This week: Gemini 3 arrived
This week’s signal: Google’s Gemini 3 launch delivers the full AI stack— frontier models, agentic IDE, and ecosystem integration—while Microsoft Ignite 2025 positions Agent 365 as the horizontal orchestration layer for multi-vendor agents. The strategic inflection: specialized SaaS vendors must either become agent orchestration platforms themselves or accept relegation to data sources feeding larger ecosystems. The middle ground—standalone vertical tools—is rapidly collapsing.
AI Feature Releases
Google — 3 models: Gemini 3 Pro, Deep Think, Nano Banana Pro. Gemini 3 Pro quickly claims leaderboard and marks another big step on the path toward AGI. Gemini 3’s flagship feature is “Generative interfaces“—the model autonomously designs full UIs on the fly. Gemini Deep Think reasoning model outperforming Pro on AGI-style tasks. Gemini 3 with 1M-token window is now available across Google’s ecosystem. This release follows OpenAI’s recent GPT 5.1 and further intensifies the frontier-model race. Google, TechCrunch
Google — Antigravity IDE + developer ecosystem. Antigravity introduces agent-first IDE with multi-surface workflows (editor, terminal, browser), artifact-based verification, and self-improving agents. Alongside the IDE, Gemini 3 ships with a full developer ecosystem: across Studio & Vertex AI and also externally Cursor, GitHub, Replit and more. Antigravity, DeepMind
Microsoft Ignite 2025 (SF Nov 18-21) — The “Frontier Firm” vision pivot from “AI features” to “agentic operating system” - the horizontal platform managing vertical-specific agents from multiple vendors with unified infrastructure for building, managing, and securing AI agents. On top of expanded co-pilot capabilities, highlight includes:
Agent 365 (Enterprise Agent Control Plane):** a unified control plane for governing AI agents across the enterprise with a central registry, access control, observability, and security. with ServiceNow as Launching ecosystem partner together with Adobe, SAP, Workday, Cognition, Glean, n8n, Manus and more. ServiceNow News
The IQ Stack — Real-Time Business Context for Agents. Microsoft unveiled three interconnected intelligence layers that ground agents in enterprise context:Work IQ (user preferences, habits, M365 content),Fabric IQ (unified semantic layer across analytical, ]and operational data),
Foundry IQ (managed knowledge system spanning Microsoft 365, Fabric, custom apps). Together, they create a semantic foundation - transforms existing Power BI semantic models into instant agent context. Microsoft Blog, Azure BlogClaude in Microsoft Foundry & 365 Copilot. Claude Sonnet 4.5, Haiku 4.5, and Opus 4.1 now available in Foundry and 365 Copilot. Microsoft’s multi-model strategy signals enterprises expect choice with unified governance—differentiate on workflows or risk becoming interchangeable. Anthropic
xAI — Grok 4.1 Fast API with Agent Tools. Released enterprise model with 2M context and managed Agent Tools API—web search, code execution, MCP—eliminating API key management. Pricing at $0.20/M input, $0.50/M output while cutting hallucinations 50%. Signals managed tooling infrastructure becoming as critical as model quality. xAI, VentureBeat
OpenAI — GPT-5.1 Pro. Quiet counter-launch to Gemini 3, built on GPT-5.1‘s expanded personality controls, the Pro version targets executive-level knowledge work with better tone calibration. OpenAI
Venture & Market
Palo Alto Networks — acquires Chronosphere for $3.35B, combines Chronosphere‘s observability with AgentiX for autonomous remediation, betting observability becomes the critical control point for autonomous agents. Palo Alto Networks
Salesforce — completes acquisition of Informatica. Brings enterprise data integration and governance into Agentforce, signaling that owning the data layer—not just applications—is essential for autonomous agents. Salesforce
Microsoft × Nvidia × Anthropic — strategic partnerships. Anthropic committed $30B+ Azure compute; Nvidia and Microsoft investing up to $15B jointly. Positions Claude as the only frontier model across all major clouds—multi-cloud distribution becomes table stakes. Anthropic
Startups to Watch
Project Prometheus —$6.2B seed funding for Jeff Besoz’s AI company in physical economy. With 100 employees from OpenAI, DeepMind, Meta. NYT, Bloomberg
Lovable — $200M ARR in one year. Swedish vibe-coding startup doubled ARR in four months with year-old product, validating natural-language development as legitimate IDE replacement. Lovable Blog
Lambda — $1.5B Series E for gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure, underscoring continued GPU scarcity and energy-to-compute pipeline pressure despite cooling bubble concerns. Lambda Labs
Wispr — $25M raise ($81M total, $700M valuation) for voice-first productivity; 270 Fortune 500s, 40% MoM growth. Validates voice as primary productivity layer, not accessibility add-on. TechCrunch
Extended reading
Go play with Gemini 3: https://gemini.google.com/
Hey, great read as always, what if this push for specialized SaaS vendors to become data sources actually democratizes agent creation, empowering smaller teams to feed into massive systems without the burden of building a full orchestration layer themselfs?