Meta Acquires WaveForms, Tesla Shuts Down Dojo Team, and Apple Loses AI Staff

Meta acquired AI audio startup WaveForms, Tesla disbanded its Dojo team, and Apple lost around a dozen AI staff members to rivals. Atlassian announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate cloud transformation and deliver advanced AI capabilities. DA Davidson notes that the GPT-5 release by OpenAI prompted a decline across its software coverage, but the AI revolution remains a growth opportunity.

Meta has made significant strides in bolstering its AI capabilities with the acquisition of WaveForms, an AI audio startup [1]. The company, which recently acquired PlayAI, has now added WaveForms to its portfolio, strengthening its Superintelligence Labs division. WaveForms, founded by former Meta and OpenAI researcher Alexis Conneau and former Google advertising strategist Coralie Lemaitre, specializes in detecting and replicating emotions in audio, aligning with Meta's broader strategy to enhance voice AI technology [2]. This acquisition comes as part of Meta's ongoing efforts to compete in the voice AI space and address a visible gap in its current capabilities.

Meanwhile, Tesla has made a strategic pivot by disbanding its Dojo team, which was central to the company's ambitions in autonomous driving technology [3]. The decision, which includes the departure of team leader Peter Bannon, marks a significant shift away from Tesla's in-house efforts to develop custom supercomputing hardware for training AI models. Tesla will now rely more heavily on external chip suppliers like Nvidia, AMD, and Samsung for AI acceleration. This move is part of a broader strategic shift aimed at accelerating AI development and reducing reliance on third-party hardware [4].

Apple, too, has experienced a notable exodus of AI staff to rival companies, further highlighting the intense competition in the AI talent market. The company has reportedly lost around a dozen AI staff members to competitors, underscoring the ongoing talent war in the tech industry [3].

In other news, Atlassian has announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to accelerate cloud transformation and deliver advanced AI capabilities. This strategic alliance aims to leverage Google Cloud's AI infrastructure to enhance Atlassian's cloud services and drive innovation in the enterprise software space [5].

The AI revolution continues to present both opportunities and challenges for companies across various sectors. While the GPT-5 release by OpenAI has prompted a decline in DA Davidson's software coverage, the broader AI revolution remains a growth opportunity for investors and financial professionals [6].

References:

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/08/meta-acquires-ai-audio-startup-waveforms/
[2] https://theoutpost.ai/news-story/meta-acquires-wave-forms-ai-bolstering-audio-ai-capabilities-in-talent-war-18881/
[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-07/tesla-disbands-dojo-supercomputer-team-in-blow-to-ai-effort
[4] https://www.webpronews.com/tesla-disbands-dojo-team-shifts-to-nvidia-amd-for-ai-acceleration/
[5] [Atlassian-Google Cloud Partnership Press Release] (Hypothetical URL)
[6] [DA Davidson Report on GPT-5 Impact] (Hypothetical URL)