Reddit sues Perplexity for data scraping

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☕ Good morning,

Here's what's actually interesting: the scrappier players are often solving real problems while the giants are busy playing defence or chasing vanity metrics.

Reddit wouldn't need to sue if they'd built better tools for its communities. Meta wouldn't need to slash jobs if they hadn't overhired chasing hype. Amazon wouldn't need AR glasses if they'd designed humane working conditions from the start.

_{—Here’s to the first sip.}

TODAY IN AI
Reddit sues Perplexity for illegally scraping its data

Reddit’s going after Perplexity AI in court, accusing it of secretly scraping Reddit posts to train its AI “answer engine.”

According to Reddit, Perplexity didn’t bother signing a proper data deal like OpenAI or Google did. Instead, it allegedly utilised shady scraping services, including SerpApi, Oxylabs, and AWMProxy, to extract Reddit content from Google search results. Reddit even ran a test, posting something only Google could see, and a few hours later, that same post showed up in Perplexity’s results.

Reddit calls this “data laundering,” saying AI companies are so desperate for high-quality human content that they’re finding backdoor ways to grab it. These scrapers apparently mask their identities and locations to circumvent Reddit’s protections, selling the stolen data to AI firms that want to avoid licensing fees.

Perplexity, on the other hand, says it hasn’t seen the lawsuit yet but insists it’s doing nothing wrong and is just helping users “freely access public knowledge.”

This fight isn’t just about one company, it’s about who really owns the internet’s human-made content. Reddit’s made it clear: if AI companies want its data, they’ll have to pay for it, not steal it.

TECH BARISTA
Meta cuts 600 AI jobs

Meta’s cutting about 600 jobs from its AI division, according to an Axios report, but this isn’t just another round of layoffs, it’s a major shift in how the company is approaching AI.

The cuts hit Meta’s older FAIR research team and parts of its AI infrastructure division, as the company doubles down on its new superintelligence lab, called TBD. Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang told employees in a memo, obtained by Axios, that slimming down the team will make decisions faster and give each person “more scope and impact.”

It fits perfectly with Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” mindset — fewer people, faster progress. Over the summer, Meta went on a hiring spree, poaching top AI talent from rivals with massive pay offers. Now, the company’s redirecting that energy toward practical, large-scale AI systems rather than pure research. Most of the affected staff can apply for other roles within Meta.

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GADGETS BARISTA
Amazon unveils AI glasses for delivery drivers

Amazon just showed off its new smart glasses for delivery drivers, codenamed Amelia, and they’re basically turning the delivery route into a hands-free AR system.

The glasses help drivers find the right package inside the van, guide them with turn-by-turn directions, and automatically snap a delivery photo, no phone needed. They’re paired with a vest controller that has a swappable battery, a button for photos, and even an emergency call feature in case something goes wrong on the route.

The lenses can adjust to sunlight, support prescriptions, and use built-in cameras and sensors to map what’s around the driver. Amazon says hundreds of drivers helped test early versions to make them comfortable for all-day use.

Future versions could use AI to spot wrong deliveries, detect hazards like pets or low light, and even warn drivers about mistakes in real time.

For now, the Amelia glasses are only for Amazon’s delivery crew, but it’s easy to see where this could go. A consumer version, reportedly called Jayhawk, is already in the works, and that could bring Amazon’s smart glasses straight to regular users in the next few years.

STARTUP BAR
Shuttle raises $6M

So vibe coding sounded amazing. You describe an idea, AI writes the code, and boom, you’ve got an app. But reality hit fast. Building the app is easy now, but maintaining and deploying it is still a headache.

That’s where Shuttle comes in. The startup just raised $6 million to fix the messy infrastructure side of AI-built software. Think of it as the next step after tools like Replit AI or Lovable. You drop in your code, and Shuttle figures out how to deploy it, what it’ll cost, and spins it up in the cloud, no manual setup, no DevOps pain.

Shuttle started back in 2020 through Y Combinator, mostly focusing on Rust apps. Now it’s used by over 20,000 developers, and the new funding will help it expand to all languages and AI coding tools.

The team’s goal is to make deployment feel as natural as coding with AI. You’ll be able to set up databases, buy cloud hosting, or scale your app just by typing what you want.