🕶️ Tooley’s Betting on Sex Tech

Meta’s making billion-dollar moves while corporate AI hits a wall.

Author

Lucila Sarquis
June 10, 2025

Today's sponsor

Meta’s eyeing a $10B bet on Scale AI, while Ramp says corporate adoption is cooling, with failed pilots piling up. NVIDIA’s boss claims anyone can code now, even Google’s into “vibe coding”.

Meanwhile, Axiom preps its 4th space mission, Uber reinvents the bus (again), and Warner Bros. Discovery wants a breakup.

New video! The great AI productivity paradox.

-🕶️

✦

Ten bullets of updates

  1. 🧠 AI levels the coding field, making it easier than ever for anyone to create programs — even Google’s CEO is hyped about “vibe coding.”

  2. 🧩 Your beautiful product might be failing if users prefer simplicity — 34.6% favor easy-to-understand designs.

  3. 🛂 Silicon Valley’s tech future is at risk as immigration policies jeopardize the 66% foreign-born workforce.

  4. 🧠 Anthropic's AI blog Claude ends after a month, amid transparency concerns and 24 backlink partnerships.

  5. 🎬 Warner Bros. Discovery plans to split into two companies by mid-2026, focusing on streaming and networks.

  6. 🔞 Investor Christian Tooley advocates for funding taboo products, predicting the sex tech market will reach $200B by 2032.

  7. 🚀 Axiom Space gears up for its 4th private mission, marking a break-even point and reigniting astronaut dreams in India, Poland, and Hungary.

  8. 🖥️ Apple visionary Bill Atkinson, creator of MacPaint and HyperCard, passes away at 74, leaving a profound tech legacy.

  9. 🚌 Uber’s Route Share reinvents the bus, sparking debate over its effect on transit systems, congestion, and emissions.

  10. 🎯 Build an audience first, then launch: Lauryn Bosstick grew a multimillion-dollar brand by engaging fans for 8 years.

✦

Turns out replacing humans with AI isn’t free (or easy)

Corporate America's AI honeymoon may be cooling off, with adoption trends showing signs of plateauing. According to Ramp’s AI Index, which analyzes spending data from 30,000 companies, U.S. business adoption of AI tools stalled at 41% in May after nearly 10 months of steady growth. Large firms lead the way with 49% adoption, followed by medium (44%) and small businesses (37%). While Ramp’s data has limitations, it aligns with a broader reckoning: companies are starting to realize AI’s limits. High-profile cases like Klarna rehiring support agents after AI-led cutbacks, and a surge in abandoned AI pilots (42%, up from 17%), suggest that the initial AI hype is meeting real-world friction.

✦

The Great AI Productivity Paradox

AI was supposed to make work easier. Instead, it’s fueling a system where productivity skyrockets, but your paycheck flatlines. This video breaks down how we got here—chart by chart—and why AI might just be the latest excuse to squeeze more out of workers for less. From Henry Ford to Google, and from labor laws to AI prompt guides, we unpack how power shifted—and what it’ll take to bring fairness back.

🕶️ Subscribe for more videos đź•¶ď¸Ź 

✦

You found global talent. Deel’s here to help you onboard them

Deel’s simplified a whole planet’s worth of information. It’s time you got your hands on our international compliance handbook where you’ll learn about:

  • Attracting global talent

  • Labor laws to consider when hiring

  • Processing international payroll on time

  • Staying compliant with employment & tax laws abroad

With 150+ countries right at your fingertips, growing your team with Deel is easier than ever.

✦

Learn how to make AI work for you

AI won’t take your job, but a person using AI might. That’s why 1,000,000+ professionals read The Rundown AI – the free newsletter that keeps you updated on the latest AI news and teaches you how to use it in just 5 minutes a day.

✦

SaaS Growth Calculator

A growth calculator that lets you forecast the impact of your ARPU (average revenue per user) and Churn Rate on the long-term potential of your subscription business.

✦

Meta’s about to drop a bag on Scale AI

Meta is reportedly in talks to invest over $10 billion in Scale AI, potentially marking its largest external AI investment to date and one of the biggest private funding rounds ever, according to Bloomberg. Scale AI, known for providing data labeling services to major players like Microsoft and OpenAI, generated $870 million in revenue last year and expects to hit $2 billion in 2025. The company previously raised $1 billion in a Series F round (valued at $13.8 billion), with Meta already among its backers. Notably, Scale AI also developed Defense Llama, a military-focused LLM built on Meta’s Llama 3.

✦

StartEngine’s $30M Surge — Own a Piece Before June 26

StartEngine is the investing platform providing exposure to pre-IPO companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Databricks.

After doubling their revenues YoY in 2024 ($23M to $48M), StartEngine’s now tripled first quarter revenue YoY to a record $30M, based on its unaudited Q1 2025 financials. Now you can join 45K+ shareholders across all offerings before this round closes next month.

Reg A+ via StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No BD/intermediary involved. Investment is speculative, illiquid & high risk. See OC and Risks on page.

✦

Startup Events and Deadlines

  1. Slidebean Webinar: Crash Course on Startup Fundraising l June 11 l Online *Heads up! This was previously set for June 10.

  2. The Startup Open Mic by CEDAT l Jun 11 l Bengaluru

  3. Techstars New York City Accelerator | Deadline: June 11 | US

  4. Slidebean Webinar: Crash Course in Financial Modeling l Jun 12 l Online

  5. Entrepreneur First London - Summer | Deadline: July 1 | UK

✦

How did we do?

Your feedback fuels us.

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.