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- 😥Google's AI Defamation Fight
😥Google's AI Defamation Fight
PLUS: OpenAI Opens Equity Donations + Estimatic.ai Takeover
Reading time: 5 minutes
🗞️In this edition
Estimatic.ai Take Over (sponsored) - AI-powered creativity, enterprise-ready performance, and one of the best deals of the year.
Google moves to dismiss AI defamation suit
OpenAI loosens grip on employee equity
How Estimatic AI Is Rewriting the Future of Construction - Founder Spotlight Episode
In other AI news –
Google debuts faster, more accurate AI model for weather forecasts
Google expands its AI Flight Deals tool worldwide with new travel features
Amazon plans $15B bond sale to fuel its growing AI infrastructure push
4 must-try AI tools
Investor + Referral Opportunity with Estimatic
Welcome to the Estimatic Takeover Edition of the OpenTools newsletter.
This week, we’re highlighting Estimatic AI, the new powerhouse from Contractor+ that’s shaking up one of the slowest parts of construction: estimating.
With their launch comes an AI workflow that builds accurate, client-ready quotes in minutes - powered by local Lowe’s pricing and labor rates pulled from 60,000+ contractors.
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Contractors hate estimating. It’s slow, chaotic, and half the time you’re guessing.
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If you want to look like the smartest contractor in the room and close more bids without grinding away for hours… this is it.
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What's happening:
Google filed a motion to dismiss defamation lawsuit brought by anti-corporate diversity activist Robby Starbuck, who claimed Google's AI falsely associated him with sexual assault allegations and white nationalist.
Starbuck's claims against Google came after he filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, whose AI he claimed falsely asserted he'd participated in the January 6th riot at the US Capitol. But Meta settled that lawsuit in August and even hired Starbuck as advisor to help address "ideological and political bias" in its AI chatbot.
Starbuck is seeking $15M in damages from Google. But the company says in its filing that his claims simply represent his "misuse of developer tools to induce hallucinations." Starbuck doesn't identify what prompts he used to generate outputs at issue, according to Google, or any actual person who was misled by alleged claims.
Why this is important:
Meta settled and hired Starbuck as advisor. That set a precedent that suing AI companies over false outputs can result in settlements. No US court has awarded damages for defamation by AI chatbot yet. This case could establish legal precedent either way.
Google's defense that Starbuck doesn't identify prompts used or actual person misled is important. If a plaintiff must prove specific prompts and actual harm, that raises the bar significantly for AI defamation claims.
Starbuck seeking $15M after Meta settlement creates incentive for similar lawsuits. If Google settles, expect more activists testing AI systems for false outputs then suing.
Our personal take on it at OpenTools:
"Misuse of developer tools to induce hallucinations" is a fascinating legal defense.
Google's arguing Starbuck deliberately prompted the AI to generate false statements, then sued over outputs he engineered. If true, that's manufacturing evidence for a lawsuit.
No US court awarding damages for AI chatbot defamation yet means this is uncharted legal territory. Outcome matters for the entire industry.
If courts rule AI companies liable for hallucinations regardless of how they were induced, that's a huge liability. Every false output becomes a potential lawsuit.
Google's defense that prompts matter and actual harm must be proven is the correct legal strategy. But whether courts accept it is unknown.
What's happening:
OpenAI is finally letting employees donate equity to charity after an 18-month delay. The company sent an email to current and former employees with eligible shares confirming they can participate.
The timing matters. Employees who got six-figure equity deals in 2019 could now donate millions to charity. OpenAI's share price jumped from $430 per unit last month to $483 today, a 12% increase.
But there's a catch. The turnaround deadline is extremely short, much faster than the SEC-mandated 20 business days for tender offers. OpenAI recommends working with tax or financial advisors, but the tight timeline makes that difficult.
Past donation rounds happened in 2021 and 2022. After OpenAI's $1.5 billion SoftBank tender offer last year, employees were told a charitable donation opportunity would come soon. It didn't.
Now, after closing its mega-funding round and completing for-profit restructuring, OpenAI is loosening restrictions.
The decision comes after growing employee frustration over equity control.
OpenAI previously raised concerns by threatening to claw back vested equity if employees violated non-disparagement agreements.
Why this is important:
OpenAI used charitable equity donation as a recruiting tool during AI talent wars. Anthropic offers 1:1 matching up to 25% of equity grants. OpenAI being 18 months late undermines that pitch.
The short deadline creates barriers. Employees need tax advice for million-dollar decisions but don't have time to get it. That's deliberate friction.
Our personal take on it at OpenTools:
This looks like damage control after for-profit restructuring.
OpenAI delayed donation rounds for 18 months while restructuring from nonprofit to for-profit. Now that the deal's closed and share price jumped 12%, they're finally allowing it, but with a rushed timeline that limits participation.
The $430 to $483 spike is interesting. The source believes it's partly because OpenAI owes its nonprofit less in future profits post-restructuring. That's wealth transfer from nonprofit mission to for-profit shareholders.
Using charitable donations as a recruiting tool then delaying for 18 months is bad faith. Anthropic's 1:1 matching makes OpenAI look stingy by comparison.
The tight deadline suggests OpenAI wants minimal participation. If they genuinely wanted employees to donate, they'd give proper time to consult advisors. Instead, they're checking a box while making it hard to actually participate.
Founder Spotlight: How Estimatic AI Is Rewriting the Future of Construction — With Contractor+ CEO Justin Smith
In this episode of Founder Spotlight, we sit down with Justin Smith, founder and CEO of Contractor Plus and the creator of Estimatic AI, the estimating assistant turning multi-hour quotes into 10-minute workflows.
Justin’s story is anything but typical. He grew up on job sites with his mother, built a multimillion-dollar contracting business, hit the same operational wall so many contractors face, and decided to build the software he wished existed.
Watch the whole interview here.
Google updates its weather forecasts with a new AI model – The company says its AI weather model is faster and more accurate than ever.
Google rolls out its AI ‘Flight Deals’ tool globally, adds new travel features in Search – Adding the ability for users to organize travel plans with its “Canvas” tool in AI Mode, and launching agentic booking capabilities to more people.
Amazon to raise $15 billion in first US bond sale in three years to fund AI push – Big technology firms are turning to debt sales worth tens of billions of dollars to fund infrastructure expansions as demand for artificial intelligence workloads surges.
Estimatic AI — Trusted by contractors across the US and built by the team behind Contractor+. Their new estimating engine is live — faster, smarter, and built to generate accurate project estimates in minutes, not hours.
TutorAI - Share a prompt of something that you want to learn and it will generate a course for you
Human or Not? - A social Turing game that allows users to chat with someone for two minutes to figure out if it was a fellow human or an AI
Defog - An AI-powered data analysis tool that allows users to ask questions and receive answers from their own datasets
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Contractor+ (the makers of Estimatic AI) have never raised institutional capital, and now they’re looking for a financial partner to execute a GTM blitz.
That’s a wrap on the Estimatic Takeover.
That’s a wrap on today’s takeover. Estimatic AI is one of those rare releases that hits speed, accuracy, and real business impact all at once. If you’re in the trades — or you’re watching the space — now’s the moment to pay attention.
– The OpenTools Team
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