THIS WEEK IN AI: Grok Bot (and 4.6), AI Watermarks, Deepseek Strategy, Selling the Lakers

xAI has returned to the AI frontier with the release of Grok 4.6, a model rivaling top-tier competitors like Claude 3.5 and GPT-5.6 at a significantly lower cost. This performance leap is driven by massive compute resources and proprietary engineering data. Meanwhile, GPU cloud providers like CoreWeave and Nebius are experiencing explosive revenue growth, despite concerns over high capital expenditures and debt. The industry is also bracing for new EU regulations requiring AI-generated text watermarking, while strategic investments, such as the record-breaking acquisition of the LA Lakers by Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, highlight a growing focus on human-centric assets in a post-AGI world. Additionally, DeepSeek’s upcoming V4 Pro model threatens to disrupt the open-source landscape with high-level coding and cyber capabilities, further intensifying the competitive pressure on established AI labs.