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Hello, Curse and Coffee friends,
Today, we explore Elon Musk’s anger at Google’s AI monopoly.
Hit reply and let us know what you think (we read all of your kind words).
Coffee at the ready…
The Big Sip
The take: Google will power the AI brains on iPhones and Androids. Musk's monopoly complaint is self-serving (and correct).
What happened: Apple confirmed Monday it will reportedly pay Google ~$1 billion a year to power Siri with Gemini.
Why it matters: A federal judge already ruled Google an illegal search monopolist. Now it powers AI infrastructure on both major smartphone operating systems.
What to watch: Spring 2026 Siri launch, and whether September's antitrust remedy banning "exclusive" deals has any teeth.
Musk calls it "unreasonable concentration of power." This is from the man whose AI trains on your posts without asking.
Sponsor Break
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Here’s Your Brew
[Analysis] Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities, 12 Jan 2026
Ives called this "a major validation moment for Google as a premier foundation model and for Apple as a stepping stone to accelerate its AI strategy."
Apple lost the AI race. So it bought the winner.
Apple promised AI Siri at WWDC 2024, missed every deadline, and bled engineers to $200 million poaching packages.
Judge Mehta ruled that Google's search monopoly was illegal but allowed non-exclusive deals to stand.
This one's technically non-exclusive.
Apple can partner elsewhere…
But when one company powers AI on every smartphone, "non-exclusive" becomes moot.
Musk's complaint is correct. He's just disqualified from making it.
xAI sued Apple for favouring OpenAI. Apple picked Google instead. Grok is now shut out of both platforms' native AI stacks, while Senators demand it be banned for its use in deepfakes.
Hard to cry antitrust when regulators are trying to cancel you.
Two Sides, One Mug
Pro: Users get a Siri that finally works, privacy stays on-device, and Gemini is genuinely best-in-class right now.
Con: One company now powers AI plumbing on iOS and Android. That's what antitrust law is for.
Our read: Good for users. A win for Google. The DOJ spent five years proving this company is a monopolist, and it just expanded.
Receipt of the Day
[Court Filing] United States v. Google LLC — Final Remedies Order (6 Dec 2025)
Mehta's order bans exclusive deals but allows non-exclusive ones, and explicitly covers "GenAI products." Apple's Gemini deal lives in that gap. If regulators decide Apple had no real alternative, this receipt becomes Exhibit A.
Spit Take
Google hit $4T. Apple's at $3.8T.
Your Coffee Break Links (and water cooler chatter)
The Register: "Apple taps Google Gemini to lead Siri in from the wilderness" — Best explanation of what Gemini actually does under the hood.
9to5Mac: "Deal sounds bigger, better than expected" — Gemini powers all Apple Intelligence, not just Siri. That got buried.
NBC News: "Senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok" — The week's other Musk-meets-Apple story. Read both. Draw conclusions.
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One bold take, the best counter, and the receipt(s) that prove it (all in sixish minutes).
Mugshot Poll 📊
Musk says Apple-Google is "unreasonable concentration of power." You?
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