Firefly Aerospace has announced its acquisition of SciTec, a defense analytics firm, for approximately $855 million in cash and stock. The deal aims to position Firefly as a major player in the national security market.

The acquisition involves roughly $300 million in cash and $555 million in new Firefly shares, with the deal expected to be finalized by the end of 2025. SciTec, based in Princeton, specializes in missile-warning and tracking systems, space domain awareness tools, and analytics for defense and intelligence clients. Notably, SciTec was recently awarded a $259 million contract by Space Force to develop a ground system for missile-detection satellites and reported $164 million in annual revenue as of June.

This move follows Firefly's recent IPO and reflects its strategic shift from a launch-and-spacecraft manufacturer to a vertically integrated defense contractor. Integrating SciTec will aid Firefly in meeting the Pentagon's increasing demand for commercial partners in missile tracking and early-warning systems, including programs like the "Golden Dome" missile-defense initiative. Following the acquisition, SciTec will operate as a Firefly subsidiary, led by its current CEO, Jim Lisowski.

OpenAI and Jony Ive are encountering technical difficulties in their collaboration to create a screen-less, AI-powered device. The project, initiated after OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of Ive's device startup, aims to produce a palm-sized device that responds to user requests using audio and visual cues. Key challenges involve defining the device's 'personality,' ensuring privacy, and managing computing infrastructure. The device is intended to be 'always on,' but the team is working to refine its responsiveness and conversation management.

EV Sales and Tax Credits: Automakers like Tesla, Ford, GM, and Rivian saw sales bumps before the $7,500 federal tax credit expired. It remains to be seen how the industry will navigate the post-tax credit era, with Rivian already adjusting its guidance down for 2025.

DOE Project Cancellations: The Department of Energy canceled 321 clean energy projects totaling $7.56 billion, disproportionately affecting states that voted for Kamala Harris.

Toyota's Startup Investment: Toyota is committing $1.5 billion to invest in startups through Toyota Invention Partners Co. and Woven Capital.

Notable Deals: Einride raised $100 million, Electroflow raised $10 million, and Flai raised a $4.5 million seed round.

Other Tidbits: Amazon Prime Air delivery drones collided, DoorDash is working on an autonomous delivery robot, Faraday Future had an explosion at its headquarters, and Waymo received an extension for its testing permit in New York City.

AI coding tools are rapidly improving due to reinforcement learning (RL) and easily measurable tests. However, skills like writing emails are progressing slowly. The key factor is whether a task can be automatically graded, allowing for billions of iterations without human input.

Software development is well-suited for RL because of existing testing methodologies like unit and integration testing. These tests provide systematized and repeatable validation for AI-generated code. Conversely, subjective tasks like writing emails are harder to measure at scale.

The "reinforcement gap"—the difference between capabilities that can be automatically graded and those that can't—is a critical factor in AI development. Unexpected advancements like OpenAI's Sora 2 model demonstrate that some processes may be more testable than initially thought, likely due to robust RL systems.

As long as RL remains a primary tool, this gap will widen, impacting startups and the economy. The testability of a process will determine its potential for automation, potentially leading to job displacement in certain sectors. The future of healthcare services, for example, will depend on which aspects can be effectively trained with RL.

Anker's Eufy offered users $2 per video of staged or real thefts to train its AI, aiming for 20,000 videos each of package and car thefts. Users uploaded videos via Google Forms, providing their PayPal details for payment. Eufy has launched similar programs offering rewards like badges, cameras, or gift cards for video donations. In the Eufy app, an 'Honor Wall' ranks users by video contributions, with the top donor exceeding 200,000 videos. Despite Eufy's claims of using videos solely for AI training and not sharing them with third parties, concerns arise due to past privacy issues, including a 2023 incident where The Verge revealed unencrypted camera streams advertised as end-to-end encrypted.

OpenAI's Sora video app is shifting its approach to copyright, potentially requiring rights holders to opt-in to allow their IP to be used in AI-generated videos. This change comes after concerns about users creating videos with copyrighted characters. OpenAI is also exploring video monetization options and potential revenue sharing with rights holders. The company hopes the new interactive fan fiction engagement will be valuable, alongside revenue opportunities.