💥 Perplexity offers $34.5B to buy Google’s Chrome

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Greetings! Your latest quick tech update is here:

☀️ On this day: On August 13, 1889, American inventor William Gray was granted a patent for the coin-controlled telephone, the precursor to the public payphone. This innovation allowed users to make telephone calls by inserting coins, significantly expanding access to telecommunications in the early 20th century.

What’s happening:

• 💥 Perplexity offers $34.5B to buy Google’s Chrome

• 🔍 YouTube users push back on AI age checks

• 🧠 Sam Altman to launch new brain tech startup

• 🤖 Workers like AI help but not AI in charge

• 🚗 Waymo robotaxis outwork most Uber drivers

• + 📊 Daily poll and results

• + 📈 Trending tools and resources

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Hand-picked news:

💥 Perplexity offers $34.5B to buy Google’s Chrome ↗️LINK

• What: Perplexity AI, a three-year-old startup, made a surprise $34.5B offer to buy Google’s Chrome browser. That’s more than double Perplexity’s own $14B valuation. Chrome has over 3 billion users and is key to Google’s AI-powered search tools.

• Why: Perplexity wants to compete with giants like OpenAI and Google. Owning Chrome would give it massive reach and user data. The company promises to keep Chrome open source, invest $3B, and not change its default search engine.

• Impact: Google is unlikely to sell. But with regulators pushing for changes, and a key antitrust ruling coming soon, the offer adds pressure—and shows how AI is shaking up the search world.

🔍 YouTube users push back on AI age checks ↗️LINK

• What: YouTube is using AI to guess users' ages by looking at what videos they watch and search for. If it thinks someone is under 18, it restricts their account—blocking some content and turning on safety tools.

• Why: Many users are angry, saying this system invades privacy and can be wrong. To remove the restrictions, YouTube asks for a government ID, credit card, or selfie—which feels risky to share. A petition against it is nearing 50,000 signatures.

• Impact: Critics say the AI checks go too far and treat adults like kids. They worry about data safety if YouTube ever gets hacked—and argue that parents, not tech companies, should manage what kids watch.

🧠 Sam Altman to launch new brain tech startup ↗️LINK

• What: Sam Altman is reportedly co-founding Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that could compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Merge may raise funds from OpenAI’s ventures team and is expected to be valued at $850M.

• Why: Merge Labs aims to explore ways humans can interact with tech using their brains—an area Musk’s Neuralink is already testing with paralyzed patients. Altman has long talked about “The Merge,” where humans and AI increasingly blend.

• Impact: If launched, Merge Labs would heat up the race toward merging tech with the human brain—potentially reshaping how we use computers and accelerating the path to a “singularity.”

🤖 Workers like AI help but not AI in charge ↗️LINK

• What: AI agents are showing up more at work to handle boring, routine tasks. A survey of 3,000 business leaders found most are fine using AI but only 30% would take orders from it, and just 24% trust it to run without people watching.

• Why: People trust AI more when they use it often, but they still don’t want it making big decisions like hiring or legal work. Some also fear AI will lead to burnout, less thinking for themselves, and fewer human connections.

• Impact: AI tools are making work faster, but also raising questions about how much control we should give them. Businesses love the productivity boost, but workers want balance, oversight, and clear limits.

🚗 Waymo robotaxis outwork most Uber drivers ↗️LINK

• What: In Austin, Waymo’s 100 robotaxis on the Uber app are now doing more daily rides than 99% of human Uber drivers. Uber’s CEO says the partnership has done better than expected and plans to grow the fleet to “hundreds” of cars soon.

• Why: Austin’s loose rules for self-driving cars make it a perfect test city. Uber has stopped building its own robotaxis and is now teaming up with companies like Waymo to grow faster in the self-driving space.

• Impact: Some drivers are worried—robotaxis may hurt their earnings long-term. But Uber sees driverless rides as its next big move, even as its revenue growth slows and investors grow cautious.

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Looking for even more options? Explore our curated section below:

Today’s Poll:

Vote and find out about the result tomorrow.

Yesterday’s Poll Result:

Do you think Apple rigs its App Store rankings?

• A) Yes – It’s about control and favoritism - 71% 🏆

• B) No – Rankings reflect real popularity - 29%

Reader’s opinion:

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