The global race for dominance in the field of artificial intelligence is intensifying: China's Baidu has decided to open the source code of its Ernie language model, challenging such market leaders as OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI executives are trying to keep employees from moving to Meta. Congress is approaching the deadline to pass Donald Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-budget bill. These and other topics are in our review of key events by the morning of June 30.

Nvidia insiders have sold more than $1 billion worth of stock in one year

Insiders at artificial intelligence chip maker Nvidia have sold more than $1 billion worth of the company's stock over the past year, the Financial Times reports. According to the publication, the last four weeks alone accounted for about $500 million worth of transactions. CEO Jensen Huang recently sold about $15 million worth of shares as part of a plan announced in March to sell up to 6 million securities worth about $900 million by the end of the year. An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment to the publication.

Insiders sell shares amid the growth of quotations to the maximums and easing of geopolitical tensions, which earlier alarmed investors. Nvidia's securities have risen more than 17% since the beginning of the year and 44% in the last three months, despite concerns over restrictions on exporting AI chips abroad. Last week, Nvidia once again became the world's most valuable company, surpassing Microsoft and Apple. Nvidia shares have risen in price for five consecutive days and set a new record. 

OpenAI responded to Meta by promising to fight for researchers

OpenAI's chief research officer Mark Chen sent a sharp message to employees, vowing to confront Meta in the battle for top AI talent, reports Wired. This comes days after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg poached four senior researchers from OpenAI.

«I feel it almost physically, like our house has been broken into and something stolen,» Chen wrote in Slack. He added that OpenAI's leadership - including himself and CEO Sam Altman - is «working around the clock» to retain employees who have received offers from competitors: the company is adjusting compensation and looking for new ways to reward talent.

However, Chen emphasized that he was acting with justice in mind, «I will fight for each of you, but not at the cost of justice to others.»

According to sources, Meta is actively ramping up hiring, especially targeting OpenAI and Google employees. Zuckerberg is personally contacting potential candidates, and Altman claimed in a podcast that Meta is offering bonuses of up to $100 million 

Chen attached to his post comments from other research team leaders encouraging colleagues to resist pressure and seek advice if they received an offer from Meta. One stated, «If you are being pressured into making an insane offer with a limited time offer - just tell them to stop. It's too important a decision to make in a hurry.»

The company has declared next week off to allow employees to recover, but top management will continue to work. At the same time, OpenAI recognizes that the focus has shifted from regular product launches to the main goal of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).

«The main goal is to learn how to turn computing into intelligence,» Chen wrote. - And fighting Meta is a side mission.»

Sam Altman responded to Chen's Slack post by thanking him for his leadership and «the principles with which he makes tough decisions.»

Senate nears vote on Trump's $4.5 trillion tax reform 

The U.S. Senate voted over the weekend to begin debate on Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill to cut taxes by $4.5 trillion. On Monday, senators are expected to begin voting on numerous amendments to the bill. Senators will be able to offer an unlimited number of amendments - most will be rejected, but some may be accepted in order to attract additional votes. Senate Republicans need to win the support of eight wavering colleagues for final passage, writes Bloomberg.

Trump insists that the bill approved by Congress must get to him for his signature by July 4, U.S. Independence Day. After the Senate, the House of Representatives still has to vote on the bill.

According to a new Congressional Budget Office forecast, the fiscal bill as currently drafted in the Senate would increase the budget deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the next decade, reports Bloomberg. The estimate takes into account a $4.5 trillion drop in tax revenues and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts through 2034 compared to the current legislative framework.

Baidu will release its Ernie language model into the public domain

Chinese tech giant Baidu plans to open source the source code of its Ernie generative language model, in what could be the Chinese AI industry's most significant move since DeepSeek, reports CNBC. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the plans and said the opening would happen in stages.

One important factor is that Baidu did not initially support the idea of open-source. «Baidu has always favored a proprietary business model and has been an outspoken critic of open source. But players like DeepSeek have proven that open-source models can be competitive and reliable,» Liang Jie Su, principal analyst at research firm Omdia, previously noted in a commentary for CNBC.

Baidu's decision to open source its code isn't comparable to the DeepSeek release, but it's still an important step in the global AI race. «This is not just a China story. Every time a major lab opens up a powerful model, it raises the bar for the whole industry,» said Sean Ren, associate professor of computer science at the University of Southern California and winner of Samsung's AI researcher of the year award.

He said the move adds pressure on closed platforms like OpenAI and Anthropic, which now need to prove what users are paying premium prices for. «Most consumers are not interested in whether a model's code is open source or not. They care more about price, performance and local language support. This is what open-source models are more likely to provide: developers and scientists have the freedom to refine, customize, and rapidly deploy the model,» said Jen.

Some experts believe that Ernie's code discovery could change the market even more than DeepSeek's release - especially in terms of pricing. «Baidu just threw a Molotov cocktail into the AI world,» said Alec Strasmore, founder of consulting firm Epic Loot. - OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek - all these guys who thought they were selling top-notch champagne will soon realize that Baidu is giving away an equally powerful product.»

According to him, the main message for all global startups is: stop overpaying. «This is no longer competition - it is a price war,» he summarized.

Baidu previously reported that the new ERNIE X1 delivers the same performance as the DeepSeek R1, but is half the price.

What's in the markets

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly up on Monday as investors analyzed details of trade negotiations and a range of macroeconomic data, including industrial production figures for May in South Korea and Japan, and China's business activity indices (PMI) for June.

- Japanese stocks continued to rise from the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 index hitting a six-month high, adding 1.7%. The broader Topix index rose 1%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was also up 1%, while the Kosdaq small-company index was largely unchanged.

- In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.7 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.3 percent.

- U.S. stock futures rose by 0.4-0.5% during the Asian session. All three key Wall Street indices ended Friday's session with growth. The S&P 500 broad market index and the Nasdaq Composite index reached new records, adding about 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 1%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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