AI morning brief - 2025-06-11

Vertica Newshound Shownotes — June 11, 2025Episode Summary:Today’s episode dives deep into Meta’s dramatic new leap into superintelligent AI, with Mark Zuckerberg handpicking an elite team in a race to develop artificial general intelligence. We also cover groundbreaking stories in AI-driven retail and logistics, the rapid rise of generative voice assistants, and other pivotal moves transforming e-commerce and automation worldwide.Main Story:- Meta is forming an elite "superintelligence group" under Mark Zuckerberg’s direct supervision, signaling a high-stakes pivot toward building artificial general intelligence (AGI) and potentially superintelligent systems.- This group consists of 50 top engineers and scientists, personally recruited by Zuckerberg, and positioned close to his Menlo Park office.- Meta’s compensation packages for this team reportedly surpass those typical even in Silicon Valley, with some offers reaching into the hundreds of millions.- Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, is joining the effort, bolstered by a multi-billion-dollar Meta investment in Scale’s data capabilities.- The project is a direct response to recent underwhelming AI product launches, such as Llama 4, and represents a new aggressive strategy to leap ahead of rivals like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and OpenAI.- Meta is simultaneously making heavy investments in new data centers and computing infrastructure to support rapid, large-scale AI experimentation.- While extraordinary in ambition, the group’s mission—true superintelligence—remains controversial and speculative, though the move may reshape the global AI race.Sources:- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-06-10/bloomberg-tech-6-10-2025-video- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/technology/meta-new-ai-lab-superintelligence.html- https://mashable.com/article/zuckerberg-reportedly-assembling-superintelligence-group-meta-ai- https://www.eweek.com/news/meta-superintelligence-lab-ai-mark-zuckerberg/Other Key Stories:- Czech Grocer Rohlik Group spins out an AI-powered delivery system designed to outcompete rivals like Ocado by optimizing logistics and last-mile delivery through advanced machine learning. This signals a shift toward AI as the backbone of e-commerce grocery operations. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-10/czech-online-grocer-launches-ai-delivery-platform-to-rival-ocado- Amazon’s new generative AI assistant, Alexa Plus, surpasses 1 million users nationwide. The platform is transforming voice-driven commerce by providing more personalized, conversational shopping experiences. Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/684560/amazon-alexa-plus-one-million-users-coming-summer-2025- Walmart announces "Sparky," its major initiative focused on generative and agentic AI. Sparky automates tasks, personalizes shopper experiences, and drives new levels of operational efficiency, reinforcing AI’s central role in top-tier retail. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronschmelzer/2025/06/10/walmart-bets-big-on-generative-and-agentic-ai-with-sparky/Additional Headlines:- Amazon’s security chief calls on governments to be careful with AI regulation, warning that excessive rules could hinder innovation.- Stitch Fix doubles down on AI personalization to revitalize its subscription service.- Amazon Ads launches an AI tool that auto-generates video content, promising faster and more creative campaigns.- Chipotle credits rapid expansion to its internal AI systems handling hiring and site launches.- OpenAI debuts O3-Pro, a new advanced reasoning language model.- ChatGPT and similar tools experienced a significant outage yesterday but most functions are now restored.- TSMC reports a 40% surge in May revenue driven by global demand for AI chips.If you want more updates on AI, automation, and digital commerce, tune in tomorrow for the next Vertica Newshound. Thanks for listening!