🗞️In this edition

• •Sponsored: Pacaso - Co-own homes across top global destinations

• •Meta shifts AI strategy toward closed models

• •Workflow Wednesday #30 ‘Best-Of-Edition’

• •Smarter maps with Google’s AlphaEarth AI

• • In other AI news –

  • •Google agrees to sign EU’s AI code of practice

  • •Meta plans up to $72B AI spend next year

  • •Microsoft’s $100B AI bet cheers Wall Street

• • 4 must-try AI tools

Major investors bet big on this “unlisted” stock

When the founder who sold his last company to Zillow for $120M starts a new venture, people notice. That’s why the same VC firms that backed Uber, Venmo, and eBay also invested in Pacaso.

Disrupting the real estate industry once again, Pacaso’s streamlined platform offers co-ownership of premier properties, revamping the $1.3T vacation home market.

And it works. By handing keys to 2,000+ happy homeowners, Pacaso has already made $110M+ in gross profits to date.

Now, after 41% YoY gross profit growth last year alone, they recently reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO. 

And you can join them as an investor for just $2.90/share.*

Meta leans toward closed AI models in superintelligence push

♨️News –  Mark Zuckerberg has shared Meta’s next big AI goal: “personal superintelligence” that helps people achieve their individual goals. But behind that vision is a quiet shift in how Meta plans to release its most powerful AI models, signaling that open source may no longer be the default. 

👨‍💻Fast facts –

• In his letter, Zuckerberg said future superintelligence models may not be open sourced due to safety concerns.

• Meta has previously positioned openness as its edge over rivals like OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

• The company recently paused testing on its new Llama model and is now focused on building a closed model.

• Meta has invested billions into AGI efforts, including a $14.3B deal with Scale AI and a new AI division.

• Zuckerberg said Meta will bring personal AI into everyday life through products like AR glasses and VR headsets.

🤓OpenTools POV – Meta’s tone on open source is starting to shift. As it doubles down on competing with closed AI leaders, how much of its future tech stays open is now a real question.

This Week in Workflow Wednesday #30: AI Best-Of-Edition

Meeting Follow-Ups Made Easy with Otter.ai
It’s one of our most revisited workflows—and for good reason. If meetings leave you drowning in scattered notes and forgotten tasks, Otter.ai is the lifesaver you didn’t know you needed. It transcribes, highlights, and organizes your calls so you can send crisp, actionable follow-ups in minutes.

Step 1: Record and Transcribe Instantly
Head to Otter.ai and sign up for free.
Use any email: business or personal works fine.
Join your Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams call, and hit record with Otter running in the background.
Use the highlight tool during your meeting to flag key points as they come up.

Step 2: Turn Notes into a Clean Follow-Up
After the meeting, review your transcript.
Copy highlights, decisions, and next steps directly from Otter.
Drop them into…...We break it down fully in this week’s issue, along with 2 other reader-favorite AI workflows

Google’s AlphaEarth turns earth data into actionable intelligence

☕News –   Google DeepMind has launched AlphaEarth Foundations, a new AI system that could reshape how we monitor the planet. It turns overwhelming volumes of satellite data into a single, unified digital map of Earth’s surface, making it easier for governments, scientists, and businesses to track changes over time.

👨‍💻Fast facts –

• Processes optical, radar, and climate data with 10-meter precision.

• Cuts storage needs by 16 times and reduces error rates by nearly 24 percent.

• Supports continuous-time analysis, filling in gaps when data is missing.

• Used by over 50 groups, including MapBiomas and Global Ecosystems Atlas.

• Now available through Google Earth Engine with annual data from 2017 to 2024.

🤓OpenTools POV – AlphaEarth Foundations makes planetary-scale intelligence more accessible than ever. As Earth data becomes easier to work with, we could see a wave of new tools and services built on top of it.

🙆🏻‍♀️What else is happening?

• Google says it will sign EU’s AI code of practice //  Notably, Meta earlier this month said it would not sign the code, calling the EU’s implementation of its AI legislation “overreach” and stating that Europe was heading down the wrong path on AI

• Meta to spend up to $72B on AI infrastructure in 2025 as compute arms race escalates // “We currently expect 2025 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, to be in the range of $66-72 billion…up approximately $30 billion year-over-year at the midpoint,” Meta said

• Wall Street delighted with Microsoft as it spends $100bn on AI // Company’s second-quarter financial results showed a booming cloud business and enormous capital expenditures

👩🏼‍🚒Discover mind-blowing AI tools

1. Learn How to Use AI - Starting January 8, 2025, we’re launching Workflow Wednesday, a series where we teach you how to use AI effectively. Lock in early bird pricing now and secure your spot. Check it out here

2. Cognosys - It is designed to provide personalized AI agent services to users in various industries

3. Grantable - An AI-powered grant writing assistant that helps users write grant proposals faster

4. Shortmake - An AI-powered video creation tool that simplifies the process of turning ideas into viral videos

*This is a paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving the ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the Nasdaq is subject to approvals.