Google is back in a Flash

Top News

• Google releases Gemini 3 Flash: Google’s well-received Gemini 3 model family was expanded today with the introduction of a low-cost, high-speed ‘Flash’ iteration. The model, while modestly more expensive than its predecessor (Gemini 2.5 Flash), offers sufficient performance gains to remain a leader at the intersection of price and performance. Google has made Gemini 3 Flash the new default model for its Gemini app, meaning that it will become the daily AI driver for hundreds of millions of individuals.

• Coursera will buy Udemy: After shedding much of their value as public companies, edtech concerns Coursera and Udemy are merging. That the transaction values the combined entity at just $2.5 billion underscores how quickly the market moved underneath the feet of both companies. Since the release of ChatGPT, the edtech market has been turned on its head. Chegg lost nearly all its worth, while Coursera and Udemy have both seen their valuations contract. That the newly forged Coursera-Udemy entity describes its future as helping “empower the global workforce with skills for the AI era” is illustrative.

• a16z drops AI regulation roadmap: Speaking of AI-related job training, venture firm a16z thinks that future federal AI regulation should support “workers and students in making the transition to an economy where success depends on possessing AI skills.” The investment group also thinks that future federal AI rules should include “additional protections for children,” establish “a national standard for model transparency” that won’t drown companies in paperwork, and carve out space for states to “regulate harmful uses of AI within their borders.”

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While the world digests a deluge of new AI models, news that Amazon may invest as much as $10 billion into OpenAI underscores how much capital is yet available for AI labs. Despite OpenAI coming under criticism for — in the eyes of some — falling behind rivals Google and Anthropic in model quality, it appears utterly capable of attracting new funds, even from investors in its rivals.

Recall that Amazon not only fields its own family of AI models (the Nova series), but is also a critical backer and compute backer of Anthropic. However, as Anthropic has ranged further afield, raising capital from Microsoft and working with Google’s cloud, it makes sense that OpenAI, previously all but a Microsoft fief, would turn to Amazon for capital after tapping Google for compute.

Confused by the endless roundabout of AI deals? Don’t be. By this point, all the majors are working with one another to grow as quickly as possible. It’s actually comforting that the AI labs are working with so many compute providers, and that many of these providers have their own AI models. Instead of single pillars holding up the AI economy, we have a durable web of shared interests.

At least that’s what I tell myself when I fret at night about the stock market. Regardless, OpenAI shareholders might be able to trade a few points of dilution for eleven-figures worth of new capital. That, my friends, is a deal. — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2224: Roomba… we hardly knew ya! The company behind the iconic disc-shaped autonomous vacuum, iRobot, had a chance to get acquired by Amazon back in 2022, but European and US regulators stalled the deal. NOW iRobot is entering bankruptcy. Per Jason, allowing this deal to go through would have benefitted everybody, but because of over-cautious antitrust action, the world lost out on a once-great company.

E2223: Disney signed a landmark new deal with OpenAI, investing $1 billion in the ChatGPT maker and licensing over 200 of their most famous characters for use in the Sora app. Jason naturally saw all this coming, and predicted as much on the “All-In Podcast” over the summer. Hear him unpack why this was so important for the future of BOTH companies, plus lots more of the week’s biggest stories for founders.

E2222: It’s a VC Roundtable, featuring special guests Bryan Kim of a16z and David Clark of Ven Cap. On the docket: Boom Supersonic’s innovative new turbine-based revenue stream, Bill Gurley’s iconic “Miss By a Mile” post about calculating TAM, why it’s so important for founders for remain relentless, the discourse surrounding the “AI Bubble,” and much more.

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