Welcome back to Daily Zaps, your regularly-scheduled dose of AI news ⚡️ 

Here’s what we got for ya today:

• Coinbase fires coders who don’t use AI

• Apple in talks to use Google Gemini for Siri

• Anthropic settles AI book-training lawsuit

• Meta partners with Midjourney

Let’s get right into it!

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CAREERS

Coinbase fires coders who don’t use AI

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed on a podcast that he mandated engineers adopt AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Cursor after the company bought enterprise licenses, firing a few who refused to even onboard. Although some had valid excuses such as being on vacation, Armstrong acknowledged his approach was “heavy-handed” but said it made clear that AI use at Coinbase is not optional.

Since then, the company has leaned into training, holding monthly sessions where teams share innovative AI uses. Armstrong and Stripe’s John Collison agreed on AI’s usefulness but voiced concerns about managing AI-generated code bases, noting even OpenAI has struggled with messy repositories. The episode highlights both the rapid normalization of AI tools in programming and the cultural clashes over enforcing adoption.

BIG TECH

Apple in talks to use Google Gemini for Siri

Alphabet shares jumped over 3% after a Bloomberg report said Apple is in early talks to use Google’s Gemini AI models to power a revamped Siri , potentially launching next year. The move highlights Apple’s struggle to define its AI strategy while Google’s Gemini continues to lead benchmarks and demonstrate advanced capabilities like video summarization.

The discussions come as Google faces possible penalties from a U.S. antitrust case that could threaten its multibillion-dollar search deals with Apple and Samsung. Apple has signaled interest in integrating external AI models into its Apple Intelligence framework, with Craig Federighi mentioning Google directly, and the company is also exploring partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI.

LEGAL

Anthropic settles AI book-training lawsuit

Anthropic has reached a settlement in the class action lawsuit Bartz v. Anthropic , which accused the company of using pirated books to train its large language models. While a lower court had ruled that Anthropic’s use of the books qualified as fair use, the company still faced potential financial penalties due to the pirated nature of the materials.

The settlement terms were not disclosed, and Anthropic has not commented, though it previously praised the ruling as a win for generative AI, emphasizing that the books were acquired solely to build its models.

BIG TECH

Meta partners with Midjourney

Meta has partnered with Midjourney to license its “aesthetic technology” for future AI models and products , a move Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said reflects Meta’s “all-of-the-above” approach to building world-class AI. While Meta already offers its own image and video generators, Midjourney’s advanced V7 image model and V1 video model could help it better compete with OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo.

Wang praised Midjourney’s technical and aesthetic achievements, framing the partnership as part of Meta’s broader push to build a Superintelligence lab and solidify its role as a top AI player. The deal follows Meta’s aggressive hiring spree and $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI, which brought Wang himself into the company’s leadership.