Tech Brew Ride Home

This episode explores the fascinating journey of Demis Hesabis and the development of AI through the lens of Sebastian Malaby's book, The Infinity Machine. We delve into the minds of AI pioneers, their motivations, and the race to achieve superintelligence, offering insights into the future of technology and humanity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SpaceX is officially kicking off the year of the biggest IPOs ever. More job cuts and more signs AI is the cause, in one way or another. Microsoft makes its first public moves to divorce itself from OpenAI when it comes to AI models. And a billion-dollar company with only two employees? You guessed it: AI is why. SpaceX Has Filed Confidentially for IPO Ahead of AI Rivals (Bloomberg) Larry Ellison’s Oracle cuts thousands of jobs after AI push (The Times of London) US Job-Cut Announcements in Tech Keep Rising With AI Adoption (Bloomberg) Cloudflare launches EmDash — the 'spiritual successor' that wants to take on WordPress (Tech Radar) Alibaba Unveils Third Closed-Source AI Model in Focus on Profit (Bloomberg) Microsoft launches 3 new AI models in direct shot at OpenAI and Google (VentureBeat) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8 Billion Company (NYTimes) AI Perfected Chess. Humans Made It Unpredictable Again (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI closes a monster round, but does Anthropic continue to steal their thunder? Is that Anthropic code leak from yesterday a bigger deal for them than I thought it was? What can happen when all the self-driving cars shut down at once. And you are finally able to change that embarrassing Gmail account you’ve been living with. OpenAI closes record-breaking $122 billion funding round as anticipation builds for IPO (CNBC) OpenAI raises $3bn from retail investors as part of record funding haul (FT) OpenAI Is Falling Out of Favor With Secondary Buyers (Bloomberg) Anthropic Races to Contain Leak of Code Behind Claude AI Agent (WSJ) Claude Code Leak Reveals Always-On ‘Kairos’ Agent (The Information) Robotaxi Outage in China Leaves Passengers Stranded on Highways (Wired) You can finally replace your embarrassing Gmail username (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the Iran war coming for US tech companies specifically? Meta unveils new smartglasses. A leak gives us a look at how Claude Code works. SpaceX is losing contact with satellites for reasons we don’t know yet. And Whoop is the big wearable player I guess we don’t talk about enough. Iran says it will target US tech companies in Middle East (The Hill) Iran’s hackers go to war (FT) The latest Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are more customizable and expensive (Engadget) Claude Code's source code appears to have leaked: here's what we know (VentureBeat) Google commits to video generation, announces Veo 3.1 Lite (9to5Google) Another Starlink satellite has inexplicably exploded (The Verge) Whoop, a Wearable Health Device Maker, Raises $575 Million (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With everyone suddenly chasing Anthropic, are we getting strong signals AI is about to get more expensive? The dream of pairing AI models against each other and asking them to fight. We really are getting datacenters in space startups, aren’t we? And Project Hail Mary is Amazon’s biggest movie win ever. The Sudden Fall of OpenAI’s Most Hyped Product Since ChatGPT (WSJ) Andrew Curran X Post Claude is limiting usage more aggressively during peak hours — here’s what changed (TechRadar) Microsoft’s Researcher AI Agent Can Now Make GPT and Claude Models Work Together (Thurrott) Starcloud raises $170 million Series A to build data centers in space (TechCrunch) ‘Project Hail Mary’ becomes Amazon MGM’s biggest box office hit (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Anthropic about to release an AI model that will be a true step change? Is Apple about to open Siri up to everyone, not just ChatGPT? Is OpenAI already making serious bank from Ads? Is Elon trying to open the SpaceX IPO to normies? And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Anthropic wins preliminary injunction in DOD fight as judge cites ‘First Amendment retaliation’ (CNBC) Exclusive: Anthropic acknowledges testing new AI model representing ‘step change’ in capabilities, after accidental data leak reveals its existence (Fortune) Apple Plans to Open Up Siri to Rival AI Assistants in iOS 27 Update (Bloomberg) Sony is raising PS5 prices by $100 in April (The Verge) OpenAI Surpasses $100 Million Annualized Revenue From Ads Pilot (The Information) Exclusive: Musk rewrites IPO playbook with large slice of SpaceX stock for retail investors, source says (Reuters) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Gemini task automation is slow, clunky, and super impressive (The Verge) How Apple Became Apple: The Definitive Oral History Of The Company's Earliest Days (Fast Company) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The big ruling from that big social media trial is in and it could have big implications for big tech going forward. Wikipedia bans the use of AI for creating Wikipedia entries. GitHub is about to train AI on what you do on GitHub. And the idea of lossless compression might sound like a Silicon Valley joke, but it could be a big deal. Jury in Los Angeles finds Meta, YouTube negligent in social media addiction trial (CNBC) Do Back-to-Back Courtroom Losses Herald Meta’s ‘Big Tobacco’ Moment? (WSJ) Nintendo confirms its US Switch 2 games will soon cost more as physical versions (VGC) Wikipedia bans AI-generated articles (The Verge) GitHub’s Copilot will use you as AI training data, but you can opt out (How-To Geek) Google unveils TurboQuant, a new AI memory compression algorithm — and yes, the internet is calling it ‘Pied Piper’ (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI is abandoning Sora to do the big refocus they’ve been signaling. Meta is starting to rack up the losses in court. Is China going to block the Manus acquisition by Meta from going through? They’re not even letting the founders leave the country. And interesting raises from vertical AI startups. OpenAI Scraps Sora Video Platform Months After Launch (WSJ) Meta must pay $375 million for violating New Mexico law in child exploitation case, jury rules (CNBC) Supreme Court Sides With Internet Provider in Copyright Fight Over Pirated Music (NYTimes) China reviews $2bn Manus sale to Meta as founders barred from leaving country (Financial Times) AI Notetaker Granola Hits $1.5 Billion Value in $125 Million Funding (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buying an internet router made outside the US is now verboten. Claude can now basically fully use your computer for you. More layoffs and surprising production cuts in the gaming industry. And the two big prediction markets try to close the barn door when it comes to insider trading. US regulator bans imports of new foreign-made routers, citing security concerns (Reuters) Anthropic's Claude Can Now Control Your Computer (CNET) Epic Games Cuts About 1,000 Jobs Across Company Amid ‘Fortnite’ Slump (Bloomberg) Nintendo Cuts Switch 2 Output by Over 30% on Weak US Sales (Bloomberg) Kalshi says it will block politicians and athletes from trading in markets they’re tied to (The Verge) Polymarket, Kalshi Take On Insider Trading as Scrutiny Grows (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Zuckerberg has spun up his own AI bot to do his job for him. Or help him do his job quicker, I guess. OpenAI hires an ad guru from Meta. Elon loses a case. Maybe some managers actually want you to use as many tokens as possible. And how to get your LLM to recursively improve itself? Maybe? Mark Zuckerberg Is Building an AI Agent to Help Him Be CEO (WSJ) OpenAI Taps Former Meta Executive to Lead Ad Push (WSJ) Samsung's Galaxy S26 Phones Will Work With Apple's AirDrop, Much Like the Pixel 10 (CNET) Musk Misled Twitter Investors Before 2022 Buyout, Jury Says (Bloomberg) More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their A.I. Use. (NYTimes) ‘The Karpathy Loop’: Former OpenAI researcher’s autonomous agents ran 700 experiments in 2 days—and gave a glimpse of where AI is heading (Fortune) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI is becoming a superapp. Does Amazon really want to try its hand at a smartphone again? Google is making further steps to obviate classic Google Search in that innovator’s dilemma way. And in the Longreads, why has AI gotten worse at writing. OpenAI Plans Launch of Desktop ‘Superapp’ to Refocus, Simplify User Experience (WSJ) White House releases AI policy blueprint for Congress (Politico) Exclusive: Amazon plans smartphone comeback more than a decade after Fire Phone flop (Reuters) Super Micro shares tank 25% after employees charged with smuggling Nvidia chips to China (CNBC) Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines (The Verge) Jeff Bezos in Talks to Raise $100 Billion for AI Manufacturing Fund (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: ChatGPT did not cure a dog’s cancer (The Verge) The Human Skill That Eludes AI (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In three parts I’ll make the case that in Q1 of this year, the AI race has become basically a land grab for design and development tasks. MLB fully embraces our new prediction market overlords. Even if they’re behind in AI Apple is still making big money from AI. And Uber is still placing bets in the self-driving race. Google introduces 'vibe design' with Stitch (The Deep View) OpenAI to Acquire Startup Astral, Expanding Push Into Coding (Bloomberg) Crypto.com cuts around 12% of staff as CEO pushes enterprise-wide AI integration (The Block) Major League Baseball Steps Into the Prediction Markets, Strikes Deal With Polymarket (WSJ) Apple Is Way Behind in AI—and Still Making a Fortune From It (WSJ) Uber to invest $1.25 billion in Rivian as part of new robotaxi deal (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At long last, the government has issued guidance to crypto on what is or is not allowed. The blowup from gamers has caused Jensen to push back. A tale of contrasting IPOs from wildly different industries. And is your boss about to ask you to submit expense reports for your token use? SEC, CFTC Move to Define Which Digital Assets Are Securities (Bloomberg) Jensen Huang says gamers are 'completely wrong' about DLSS 5 — Nvidia CEO responds to DLSS 5 backlash (TomsHardware) Meta to Discontinue Key Metaverse Product for VR Headsets (Bloomberg) AI Drone Software Stock Jumps 520% in Best IPO Since Newsmax (Bloomberg) Crypto exchange Kraken freezes multibillion-dollar IPO plan due to difficult market conditions (CoinDesk) Apple Cracks Down on ‘Vibe Coding’ Apps (The Information) You’ve Finally Figured Out AI at Work—Now Comes the Bill (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the headlines from Nvidia’s big event yesterday. Can Apple make fetch happen with foldable phones cause nobody else seems to be able to. One hour deliveries is the new, screw it, we’re doing five razorblades. And the robots are really coming to Disney theme parks, right now. NVIDIA claims DLSS 5 will deliver 'photoreal' image quality with AI this fall (Engadget) Nvidia Makes Trillion-Dollar Forecast at Annual Product Expo (Bloomberg) Samsung to Stop Selling $2,899 TriFold Phone After Three Months (Bloomberg) Amazon rolls out 1-hour, 3-hour delivery as ultrafast shipping trend grows in the U.S. (CNBC) OpenAI to Cut Back on Side Projects in Push to ‘Nail’ Core Business (WSJ) I met Olaf — the Frozen robot who might be the future of Disney Parks (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Meta about to do the mother of all layoffs? New AirPods Max 2. Why OpenAI delayed its sexytime chat… the calls to do so were coming from inside the house. What does it mean if the San Francisco real estate market is ripping again? And what if it ends up Apple has played a blinder by sitting out AI CAPEX spending? Exclusive: Meta planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount (Reuters) Apple quietly launches AirPods Max 2 (TechCrunch) Encyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI over AI training (Reuters) OpenAI’s Bid to Allow X-Rated Talk Is Freaking Out Its Own Advisers (WSJ) The AI Boom Has Exploded the San Francisco Housing Market (WSJ) The most brilliant move in corporate history? (ASYMCO) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meta’s big new AI model is delayed because they still can’t get to state of the art. The social media addiction trial is winding down. All the video apps are going to end up looking exactly like one another eventually. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Meta Delays Rollout of New A.I. Model After Performance Concerns (NYTimes) Lawyers in landmark social media addiction trial make final appeals to the jury (AP) Peacock expands into AI-driven video, mobile-first live sports, and gaming (TechCrunch) Disney+ is rolling out its TikTok-like ‘Verts’ short-form video feed (TechCrunch) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Why ATMs didn’t kill bank teller jobs, but the iPhone did (David Oks's Blog) James Mason in a cave with a cat (Joel Morris's Substack) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More AI inspired job cuts. I gotta say, adding AI to Google Maps makes it sound like it might work much, much better. A new entrant into the AI health space. An Iran-war-related hacking takes down a company. And Mark Gurman tells us what to expect from a foldable iPhone. Atlassian slashes 10% of workforce to ‘self-fund’ investments in AI and enterprise sales (CNBC) You can now ask Google Maps ‘complex, real-world questions’ — and Gemini will answer (The Verge) Anthropic’s Claude AI can respond with charts, diagrams, and other visuals now (The Verge) Microsoft’s New AI Health Tool Can Read Your Medical Records and Give Advice (WSJ) Iran Expands War With Major Cyberattack Against U.S. Company (WSJ) Apple’s Foldable iPhone to Feature iPad-Like Interface When Opened (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sources say the US government is investigating Binance around Iranian sanction evasion. Meta is helping authorities worldwide crack down on scammers. YouTube literally now is, officially, the biggest media entity in the world. And the legal way to listen to full songs right inside of TikTok. Justice Department Probes Iran’s Use of Binance to Evade Sanctions (WSJ) Meta, Thai police shut down 150,000 scam accounts (Axios) Anthropic is launching a new think tank amid Pentagon blacklist fight (The Verge) YouTube Lays Claim to Another Crown: The World’s Largest Media Company (THR) Nintendo Shares Soar 10% as Surprise Hit Pokémon Game Lifts Mood (Bloomberg) TikTok Teams With Apple Music to Allow Users to Stream Full Songs (Variety) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meta moves for the social network for AI bots. Code Review for Claude Code seems to be like another revolution for the software development industry. Yan LeCun raises the biggest European seed round of all time. And the MacBook Neo… worth investing in or not? Exclusive: Meta hires duo behind Moltbook (Axios) OpenAI and Google employees rush to Anthropic’s defense in DOD lawsuit (TechCrunch) This new Claude Code Review tool uses AI agents to check your pull requests for bugs - here's how (ZDNet) Amazon holds engineering meeting following AI-related outages (FT) Yann LeCun’s AI start-up raises more than $1bn in Europe’s largest seed round (FT) MacBook Neo review: the Mac for the masses (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthropic is fighting the government in court. Microsoft is turning to Anthropic to get agentic in all its productivity products. A big new hyperscaler startup has raised a monster round. And could the war with Iran be something that could pop the AI bubble? Anthropic is suing the Department of Defense (The Verge) Microsoft announces Copilot Cowork with help from Anthropic — a cloud-powered AI agent that works across M365 apps (VentureBeat) Nscale Raises $2 Billion and Adds Sandberg, Clegg to Board (Bloomberg) Iran War Imperils $300 Billion in Gulf AI Spending (The Information) When Using AI Leads to “Brain Fry” (HBR) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dario might need some message discipline as Anthropic is officially designated a risk by the US government. GPT-5.4 is here. Oracle is considering laying off a ton of people and Softbank is considering taking on a ton of debt, both for the same reason. An early warning system for AI job destruction. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Anthropic says it will challenge Defense Department's supply chain risk designation in court (Engadget) Anthropic CEO apologizes for lashing out at Trump as he gears up for court battle with Pentagon (NYPost) OpenAI’s new GPT-5.4 model is a big step toward autonomous agents (The Verge) Oracle Plans Thousands of Job Cuts in Face of AI Cash Crunch (Bloomberg) SoftBank Seeks Record Loan of Up to $40 Billion for OpenAI Stake (Bloomberg) Anthropic launches AI job destruction detector (Axios) Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence (Anthropic) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: SpaceX: the final frontier of IPOs (FT) Who needs data centers in space when they can float offshore? (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the long war between Google and Epic Games finally over? OpenAI wants you to know its revenue numbers are also stellar. Maybe ChatGPT isn’t so great at medical advice. Maybe the chip shortage isn’t great for Nintendo specifically. And maybe the MacBook Nano isn’t great for the Windows ecosystem generally. Google Revamps Android App Stores to Resolve Antitrust Claims (Bloomberg) Tim Sweeney signed away his right to criticize Google until 2032 (The Verge) Google’s AI-powered workspace is now available to more users in Search (The Verge) OpenAI Tops $25 Billion in Annualized Revenue as Anthropic Narrows Gap (The Information) ChatGPT Health 'under-triaged' half of medical emergencies in a new study (NBC News) Nintendo Switch 2 Users Face Storage Woes as Memory Crisis Bites (Bloomberg) I can't believe it: Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo just lit a monstrous fire under the Windows laptop market — Microsoft better be panicking (Windows Central) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple unveils its Chromebook sort of competitor, the MacBook Neo. Anthropic might be the fastest growing startup in history. Polymarket will no longer let you bet on thermonuclear war. Sony will no longer plans to release its big single-player PlayStation 5 games on PC. Apple announces $599 MacBook Neo running A18 Pro chip — budget laptop features 16-hour battery and comes in fun colors (Tom's Hardware) MacBook Neo hands-on: Apple's $599 laptop feels shockingly great (Engadget) Anthropic’s Claude hits No. 1 on Apple’s top free apps list after Pentagon rejection (CNBC) Exclusive: Anthropic investors push to de-escalate Pentagon clash over AI safeguards, sources say (Reuters) Polymarket shelves nuclear detonation markets after outcry (CoinDesk) Sony Pulls Back From PlayStation Games on PC (Bloomberg) A Possible US Government iPhone-Hacking Toolkit Is Now in the Hands of Foreign Spies and Criminals (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple continues its week of product refreshes, now with MacBooks, now with new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. People continue to get rich frontrunning news on the betting markets. And Sam Altman says, no, sorry, we rushed things. The government swears it won’t use our AI for mass surveillance after we asked them nicely not to. Apple announces M5 MacBook Air with 2x storage, $1099 starting price (9to5Mac) Apple Unveils MacBook Pro Featuring M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips With New Fusion Architecture (MacRumors) Apple unveils M5 Pro and M5 Max chips with new ‘Fusion Architecture’ (TechCrunch) Polymarket Iran Bets Hit $529 Million as New Wallets Win Big (Bloomberg) Google unveils cost-efficient AI model Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite (SeekingAlpha) Audible Launches Cheaper Plan to Appeal to Streaming Audiences (Bloomberg) OpenAI makes changes to ‘opportunistic and sloppy’ Pentagon deal (Financial Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apparently, it’s going to be a week of Apple updates and it kicks off with the iPhone 17e and an M4 iPad Air. AWS service is struggling in the Middle East. An important ruling in terms of AI copyright. Anthropic makes it easy to switch to Claude. And what exactly went on with that whole Pentagon/Anthropic dispute. ⁠Apple announces the iPhone 17E⁠ (The Verge) ⁠Apple speeds up the iPad Air with an M4 upgrade, starting at $599 ⁠(TechCrunch) ⁠Amazon's cloud unit reports fire after objects hit UAE data center ⁠(Reuters) ⁠US Supreme Court declines to hear dispute over copyrights for AI-generated material⁠ (Reuters) ⁠Anthropic's Claude can now absorb your past conversations with other AI chatbots⁠ (Engadget) ⁠Inside Anthropic’s Killer-Robot Dispute With the Pentagon⁠ (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve got everything for you today. OpenAI closed its round. Anthropic draws a line with the Pentagon and Sam Altman supports it. A huge AI inspired layoff round, maybe. Netflix walks away from the deal, and, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. OpenAI announces $110 billion funding round with backing from Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank (CNBC) Sam Altman says OpenAI shares Anthropic's red lines in Pentagon fight (Axios) Employees at Google and OpenAI support Anthropic’s Pentagon stand in open letter (TechCrunch) Block shares soar as much as 24% as company slashes workforce by nearly half (CNBC) Netflix ditches deal for Warner Bros. Discovery after Paramount’s offer is deemed superior (CNBC) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nano Banana 2 is here already. Nvidia tries to assure everybody there IS no bubble. Marc Benioff tries to assure everybody there IS not SaaS-pocalypse. Did Google just do exactly what Apple has been unable to do? And how do you put an old AI model out to pasture? You give it a Substack. Google’s Nano Banana 2 brings advanced AI image tools to free users (The Verge) Nvidia Shares Slide After Sales Forecast Underwhelms Investors (Bloomberg) Salesforce chief dismisses ‘SaaS-pocalypse’ fears of AI overtaking business software (FT) New York sues video game developer Valve, says its 'loot boxes' are gambling (Reuters) Google and Samsung just launched the AI features Apple couldn’t with Siri (The Verge) Cloudflare experiment ports most of Next.js API 'in one week' with AI (The Register) Anthropic gives its retired Claude AI a Substack (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Galaxy S26 lineup is here. Remote control for Claude is here. But is Anthropic about to wash its hands when it comes to working with the Pentagon? Could Stripe buy PayPal. Oh, and speaking of AI and war, you might not want to hear how often AI chose thermonuclear war when it was asked to play a wargame. I tried the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and need the Privacy Display feature on my iPhone ASAP (ZDNet) Gemini is getting its first agentic capabilities (The Verge) Exclusive: Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards (Axios) Anthropic digs in heels in dispute with Pentagon, source says (Axios) Anthropic just released a mobile version of Claude Code called Remote Control (VentureBeat) Payments Processor Stripe Expresses Interest in PayPal (Bloomberg) AI Models Deployed Nuclear Weapons in 95% of War Game Simulations, Study Finds (Implicator.ai) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That AI essay I shared with you yesterday sure got Wall Street’s attention. Anthropic says Chinese models are training off of Claude. A significant new breakthrough in chip production technology. And as fun as that tri-fold phone might be, you probably want to wait for later iterations of the form factor. Software Stocks Are Having Another Ugly Day (WSJ) Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude (WSJ) Meta and AMD Agree to AI Chips Deal Worth More Than $100 Billion (WSJ) Exclusive: ASML unveils EUV light source advance that could yield 50% more chips by 2030 (Reuters) Putting Samsung’s $2,899 TriFold To the Test as a Phone, Tablet and Laptop (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Altman has a lot of stuff to say about AI and let’s just say comms needs to have a quiet word with him. SaaS may or may not be dead, but is the replacement vertical AI? And a big thought experiment. If the AI bulls are right and AI transforms the economy, what might that look like? Sam Altman Says Companies Are ‘AI Washing’ Layoffs (Gizmodo) People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much. (NYTimes) Sam Altman would like to remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too (TechCrunch) Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open. (Garry's List) Google Restricts AI Ultra Subscribers Over OpenClaw OAuth, Days After Anthropic Ban (Implicator.ai) THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS (Citrini Research) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When your AI bot breaks your operations, even when you’re AWS. More on OpenAI’s hardware plans. Hey, remember Perplexity? What’s up with them? Is Uber roadkill in the self-driving car horserace? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Amazon service was taken down by AI coding bot (FT) Ex-Googlers Charged With Stealing Phone Processor Secrets (Bloomberg) OpenAI Plans to Price Smart Speaker at $200 to $300, as AI Device Team Takes Shape (The Information) Microsoft has a new plan to prove what’s real and what’s AI online (MIT Technology Review) Perplexity’s Retreat From Ads Signals a Bigger Strategic Shift (Wired) Uber, Latest Victim of Disruption Panic, Still Has Role in Robotaxis (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestion: Who needs a laptop when you have a folding phone? (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gemini is getting with the increased cadence of AI releases. Honestly, can we even keep up at this point? A dispatch from the social media trial as Zuck takes the stand. At long last, Amazon dethrones Walmart. Apple seems poised to unleash a slew of AI wearables. And the new storage system to preserve data, Canticle for Leibowitz-style. Google announces Gemini 3.1 Pro for ‘complex problem-solving’ (9to5Google) Mark Zuckerberg said he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss ‘wellbeing of teens and kids’ (CNBC) Amazon Dethrones Walmart as World’s Biggest Company by Sales (Bloomberg) Apple Ramps Up Work on Glasses, Pendant, and Camera AirPods for AI Era (Bloomberg) Microsoft’s Glass Chip Holds Terabytes of Data for 10,000 Years (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New pixel phone. A bunch of new AI models including Gemini’s entry into the music AI space. Everybody is trying to make AI fetch happen in India. And Matthew Ball’s state of the gaming industry report doesn’t paint as gloomy a picture as our own headlines might have suggested this year. The Pixel 10A is a little too much like last year’s phone (The Verge) Anthropic releases Sonnet 4.6 (TechCrunch) Google’s AI music maker is coming to the Gemini app (The Verge) Adani bets $100 billion on data centres to power India’s AI ambitions (Reuters) Nvidia secures multibillion-dollar Meta deal as it battles chip rivals (FT) Global game content sales rose 5.3% to $195.6bn in 2025 (GamesIndustry.biz) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The big regulatory guns are out for Grok. Memory chip shortage now hit the Steam Deck. Manus is already coming to your favorite messaging app. Turns out Buy Now Pay Later really works for vacations. And another lengthy AI essay, this time detailing what it’s doing, and has the potential to do to SaaS companies. EU privacy watchdog opens probe into Elon Musk’s X over sexualised AI images (FT) Valve’s Steam Deck OLED will be ‘intermittently’ out of stock because of the RAM crisis (The Verge) Raspberry Pi soars 40% as CEO buys stock, AI chatter builds (Reuters) Meta-owned Manus launches AI agents on Telegram (SiliconRepublic) Airbnb expands its “Reserve Now, Pay Later” globally (TechCrunch) 10 Years Building Vertical Software: My Perspective on the Selloff (@nicbstme) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenClaw’s creator is joining OpenAI, but the OpenClaw project lives on. The AI-caused memory shortage might delay the next Playstation. Is the Pentagon about to cut ties with Anthropic? And Vitalik Buterin is growing concerned with the prediction markets. OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI (The Verge) Peter Steinberger Chose OpenAI. The Code Was Never the Point. (Implicator.AI) Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis (Bloomberg) ByteDance to curb AI video app after Disney legal threat (BBC) Exclusive: Pentagon threatens to cut off Anthropic in AI safeguards dispute (Axios) The hidden infrastructure crisis in mortgage and real estate finance that only tokenization can solve (Crypto.news) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Anthropic raises the second largest financing round of all time. Other AI players are beginning to show hockey stick revenue growth. Meta wants to add facial recognition to its glasses. Ring pulls back from some recognition partnerships for its camera. And, of course, your Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Anthropic closes $30 billion funding round as cash keeps flowing into top AI startups (CNBC) Enterprise AI startup Cohere tops revenue target as momentum builds to IPO: Investor memo (CNBC) Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses (NYTimes) Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The AI Gold Rush Is Breaking a Silicon Valley Taboo: Cashing Out Before the IPO (WSJ) The New Fabio Is Claude (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaannddd…. Right on time here come the Chinese AI models. Elon Musk kicks off a major reorg of xAI. Google is warning of AI distillation attacks. New Waymo cars hit the road. And another interesting AI essay to read to you. Chinese AI startup Zhipu releases new flagship model GLM-5 (Reuters) Musk announces xAI re-org following co-founder departures, SpaceX merger (CNBC) Elon Musk Wants to Build an A.I. Satellite Factory on the Moon (NYTimes) Google says attackers used 100,000+ prompts to try to clone AI chatbot Gemini (NBCNews) Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis to extend its U.S. lead (CNBC) The AI Vampire (Steve Yegge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget the ChatGPT moment, is this the “Covid Moment” for AI, the moment when everything has changed its just that not everyone knows it yet? More weird musical chairs at the AI companies. TikTok but for around the block. And do we finally have a universal translator but for phone calls? ⁠Something Big Is Happening⁠ (Matt Shumer) ⁠OpenAI Executive Who Opposed ‘Adult Mode’ Fired for Sexual Discrimination⁠ (WSJ) ⁠TikTok launches an opt-in Local Feed in the US leveraging users’ precise location⁠ (TechCrunch) ⁠T-Mobile will live translate regular phone calls without an app⁠ (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices