AI money is moving fast, governments are picking sides, and the design world is finally asking the right questions about user experience. This week brought massive funding rounds, strategic partnerships, and some hard truths about what makes products actually work.
Industry moves
OpenAI and Nvidia plan $100B chip partnership
OpenAI and Nvidia signed a letter of intent for a $100B partnership that could reshape AI infrastructure. The plan calls for at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia hardware to support OpenAI's next-generation systems, targeting superintelligence with the first phase launching in H2 2026.
Why this matters for product teams: When the biggest players in AI are planning infrastructure at this scale, it signals that AI tools are moving from experimental to essential. The UX challenge? Making superintelligence-powered features feel intuitive.
"Every leap in AI capability creates a new interface design problem. The companies that solve human-AI interaction first will own the next decade of product development."
{{Kirill Lazarev}}
Switzerland goes 100% open with Apertus AI model
Swiss institutions (EPFL, ETH Zurich, CSCS) released Apertus — a fully open AI model with 8B and 70B parameter versions. Unlike closed-source competitors, every part of its design and training process is public, available through Hugging Face and Swisscom.
Design insight: Open-source AI democratizes access but creates new UX challenges. When anyone can deploy AI models, the differentiator becomes interface design and user experience, not algorithm access.
The week's billion-dollar funding frenzy
This week's funding landscape reveals where smart money is betting on the future and it's not just AI anymore. Here's the breakdown of the 10 biggest rounds:
- Figure — $1B Series C (Robotics) San Jose-based Figure raised $1B at a $39B valuation for general-purpose humanoid robots. Led by Parkway Venture Capital, this signals that humanoid robotics is moving from sci-fi to serious business.
- Groq — $750M (AI Compute) Mountain View's Groq secured $750M from Disruptive at a $6.9B valuation. Their LPUs (language processing units) compete directly with Nvidia's dominance in AI hardware.
- Divergent Technologies — $290M Series E (Manufacturing) Torrance-based Divergent's digital manufacturing platform hit a $2.3B valuation with Rochefort Asset Management leading. $250M equity + $40M debt shows mature funding structures.
- Lila Sciences — $235M Series A (AI for Science) Cambridge-based Lila Sciences raised $235M from Braidwell and Collective Global for AI tools in scientific research. The Series A size shows how quickly AI applications are scaling.
- Dyna Robotics — $120M Series A: Foundation models for daily robot tasks.
- Colossal Biosciences — $120M: De-extinction projects including mammoth revival, backed by Peter Jackson.
- Invisible Technologies — $100M growth round: AI software platform with $134M revenue.
- Upscale AI — $100M seed: AI networking technology emerging from stealth.
- Ollin Biosciences — $100M: Vision-threatening disease therapies.
- Chestnut Carbon — $90M Series B (Climate Tech) Forest restoration and carbon offsets, bringing total funding to $450M with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
"Billion-dollar valuations don't guarantee billion-dollar user experiences. We're seeing incredible technical capabilities wrapped in interfaces that feel like developer demos. The market correction will come through UX."
{{Oleksandr Koshytskyi}}
"The funding focus on robotics and AI compute tells us we're entering the 'application layer' phase of AI. The hard tech is getting solved, now the winners will be determined by who makes these powerful tools actually usable by normal humans."
{{Danylo Dubrovsky}}
Elon Musk's xAI undercuts competition at 42 cents
xAI struck a deal with the U.S. General Services Administration to offer Grok to federal agencies for 42 cents per 18-month license. OpenAI and Anthropic charge $1 for yearly government access.
The pricing war reality: When AI becomes a commodity, user experience becomes the only sustainable competitive advantage. Government contracts are won on cost, but user adoption is won on usability.
Product reality check
Trump approves TikTok deal worth $14B
President Trump signed an executive order facilitating TikTok's U.S. sale to an American investor group, valued around $14 billion. The 120-day enforcement delay gives the divestiture plan time to execute.
UX implications: Platform ownership changes create user trust challenges. TikTok's success depends on maintaining the algorithm and interface quality that users expect, regardless of corporate structure changes.
Meta launches 'Vibes' – AI video feed nobody asked for
Meta introduced "Vibes," a TikTok-like feed of AI-generated short videos in the Meta AI app. The feature showcases AI-created content ranging from fuzzy creatures hopping on cubes to ancient Egyptian selfies.
"Meta's betting users want AI-generated content over human creativity. That's a massive UX gamble. If users wanted synthetic content, they'd be using more AI art apps. The engagement metrics will tell the real story."
{{Danylo Dubrovsky}}
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pulse for morning briefs
ChatGPT Pulse generates personalized reports while users sleep, offering 5-10 daily briefs to encourage morning ChatGPT usage like social media. It's part of OpenAI's shift toward proactive, asynchronous AI assistance.
Design wins
Teachchain partners with Lazarev.agency to transform education industry
The Teachchain team approached us with an innovative EdTech concept but no clear product vision or brand identity. Our comprehensive approach included UX research, product roadmap development, and experience design for three different user personas.
Key insight: EdTech success depends on understanding that learners, instructors, and administrators have fundamentally different needs. One-size-fits-all interfaces fail everyone.
Studio Blackburn marks Brompton's 50-year legacy
The London bike brand's new identity celebrates "Life Unfolded" connecting their folding bike innovation with a global community of one million riders. The rebrand unites international markets under a cohesive brand expression.
"Brompton's rebrand shows how physical product design principles translate to brand identity. Smart product companies make their unique technology their visual language."
{{Oleksandr Koshytskyi}}
Spotify connects Vietnamese folklore with music taste
For Vietnam's 80th Independence Day, Spotify partnered with Happiness Saigon to match users' music preferences with folkloric figures. The campaign taps into cultural pride through personalized music experiences.
Cultural design insight: Localization goes beyond translation, it requires understanding cultural symbols and emotional connections. Spotify's approach shows how global platforms can create meaningful local experiences.
Lazarev.agency client success updates
Quantillium launches global financial data API
Our client Quantillium announced QuantilliumAPI, providing standardized financial data from 60+ stock exchanges across 58 countries. The platform serves major hedge funds and now offers self-service access to 40,000+ public companies' data. Key updates:
- Comprehensive content extraction and translation.
- 10 standardized sections across global filings.
- 30 standardized KPIs with no usage restrictions.
Dollet Wallet announces strategic crypto partnerships
Dollet, the first wallet incorporating DeFi strategies, partnered with GreedyArt, ReHold, Actocracy, ICP.Hub, One Click Crypto, and CRGpt. The partnerships expand Dollet's mission to revolutionize crypto user experience.
Design challenge solved: Making DeFi accessible through pre-configured strategies instead of expecting users to become blockchain experts. Complexity hidden, value delivered.
This week's reality check
LMS UX: how to design learning platforms people want to use
Picture logging into a training portal on your first day. The dashboard is a maze. Buttons hide behind dropdowns. You can't tell if "Onboarding 101" is two lessons or twenty. Ten minutes later, you've closed the tab.
That's reality for millions of learners worldwide. The content isn't bad, the user experience is broken. Key principles that work:
- Clarity beats clutter: Intuitive navigation and visible progress keep learners engaged.
- Design for mobility: Mobile and offline access drives adoption beyond desktop.
- Engagement is engineered: Gamification, social proof, and personalized features sustain motivation.
- UX drives UI: Let learner-first flows dictate the visual layer.
"Most LMS platforms are designed for administrators, not learners. When you flip that priority: design for the person actually taking the course, adoption rates double overnight."
{{Kirill Lazarev}}
What's coming next week
The AI infrastructure arms race is accelerating, but the real winners will be companies that make advanced AI feel effortless to use. We're moving past the "AI-powered" marketing phase into the "AI-invisible" product phase, where the technology works so well users forget it's there.
The next battleground isn't model parameters or processing power. It's interface design that makes superintelligence feel like common sense.
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