PODCAST · technology
Tech Brew Ride Home
by Morning Brew
Silicon Valley's water cooler podcast. A tech news summary every day... 15 minutes and you're up to date. From Tech Brew, Morning Brew's tech hub.
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1000
GTA Now
Rockstar finally priced GTA VI at $79.99 and set a November 19 release, with preorders tonight. OpenAI and Broadcom unveiled their Jalapeño inference chip. Meta got caught building a prediction-markets app called Arena, and Superhuman snapped up AI-detector GPTZero. Rockstar sets the release date for GTA VI for November 19 and says it will cost $79.99, or $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition; preorders start at midnight tonight (The Verge) Grand Theft Auto 6 Physical Copies Won't Include a Disc, Will Just Be a Code in a Box (IGN) OpenAI and Broadcom unveil Jalapeño, an LLM-optimized inference chip developed from design to manufacturing tape-out in nine months, aided by OpenAI's models (OpenAI) OpenAI and Broadcom Unveil AI Chip to Run Models Faster, Cheaper (Bloomberg) Sources: Meta is building a standalone prediction markets app internally called Arena, which would probably use video game-like points instead of money wagers (The New York Times) Superhuman acquires AI detection startup GPTZero, which has 19M+ registered users and $30M in annual recurring revenue; PitchBook: GPTZero is valued at $88M+ (Business Insider) How AI Customers Are Lowering Their Anthropic and OpenAI Bills (The Information) Subscribe to the ad-free feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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999
Moar Meta Glasses
Meta launched $299 in-house Adventurer and Fury smart glasses plus a $399 Kylie Jenner Starfire. Trump signed two quantum-computing executive orders. South Korea's Kospi cratered 10% in a tech selloff, ByteDance debuted Seedance 2.5, and Meta paused its laptop-tracking program. Meta unveils Meta Adventurer and Fury glasses, each priced at $299, its first under its own brand, and a $399 Starfire model in collaboration with Kylie Jenner (Bloomberg) HEADLINE TBD — couldn't read it (The Verge) President Trump signs two executive orders aimed at speeding the development of advanced quantum computers and mitigating the security threats they present (WSJ) South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index falls 10%, dragged down by SK Hynix and Samsung; STMicro and ASML fall ~7%, and US tech stocks fall in pre-market trading (CNBC) ByteDance unveils Seedance 2.5, saying the AI video model can generate up to 30-second clips from up to 50 reference materials, up from 12 for Seedance 2.0 (The Information) ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 breaks the 30-second barrier for AI video generation (The Decoder) Meta says it is pausing its employee-tracking program meant for training AI models after internal security issues exposed sensitive data from employees' laptops (Wired) Subscribe to the ad-free feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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998
Acqui-Investing
Meta poured $900M into India's Cred and tapped founder Kunal Shah to run WhatsApp. Google lost Nobel winner John Jumper to Anthropic. Getty soared on an OpenAI deal, JD.com warned robots would replace its couriers, and Toto pivoted toward chips. Meta invests $900M into Indian fintech Cred for a ~20% stake, and plans to appoint Cred founder Kunal Shah as the leader of WhatsApp, replacing Will Cathcart (Bloomberg) The departure of John Jumper, a key member of Google's AI coding development team, further strains Google's efforts to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI (Bloomberg) Getty signs a licensing deal with OpenAI, letting its image library appear in ChatGPT's search and discovery features; GETY jumps 150%+ pre-market (Bloomberg) JD.com founder Richard Liu says robots will replace the company's 700K delivery workers "sooner or later", and it will help retrain them in robot maintenance (FT) Toto, Japan's largest toilet maker, plans to invest $495M by 2030 to expand its semiconductor materials unit, targeting R&D for next-gen 1nm chip production (Nikkei Asia) Japanese toilet maker Toto plans $496M push into chip tech (Tech in Asia) A look at "humanizer" and "autotyper" apps that help students evade AI-detection software by slowly auto-typing essays and making AI text sound less robotic (The New York Times) A speculative scenario titled "Europe 2031" projects economic and political instability in the EU if it fails to keep pace with the US and China in the AI race (The Guardian) Subscribe to the ad-free feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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997
GTA VI, Finally, Finally Coming?
Intel stock popped after Trump said Apple agreed to build chips with it in America. Waymo yanked its robotaxis off highways over construction-zone blunders. Rockstar dated GTA VI pre-orders to June 25, and GLM-5.2 grabbed the open-weights crown. Intel's stock jumps 10.64% after Trump said "Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America"; INTC is up 520%+ in the past year (CNBC) Filings: Waymo pulls its ~4K robotaxis from highways after finding 13+ instances of the cars driving into highway sections under construction (TechCrunch) Rockstar Games announces that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will go live on June 25; TTWO closed up 4.93% (Kotaku) GLM-5.2 is the leading open weights model on Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index, scoring 51, only behind Fable 5's 60, Opus 4.8's 56, and GPT-5.5's 55 (Artificial Analysis) GLM-5.2 becomes the top open-weight model on Artificial Analysis (Implicator) Longreads Google Is Using Nvidia's Playbook to Build a Rival AI Chip Business (WSJ) AI Is Splitting the Job Market in Two, PwC Study Shows (Bloomberg) Apple’s weird anti-nausea dots cured my car sickness (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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996
The Chip-pocalypse Comes For Apple
Tim Cook warned Apple price hikes are unavoidable as AI gobbles up memory chips. Noam Shazeer bolted from Google to OpenAI. Midjourney unveiled a bizarre full-body ultrasound scanner, and businesses piled into Kalshi to hedge real-world risk. In an interview, Tim Cook says Apple price hikes are "unavoidable" to offset surging memory and storage chip costs, and "the situation has become unsustainable" (The Wall Street Journal) Star Google AI Researcher Shazeer Joins OpenAI (The Information) Midjourney unveils its first hardware product, the Midjourney Scanner, an ultrasound-based full-body scanner; it is unclear how AI fits into the medical effort (The Verge) Businesses have started using Kalshi to hedge business risks; Kalshi says institutional trading volume on its platform has grown 800% since November 2025 (The New York Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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995
Snap Specs
Snap unveiled its $2,195 standalone Specs AR glasses. Google rolled out Android 17 and Wear OS 7. Trump officials mulled equity stakes in AI firms, Apple's camera AirPods slipped to 2027, and TikTok was drowning in AI slop. Snap is finally about to ship AR glasses — and they cost a fortune (The Verge) Android 17 launches with new multitasking tools as Google expands Gemini features (TechCrunch) Trump advisers weigh structure of potential AI stakes (Semafor) Apple Plans Camera AirPods, iPhone Foldable 2, 20th Anniversary iPhone in 2027 (Bloomberg) Sixty percent of US consumers say 'AI' in brand messaging is a turnoff, survey finds (TechCrunch) TikTok Shows 3x More AI Slop Than YouTube, Report Finds (Search Engine Journal) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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994
SpaceX Pounces On Cursor
SpaceX is acquiring Cursor for $60B days after its blockbuster IPO, as its stock soared 20% on day one. Anthropic's standoff with the Trump administration churned on without resolution, OpenAI's 2025 spending hit $34B, and OpenRouter's Fusion claims to beat frontier models. SEC filing: SpaceX agrees to acquire Anysphere in a merger valuing the Cursor-developer at $60B, expected to close in Q3 2026 (Reuters) SpaceX has agreed to acquire AI coding startup Cursor in a $60B stock deal, less than two months after announcing a tie-up, to help its AI division catch up to the major labs (TechCrunch) SpaceX's stock closed up 19.6% on June 15, its first full day of trading; Musk said it "might be able to reach" ~$1T in revenue in 2030, up from $18.7B in 2025 (CNBC) Anthropic says its senior leaders met Trump admin officials on June 15, but no resolution was reached and both sides are working to resolve things quickly (The Information) A senior White House official says easing Friday's action on Anthropic will likely take more than a few days, but leaves the door open to a quick resolution (Politico) Ben Thompson argues Anthropic has near-perfect alignment between talent, mission, and business — a "safety superpower" he says he both respects and fears (Stratechery) Sources: audited financial figures show OpenAI spending hit $34B in 2025, including $19B on research and development and nearly $6B on sales and marketing (FT) OpenRouter debuts Fusion, a tool that prompts multiple AI models in parallel, claiming it can "reach and surpass Fable-level performance on deep research tasks" (OpenRouter) How OpenRouter Fusion works and how it beats frontier models — a "panel of models" approach that scored 69% on Perplexity's DRACO deep research benchmark (Digit) ResumeWriting.com On Product Hunt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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993
Fable Thrown Under The Bus
Anthropic sent staff to DC to resolve the Mythos 5 export crisis after Amazon's Jassy reportedly helped trigger the federal block. Fox is buying Roku for ~$22B, the UK bans social media for under-16s, and Chinese Tesla drivers fool monitoring with doll heads. Sources: senior Anthropic technical staff are in DC to meet WH officials and try to fix the Mythos 5 dispute; both sides say they are eager to resolve the issue (Axios) The US Commerce Dept blocked foreign persons from accessing Fable 5 and Mythos 5; Anthropic cut off all customers to comply, calling the disclosed jailbreaks minor (The Verge) Trump signed off on the restriction himself after Commerce Secretary Lutnick was asked to lead the response (NYT) Amazon researchers showed Fable's safeguards could be evaded; Jassy raised it with Treasury's Bessent, helping set the export controls in motion (WSJ) Fox says it is acquiring Roku in its largest deal yet, valued at ~$22B including debt, giving it access to 100M+ streaming households globally; FOX drops 10%+ (WSJ) Keir Starmer says the UK will ban social media for under-16s to "give kids their childhood back", using an Australia-like model, in effect by next spring (Reuters) UK's under-16 ban will cover Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X but exempt WhatsApp and Signal; AI companion chatbots must be 18+ (TechCrunch) Chinese Tesla drivers are using tiny plastic heads to fool Tesla's distracted-driving controls, which appear unable to distinguish figurines from real people (Wired) Chinese Tesla owners use figurines, photos, lenticular images, and looping face videos to bypass cabin-camera monitoring, sold for $10–$40 online (Digital Trends) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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992
The SpaceX IPO
SpaceX priced the biggest IPO ever at $135/share, raising $75B and debuting at $1.77T. ShinyHunters exploited an unpatched Oracle PeopleSoft flaw hitting 100+ organizations, Mistral seeks €3B at €20B, MrBeast hit 500M subscribers, and SBF lost his appeal. SpaceX raises $75B in the biggest-ever IPO, pricing 555.6M shares at $135 each, giving it a market value of $1.77T (Bloomberg) Founders Fund's ~3% SpaceX stake is worth $50B+, Sequoia's ~1.5% is worth $20B+, and a16z will see its biggest return ever at $10B+ (Bloomberg) Some investors question SpaceX's valuation, citing its $4.3B loss on $4.7B in revenue in Q1, as well as concerns over space data centers (NYT) Oracle warns customers of a critical PeopleSoft flaw after ShinyHunters claimed breaches of 100+ organizations using PeopleSoft; Oracle has not issued a patch (TechCrunch) Sources: French startup Mistral AI is in talks to raise ~€3B at a ~€20B valuation; it was last valued at €11.7B during a funding round in September 2025 (Bloomberg) MrBeast hits 500M subscribers on YouTube, a record for the platform (The Wrap) Sam Bankman-Fried loses his bid to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence over the collapse of FTX (Reuters) Longreads As companies are hit by rising AI costs, they are increasingly using tools that tap cheaper models, including some from China, putting price pressure on OpenAI and Anthropic (WSJ) Sixteen economists weigh in on what AI will mean for the US economy, workers, and workplaces; only two expect AI to actually create more jobs (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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991
A Claude Clawback
Anthropic backtracked on secretly degrading Fable 5 for AI researchers after fierce backlash. OpenAI considers drastic token price cuts anticipating war with Anthropic. Dario Amodei calls for FAA-style AI regulation, the FBI seized fake Chinese consulting domains, and DoorDash launches AI ordering. Anthropic backtracks on its decision to quietly limit Fable 5's ability to develop LLMs, saying "requests will visibly fall back to Opus 4.8", after backlash (Wired) Sources: OpenAI is considering drastically lowering the prices it charges users for tokens in anticipation of similar cuts the startup expects Anthropic to make (WSJ) Dario Amodei outlines policy responses to AI's exponential progress across regulation and public safety, macroeconomics and taxes, science, geopolitics, more (Dario Amodei) The FBI seizes 13 domains allegedly tied to fake consulting firms that sought information from US government and military employees for suspected Chinese agents (Reuters) YouTube rolls out a new in-app messaging system for sharing videos and having 1:1 conversations; it discontinued its previous Messages feature in September 2019 (9to5Google) DoorDash launches an in-app AI chatbot to let users order food and groceries and make reservations with photos and prompts (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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990
Elon Hype Works For One Business, Not The Other
The CFTC proposed prediction market rules banning bets on war and assassinations. SpaceX drew $250B+ in IPO demand far beyond its $75B target. Microsoft patched a record ~200 security flaws, Tesla has just 59 robotaxis, and Siri AI gets its first hands-on. Sources: the CFTC will propose new prediction market rules, banning bets it finds aren't in the public interest or that seem highly susceptible to manipulation (WSJ) Microsoft's June 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes a record nearly 200 security flaws, 33 rated Critical, as it and security researchers increasingly use AI to find bugs (Krebs on Security) Sources: SpaceX has drawn $250B+ of investor demand for what is poised to be the largest IPO to date, far beyond the $75B that SpaceX is aiming to raise (Reuters) Tesla has just 59 vehicles in its robotaxi fleet and is limited to three Texas cities after almost a year, nowhere close to Elon Musk's big promises (Bloomberg) Hands-on with Siri AI: successfully executed multistep prompts, understood context well, has strong guardrails, and seems a bit more dispassionate than Gemini (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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989
Claude Fable 5
Anthropic released Claude Fable 5, a guardrailed Mythos-class model, to the public and Mythos 5 to trusted partners. OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO. Hackers injected credential-stealing malware into 70+ Microsoft GitHub repos, and Apple details its new Gemini-based foundation models. Anthropic releases Claude Fable 5, a "safe" Mythos-class model it says can't be used for cyberattacks, to the public, and Claude Mythos 5 to trusted orgs (Wired) OpenAI confidentially files for an IPO, says it has "not decided on timing yet", as "there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company" (CNBC) Microsoft disabled 70+ of its repos on GitHub, including Azure-related tools like azure-functions-host, after hackers added credential-stealing malware to them (TechCrunch) MG Siegler: after being left for dead in AI, Apple is set to win at the consumer level — the power of the default, superior product instincts, and no real competition (Spyglass) Ben Thompson: the iPhone is the true core of Siri AI, and Apple is the only company positioned to work across apps with personal context — as long as it's not vaporware (Stratechery) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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988
WWD-See... Anything?
Apple unveiled Siri AI at WWDC, built on Google's Gemini, launching in beta with no firm date. Google signed a $920M/month SpaceX compute deal, Trump floats government equity stakes in AI labs, and OpenAI plans to turn ChatGPT into a superapp. Apple announces Siri AI, with on-screen awareness, personal context understanding, a Dynamic Island-based interface, and more, along with a new Siri app (9to5Mac) Filing: Google has agreed to pay SpaceX $920M per month for access to Nvidia chips as part of a cloud-services deal that runs through mid-2029 (Bloomberg) President Trump says he is weighing proposals for US government to hold equity stakes in leading AI labs, and will soon discuss the idea with their executives (Bloomberg) OpenAI plans to overhaul ChatGPT in the coming weeks, turning it into a superapp with coding tools and AI agents to serve as a gateway to higher-margin products (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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987
The Bots Have Won The Web!
Bots passed human web traffic for the first time, per Cloudflare's CEO. The S&P 500 rejected fast-entry for mega-cap IPOs like SpaceX. Anthropic embedded engineers at the NSA, Meta hid face-recognition code in its app, and Cambridge trialed the first AI-designed vaccine. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says agentic traffic is "growing so fast that bots have now passed human traffic online for the first time" (Tom's Hardware) S&P Dow Jones rejects proposals to expedite S&P 500 eligibility for mega-cap IPOs such as SpaceX's; companies remain ineligible until one year after their IPOs (Bloomberg) Sources: Anthropic has embedded around half a dozen forward-deployed engineers within the NSA to help the agency deploy Mythos for offensive cyber operations (FT) Analysis: Meta discreetly added code for an unreleased "NameTag" face-recognition system for its AI smart glasses over multiple Meta AI app updates in 2026 (Wired) University of Cambridge researchers say they have developed the first vaccine with a key component entirely designed by AI and subsequently trialed it in humans (BBC) Longreads A preview of what to expect from WWDC on Monday, including iOS 27, a revamped Siri, macOS 27 Liquid Glass refinements, and more (Bloomberg) Ted Chiang argues LLM conversations are cleverly disguised sentence continuation, not consciousness, and that no intrinsic property of neural networks suggests otherwise (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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986
Small And Open Source Still Has A Horse In This Race
Google released Gemma 4 12B, a multimodal model that runs locally on 16GB devices. TSMC's CEO warned chip supply won't meet demand for years. Ramp raised $750M at $44B, and Anthropic says 80%+ of its merged code is now Claude-authored. Google releases Gemma 4 12B, an 11.95B-parameter unified, encoder-free open multimodal model that can run locally on devices with 16GB of VRAM or unified memory (VentureBeat) Public First: 26% of Americans support increased data center construction, the lowest share among 15 large countries, such as Brazil, Japan, the UK, and Canada (FT) Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are among the signatories on a public letter urging improved tracking of synthetic DNA that could be used in AI-developed bioweapons (Wired) TSMC CEO C.C. Wei says the company won't be able to fulfill the demand led by US customers even as more capacity comes online in the US over the next few years (Bloomberg) Corporate spending management platform Ramp raised $750M at a $44B valuation led by Iconiq, Singapore's GIC, and the OTPP, taking its total funding to $3B (Bloomberg) Anthropic details its progress toward recursive self-improvement, and its implications, and says 80%+ of the code merged into its codebase is authored by Claude (Anthropic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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985
Microsoft Build
Microsoft dominated Build with Scout, an always-on Teams agent, the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, its first reasoning model MAI-Thinking-1 aimed squarely at Anthropic, and Project Solara for agent-first devices. Trump signed a scaled-back AI executive order on cybersecurity. Microsoft announces Scout, an always-on enterprise AI agent built on OpenClaw that appears as a Microsoft Teams contact to automate tasks such as scheduling (Wired) Microsoft unveils a Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, featuring Nvidia's Arm-based RTX Spark, 128GB of unified memory, and a 100W thermal envelope, for local AI tasks (The Verge) Microsoft debuts MAI-Thinking-1, its first advanced reasoning AI model, trained "from the ground up on clean data, without distillation from third-party models" (The Verge) Microsoft unveils Project Solara, an Android-based platform for agent-first devices, with concept hardware and pilots planned at Best Buy, Target, and others (GeekWire) Microsoft unveils Microsoft Execution Containers, a Windows-level sandbox for AI agents, and says partners OpenAI, Nvidia, Manus, and Nous Research are using it (VentureBeat) President Trump signs a scaled-back AI EO that seeks to address AI's cybersecurity threats; sources say it imposes less scrutiny on AI than the scrapped version (Politico) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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984
What Will These IPOs Do To The Stock Market?
Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO that could come as soon as this fall, joining SpaceX and OpenAI in a $4T listing parade. Anthropic expands Mythos access to 15+ countries, Alphabet raises $80B for AI spending, and mathematicians publish a warning declaration on AI. Anthropic says it has confidentially filed for an IPO, which could happen as soon as this fall, joining OpenAI and SpaceX in preparing to go public in 2026 (NYT) Anthropic says it will extend Project Glasswing to organizations in 15+ countries, sources say giving Mythos access to Five Eyes, NATO, Samsung, SK, and others (FT) Alphabet is raising $80B through equity offerings, including a $10B investment deal with Berkshire, to fund AI spending, in one of the largest equity deals ever (Bloomberg) Sixteen mathematicians publish the Leiden Declaration on AI and Mathematics to warn of potential threats to the field, such as around accuracy and reliability (NYT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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983
Interviewing For A Job At Anthropic? DON’T Use AI.
Nvidia unveiled the RTX Spark, an Arm-based consumer chip family built with MediaTek on TSMC 3, plus a DGX Station desktop that runs 1T-parameter models. Intel detailed its Crescent Island GPUs, MiniMax launched a coding model rivaling Opus 4.7 at 1/40th the price, and Anthropic bans AI in interviews. Nvidia announces the RTX Spark, an Arm-based consumer chip family it calls "the most efficient PC chip ever built", made on TSMC 3 in partnership with MediaTek (The Verge) Intel details its Crescent Island data center GPUs, built on its Xe3P architecture and using LPDDR5X memory instead of HBM, calling them "built for agentic AI" (Tom's Hardware) Nvidia unveils DGX Station for Windows, a desktop PC powered by a GB300 Grace Blackwell chip with up to 748 GB of memory, capable of running 1T-parameter models (SiliconAngle) Chinese AI developer MiniMax debuts M3, a new coding model that it says rivals Claude Opus 4.7, costing $0.12 per 1M input tokens, compared with $5 for Opus 4.7 (The Information) A look at Anthropic's hiring process, which prohibits AI use in interviews and features a culture interview that candidates describe as highly intense (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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982
Portfolio Profile: Sora
Find out more about Sora here. Find out more about the Ride Home Fund here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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981
New Claude, New Realities
Anthropic dropped Opus 4.8 with dynamic workflows for Claude Code and raised $65B at a $965B valuation, overtaking OpenAI. Blue Origin's New Glenn exploded during testing, Amazon killed its AI usage leaderboard, and an AI startup offers free home cleaning for training data. Anthropic launches Opus 4.8, saying it's "more likely to flag uncertainties about its work and less likely to make unsupported claims", at the same price as 4.7 (TechCrunch) Anthropic raised a $65B Series H at a $965B post-money valuation, overtaking OpenAI's $852B valuation, and says its revenue run rate crossed $47B this month (NYT) Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which exploded during testing on Thursday, was set to ferry 48 Amazon Leo satellites on Monday; Amazon paid Blue Origin $2.7B (FT) Sources: Amazon has shut down an internal leaderboard that tracked employees' use of AI tools after workers tried to boost their scores with needless tasks (FT) AI startup Shift launches a free home cleaning service in NYC to record first-person video with a camera-equipped cap and use it to train robots (The Verge) Longreads Simon Willison on how coding agents gave Anthropic and OpenAI real product-market fit, burning $1,000+/month in tokens per power user and changing enterprise pricing (Simon Willison) Kirkland & Ellis, the world's highest-grossing law firm, is setting aside $500M to build its own AI platform rather than rely on tools available to its rivals (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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980
RAMpocalypse Now!
Valve hiked Steam Deck prices by up to $300 as RAMageddon hits consumer electronics. Bloomberg detailed Apple's Siri overhaul ahead of WWDC, Meta rolls out subscription plans for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and Oura unveils a 40% smaller Ring 5. Valve hikes the Steam Deck OLED's prices due to "rising memory and storage costs": from $549 to $789 for the 512GB model and from $649 to $949 for the 1TB model (The Verge) Illustrations based on sources detail Apple's Siri overhaul, including a new UI, a chatbot-style app, and other major iOS 27 changes, ahead of WWDC on June 8 (Bloomberg) Meta rolls out Plus plans for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp globally, and tests $7.99/month and $19.99/month Meta AI plans, and a $49.99/month creator plan (TechCrunch) Reactor, which says its AI platform can generate video in real-time with near-zero latency, emerges from stealth with a $59M Series A led by Lightspeed (Variety) Oura unveils the Oura Ring 5, with a 40% smaller form factor, improved sensing, and repositioned LEDs, on sale from June 4 for $399, up from the Ring 4's $349 (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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979
What If GPT-5.5 Is Actually Way Ahead?
Robinhood launched agentic stock trading, letting users link Claude or Cursor to dedicated accounts. Micron hit $1T market cap in record time on AI memory demand. YouTube now auto-labels AI content, a new coding benchmark crowns GPT-5.5 the clear leader, and Roku overhauls its homescreen. Robinhood launches a feature to let users link AI agents, such as Claude or Cursor, to separate, dedicated investment accounts for trading stocks autonomously (WSJ) Micron hit a $1T market value for the first time on May 26 after its stock closed up 19.29%, rising from $700B earlier in May, driven by high memory chip demand (CNBC) YouTube makes its AI content labels more prominent on desktop and mobile, and will apply them automatically if it detects "significant photorealistic AI use" (Variety) Roku launches its first major homescreen overhaul in over a decade, including a large "marquee" ad spot to tout apps or shows, in a bid to drive more engagement (Hollywood Reporter) Datacurve releases the DeepSWE coding benchmark, a 113-task test across 91 open-source repositories: GPT-5.5 leads at 70%, GPT-5.4 got 56%, and Opus 4.7 got 54% (VentureBeat) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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978
The Pope Gets AI Religion
Pope Leo XIV released his AI encyclical alongside Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah. Huawei claims it can match 1.4nm chips by 2031, China imposed travel restrictions on AI talent, cybersecurity hiring surged amid the AI "bug-pocalypse," and American Airlines picked Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi. Pope Leo XIV presents Magnifica humanitas, his encyclical on AI, calling for AI regulation, protection for children against hypersexualized AI images, and more (NYT) Huawei says it aims to make 1.4nm chips by 2031 using its "LogicFolding" tech, which is based on its new Tau Scaling Law intended to bypass Moore's Law limits (Nikkei) Sources: Chinese government agencies begin imposing overseas travel restrictions on individuals involved in advanced AI work, including at Alibaba and DeepSeek (Bloomberg) As AI tools like Mythos create a "bug-pocalypse", Glassdoor says Q1 cybersecurity job postings rose 11% YoY, and executive search firms are turning away clients (NYT) American Airlines picks SpaceX's Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 500 planes; SpaceX already has contracts with United Airlines, Southwest, and others (CNBC) Google Fitbit Air review: slim, comfortable, and stylish, robust tracking, seven-day battery life, and cheaper than Whoop, but can only be worn on the wrist (The Shortcut) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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977
(BNS) Brian's Vibecoding Journey
Chris is back! Hear about how he uses AI personally, and how I've been up at 3 am every day for the last month churning out my own vibecoding experiment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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976
AI One-Upsmanship
Quantum computing stocks surged after the US announced $2B in grants with equity stakes. Spotify jumped 13% on 2030 guidance targeting $100B in revenue. Anthropic expects $10.9B in Q2 revenue and its first-ever operating profit, while Trump pulled back an AI executive order after calls with Musk and Zuckerberg. Shares of quantum computing companies surged Thursday after the US government announced grants with equity stakes: D-Wave closed up 33%, Rigetti 30%, IBM 12% (CNBC) Spotify closed up 13% on Thursday after announcing new features and 2030 guidance, forecasting a compound annual growth rate in the mid-teens (CNBC) Workday reports Q1 revenue up 13% YoY to $2.54B vs. $2.52B est., and lifts its full-year forecast, saying its AI strategy is working; WDAY jumps 9%+ after hours (CNBC) Sources: Trump delayed signing the AI EO because "he just hates regulation"; there were questions about the EO giving the Treasury Department a leading role (Axios) Investor disclosures: Anthropic says it expects to generate $10.9B in revenue in Q2, up 127% from $4.8B in Q1, and turn a $559M operating profit, its first ever (WSJ) Longreads In more than two-thirds of the world's countries, birthrates have fallen below replacement, and researchers increasingly point the finger at smartphones and social media (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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975
SpaceX IPO Deets
SpaceX filed publicly for its IPO on Nasdaq, revealing $18.7B in 2025 revenue, billions in losses, and Musk's 85.1% voting control. Anthropic pays SpaceX $1.25B per month for compute. Nvidia beat estimates again, Spotify launches Reserved ticketing, and Waymo suspends service over flooding. SpaceX files publicly for its IPO, choosing Nasdaq to make its debut under the symbol SPCX; Elon Musk's shares give him 85.1% of the voting power in the company (Bloomberg) SpaceX's S-1 reveals Anthropic is paying $1.25B per month through May 2029 under their Colossus compute deal, with a 90-day termination clause (The Verge) Spotify partners with Live Nation to launch Reserved, a new feature that sets aside tickets for the most dedicated fans, starting with Premium users in the US (Hollywood Reporter) Spotify debuts a desktop app for creating personal podcasts, competing with Google's NotebookLM, with support for daily briefings based on email and calendar (TechCrunch) Nvidia reports Q1 revenue up 85% YoY to $81.62B, above $78.86B est., Data Center revenue up 92% YoY to $75.2B, and announces an $80B share repurchase program (Nvidia) Waymo suspends operations in Atlanta and San Antonio as its robotaxis struggle with flooded roads and says it has yet to develop a "final remedy" for flooding (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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974
Google I/O
Google dominated I/O with Gemini 3.5 Flash, its fastest agentic model yet, plus Gemini Spark as a 24/7 personal agent. It also launched Gemini Omni for video generation, overhauled its search box, shipped Antigravity 2.0, and added Street View to Project Genie. Google rolls out Gemini 3.5 Flash, its "strongest agentic and coding model yet", for tackling long-horizon agentic tasks, in the Gemini app and Search's AI Mode (Google) Google announces Gemini Spark, a "24/7 personal AI agent" that is powered by Gemini 3.5 and supports integrations with Google Workspace apps, including Gmail (Engadget) Google launches Gemini Omni, a multimodal model it says can "create anything from any input", starting with video generation, for Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra (VentureBeat) Google overhauls its search box, letting users input longer queries, including with photos and videos, and automate searches with Gemini 3.5 Flash-based agents (NYT) Google introduces Antigravity 2.0, featuring an updated desktop app that lets users orchestrate agents, an Antigravity CLI tool, and an SDK for custom workflows (TechCrunch) Google adds Street View integration to Project Genie, its interactive world builder, and expands Genie from the US to adult Google AI Ultra subscribers globally (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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973
Elon Loses
The Musk v. Altman jury unanimously rejected Musk's claims on statute of limitations grounds. Andrej Karpathy joined Anthropic's pre-training team. Polymarket partners with Nasdaq on private company markets, Blackstone and Google form a TPU venture, and KPMG embeds Claude into tax advisory. Musk v. Altman: the jury unanimously rejects Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman, as he filed them outside of a three-year statute of limitations (CNBC) Andrej Karpathy joins Anthropic to help launch a team focused on using Claude to accelerate pre-training research; he helped found OpenAI and worked at Tesla (Axios) Polymarket partners with Nasdaq to launch markets tied to private company milestones, including IPO timing, valuations, earnings, and secondary market activity (The Block) Blackstone announces a joint venture with Google to create a US company that will offer customers Google TPU access, and makes a $5B initial equity commitment (WSJ) KPMG partners with Anthropic to embed Claude into its tax and advisory platforms; KPMG's tax and legal services unit saw revenue grow ~8% YoY to $9.3B in 2025 (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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972
OpenAI Takes Out Another Niche
OpenAI debuted personal finance tools via Plaid for Pro users. AI startups generate ~$80B in annualized revenue, with Anthropic and OpenAI capturing 89%. ArXiv cracks down on AI slop, Apple's Siri relaunch may still be a beta, and SF vibes are frenetic. OpenAI debuts personal finance tools for US ChatGPT Pro users, partnering with Plaid to give access to 12K+ financial institutions to analyze spending and more (TechCrunch) Analysis: 34 leading AI startups are generating ~$80B in annualized revenue, up 112% from six months ago, with Anthropic and OpenAI capturing 89% of the revenue (The Information) ArXiv, the repository of preprint academic research, says it will ban authors for a year if their papers have "incontrovertible evidence" of AI-generated work (404 Media) Sources: Apple's revamped Siri may launch in beta, and will have an option to auto-delete chats; Apple plans to add Suggested Genmoji to iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 (Bloomberg) A college senior at Stanford describes how AI has changed classes: cheating using AI "has become omnipresent" with students "fudging just about everything" (NYT) SF vibes are frenetic over the huge divide in outcomes and career uncertainty for software engineers; over 5 years ~10K people in AI attained retirement wealth (X / @deedydas) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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971
Musk V. Altman Closing Arguments
Musk v. Altman went to closing arguments, with Musk's lawyer hammering Altman's credibility while OpenAI says Musk has no evidence. Google tests cutting free Gmail storage to 5GB, Meta opens Ray-Ban Display to developers, OpenAI brings Codex to mobile, and xAI launches Grok Build. Musk v. Altman: in closing arguments, Musk's attorney doubled down on claims of Altman's untrustworthiness, while OpenAI's lawyer said Musk has no evidence (AP) Google confirms a new storage policy test, after some users reported that new Gmail accounts get 5GB, not 15GB, of free storage if they don't add a phone number (Android Authority) Meta rolls out new features for its Ray-Ban Display glasses, including neural handwriting support for all users, and opens the device to third-party developers (The Verge) OpenAI adds remote access to Codex in the ChatGPT mobile app, letting users control Codex sessions running on a computer directly via iOS, iPadOS, and Android (9to5Mac) xAI launches Grok Build, an agent and CLI for coding, building apps, and automating workflows, in early beta, available first for SuperGrok Heavy subscribers (Bloomberg) OpenEvidence, an AI clinical tool, is now used by ~65% of US doctors across 27M clinical encounters per month, becoming an AI-era equivalent of consulting a colleague (NBC News) Janitor AI, a romantic fantasy roleplay chatbot site run by three men, claims 2.5M DAUs and 15M total users, with 70–80% identifying as women (Forbes) Longreads OpenEvidence, an AI clinical tool, is now used by ~65% of US doctors across 27M clinical encounters per month, becoming an AI-era equivalent of consulting a colleague (NBC News) Janitor AI, a romantic fantasy roleplay chatbot site run by three men, claims 2.5M DAUs and 15M total users, with 70–80% identifying as women (Forbes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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970
The Biggest Tech IPO Since Uber
OpenAI is weighing legal action against Apple over a Siri integration it says fell far short. Cerebras opened at $350 in the largest US tech IPO since Uber. Mythos helped researchers crack macOS security, Anthropic restores OpenClaw access with Agent SDK credits, and 71% of Americans oppose local data centers. Sources: OpenAI is weighing legal action against Apple after expectations that ChatGPT's Siri integration would generate billions in revenue fell short (Bloomberg) Security researchers used Anthropic's Mythos to discover a privilege escalation exploit in macOS, circumventing Apple's Memory Integrity Enforcement in five days (WSJ) Cerebras opens at $350, valuing the chipmaker at $100B+, after raising $5.5B by selling 30M shares at $185, the largest US tech IPO since Uber's debut in 2019 (CNBC) Anthropic unveils Claude Agent SDK credits for paid plans, which users can allocate for programmatic use of third-party agents like OpenClaw, starting June 15 (VentureBeat) AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon sign an "agreement in principle" to form a joint venture that aims to end wireless dead zones in the US, without giving many details (The Verge) Gallup: 71% of Americans oppose local AI data center construction, citing water and electricity issues, with opposition higher among Democrats than Republicans (Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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969
Googlebooks
Google unveiled Googlebook, merging ChromeOS and Android into a unified laptop OS shipping this fall. WhatsApp launches Incognito Chat for private AI conversations. Anthropic's revenue run-rate is on track to hit $50B by end of June, and Anduril raised $5B at a $61B valuation. Google unveils Googlebook, its new laptop lineup featuring a unified OS merging ChromeOS and Android, with devices from Dell, HP, and others coming this fall (ZDNet) Google also unveiled Gemini Intelligence, bundling existing and new Gemini features, including task automation across apps and letting users vibe code Android widgets (The Verge) WhatsApp launches Incognito Chat, an AI chat mode built on Private Processing that Meta says lets users talk to AI without Meta being able to access the chats (Wired) Investor docs: Anthropic's revenue run-rate is on track to hit $50B by the end of June; Ramp says more of its customers now use Anthropic than OpenAI, a first (WSJ) Anduril raised a $5B Series H led by Thrive and a16z at a $61B valuation, up from $30.5B in June 2025, taking its total funding to $6.82B, and could IPO in 2027 (NYT) Richard Socher's Recursive Superintelligence raised $650M+ from GV, Greycroft, Nvidia, AMD, and others at a $4B valuation to pursue "recursive self-improvement" (NYT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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968
Hackers Get Paid
Instructure cut a deal with ShinyHunters to return stolen Canvas data, without disclosing the terms. eBay rejected GameStop's $56B bid as "neither credible nor attractive." OpenAI launches Daybreak for cybersecurity, Amazon employees game AI usage targets, and Mira Murati's first model drops. Instructure reaches a deal with hackers who breached its Canvas edtech platform to return stolen data and destroy copies, without saying what it gave in return (NYT) eBay rejects GameStop's $56B takeover offer, saying the unsolicited bid is "neither credible nor attractive", in a letter from eBay Chairman Paul Pressler (Bloomberg) OpenAI launches Daybreak, a cybersecurity initiative integrating AI models and Codex Security to help organizations patch vulnerabilities (TestingCatalog) Sources: some Amazon employees are using in-house OpenClaw-like tool MeshClaw for unnecessary tasks to inflate AI token use after Amazon set weekly AI targets (FT) AppMagic: Grok downloads fell to ~8.3M in April, from a high of 20M+ in January; Recon Analytics: Grok's paid adoption in the US remains nearly flat YoY in Q2 (WSJ) Thinking Machines Lab details interaction models, which can think and respond in real time, letting users and AI interact continuously for better collaboration (Thinking Machines Lab) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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967
The AI Sec-Pocalypse Is Actually Nigh?
Google reported the first known case of hackers using AI to discover and weaponize a zero-day vulnerability. OpenAI launched a $4B+ deployment company and acquired Tomoro. Apple plans Liquid Glass refinements for macOS 27, TikTok rolls out an ad-free tier in the UK, and Ben Thompson argues agentic inference will reshape compute. Google's TIG reports the first known example of hackers using AI to discover and weaponize a zero-day; TIG's chief analyst says "this is the tip of the iceberg" (NYT) The 90-day vulnerability disclosure policy is dead, as LLMs compress bug finding and exploit development time, and critical issues must be patched immediately (Himanshu Anand) OpenAI launches the OpenAI Deployment Company with a $4B+ investment to help organizations build and deploy AI systems, and acquires AI consulting firm Tomoro (Reuters) Sources: Apple is working on a "slight redesign" for macOS 27 to address Liquid Glass issues and plans a feature to automatically group Safari tabs in "27" OSes (Bloomberg) TikTok is rolling out TikTok Ad-Free, a £3.99-per-month subscription for UK accounts aged 18 or older "over the coming months", after testing the option in 2023 (TechCrunch) Agentic inference is set to be different than today's inference, and will change compute infrastructure because speed won't matter when humans aren't involved (Stratechery) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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966
Chickens, Roosting
Nintendo raised the Switch 2 price to $500 amid a global memory shortage. ShinyHunters forced Canvas offline during finals season. Researchers found 5,000+ insecure vibe-coded apps, Mozilla credits Mythos for 423 Firefox bug fixes in April, and France escalates its Musk probe. Nintendo says it will increase the price of the Switch 2 globally on September 1, from $450 to $500 in the US, and the price of the original Switch in Japan (Bloomberg) Instructure disables its Canvas edtech platform, used by thousands of schools, universities, and companies, amid a data extortion attack claimed by ShinyHunters (Krebs on Security) Researchers: 5,000+ web apps built using AI coding tools like Lovable, Base44, and Replit have little to no authentication, and ~40% exposed sensitive data (Wired) Mozilla says Anthropic's Mythos Preview and other AI models helped it identify and ship 423 Firefox security bug fixes in April, compared to 31 a year earlier (TechCrunch) French prosecutors escalate an investigation into Elon Musk and X, focused on alleged algorithmic manipulation and sexual deepfakes, to a criminal probe (CNBC) Longreads Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark explains why there's a 60%+ chance of AI systems autonomously building their successors by 2029 and the consequences of automated AI R&D (Import AI) How Delta SkyMiles and airline loyalty programs turned carriers into fintech companies with wings, and why most airlines couldn't survive without them (NY Mag) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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965
XAI Is Just A Neocloud Now?
Dario Amodei revealed Anthropic could grow 80x in 2026, and the company signed a deal with SpaceX for 300MW of compute from Colossus 1. Musk dissolved xAI into SpaceX. Google launches the $100 Fitbit Air, and HubSpot's founder coins "strategic illegibility." At Code with Claude, Dario Amodei said Anthropic had planned to grow ~10x in 2026 but could grow 80x, calling its growth rate "crazy" and "too hard to handle" (NYT) Anthropic signs a deal with SpaceX for 300MW+ of compute from Colossus 1 in Memphis, accessing 220,000+ Nvidia GPUs within the month (Bloomberg) Musk says xAI will be "dissolved as a separate company" and will become "SpaceXAI, the AI products from SpaceX" (Spyglass) Google launches the $100 Fitbit Air, a Whoop-like screenless wearable, with Gemini-powered features like Google Health Coach, available May 26 (Engadget) As founders race to make their companies "legible" to AI, they must keep the things that make them hard to copy "illegible", or risk commoditizing their moat (Brian Halligan) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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964
Even 175-year-old Companies Can Join The AI Boom
Corning and Nvidia partnered to open three optical manufacturing plants in the US, with Nvidia investing up to $2.7B. Morgan Stanley launched crypto trading on ETrade, Google tests a personal agent called Remy, and Meta builds an OpenClaw-inspired agent called Hatch.* Corning and Nvidia partner to open three advanced manufacturing plants in North Carolina and Texas dedicated to optical tech for Nvidia, creating 3,000+ jobs (CNBC) Morgan Stanley rolls out a crypto trading pilot on E*Trade, charging less than Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab, ahead of a wider launch later in 2026 (Bloomberg) Sources and a document: Google is testing a "personal agent" codenamed Remy in the Gemini app that integrates with Google services to take actions for users (Business Insider) Sources: Meta is building an OpenClaw-inspired agent, internally called Hatch and powered by its Muse Spark model, and an agentic shopping tool in Instagram (The Information) OpenAI partners with Microsoft, AMD, Broadcom, Nvidia, and Intel researchers to detail the Multipath Reliable Connection (MRC) protocol to help scale compute (The Deep View) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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963
Will AI Models Have To Be Reviews By The Government?
The Trump administration discussed an EO to form an AI oversight working group, a stark reversal from its hands-off approach. Apple explored using Intel and Samsung to make chips in the US, Coinbase cut 14% of its workforce, and OpenAI fast-tracks an AI phone for 2027. Sources: the Trump administration is discussing an EO to form an AI working group that would examine AI oversight procedures, like vetting models before release (NYT) Sources: Apple held exploratory talks with Intel and Apple executives visited a Samsung plant in Texas to explore producing core chips for its devices in the US (Bloomberg) Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announces the company is cutting ~700 jobs, or ~14% of its global workforce, to reduce costs, saying "AI is changing how we work" (Reuters) Meta is using AI on Facebook and Instagram to detect under-13 users by analyzing bone structure, height, and visual cues, but says it's "not facial recognition" (The Verge) Kuo: OpenAI appears to be fast-tracking its AI agent phone with two NPUs and a custom MediaTek Dimensity 9600 SoC, targeting mass production as early as H1 2027 (Ming-Chi Kuo) ElevenLabs raised $550M+ in its Series D, up from a previously announced $500M, adding BlackRock, Nvidia, and others as investors; its ARR passed $500M in Q1 (Tech.eu) Source: YC owns ~0.6% of OpenAI, which was seeded by a YC offshoot called YC Research in 2016; at OpenAI's current $852B valuation, the stake is worth $5B+ (Daring Fireball) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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962
Welcome Back To The Arena, GameStop
GameStop made an unsolicited ~$56B bid for eBay as Ryan Cohen eyes a commerce empire. Anthropic finalizes a $1.5B JV with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, Amazon opens its logistics network to outside companies, and a Harvard study finds AI outperforms ER doctors at triage. GameStop makes an unsolicited ~$56B offer to buy eBay after building a ~5% stake, offering $125/share in cash and stock, a ~20% premium on May 1's closing price (WSJ) Sources: Anthropic is finalizing a deal for a $1.5B JV with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Hellman & Friedman, and others to sell AI tools to PE-backed companies (WSJ) Amazon debuts Supply Chain Services, which lets companies use its logistics network to move, store, and deliver everything from raw materials to final products (Reuters) An analysis of 1.6M Polymarket accounts since November 2022: 0.1% of users get 67% of the profits, with the highest-frequency traders seeing the most success (WSJ) Study: OpenAI's o1 correctly diagnosed 67% of emergency room patients using electronic records and a few sentences from nurses, vs. 50-55% for triage doctors (The Guardian) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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961
My LLM Cutoff Is 1930
Apple beat Q2 estimates and forecast strong Q3 growth as the MacBook Neo and Mac Mini sell out. The Senate unanimously banned prediction market trading for senators, Intel closed its best month ever at +114%, and Musk admitted xAI "partly" distilled OpenAI models. Apple forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates, with sales expected to rise between 14% and 17%, and says memory expenses will climb "significantly higher" in Q3 (Bloomberg) Amazon debuts "Join the chat", an AI-powered feature that lets users ask questions about products and get conversational audio responses generated in real time (TechCrunch) The US Senate unanimously passed a rule barring senators from trading on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, amid rising concern over insider trading (CNBC) Musk v. Altman: when asked whether xAI has distilled OpenAI models, Elon Musk says the claim is "partly" true (Wired) Intel's stock jumped 114% in April, hitting a record on April 24 and lifting its market cap past $470B, closing out the chipmaker's best month on record (CNBC) Longreads Talkie-LM: what happens when you train a language model exclusively on text from before 1930? Can it predict the future or independently rediscover General Relativity? (Talkie-LM) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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960
Earnings Overload
Big Tech earnings landed — Alphabet soared on cloud growth while Meta dropped 10% after hiking capex to $145B. SoftBank plans an AI/robotics IPO called Roze, Anthropic weighs a $900B+ round, and Musk called himself a "fool" for backing OpenAI. Microsoft says Q3 Intelligent Cloud revenue was $34.68B, vs. $34.27B est., with Azure and other cloud services up 40% YoY; Microsoft 365 Copilot has 20M+ seats (CNBC) Meta raises full-year capex outlook to $125B–$145B, up from $115B–$135B; shares drop ~10%, biggest intraday decline since October (Bloomberg) Alphabet stands out on Big Tech earnings day as Google Cloud revenue jumps 63% and backlog nearly doubles to $462B; capex guidance raised to $180B–$190B (MarketWatch) Big Four combined Q1 capex hit a record $130B, on pace for $725B in 2026, up 77% from $410B last year (FT) Sources: SoftBank plans to create an AI and robotics company called Roze in the US to build data centers and list it as early as 2026, seeking a $100B valuation (FT) Sources: Anthropic has begun weighing a new funding round at a $900B+ valuation, after previously resisting investor proposals at an $800B+ valuation (Bloomberg) Sony confirms that some digital PS4 and PS5 games require a one-time online license check "to confirm the game's license" (GameSpot) OpenAI explains Codex's "goblin problem": reinforcement training rewarded quirky creature metaphors via a discontinued "Nerdy" personality, and the behavior spread (The Verge) Musk v. Altman: Elon Musk says he was a "fool" for backing OpenAI, accusing Altman and Brockman of manipulating him into donating tens of millions of dollars (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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959
Elon V. Sam Day 2
The EU escalated its DSA probe against Meta over child safety failures on Instagram and Facebook. OpenAI has effectively abandoned its Stargate JV, China suspended new robotaxi licenses after a Baidu outage, and the Musk v. Altman trial kicked off with opening arguments. The European Commission issues preliminary DSA findings against Meta, saying Instagram and Facebook fail to prevent under-13 users from accessing the services (Bloomberg) YouTube rolls out Full Multiview Customization to YouTube TV, letting users pin up to four live streams in a window, after debuting a limited version in 2023 (The Verge) Sources: OpenAI has, in practice, abandoned its Stargate JV in favor of large bilateral deals; execs say its guiding principle remains to "build more compute" (FT) Sources: China suspends issuing Level 4 autonomous vehicle licenses, after 100+ of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis stalled and disrupted traffic in Wuhan in March (Bloomberg) OpenAI's Codex instruction set contains a line, repeated several times, that forbids Codex from randomly mentioning goblins, gremlins, and other creatures (Wired) Musk v. Altman: Musk testifies he's suing OpenAI because "it is not okay to steal a charity" and its pivot sets a concerning precedent for philanthropic efforts (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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958
Musk V. Altman
The Musk v. Altman trial seated a jury in California, with opening arguments set for today. Microsoft and OpenAI amended their partnership, removing the AGI clause. OpenAI missed internal user and revenue targets, Google launches Ask YouTube, and March saw 45,800 tech layoffs. A US judge seated a nine-person jury in the Musk v. Altman trial at a federal courthouse in California; Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were in attendance (CNBC) Microsoft and OpenAI amend their deal to let OpenAI serve all its products across any cloud provider; Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share to OpenAI (OpenAI) Sources: OpenAI missed an internal goal of reaching 1B weekly active ChatGPT users by 2025's end, and missed multiple monthly revenue targets earlier in 2026 (WSJ) Google launches Ask YouTube, a conversational AI search "experiment" that generates pages with videos and text summaries, for Premium users in the US aged 18+ (The Verge) Bloomberg CTO Shawn Edwards says the company is overhauling Terminal with a new chatbot-style interface called ASKB, currently open to ~125K users in beta (Wired) Layoffs.fyi: companies announced layoffs affecting 45,800 tech employees in March, making it the worst month for reported tech job cuts in at least two years (WSJ) An analysis of Internet Archive data: by mid-2025, ~35% of new websites published since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022 were AI-generated or AI-assisted (404 Media) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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957
All The Headlines, All The Model Drops...
DeepSeek dropped V4 Pro and V4 Flash, undercutting US labs on price by roughly 5x. OpenAI fired back with GPT-5.5, reclaiming benchmark crowns from Claude. Meta confirms 8,000 layoffs on May 20, and Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic. DeepSeek releases its new flagship models V4 Pro and V4 Flash in preview, saying V4 Pro trails the performance of state-of-the-art models by about 3 to 6 months (Bloomberg) Simon Willison's comparison chart of DeepSeek V4 pricing vs. US frontier models (Simon Willison) OpenAI says "GPT-5.5 matches GPT-5.4 per-token latency in real-world serving", performs "at a much higher level of intelligence", and is more capable for Codex (OpenAI) Meta plans to cut 10% of its employees, or ~8,000 jobs, on May 20 and won't fill 6,000 open roles, trying to boost efficiency and offset its heavy AI spending (Bloomberg) Google plans to invest up to $40B in Anthropic: $10B now at a $350B valuation, with another $30B if Anthropic hits performance targets (Bloomberg) Weekend Longreads Suggestions A look at the AI nonprofit METR, maker of maybe the most important AI benchmark, whose time-horizon metrics are used by researchers and Wall Street to track AI development (NYT) The Infinite Machine Olto e-bike review: a more elegant solution for trips too long to walk but too short to drive (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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956
Another DeepSeek Moment On The Horizon?
Microsoft considered buying Cursor but didn't pull the trigger before SpaceX's deal. Microsoft launches its first-ever voluntary retirement program, Anthropic's secondary market valuation hits $1T on Forge Global, and SpaceX's S-1 reveals plans to manufacture its own GPUs. Sources: Microsoft considered buying Cursor in recent weeks but didn't make an offer; Microsoft has been working to boost GitHub Copilot's popularity (CNBC) Microsoft announces the first voluntary retirement program in its 50-year history, for US staffers whose combined years of service added to their age totals 70+ (The Verge) Kalshi suspends and fines congressional candidates Mark Moran of Virginia, Matt Klein of Minnesota, and Ezekiel Enriquez of Texas for political insider trading (CNBC) Anthropic's valuation has hit $1T on Forge Global, a leading private marketplace exchange, surpassing OpenAI's valuation on the platform of $880B (Business Insider) A poll of 4,000 workers in the US and the UK finds that the highest-earning and most experienced workers are adopting AI in their jobs far faster than others (FT) SpaceX's S-1 excerpts list "manufacturing our own GPUs" among the "substantial capital expenditures" it is undertaking, with the size of the expenditure TBD (Reuters) Spotify celebrates its 20th anniversary with a first-ever list of its 20 most streamed artists, albums, songs, podcasts, and audiobooks (Billboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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955
Elon Buys Cursor?
SpaceX struck a deal giving it the option to acquire Cursor for $60B or pay $10B, as xAI scrambles to catch up in AI coding. Google unveiled new TPUs and an agent platform, OpenAI shipped ChatGPT Images 2.0, and Mythos got accessed by unauthorized users. SpaceX says it's working with Cursor to build "the world's most useful models" and it has the right to acquire Cursor for $60B or pay $10B for the partnership (NYT) Google unveils a new TPU lineup consisting of the TPU 8t for AI training and the TPU 8i for inference, with general availability scheduled for later in 2026 (Bloomberg) OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0 with new "thinking capabilities", allowing it to search the web to help it create multiple images from a single prompt (The Verge) Source: a handful of unauthorized users in a private Discord channel have been accessing Anthropic's Mythos model since the day the company announced it (Bloomberg) Meta is installing tracking software on US staffers' computers to capture mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes in work-related apps for use in AI training (Reuters) Disclaimer: ● Initial 3 week subscription and 4 weeks of medication from $79 plus tax and $179 per month plus tax for 12 week subscription thereafter. Final pricing depends on program selection. ● Noom GLP-1Rx Program involves healthy diet, exercise and support. Individual results vary. Meds & personalization based on clinical need. Not reviewed by FDA for safety, efficacy, or quality. No affiliation with Novo Nordisk Inc., the only US source of FDA-approved semaglutide. Not available in all 50 US states ● Based on an analysis of self reported data from 1,254 engaged Noom users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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954
Tim Cook Rides Into The Sunset
Apple named John Ternus as its next CEO, with Tim Cook stepping up to executive chairman on September 1. Amazon agrees to invest up to $25B more in Anthropic, Bezos' Project Prometheus nears a $10B raise, and SpaceX's IPO prospectus reveals Musk's power moves. John Ternus, senior VP of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple's next CEO on September 1; Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board (CNBC) Amazon agrees to invest up to $25B in Anthropic, on top of the $8B that it has already invested; Anthropic commits to spend $100B+ on AWS over the next 10 years (CNBC) Sources: Jeff Bezos' Project Prometheus is close to a $10B fundraising deal, which includes an initial $6.2B raise in November, at a $38B post-money valuation (FT) Draft of SpaceX's confidential IPO prospectus: Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4B of stock from current and former employees (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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953
Robots Winning The (Literal) Race
Vercel confirmed a breach traced to an AI platform's compromised OAuth app. The NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite the Pentagon blacklist. Mac Minis face 12-week wait times from AI agent demand, and humanoid robots crushed the Beijing half-marathon. Vercel says its internal systems were accessed after a Vercel employee's Google Workspace account was compromised via a breach at the AI platform Context.ai (BleepingComputer) Sources: the US NSA is using Mythos Preview; one source says Mythos is also being widely used within the DoD, despite Anthropic's supply chain risk designation (Axios) Adobe introduces CX Enterprise, an AI agent-based platform that aims to help corporate customers automate digital marketing and other functions (WSJ) Some Mac Mini and Mac Studio models are unavailable or facing up to 12-week wait times in the US, with analysts citing strong demand from AI agent power users (WSJ) Deezer says AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of daily uploads, totaling ~75K tracks per day and 2M+ per month, but account for just 1-3% of consumption (TechCrunch) Sources: Recursive Superintelligence, a four-month-old start-up developing self-teaching AI and founded by ex-DeepMind and OpenAI engineers, has raised $500M+ (FT) At the Beijing half-marathon, several humanoid robots beat human winners by 10+ minutes; a robot made by Honor beat the human world record held by Jacob Kiplimo (Reuters) Disclaimer: ● Initial 3 week subscription and 4 weeks of medication from $79 plus tax and $179 per month plus tax for 12 week subscription thereafter. Final pricing depends on program selection. ● Noom GLP-1Rx Program involves healthy diet, exercise and support. Individual results vary. Meds & personalization based on clinical need. Not reviewed by FDA for safety, efficacy, or quality. No affiliation with Novo Nordisk Inc., the only US source of FDA-approved semaglutide. Not available in all 50 US states ● Based on an analysis of self reported data from 1,254 engaged Noom users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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952
Reed Hastings Rides Into The Sunset
Netflix beat on revenue and income but dropped 10%+ on weak Q2 guidance as Reed Hastings exits the board. Anthropic launches Claude Design, OpenAI overhauls Codex Desktop with computer control, and DeepSeek seeks its first outside funding at $10B+. Netflix reports Q1 revenue up 16% YoY to $12.25B, vs. $12.2B est., net income up 83% YoY to $5.28B, and forecasts Q2 EPS and revenue below est.; NFLX drops 10%+ (Bloomberg) Anthropic launches Claude Design, a new experimental product that lets users create visuals like prototypes, slides, one-pagers, and more using Claude (TechCrunch) Sources: Dario Amodei is set to meet with WH Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Friday, a breakthrough in Anthropic's effort to resolve its fight with the Pentagon (Axios) OpenAI updates its Codex desktop app with features like computer control, an in-app browser, image generation, automation memory, plugin support, and more (ZDNet) Sources: DeepSeek is in talks to raise outside capital for the first time, seeking at least $300M at a valuation of at least $10B (The Information) Longreads India produces 1.5M+ CS graduates annually, but AI coding tools are forcing its $315B IT outsourcing industry into an existential reckoning (Bloomberg) Doug Liman's $70M movie Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi uses AI for sets, lighting, and more in post-production, cutting costs from an estimated $300M (The Wrap) Defunct startups are being liquidated for their Slack archives, Jira tickets, and email threads—operational exhaust that AI labs now treat as premium training data (Forbes) Learn more at liquid.trade/techbrew. Disclaimer: ● Initial 3 week subscription and 4 weeks of medication from $79 plus tax and $179 per month plus tax for 12 week subscription thereafter. Final pricing depends on program selection. ● Noom GLP-1Rx Program involves healthy diet, exercise and support. Individual results vary. Meds & personalization based on clinical need. Not reviewed by FDA for safety, efficacy, or quality. No affiliation with Novo Nordisk Inc., the only US source of FDA-approved semaglutide. Not available in all 50 US states ● Based on an analysis of self reported data from 1,254 engaged Noom users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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951
Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic drops Claude Opus 4.7 for coding and rolls out government ID verification for some users. TSMC beats earnings, raises forecasts on strong AI demand. X launches Cashtags, and Google's SpaceX stake could hit $100 billion at IPO. Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.7, a "notable improvement" in advanced software engineering with a new "xhigh" effort level (Anthropic) TSMC CEO C.C. Wei says AI demand still strong amid Iran war, raises revenue forecasts (WSJ) Anthropic rolls out identity verification requiring government-issued photo ID and live selfie for "certain capabilities" (Decrypt) X launches Cashtags, showing real-time financial data on stocks and crypto, starting with iOS in the US and Canada (The Block) Google owns ~5% SpaceX stake; at a $2T IPO valuation, that's worth $100B (Bloomberg) Learn more at liquid.trade/techbrew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Silicon Valley's water cooler podcast. A tech news summary every day... 15 minutes and you're up to date. From Tech Brew, Morning Brew's tech hub.
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