills to Moving Pictures

Update: Midjourney just launched its first video generation model, and the timing couldn’t be spicier, landing right after Disney and Universal sued them.

Behind the Curtain

• V1 Model: Animate any image into 5-second clips, with optional manual control for actions and camera moves.
• Output: Four videos per prompt, extendable to 20 seconds, and 25x cheaper (according to them) than competitors.
• Compatibility: Works on MJ images or uploads. No audio yet, and web-only.
• Vision: CEO David Holz sees this as the first step to “real-time open-world sims.”

The Takeaway: It’s not trying to be Veo. But V1’s signature style sticks to what made MJ popular: aesthetic-first, polished, and weirdly addictive. For now, it’s animation, not filmmaking, but it shows where this could be going.

🧠 Meta’s $100M Talent Raid That Went Nowhere

Update: Sam Altman revealed Meta launched a full-scale poaching mission, offering eye-watering packages up to $100M, to OpenAI’s top researchers. No one bit.

Behind the Attempt

• Meta approached Noam Brown (OpenAI) and Koray Kavukcuoglu (Google DeepMind). Both stayed put.
• Altman says OpenAI’s retention came down to “mission over money.”
• That said, Meta did scoop up Daniel Gross (Safe Superintelligence) and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman.

The Big Picture This isn’t just a pay war. It’s a battle of vision, purpose, and team culture. As the stakes in AI grow, so does the price tag for keeping genius in the building.

💼 AI & Cloud Jobs of the Week

1. Principal AI Architect (Contract – Sydney/Melbourne)

• Design & implement enterprise-grade GenAI systems
• Tools: Azure OpenAI, Databricks, Kubernetes, LLM stacks
• 6-month contract + extention

2. Gen AI Developer (Contract – Remote AU)

• Build apps using LangChain, vector DBs, and RAG pipelines
• Azure/GCP deployment + API integration
• Flexible working, cutting-edge client, 3-month initial term

3. Pre-Sales Solutions Architect (Permanent – Sydney)

• Cloud Data Platforms (Synapse, Fabric, OpenAI focus)
• Mix of consulting, demos, and architecture workshops
• $180K–$200K + super + bonus, hybrid working

Hiring? Need AI + Cloud talent who actually deliver? Drop me a message or hit reply — I'm always happy to talk talent, tech, or strategy.

Until next week

Alex | ConneX AI