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July 7 · 7 min
Amazon will stop accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk; Canadian spy agency says it hacked drug traffickers, extremists and a ransomware gang last year
These may be the last days of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Also, the hacking operations disclosed in a Canadian spy agency's annual report underscores some pressing national security threats facing the country and its top allies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 6 · 10 min
What is Bending Spoons? The little-known AOL and Vimeo owner that’s now public
Bending Spoons remains largely unknown, even as its portfolio of products has served more than a billion people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 3 · 5 min
Jersey Mike’s IPO illustrates how bad the AI hype has become; plus, Mark Zuckerberg said AI agents haven’t progressed as quickly as he’d hoped
Just for kicks, I took a look at Jersey Mike's IPO documents. Surely a sandwich shop would have no need to mention AI. But low-and-behold. And at an internal meeting, the Meta CEO reportedly said that AI development efforts were not moving as quickly as anticipated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 3 · 6 min
US government says it got hacked — again; Microsoft launches its own AI deployment company
A top Democrat on the Senate's Intelligence Committee warned that the information accessed on a Homeland Security intelligence-sharing network may risk national security. Also, Microsoft follows Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic with its new AI deployment group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 2 · 8 min
Realta Fusion generates electricity directly from a fusion reaction; plus, the ‘Father of the Internet’ is finally retiring
Realta Fusion showed it could generate electricity from a fusion reaction, no steam turbine required. Vinton Cerf, one of the creators of the protocols underlying the internet, will step down as Google's chief internet evangelist next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
July 1 · 8 min
The AI jobs debate just got messier; plus, 92 GW of new electricity supply threatened with red tape
A new report finds "high-intensity AI adopters” saw headcount increase 10.2%. Among those companies, entry-level headcount rose by 12%, countering the rhetoric that AI kills junior jobs. Also, the Trump administration's moves threaten $121 billion in new solar and wind power, two energy sources that are the biggest contributors to new capacity in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 30 · 8 min
Ford rehires ‘gray beard’ engineers after AI falls short; Rocket Lab continues its buying spree; and why Wall Street thinks US memory maker Micron is the next Nvidia
Ford execs said, "mistakenly we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence ... that would produce a high-quality product.” Also, the all-stock deal values Iridium at $8 billion, and gives Rocket Lab even more firepower to compete against Amazon and SpaceX. Plus, eager to find more public AI-related companies that may do as well as Nvidia, Wall Street investors think they've found a winner with Micron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 29 · 6 min
It’s not about Anthropic vs. OpenAI anymore; plus, Novak Djokovic has a new job
AI models have progressed to the point where their capabilities have real political consequences. Dealing with those consequences will require collective action. Also, General Atlantic has tapped tennis legend Novak Djokovic to serve as a global strategic advisor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 26 · 7 min
Databricks’ former AI chief thinks he can cut AI’s power bill by 1,000x; plus, Klue may have solved one problem but have another
Un0 is an image-generation system tool that shows for the first time how the company's technology can replicate conventional AI systems. Also, market research company Klue told customers that it believes the hacking group that stole their data is now deleting it. The company, however, warned about a second group of hackers wanting ransom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 25 · 5 min
OpenAI unveils its first custom chip, built by Broadcom; plus, Valor Equity Partners looks to raise a $2.5B Fund VII
Named Jalapeño, the new processor was designed specifically for the unique needs of OpenAI's inference systems. Also, new details have emerged about Valor's latest fund, which last year announced it was raising an unspecified amount of capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 24 · 9 min
Ribbie turns real-time baseball stats into arcade-like, pixel art broadcasts; plus, the AI world is getting ‘loopy’
Ribbie lets you follow along live with MLB games with a delightful, arcade-inspired interface. Also, the loop takes agentic AI a step further, by authorizing a swarm of agents to work continuously in the background, endlessly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 23 · 5 min
SpaceX inks compute deal with Reflection AI, an open-source AI lab; Instagram looks to take on streaming services
Reflection AI will pay $150 million a month beginning July 1, 2026 through 2029 for immediate access to Nvidia's latest GB300 AI chips and supporting hardware across SpaceX's Colossus 2 data center near Memphis, Tennessee. Also, Instagram is coming for streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as it sets its ambitions for living room viewing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 22 · 7 min
In the Weights is your new AI-centric vanity search; Did Polymarket pay creators to post deceptive videos about fake bets; and
So ... what's your In the Weights score? Check here. Also, many of those videos were reportedly filmed on “near-perfect copies” of the Polymarket website, while featuring trades and winnings that were not real. And Signal’s Meredith Whittaker wants you to remember that AI chatbots ‘are not your friends.' These are not conscious beings. These are not sentient interlocutors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 19 · 6 min
A tech worker-backed PAC is bringing a $5M knife to Big Tech’s $100M gunfight; plus, Spotify’s reserved ticket sales to music superfans are now going live
Guardrails positions itself as a populist political movement that runs on small donations from people in the trenches of the AI boom. Also, Spotify is launching "Reserved," a new system that will hold two concert tickets for an artist's superfans before they're on sale to the public. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 18 · 8 min
Sixty percent of U.S. consumers say ‘AI’ in brand messaging is a turnoff; plus, Anthropic’s latest feud with the Trump admin may actually help it
WordPress VIP’s latest survey suggests consumers are wary of AI-generated answers even as companies increasingly view AI search as an important referral channel. Also, Anthropic's popularity with business users is growing so well that the latest beef with the government might actually boost it, data from Ramp suggests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 17 · 6 min
DOJ claims xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security’; plus, Sundar Pichai booed at Stanford commencement
The Justice department says the Pentagon needs xAI to keep using its unpermitted gas turbines. Also, Stanford graduates booed and walked on Google's CEO during his commencement speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 16 · 8 min
Cybersecurity vets protest ‘dangerous’ US government ban on Anthropic’s most powerful models; plus, Fox to acquire Roku in $22 billion deal
A group made up of dozens of cybersecurity experts urged the White House to remove export control restrictions on Anthropic’s models Fable and Mythos, arguing that the order is going to limit the ability of cybersecurity defenders to secure their software and products. Also, Fox says the deal will create the third-largest television company in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 15 · 7 min
OpenAI faces investigation from state attorneys general; Meta unwinding its $2B Manus deal; and Amazon's CEO raised Anthropic model concerns
It's not clear which states are involved, but they're asking about everything from OpenAI's ad policies to its handling of health data. Also, Meta started dismantling its $2 billion Manus acquisition after Beijing ordered the deal reversed. And, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy may have been the source of security concerns that led Anthropic to cut off worldwide access to two models on Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 12 · 9 min
xAI fired an engineer who raised alarms about Grok safety, new lawsuit claims; plus, Microsoft taps Alt Carbon for carbon removal
A former xAI engineer is suing the company and SpaceX, alleging he was fired for raising AI safety concerns about Grok days before SpaceX's historic IPO. Also, Alt Carbon said the agreement followed more than a year of scientific review and due diligence, with Microsoft requiring additional verification and data-sharing measures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
June 11 · 7 min
Cybersecurity researchers aren’t happy about the guardrails on Anthropic’s Fable; plus, how memory tools can make AI models worse
Cybersecurity researchers are complaining that Anthropic's new model Fable has guardrails that are too strict for any cybersecurity work. Also, new research suggests that AI memory systems can degrade model performance and encourage sycophantic tendencies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices