Podcast appearances and mentions of Mark Zuckerberg

On Thursday's Mark Levin Show, Bernie Sanders continues to display a perplexing misunderstanding of economics with his recent attacks on billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. He claims these wealthy individuals are thwarting a wealth tax measure and insists they should pay their "fair share," ignoring the fact that the top 1% already contribute over 40% of federal income taxes. Instead of fostering an informed dialogue about economic realities, Sanders resorts to Marxist and Socialist rhetoric that vilifies success and oversimplifies the complexities of wealth creation. It's high time we confront this misguided socialist perspective and recognize the vital role that successful entrepreneurs play in driving our economy forward. In addition, Tucker Carlson made a brief stop at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel to film an interview with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee without ever stepping outside the airport. Carlson lied about leaking the fact that Israeli police and staff at the airport was mistreating him, even though there is video footage of Tucker hugging people. Also, at least a dozen Democrats from both the House and Senate will skip President Trump's State of the Union address to attend a rally on the National Mall as an alternative protest against his presidency. Lastly, Rep. Bryan Steil joins the show to discuss how Democrats are trying to find ways to protect illegal aliens from getting deported, and by not passing the SAVE Act, so that illegal aliens can vote. The people need to call our senators to pass the Save Act now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The scary (Dystopia)Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AIAI Will Destroy Millions of White Collars Jobs in the Coming Months, Andrew Yang Warns, Driving Surge of Personal BankruptciesRing cancels Flock deal after dystopian Super Bowl ad prompts mass outrageAmazon and Flock Safety have ended a partnership that would've given law enforcement access to a vast web of Ring cameras. The decision came after Amazon faced substantial backlash for airing a Super Bowl ad that was meant to be warm and fuzzy, but instead came across as disturbing and dystopian.Ring's Founder Knows You Hated That Super Bowl Ad. Since the commercial aired, Jamie Siminoff has been trying to quell an outcry over privacy concerns with his doorbell cameras.Platforms bend over backward to help DHS censor ICE critics, advocates say MMAnthropic is clashing with the Pentagon over AI useAnthropic's relationship with the Department of Defense is “under review” as the two sides negotiate over how the company's AI models can be used.The startup wants assurance that its models will not be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance.The DOD wants to use Anthropic's models “for all lawful use cases” without limitationDavid Sacks, the venture capitalist serving as the administration's AI and crypto czar, has accused Anthropic of supporting “woke AI” because of its stance on regulation.Our Big Data OverlordsMeta Begins $65 Million Election Push to Advance A.I. AgendaMark Zuckerberg faces jury in landmark trial over alleged youth harm linked to social mediaThe lawsuit, K.G.M. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., et al., was filed by a 20-year-old California woman identified by her initials. She alleges that Meta and other tech companies deliberately engineered their platforms to hook young users, contributing to her depression and suicidal thoughts, and seeks to hold them accountable.Regarding Instagram's enforcement efforts, plaintiffs asked whether Meta removed all 4 million under-13 users the company had identified on the platform in 2018. Zuckerberg responded that while the company did not remove all of them, it had implemented tools to detect and address underage accounts and was working to improve those systems.According to reports, Zuckerberg has not directly answered the central question of the case: whether Instagram is addictive. The plaintiff's attorney, Mark Lanier, asked if people tend to use something more if it's addictive. “I'm not sure what to say to that,” Zuckerberg said. “I don't think that applies here.”He said he believes in the “basic assumption” that “if something is valuable, people will use it more because it's useful to them.”When he was asked about his compensation, Zuckerberg said he has pledged to give “almost all” of his money to charity, focusing on scientific research. Lanier asked him how much money he has pledged to victims impacted by social media, to which Zuckerberg replied, “I disagree with the characterization of your question.”Zuckerberg's courthouse entourage showed up in Meta Ray-BansMeta Adding Facial Recognition to Its Smart Glasses That Identifies People in Real Time, Hoping the Public Is Too Distracted by Political Turmoil to Care MMApple sued by West Virginia for alleged failure to stop child sexual abuse material on iCloud, iOS devicesSpaceX said to weigh dual-class IPO shares to empower MuskMacron Blasts Social Media's Free Speech Defense as ‘Bullshit'The stupid (ESG edition)Goldman Sachs to Drop D.E.I. Criteria for Board Members MMThe move would be the Wall Street firm's latest retreat from diversity mandates that its chief executive, David Solomon, had once made a priority.The decision is a result of a deal that Goldman struck with the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit group that has been pressuring numerous companies to drop diversity, equity and inclusion mandates, the people said.As part of its agreement with Goldman, the National Legal and Policy Center, which has a small investment in the bank, withdrew a shareholder proposal demanding that diversity criteria for the board be dropped.In March 2019, Mr. Solomon, his top deputy John Waldron and the firm's chief financial officer at the time, Stephen M. Scherr, declared diversity and inclusion “a top priority.”“When we unite around a common goal, we make progress together,” the men wrote in an email to the staff. They said they would “improve each year” toward goals that included a new recruiting class comprising “50 percent women, 11 percent Black professionals and 14 percent Hispanic/Latino professionals in the Americas, and 9 percent Black professionals in the U.K.”The next year, Mr. Solomon said Goldman would no longer take a company public in the United States or Europe unless it had at least one “diverse” board member. By 2021, a company would need at least two diverse board members in order for Goldman to agree to work on its initial public offering.Inspire Investing CEO: Nike's DEI Is A Legal Liability, Shareholders Coming For AnswersNike's DEI fight is no longer just a social media "culture war" argument. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is investigating Nike over allegations the company's DEI practices discriminated against white employees and job applicants.Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing: "Discrimination, whether it's black people or white people, gay people or straight people, is discrimination."Robert Netzly is a globally recognized authority in the Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) movement, author of the book "Biblically Responsible Investing: On Wall Street As It Is In Heaven." Robert holds a B.S. degree in Liberal Studies from an online university. This article was from OutKick, which aims to expose the destructive nature of "woke" activism and is the antidote to the mainstream sports media that often serves an elite, left-leaning minority instead of the American sports fan. OutKick is owned by Fox Sports' parent company Fox CorporationFederal agency sues Coca-Cola bottler over work event that excluded menA Coca-Cola distributor and bottler is being sued for alleged sexual discrimination over a corporate networking event that excluded men, announced the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the lawsuitAccording to the EEOC's lawsuit, in September 2024, Bedford, N.H.-headquartered Coca-Cola Northeast held a two-day employer-sponsored trip and networking event at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Connecticut. Coca-Cola Northeast privately invited female employees and then excused the female employees who attended the event from their normal work duties on Sept. 10 and 11, 2024, and paid them their normal salary or wages without requiring them to use vacation or other paid time off. Coca-Cola Northeast did not invite any male employees to the event.Trump revokes landmark ruling that greenhouse gases endanger public healthUS President Donald Trump has reversed a key Obama-era scientific ruling that underpins all federal actions on curbing planet-warming gases.The so-called 2009 "endangerment finding" concluded that a range of greenhouse gases were a threat to public health. It's become the legal bedrock of federal efforts to rein in emissions, especially in vehicles.Bill Maher Eviscerates Donald Trump Over ‘Biggest Dick Move in American History'The boring (ESG edition)Starbucks' investor group urges shareholders to replace directors over labor rowStarbucks faced fresh pressure on Wednesday from a coalition of investors including public-sector pension funds that urged shareholders ‌to vote against the reelection of two directors, citing persistent failure ‌to manage labor relations.The move against Starbucks' lead independent director, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, and Beth ​Ford, chair of the board's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, comes as the company is locked in a prolonged effort to reach a collective agreement with its unionized baristas.Companies are cycling through CEOs—and replacing them with first-timers MMSome 168 new CEOs were appointed in 2025, the highest total since 2010. The defining shift was who got the job. Among incoming CEOs, 84% were serving in their first enterprise CEO role, reversing a multi-year tilt toward leaders with prior public-company experience.As recently as 2024, more than one in five new CEOs had already led a public company. That share fell sharply in 2025. Of the 140 first-time CEOs appointed, 116 had no prior enterprise CEO experience. Two-thirds had never served on a public company board, meaning many are stepping into the role without prior exposure to shareholder oversight or public company governance.CEO hopefuls have a new rival for the top job: their own board directorsAppointing board directors as CEOs was once a “break glass in case of emergency” strategy reserved for scandal, illness, or sudden resignation. While it remains a minority path compared with traditional internal promotions, it is no longer an anomaly.New data from Spencer Stuart highlights the shift. Of the 168 new S&P 1500 chief executives appointed in 2025, the highest annual total since 2010, 19 were drawn from their own company boards, the most since 2020. Spencer Stuart classifies directors as outsiders because they lack day-to-day operating responsibility. Even so, more boards are turning to them.Wall Street banks are paying their CEOs like it's 2006 againMorgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick's pay rises 32% to $45mlnBank of America Lifts Moynihan's Pay 17% to $41 Million for 2025Barclays Ceo Pay Hike: Barclays lifts CEO Venkatakrishnan's pay to over £15 million as bonus pool risesCitigroup bumps CEO Jane Fraser's pay to record $59mBro Culture (The Epstein Edition)Thomas Pritzker, Named in Epstein Files, Retires as Hyatt Executive ChairmanTom Pritzker Retires as Executive Chairman of Hyatt After 22 Years of Service and Will Not Stand for Reelection to Board of DirectorsThe Board has appointed Mark S. Hoplamazian, Hyatt's President and Chief Executive Officer, to succeed Mr. Pritzker as Chairman of the Board“Tom's leadership has been instrumental in shaping Hyatt's strategy and long-term growth, and we thank him for his service and dedication to Hyatt,” said Richard Tuttle, Chair of the Board's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. “The Board has engaged in thoughtful succession planning, and we are confident that Mark's deep knowledge of Hyatt's business, strong relationships with owners and colleagues, and proven track record as CEO of nearly two decades positions him well to serve as Chairman and continue driving Hyatt's long-term success.”In a letter to the Hyatt Hotels' Board of Directors, Tom Pritzker wrote, “My job and responsibility is to provide good stewardship. That is important to me. Good stewardship includes ensuring a proper transition at Hyatt. Following discussions with my fellow Board members, I have decided, after serving as Executive Chairman since 2004, and with the company in a strong position, that now is the right time for me to retire from Hyatt. Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which I deeply regret. I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner. I condemn the actions and the harm caused by Epstein and Maxwell, and I feel deep sorrow for the pain they inflicted on their victims.”Dubai's DP World replaces CEO after Epstein links emergeDubai's DP World announced Essa Kazim was the new chairman of its board of directors and Yuvraj Narayan was its new group chief executive officer, replacing Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.Sulayem had been the CEO of Dubai's largest port operator since 2016 and chairman since 2007.DOJ records showed years of exchanges with Epstein, but Sulayem has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.Casey Wasserman to sell talent agency following Jefferey Epstein controversyCasey Wasserman has confirmed that he has started the process of selling his talent agency after it was uncovered that he had ties with Jefferey Epstein. The announcement comes as artists began to leave the agency after it was uncovered that the Wasserman CEO had extensive ties with Jeffrey Epstein and had sent flirtatious emails to Ghislaine Maxwell. Despite denying that he had any personal or business ties with either, Wasserman sent an apology to the 4,000 employees who work at his sports marketing and talent agency, confirming that he would be stepping down from the company. He said: “I'm deeply sorry that my past personal mistakes have caused you so much discomfort […] It's not fair to you, and it's not fair to the clients and partners we represent so vigorously and care so deeply about.”Former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner testifies in House Epstein investigationThe billionaire behind the retail empire that once blanketed shopping malls with names such as Victoria's Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch told members of Congress on Wednesday that he was “duped by a world-class con man” — close financial adviser Jeffrey Epstein. Les Wexner also denied knowing about the late sex offender's crimes or participating in Epstein's abuse of girls and young women.“I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”Wexner described himself to the lawmakers as a philanthropist, community builder and grandfather who always strove “to live my life in an ethical manner in line with my moral compass,” according to the statement.Top Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to resign over Epstein linksThe latest Justice Department release revealed a trove of communication between the two, including about potential jobs, her romantic life and gifts Epstein had given her. (She called him “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey.”)Goldman's CEO David Solomon says he 'reluctantly' let top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler go after Epstein fallout MMKing Charles' brother Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconductWhite House Shrugs Off Lutnick's Epstein TiesCommerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has acknowledged traveling to Jeffrey Epstein's island and meeting him on another occasion.Elon's bro quits Burning Man board amid outrage over Epstein connectionBlowhard IndexSalesforce cofounder 'not OK' with Benioff's ICE crack: 'Marc made a very bad joke.'The comments occurred during a keynote address at the company's annual internal "Company Kickoff" (CKO) event in Las Vegas, sparking a significant backlash from employees and leadership alike.During the keynote, Benioff reportedly asked employees who had traveled to the event from outside the United States to stand up for recognition. Once they were standing, he made a "joke" to the effect of: "Thank you! Just so the ICE agents [in the building] know [who you are]."He reportedly made a follow-up "callback" later in the presentation, suggesting that ICE agents were also monitoring those who hadn't yet used a specific new Slackbot tool.And another joke about ICE surveilling employee travel: when there are literally employees afraid to travel for work due to current situationSalesforce famously promotes a culture of "Ohana" (family) and equality.Parker Harris (Cofounder): In a follow-up meeting, Harris reportedly called the jokes a "violation of the Code of Conduct" and even noted they could be considered a "fireable offense" for a typical employee.Rob Seaman (Slack GM): The head of the Salesforce-owned platform Slack sent a memo to staff stating he "cannot defend or explain" the jokes and that they did not align with his values.Salesforce employees call on CEO Benioff to cancel ICE ‘opportunities'Elon Musk says Anthropic's philosopher has no stake in the future because she doesn't have kidsPalantir, Which Is Powering ICE, Says Immigration Crackdown May Hurt Hiring MMFrom 10-K filed 2 days ago: “if we are not able to recruit, hire, or retain the talent we need because of increased regulation of immigration or work visas … it could be more difficult to staff our personnel on customer engagements and could increase our costs … Additionally, laws and regulations, such as restrictive immigration laws, may limit our ability to recruit outside of the United States ... If we fail to attract new personnel or to retain our current personnel, our business and operations could be harmed.”

A majority of Gen Z voters in New York backed Zoran Mamdani. One month later? Property taxes up. Police cuts. Budget chaos. Tara breaks down the math, the promises, the Florida comparison, and why socialism always runs out of other people's money.

Hogan Gidley, Former National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign and former White House Deputy Press SecretaryTopic: Trump's first Board of Peace meeting Assemblyman Dov Hikind, former New York State Assemblyman and the son of holocaust survivorsTopic: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights antisemitism investigation Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, a retired senior intelligence operations officer, whistleblower, and President of the London Center for Policy ResearchTopic: Possibility of strikes on Iran; Ongoing peace talks Danny Coulson, Former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI and Founding Commander of the FBI Hostage Rescue TeamTopic: Ongoing Nancy Guthrie investigation Gregg Jarrett, Legal and political analyst for Fox News Channel and the author of "The Trial Of The Century"Topic: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest; Mark Zuckerberg; other legal & political news of the day Matthew "Whiz" Buckley, decorated former U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot, TOP GUN graduate, and now the founder of the No Fallen Heroes FoundationTopic: World's largest aircraft carrier heads toward the Middle EastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Trump convenes the first meeting of his Board of Peace, touting $5 billion in reconstruction pledges for Gaza as Israel gives Hamas 60 days to disarm or face renewed war.Russia is offering the Trump administration $14 trillion in business deals if the U.S. drops sanctions, as peace talks with Ukraine drag on and Kyiv faces fresh pressure to concede territory without clear security guarantees.And Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in the first-ever social media addiction trial, defending accusations that the company knew kids under 13 were using Instagram and built its platforms to hook young users early.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Robbie Griffiths, Miguel Macias, Tina Kraja, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.(0:00) Introduction(01:54) Trump's Board of Peace(06:08) Russia's Business Offer(09:47) Zuckerberg Defends MetaLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.Part I (00:14 – 12:26)A.I. Chatbots are Sociopaths? Christians Must Keep Categories StraightWhy AI Chatbots Can't Be Trusted for Financial Advice: They're Sociopaths by The Wall Street Journal (Peter Coy)Part II (12:26 – 18:27)A.I. Chatbots Cannot Have a True Conscience: Our Human Conscience is God's Gift and Grounded in His ImagePart III (18:27 – 19:45)A.I. and Christian Discernment: These Days, Christians Must Be Even More Diligent in Discerning the TruthPart IV (19:45 – 24:08)Minecraft, Roblox, and Extremist Recruitment? Terrorist Organizations are Targeting Children Through Online Gaming PlatformsHow Hate Groups and Terrorists Use Gaming Platforms to Recruit Young Children by The New York Times (Pranav Baskar)Part V (24:08 – 26:50)How Harmful is Instagram for Teens? Mark Zuckerberg is Facing Tough Questions Over the Addictive Nature of Social Media, and Parents Need to Pay Close AttentionMark Zuckerberg Faces the Tough Questions He Deserves by National Review (Josh Golin)Sign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

Erin and Alyssa dive into the Wall Street Journal's brutal read of Kristi Noem, social media addiction going on trial, and how the SAVE Act might forever change our elections. Then, in Sani/Petty, they discuss Elon's turn toward Jesus, the new season of Love Is Blind, and Taylor Swift's special video for the Team USA Women's Figure Skaters. A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem's Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS (Wall Street Journal 2/12)Tough questions — and grieving families — await Mark Zuckerberg at social media addiction trial Wednesday (CNN 2/17)Trump's election bill tops 50 Senate votes, but Democrats could still block it (NBC News 2/17)House passes elections overhaul bill that could make it harder for married women to vote (The 19th News 2/11)Older women are spooked by the economy. Their vote is up for grabs (USA Today 2/16)

A senior UN official, Rosemary DiCarlo, has told a meeting of the Security Council that Israel's plans for greater controls in the occupied West Bank amount to de facto annexation. Since last week, Israel has approved a series of reforms to property laws, making it easier for Jewish settlements to expand in the West Bank. Also, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote address to a major AI summit in India after growing scrutiny over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The tech billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, has defended his Instagram site in a landmark legal case over social media addiction in LA. The Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp owner said he regretted Meta's slow progress in identifying under-age users, in the face of a barrage of criticism. Fiji's former military leader, Frank Bainimarama and a former police commissioner have both been arrested and charged with inciting mutiny. A climber in Austria is going on trial after leaving his girlfriend to die on Austria's highest mountain. How content crazy influencers are taking over restaurants in major cities, one ring light at a time. And, the Australian TV reporter Danika Mason has apologised after appearing drunk in a live broadcast from the Winter Olympics, but not everyone thinks it's a bad thing...The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk

Yesterday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in a first-of-its-kind trial with one central question: Are social media platforms causing mental health disorders among young people? The plaintiff argues that platforms like Instagram are designed to keep children addicted, potentially bypassing long-standing legal shields that have protected tech companies in the past. WSJ's Meghan Bobrowsky takes us inside the courtroom for Mark Zuckerberg's testimony and explains why this trial could impact thousands of other cases. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: - The Battle Within Meta Over Chatbot Safety - “The Facebook Files' from The Journal. Sign up for WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A deadly avalanche killed at least eight people in the Lake Tahoe region in Northern California. KQED’s Sarah Wright explains what happened, and the challenges that come with avalanche rescue. A massive amount of wastewater spewed into the Potomac River following a sewage-line break in Maryland a month ago. Dana Hedgpeth of the Washington Post breaks down how the spill has become a political dispute. Nordic combined is the only Winter Olympic sport where women don’t compete. USA Today’s Chris Bumbaca joins to discuss how some athletes are trying to change that. Plus, a billionaire former CEO said he was conned by Epstein, Mark Zuckerberg testified in a landmark trial over claims social media makes kids addicted, and a judge finally settled the debate over boneless chicken wings. Today’s episode was hosted by Cecilia Lei.

Billionaire businessman Lex Wexner sits for a closed-door deposition with Congress as part of the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Then, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg testifies in a landmark trial challenging big tech. Plus, major headlines on Trump's family crypto business have us asking once again is the White House for sale? On tonight's Nightcap: Philip Bump, John Della Volpe, Charles Coleman Jr, and Tim O'Brien join The 11th Hour this Wednesday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Episode 783: Neal and Toby recap Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in the landmark trial on social media addiction. Then, a debate arises between state law and federal law on the allowance of prediction markets. Also, India's AI summit draws some of the biggest names in tech as the country hopes to become a beacon of the newest frontier. Meanwhile, Neal shares his favorite numbers on NYC birth rates, a Louver scandal, and a tax provision that is bringing horse racing back.  Learn more about FlavCity at https://go.shopflavcity.com/mbds  Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠  Watch Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Headlines: Billionaire retail mogul Les Wexner testified before Congress about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein — but instead of appearing on Capitol Hill, lawmakers traveled to his Ohio mansion, where the 88-year-old was deposed with family members present. Notably, no Republicans on the House Oversight Committee showed up. Wexner, who once granted Epstein power of attorney, said he was “naive, gullible, and foolish” and claimed he was conned, despite building a multibillion-dollar empire. It wasn't the only billionaire hot seat of the day. Mark Zuckerberg testified in a landmark trial against Meta over allegations the company knowingly made its platforms addictive and harmful to children. The case could influence more than 1,500 pending social media addiction lawsuits. Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Meta has set aside $65 million to back state-level politicians friendly to the AI industry through new super PACs in Illinois and Texas — timing that feels… strategic. In federal agency cleanup news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed a webpage warning against bogus autism “treatments” like chlorine dioxide and raw camel milk, calling it routine housekeeping. On the foreign policy front, Donald Trump met with advisers to discuss Iran, as mixed signals emerge from nuclear talks in Geneva and two U.S. aircraft carriers sit in the Mediterranean. The administration also plans to withdraw roughly 1,000 U.S. troops from Syria over the next two months, though officials say the move is “conditions based.” Meanwhile, a potential U.S. arms sale to Taiwan is reportedly in limbo ahead of Trump's planned meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing. Back home, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the city will resume clearing homeless encampments following at least 19 deaths during a recent cold snap, with outreach led by homeless services rather than police. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: AP News: Billionaire Les Wexner says he was 'duped' by adviser Jeffrey Epstein, 'a world-class con man' Axios: Zuckerberg testifies in landmark social media addiction trial NYT: Meta Begins $65 Million Election Push to Advance A.I. Agenda ProPublica: Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments Axios: Trump meets with top Iran advisers as war threat grows WSJ: U.S. Is Withdrawing All Forces From Syria, Officials Say WSJ: U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan in Limbo Amid Pressure Campaign From China AP News: Mamdani reboots homeless encampment sweeps in New York City Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zuckerberg on the Hotseat, Passing of a Civil Rights Icon, The Blade Angels, Not so Birdbrained, Waymo Door Dilemma & Bad Bunny's Retro Ride!  Sponsored by IXL.com/KidNuz

The news to know for Thursday, February 19, 2026! Here it is with only capitalization and punctuation corrected: We're talking about a high-stakes decision for the Trump administration, as news reports say the U.S. is on the brink of war with Iran. Also, the deadliest snow disaster in modern California history. And what could turn into another major snowstorm that forecasters are tracking now. Plus: growing fallout from the Epstein Files as more powerful people are forced out of their jobs, Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in what's being called this century's "Tobacco Trials," and are you "aura farming"? We'll explain the term that's taken hold with Gen Alpha. Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!    Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!  See sources: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/shownotes Become an INSIDER to get AD-FREE episodes here: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider Get The NewsWorthy MERCH here: https://thenewsworthy.dashery.com/ Sponsors: For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% OFF and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to HomeChef.com/NEWSWORTHY Get 15% off OneSkin with the code NEWSWORTHY at https://www.oneskin.co/NEWSWORTHY #oneskinpod To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to ad-sales@libsyn.com

So, the President thinks he's in a Liam Neeson movie, the DOJ thinks "transparency" means hiding 98% of the Epstein files, and Ghislaine Maxwell got a puppy. Happy Wednesday. The masks are officially off, and what's underneath is even uglier than we thought.In this episode, I'm breaking down the absolute fever dream that is February 2026:The Hunter Arc: Why the White House is rebranding the presidency as a revenge thriller and what "voter ID whether Congress likes it or not" actually means for the midterms.The Zuck Trial: Mark Zuckerberg is finally in front of a jury (not a fan-boy Senate committee) defending why Meta thinks 10-year-olds are "valuable assets" rather than human beings.Epstein's 2%: Attorney General Pam Bondi claims "all" the files are out. Spoilers: They aren't. We talk 40 terabytes of missing data, Ted Lieu's C-SPAN bombshell, and why the DOJ is busy redacting names while releasing victims' photos.Eight Fractures: A brutal investigation into ICE enforcement in Minneapolis and the "Catch of the Day" operation that's turning even the President's own voters against him.Subpoenaed Opinions: How DHS is using administrative subpoenas to unmask anonymous Reddit and Discord users for the crime of... having an opinion.The Quiet Parts: From Jared Kushner's nuclear "diplomacy" in Iran to the weaponization of health grants against blue states.SUPPORT THE SHOWAd-Free Episodes: Join the Patreon to skip the mattress ads and keep this show independent. Keywords: True Crime, Political Analysis, Jeffrey Epstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Lawsuit, ICE, DHS Subpoena, Trump 2026, Pam Bondi, Ted Lieu, Civil Liberties, Privacy, Social Media Addiction, Human Rights.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/we-saw-the-devil-crime-political-analysis--4433638/support.Website: http://www.wesawthedevil.comPatreon: http://www.patreon.com/wesawthedevilDiscord: https://discord.gg/X2qYXdB4Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/WeSawtheDevilInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/wesawthedevilpodcast.

Ukraine and Russia ended their second day of American-led peace negotiations in Geneva after just two hours. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Prince Andrew arrested on “suspicion of misconduct.” Officials work to recover missing skier after deadly avalanche. Mark Zuckerberg testifies in social media addiction trial. Judge says boneless wings are wings, tosses out class action suit.  Plus, a dog escapes home and runs onto an Olympic cross-countrytrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

U.K. authorities on Thursday arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of "misconduct in public office." Police had previously said they were investigating whether the former prince sent confidential trade documents to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Liz Stein, a survivor of Epstein's abuse and an anti-trafficking advocate, joins us.Then, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg appeared in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday to defend his company against a lawsuit that alleges social media harms children. LA Times reporter Sonja Sharp breaks down the trial so far.And, GLP-1 medications could help treat alcohol and drug addiction, experts say. Addiction specialist Dr. Mark S. Gold explains how medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy are prompting "a reconceptualization of addiction itself."Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

OpenAI is nearing a $100B+ fundraise, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg testified at a landmark social media addiction trial in California, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct tied to Jeffrey Epstein. Legendary media investor Mario Gabelli discusses the Netflix-Paramount battle for Warner Brothers Discovery's film and media assets. Plus, as an MSG shareholder, Gabelli weighs in on MSG's exploration of splitting the Knicks and the Rangers. Two-time Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz shares his perspective on President Trump's economic agenda, including the impact of tariffs on inflation and consumer sentiment. Happy Birthday, Andrew! Mario Gabelli - 12:40 Joseph Stiglitz - 27:01 In this episode: Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Cameron Costa, @CameronCostaNY Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Fred gives us a update on Team USA in the Olympics! Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies in social media addiction trial. The Seattle Seahawks were put up for sale. A lady left her dog at the airport when she was unable to take him on a flight, she was later arrested.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gary & Shannon kick off a newly adjusted #WhatsHappening with the day’s biggest stories, including rising artillery activity involving Iran, continued courtroom fallout from Mark Zuckerberg’s social media trial, and debate over whether the Olympic “quadgod” actually choked—or faced the same kind of pressure moment athletes like Simone Biles have endured.Then it’s #SWAMPWATCH, covering the push to trademark Donald Trump’s name for a potential Palm Beach airport rename and escalating geopolitical tensions. The hour introduces new KFI news anchor Mark Rahner, whose sharp snark, dislike of sports analogies, fear of earthquakes, and insistence that he “has feelings” quickly make him a memorable addition to the show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gary & Shannon break down how Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony landed in the courtroom as the Big Tech trial zeroes in on whether social media companies knowingly hooked kids early for long-term profit. They also dig into the backlash over Reese’s allegedly using cheaper ingredients—and Gary revisits the now-outdated “contract” he gave his kids when they got their first phones. Plus, a surprising California poll puts Republican Steve Hilton at the top of the field, while Shannon says the money still points to Eric Swalwell. The hour wraps with new details emerging in a deadly avalanche tragedy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shannon kicks off the show with the news that Prince Andrew was arrested on his 66th birthday and the Queen joins exclusively from heaven to share her thoughts. Gary and Shannon dig into the cameras following Pima County to document the Nancy Guthrie investigation and how bizarre that is, plus investigators are turning to genetic genealogy to crack the DNA questions. The US is sending the most airpower to the region since the 2003 Iraq invasion as tensions with Iran escalate. Zuckerberg takes the heat from grieving parents in the ongoing tech trial. Plus, Shannon defends Gary against a very wrong listener talkback, and panic is spreading as AI tools start replacing white collar jobs in legal, marketing, and corporate work.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Marc Siegel, physician, Professor of Medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center, author of "The Miracles Among Us," and contributor to Fox NewsTopic: Impact of social media on mental health amid social media trial Mike Duffy, Avalanche instructor with American Avalanche Association, mountain rescuer, and founder of Avalanche1Topic: Eight killed in Lake Tahoe avalanche Karol Markowicz, Columnist for the New York PostTopic: "The rise in transgender killers proves that we have a major mental health crisis unfolding" (New York Post op ed) Laine Schoneberger, Chief Investment Officer, Managing Partner, and Founder of YrefyTopic: Latest from Yrefy Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus, host of "The DerShow," and the author of "The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies: And How to Refute Them with Truth" and the new book "The Preventative State"Topic: Mark Zuckerberg's testimony, other legal news of the day Gordon Chang, Asia expert, columnist and author of "China is Going to War"Topic: 2020 explosion of China reportedly had hallmarks of nuclear test Dr. Darrin Porcher, Retired NYPD Lieutenant, Criminal Justice Professor at Pace University and a former Army OfficerTopic: Black History Month; Mamdani proposing NYPD budget cut; Latest in Nancy Guthrie investigationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former prince Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in office. Trump has discussed timeline for Iran strikes — including as soon as this weekend — but no decision yet. Olympic update. Zuckerberg testifies in landmark social media addiction trial. Kurt Cobain's death declared a homicide by Seattle cop ordered to probe investigation. 

Tickets for AIEi Miami and AIE Europe are live, with first wave speakers announced!From pioneering software-defined networking to backing many of the most aggressive AI model companies of this cycle, Martin Casado and Sarah Wang sit at the center of the capital, compute, and talent arms race reshaping the tech industry. As partners at a16z investing across infrastructure and growth, they've watched venture and growth blur, model labs turn dollars into capability at unprecedented speed, and startups raise nine-figure rounds before monetization.Martin and Sarah join us to unpack the new financing playbook for AI: why today's rounds are really compute contracts in disguise, how the “raise → train → ship → raise bigger” flywheel works, and whether foundation model companies can outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of them. They also share what's underhyped (boring enterprise software), what's overheated (talent wars and compensation spirals), and the two radically different futures they see for AI's market structure.We discuss:* Martin's “two futures” fork: infinite fragmentation and new software categories vs. a small oligopoly of general models that consume everything above them* The capital flywheel: how model labs translate funding directly into capability gains, then into revenue growth measured in weeks, not years* Why venture and growth have merged: $100M–$1B hybrid rounds, strategic investors, compute negotiations, and complex deal structures* The AGI vs. product tension: allocating scarce GPUs between long-term research and near-term revenue flywheels* Whether frontier labs can out-raise and outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of their APIs* Why today's talent wars ($10M+ comp packages, $B acqui-hires) are breaking early-stage founder math* Cursor as a case study: building up from the app layer while training down into your own models* Why “boring” enterprise software may be the most underinvested opportunity in the AI mania* Hardware and robotics: why the ChatGPT moment hasn't yet arrived for robots and what would need to change* World Labs and generative 3D: bringing the marginal cost of 3D scene creation down by orders of magnitude* Why public AI discourse is often wildly disconnected from boardroom reality and how founders should navigate the noiseShow Notes:* “Where Value Will Accrue in AI: Martin Casado & Sarah Wang” - a16z show* “Jack Altman & Martin Casado on the Future of Venture Capital”* World Labs—Martin Casado• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincasado/• X: https://x.com/martin_casadoSarah Wang• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-wang-59b96a7• X: https://x.com/sarahdingwanga16z• https://a16z.com/Timestamps00:00:00 – Intro: Live from a16z00:01:20 – The New AI Funding Model: Venture + Growth Collide00:03:19 – Circular Funding, Demand & “No Dark GPUs”00:05:24 – Infrastructure vs Apps: The Lines Blur00:06:24 – The Capital Flywheel: Raise → Train → Ship → Raise Bigger00:09:39 – Can Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem?00:11:24 – Character AI & The AGI vs Product Dilemma00:14:39 – Talent Wars, $10M Engineers & Founder Anxiety00:17:33 – What's Underinvested? The Case for “Boring” Software00:19:29 – Robotics, Hardware & Why It's Hard to Win00:22:42 – Custom ASICs & The $1B Training Run Economics00:24:23 – American Dynamism, Geography & AI Power Centers00:26:48 – How AI Is Changing the Investor Workflow (Claude Cowork)00:29:12 – Two Futures of AI: Infinite Expansion or Oligopoly?00:32:48 – If You Can Raise More Than Your Ecosystem, You Win00:34:27 – Are All Tasks AGI-Complete? Coding as the Test Case00:38:55 – Cursor & The Power of the App Layer00:44:05 – World Labs, Spatial Intelligence & 3D Foundation Models00:47:20 – Thinking Machines, Founder Drama & Media Narratives00:52:30 – Where Long-Term Power Accrues in the AI StackTranscriptLatent.Space - Inside AI's $10B+ Capital Flywheel — Martin Casado & Sarah Wang of a16z[00:00:00] Welcome to Latent Space (Live from a16z) + Meet the Guests[00:00:00] Alessio: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Latent Space podcast, live from a 16 z. Uh, this is Alessio founder Kernel Lance, and I'm joined by Twix, editor of Latent Space.[00:00:08] swyx: Hey, hey, hey. Uh, and we're so glad to be on with you guys. Also a top AI podcast, uh, Martin Cado and Sarah Wang. Welcome, very[00:00:16] Martin Casado: happy to be here and welcome.[00:00:17] swyx: Yes, uh, we love this office. We love what you've done with the place. Uh, the new logo is everywhere now. It's, it's still getting, takes a while to get used to, but it reminds me of like sort of a callback to a more ambitious age, which I think is kind of[00:00:31] Martin Casado: definitely makes a statement.[00:00:33] swyx: Yeah.[00:00:34] Martin Casado: Not quite sure what that statement is, but it makes a statement.[00:00:37] swyx: Uh, Martin, I go back with you to Netlify.[00:00:40] Martin Casado: Yep.[00:00:40] swyx: Uh, and, uh, you know, you create a software defined networking and all, all that stuff people can read up on your background. Yep. Sarah, I'm newer to you. Uh, you, you sort of started working together on AI infrastructure stuff.[00:00:51] Sarah Wang: That's right. Yeah. Seven, seven years ago now.[00:00:53] Martin Casado: Best growth investor in the entire industry.[00:00:55] swyx: Oh, say[00:00:56] Martin Casado: more hands down there is, there is. [00:01:00] I mean, when it comes to AI companies, Sarah, I think has done the most kind of aggressive, um, investment thesis around AI models, right? So, worked for Nom Ja, Mira Ia, FEI Fey, and so just these frontier, kind of like large AI models.[00:01:15] I think, you know, Sarah's been the, the broadest investor. Is that fair?[00:01:20] Venture vs. Growth in the Frontier Model Era[00:01:20] Sarah Wang: No, I, well, I was gonna say, I think it's been a really interesting tag, tag team actually just ‘cause the, a lot of these big C deals, not only are they raising a lot of money, um, it's still a tech founder bet, which obviously is inherently early stage.[00:01:33] But the resources,[00:01:36] Martin Casado: so many, I[00:01:36] Sarah Wang: was gonna say the resources one, they just grow really quickly. But then two, the resources that they need day one are kind of growth scale. So I, the hybrid tag team that we have is. Quite effective, I think,[00:01:46] Martin Casado: what is growth these days? You know, you don't wake up if it's less than a billion or like, it's, it's actually, it's actually very like, like no, it's a very interesting time in investing because like, you know, take like the character around, right?[00:01:59] These tend to [00:02:00] be like pre monetization, but the dollars are large enough that you need to have a larger fund and the analysis. You know, because you've got lots of users. ‘cause this stuff has such high demand requires, you know, more of a number sophistication. And so most of these deals, whether it's US or other firms on these large model companies, are like this hybrid between venture growth.[00:02:18] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Total. And I think, you know, stuff like BD for example, you wouldn't usually need BD when you were seed stage trying to get market biz Devrel. Biz Devrel, exactly. Okay. But like now, sorry, I'm,[00:02:27] swyx: I'm not familiar. What, what, what does biz Devrel mean for a venture fund? Because I know what biz Devrel means for a company.[00:02:31] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:02:32] Compute Deals, Strategics, and the ‘Circular Funding' Question[00:02:32] Sarah Wang: You know, so a, a good example is, I mean, we talk about buying compute, but there's a huge negotiation involved there in terms of, okay, do you get equity for the compute? What, what sort of partner are you looking at? Is there a go-to market arm to that? Um, and these are just things on this scale, hundreds of millions, you know, maybe.[00:02:50] Six months into the inception of a company, you just wouldn't have to negotiate these deals before.[00:02:54] Martin Casado: Yeah. These large rounds are very complex now. Like in the past, if you did a series A [00:03:00] or a series B, like whatever, you're writing a 20 to a $60 million check and you call it a day. Now you normally have financial investors and strategic investors, and then the strategic portion always still goes with like these kind of large compute contracts, which can take months to do.[00:03:13] And so it's, it's very different ties. I've been doing this for 10 years. It's the, I've never seen anything like this.[00:03:19] swyx: Yeah. Do you have worries about the circular funding from so disease strategics?[00:03:24] Martin Casado: I mean, listen, as long as the demand is there, like the demand is there. Like the problem with the internet is the demand wasn't there.[00:03:29] swyx: Exactly. All right. This, this is like the, the whole pyramid scheme bubble thing, where like, as long as you mark to market on like the notional value of like, these deals, fine, but like once it starts to chip away, it really Well[00:03:41] Martin Casado: no, like as, as, as, as long as there's demand. I mean, you know, this, this is like a lot of these sound bites have already become kind of cliches, but they're worth saying it.[00:03:47] Right? Like during the internet days, like we were. Um, raising money to put fiber in the ground that wasn't used. And that's a problem, right? Because now you actually have a supply overhang.[00:03:58] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:03:59] Martin Casado: And even in the, [00:04:00] the time of the, the internet, like the supply and, and bandwidth overhang, even as massive as it was in, as massive as the crash was only lasted about four years.[00:04:09] But we don't have a supply overhang. Like there's no dark GPUs, right? I mean, and so, you know, circular or not, I mean, you know, if, if someone invests in a company that, um. You know, they'll actually use the GPUs. And on the other side of it is the, is the ask for customer. So I I, I think it's a different time.[00:04:25] Sarah Wang: I think the other piece, maybe just to add onto this, and I'm gonna quote Martine in front of him, but this is probably also a unique time in that. For the first time, you can actually trace dollars to outcomes. Yeah, right. Provided that scaling laws are, are holding, um, and capabilities are actually moving forward.[00:04:40] Because if you can put translate dollars into capabilities, uh, a capability improvement, there's demand there to martine's point. But if that somehow breaks, you know, obviously that's an important assumption in this whole thing to make it work. But you know, instead of investing dollars into sales and marketing, you're, you're investing into r and d to get to the capability, um, you know, increase.[00:04:59] And [00:05:00] that's sort of been the demand driver because. Once there's an unlock there, people are willing to pay for it.[00:05:05] Alessio: Yeah.[00:05:06] Blurring Lines: Models as Infra + Apps, and the New Fundraising Flywheel[00:05:06] Alessio: Is there any difference in how you built the portfolio now that some of your growth companies are, like the infrastructure of the early stage companies, like, you know, OpenAI is now the same size as some of the cloud providers were early on.[00:05:16] Like what does that look like? Like how much information can you feed off each other between the, the two?[00:05:24] Martin Casado: There's so many lines that are being crossed right now, or blurred. Right. So we already talked about venture and growth. Another one that's being blurred is between infrastructure and apps, right? So like what is a model company?[00:05:35] Mm-hmm. Like, it's clearly infrastructure, right? Because it's like, you know, it's doing kind of core r and d. It's a horizontal platform, but it's also an app because it's um, uh, touches the users directly. And then of course. You know, the, the, the growth of these is just so high. And so I actually think you're just starting to see a, a, a new financing strategy emerge and, you know, we've had to adapt as a result of that.[00:05:59] And [00:06:00] so there's been a lot of changes. Um, you're right that these companies become platform companies very quickly. You've got ecosystem build out. So none of this is necessarily new, but the timescales of which it's happened is pretty phenomenal. And the way we'd normally cut lines before is blurred a little bit, but.[00:06:16] But that, that, that said, I mean, a lot of it also just does feel like things that we've seen in the past, like cloud build out the internet build out as well.[00:06:24] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Um, yeah, I think it's interesting, uh, I don't know if you guys would agree with this, but it feels like the emerging strategy is, and this builds off of your other question, um.[00:06:33] You raise money for compute, you pour that or you, you pour the money into compute, you get some sort of breakthrough. You funnel the breakthrough into your vertically integrated application. That could be chat GBT, that could be cloud code, you know, whatever it is. You massively gain share and get users.[00:06:49] Maybe you're even subsidizing at that point. Um, depending on your strategy. You raise money at the peak momentum and then you repeat, rinse and repeat. Um, and so. And that wasn't [00:07:00] true even two years ago, I think. Mm-hmm. And so it's sort of to your, just tying it to fundraising strategy, right? There's a, and hiring strategy.[00:07:07] All of these are tied, I think the lines are blurring even more today where everyone is, and they, but of course these companies all have API businesses and so they're these, these frenemy lines that are getting blurred in that a lot of, I mean, they have billions of dollars of API revenue, right? And so there are customers there.[00:07:23] But they're competing on the app layer.[00:07:24] Martin Casado: Yeah. So this is a really, really important point. So I, I would say for sure, venture and growth, that line is blurry app and infrastructure. That line is blurry. Um, but I don't think that that changes our practice so much. But like where the very open questions are like, does this layer in the same way.[00:07:43] Compute traditionally has like during the cloud is like, you know, like whatever, somebody wins one layer, but then another whole set of companies wins another layer. But that might not, might not be the case here. It may be the case that you actually can't verticalize on the token string. Like you can't build an app like it, it necessarily goes down just because there are no [00:08:00] abstractions.[00:08:00] So those are kinda the bigger existential questions we ask. Another thing that is very different this time than in the history of computer sciences is. In the past, if you raised money, then you basically had to wait for engineering to catch up. Which famously doesn't scale like the mythical mammoth. It take a very long time.[00:08:18] But like that's not the case here. Like a model company can raise money and drop a model in a, in a year, and it's better, right? And, and it does it with a team of 20 people or 10 people. So this type of like money entering a company and then producing something that has demand and growth right away and using that to raise more money is a very different capital flywheel than we've ever seen before.[00:08:39] And I think everybody's trying to understand what the consequences are. So I think it's less about like. Big companies and growth and this, and more about these more systemic questions that we actually don't have answers to.[00:08:49] Alessio: Yeah, like at Kernel Labs, one of our ideas is like if you had unlimited money to spend productively to turn tokens into products, like the whole early stage [00:09:00] market is very different because today you're investing X amount of capital to win a deal because of price structure and whatnot, and you're kind of pot committing.[00:09:07] Yeah. To a certain strategy for a certain amount of time. Yeah. But if you could like iteratively spin out companies and products and just throw, I, I wanna spend a million dollar of inference today and get a product out tomorrow.[00:09:18] swyx: Yeah.[00:09:19] Alessio: Like, we should get to the point where like the friction of like token to product is so low that you can do this and then you can change the Right, the early stage venture model to be much more iterative.[00:09:30] And then every round is like either 100 k of inference or like a hundred million from a 16 Z. There's no, there's no like $8 million C round anymore. Right.[00:09:38] When Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem[00:09:38] Martin Casado: But, but, but, but there's a, there's a, the, an industry structural question that we don't know the answer to, which involves the frontier models, which is, let's take.[00:09:48] Anthropic it. Let's say Anthropic has a state-of-the-art model that has some large percentage of market share. And let's say that, uh, uh, uh, you know, uh, a company's building smaller models [00:10:00] that, you know, use the bigger model in the background, open 4.5, but they add value on top of that. Now, if Anthropic can raise three times more.[00:10:10] Every subsequent round, they probably can raise more money than the entire app ecosystem that's built on top of it. And if that's the case, they can expand beyond everything built on top of it. It's like imagine like a star that's just kind of expanding, so there could be a systemic. There could be a, a systemic situation where the soda models can raise so much money that they can out pay anybody that bills on top of ‘em, which would be something I don't think we've ever seen before just because we were so bottlenecked in engineering, and this is a very open question.[00:10:41] swyx: Yeah. It's, it is almost like bitter lesson applied to the startup industry.[00:10:45] Martin Casado: Yeah, a hundred percent. It literally becomes an issue of like raise capital, turn that directly into growth. Use that to raise three times more. Exactly. And if you can keep doing that, you literally can outspend any company that's built the, not any company.[00:10:57] You can outspend the aggregate of companies on top of [00:11:00] you and therefore you'll necessarily take their share, which is crazy.[00:11:02] swyx: Would you say that kind of happens in character? Is that the, the sort of postmortem on. What happened?[00:11:10] Sarah Wang: Um,[00:11:10] Martin Casado: no.[00:11:12] Sarah Wang: Yeah, because I think so,[00:11:13] swyx: I mean the actual postmortem is, he wanted to go back to Google.[00:11:15] Exactly. But like[00:11:18] Martin Casado: that's another difference that[00:11:19] Sarah Wang: you said[00:11:21] Martin Casado: it. We should talk, we should actually talk about that.[00:11:22] swyx: Yeah,[00:11:22] Sarah Wang: that's[00:11:23] swyx: Go for it. Take it. Take,[00:11:23] Sarah Wang: yeah.[00:11:24] Character.AI, Founder Goals (AGI vs Product), and GPU Allocation Tradeoffs[00:11:24] Sarah Wang: I was gonna say, I think, um. The, the, the character thing raises actually a different issue, which actually the Frontier Labs will face as well. So we'll see how they handle it.[00:11:34] But, um, so we invest in character in January, 2023, which feels like eons ago, I mean, three years ago. Feels like lifetimes ago. But, um, and then they, uh, did the IP licensing deal with Google in August, 2020. Uh, four. And so, um, you know, at the time, no, you know, he's talked publicly about this, right? He wanted to Google wouldn't let him put out products in the world.[00:11:56] That's obviously changed drastically. But, um, he went to go do [00:12:00] that. Um, but he had a product attached. The goal was, I mean, it's Nome Shair, he wanted to get to a GI. That was always his personal goal. But, you know, I think through collecting data, right, and this sort of very human use case, that the character product.[00:12:13] Originally was and still is, um, was one of the vehicles to do that. Um, I think the real reason that, you know. I if you think about the, the stress that any company feels before, um, you ultimately going one way or the other is sort of this a GI versus product. Um, and I think a lot of the big, I think, you know, opening eyes, feeling that, um, anthropic if they haven't started, you know, felt it, certainly given the success of their products, they may start to feel that soon.[00:12:39] And the real. I think there's real trade-offs, right? It's like how many, when you think about GPUs, that's a limited resource. Where do you allocate the GPUs? Is it toward the product? Is it toward new re research? Right? Is it, or long-term research, is it toward, um, n you know, near to midterm research? And so, um, in a case where you're resource constrained, um, [00:13:00] of course there's this fundraising game you can play, right?[00:13:01] But the fund, the market was very different back in 2023 too. Um. I think the best researchers in the world have this dilemma of, okay, I wanna go all in on a GI, but it's the product usage revenue flywheel that keeps the revenue in the house to power all the GPUs to get to a GI. And so it does make, um, you know, I think it sets up an interesting dilemma for any startup that has trouble raising up until that level, right?[00:13:27] And certainly if you don't have that progress, you can't continue this fly, you know, fundraising flywheel.[00:13:32] Martin Casado: I would say that because, ‘cause we're keeping track of all of the things that are different, right? Like, you know, venture growth and uh, app infra and one of the ones is definitely the personalities of the founders.[00:13:45] It's just very different this time I've been. Been doing this for a decade and I've been doing startups for 20 years. And so, um, I mean a lot of people start this to do a GI and we've never had like a unified North star that I recall in the same [00:14:00] way. Like people built companies to start companies in the past.[00:14:02] Like that was what it was. Like I would create an internet company, I would create infrastructure company, like it's kind of more engineering builders and this is kind of a different. You know, mentality. And some companies have harnessed that incredibly well because their direction is so obviously on the path to what somebody would consider a GI, but others have not.[00:14:20] And so like there is always this tension with personnel. And so I think we're seeing more kind of founder movement.[00:14:27] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:14:27] Martin Casado: You know, as a fraction of founders than we've ever seen. I mean, maybe since like, I don't know the time of like Shockly and the trade DUR aid or something like that. Way back in the beginning of the industry, I, it's a very, very.[00:14:38] Unusual time of personnel.[00:14:39] Sarah Wang: Totally.[00:14:40] Talent Wars, Mega-Comp, and the Rise of Acquihire M&A[00:14:40] Sarah Wang: And it, I think it's exacerbated by the fact that talent wars, I mean, every industry has talent wars, but not at this magnitude, right? No. Yeah. Very rarely can you see someone get poached for $5 billion. That's hard to compete with. And then secondly, if you're a founder in ai, you could fart and it would be on the front page of, you know, the information these days.[00:14:59] And so there's [00:15:00] sort of this fishbowl effect that I think adds to the deep anxiety that, that these AI founders are feeling.[00:15:06] Martin Casado: Hmm.[00:15:06] swyx: Uh, yes. I mean, just on, uh, briefly comment on the founder, uh, the sort of. Talent wars thing. I feel like 2025 was just like a blip. Like I, I don't know if we'll see that again.[00:15:17] ‘cause meta built the team. Like, I don't know if, I think, I think they're kind of done and like, who's gonna pay more than meta? I, I don't know.[00:15:23] Martin Casado: I, I agree. So it feels so, it feel, it feels this way to me too. It's like, it is like, basically Zuckerberg kind of came out swinging and then now he's kind of back to building.[00:15:30] Yeah,[00:15:31] swyx: yeah. You know, you gotta like pay up to like assemble team to rush the job, whatever. But then now, now you like you, you made your choices and now they got a ship.[00:15:38] Martin Casado: I mean, the, the o other side of that is like, you know, like we're, we're actually in the job hiring market. We've got 600 people here. I hire all the time.[00:15:44] I've got three open recs if anybody's interested, that's listening to this for investor. Yeah, on, on the team, like on the investing side of the team, like, and, um, a lot of the people we talk to have acting, you know, active, um, offers for 10 million a year or something like that. And like, you know, and we pay really, [00:16:00] really well.[00:16:00] And just to see what's out on the market is really, is really remarkable. And so I would just say it's actually, so you're right, like the really flashy one, like I will get someone for, you know, a billion dollars, but like the inflated, um, uh, trickles down. Yeah, it is still very active today. I mean,[00:16:18] Sarah Wang: yeah, you could be an L five and get an offer in the tens of millions.[00:16:22] Okay. Yeah. Easily. Yeah. It's so I think you're right that it felt like a blip. I hope you're right. Um, but I think it's been, the steady state is now, I think got pulled up. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pull up for[00:16:31] Martin Casado: sure. Yeah.[00:16:32] Alessio: Yeah. And I think that's breaking the early stage founder math too. I think before a lot of people would be like, well, maybe I should just go be a founder instead of like getting paid.[00:16:39] Yeah. 800 KA million at Google. But if I'm getting paid. Five, 6 million. That's different but[00:16:45] Martin Casado: on. But on the other hand, there's more strategic money than we've ever seen historically, right? Mm-hmm. And so, yep. The economics, the, the, the, the calculus on the economics is very different in a number of ways. And, uh, it's crazy.[00:16:58] It's cra it's causing like a, [00:17:00] a, a, a ton of change in confusion in the market. Some very positive, sub negative, like, so for example, the other side of the, um. The co-founder, like, um, acquisition, you know, mark Zuckerberg poaching someone for a lot of money is like, we were actually seeing historic amount of m and a for basically acquihires, right?[00:17:20] That you like, you know, really good outcomes from a venture perspective that are effective acquihires, right? So I would say it's probably net positive from the investment standpoint, even though it seems from the headlines to be very disruptive in a negative way.[00:17:33] Alessio: Yeah.[00:17:33] What's Underfunded: Boring Software, Robotics Skepticism, and Custom Silicon Economics[00:17:33] Alessio: Um, let's talk maybe about what's not being invested in, like maybe some interesting ideas that you would see more people build or it, it seems in a way, you know, as ycs getting more popular, it's like access getting more popular.[00:17:47] There's a startup school path that a lot of founders take and they know what's hot in the VC circles and they know what gets funded. Uh, and there's maybe not as much risk appetite for. Things outside of that. Um, I'm curious if you feel [00:18:00] like that's true and what are maybe, uh, some of the areas, uh, that you think are under discussed?[00:18:06] Martin Casado: I mean, I actually think that we've taken our eye off the ball in a lot of like, just traditional, you know, software companies. Um, so like, I mean. You know, I think right now there's almost a barbell, like you're like the hot thing on X, you're deep tech.[00:18:21] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:18:22] Martin Casado: Right. But I, you know, I feel like there's just kind of a long, you know, list of like good.[00:18:28] Good companies that will be around for a long time in very large markets. Say you're building a database, you know, say you're building, um, you know, kind of monitoring or logging or tooling or whatever. There's some good companies out there right now, but like, they have a really hard time getting, um, the attention of investors.[00:18:43] And it's almost become a meme, right? Which is like, if you're not basically growing from zero to a hundred in a year, you're not interesting, which is just, is the silliest thing to say. I mean, think of yourself as like an introvert person, like, like your personal money, right? Mm-hmm. So. Your personal money, will you put it in the stock market at 7% or you put it in this company growing five x in a very large [00:19:00] market?[00:19:00] Of course you can put it in the company five x. So it's just like we say these stupid things, like if you're not going from zero to a hundred, but like those, like who knows what the margins of those are mean. Clearly these are good investments. True for anybody, right? True. Like our LPs want whatever.[00:19:12] Three x net over, you know, the life cycle of a fund, right? So a, a company in a big market growing five X is a great investment. We'd, everybody would be happy with these returns, but we've got this kind of mania on these, these strong growths. And so I would say that that's probably the most underinvested sector.[00:19:28] Right now.[00:19:29] swyx: Boring software, boring enterprise software.[00:19:31] Martin Casado: Traditional. Really good company.[00:19:33] swyx: No, no AI here.[00:19:34] Martin Casado: No. Like boring. Well, well, the AI of course is pulling them into use cases. Yeah, but that's not what they're, they're not on the token path, right? Yeah. Let's just say that like they're software, but they're not on the token path.[00:19:41] Like these are like they're great investments from any definition except for like random VC on Twitter saying VC on x, saying like, it's not growing fast enough. What do you[00:19:52] Sarah Wang: think? Yeah, maybe I'll answer a slightly different. Question, but adjacent to what you asked, um, which is maybe an area that we're not, uh, investing [00:20:00] right now that I think is a question and we're spending a lot of time in regardless of whether we pull the trigger or not.[00:20:05] Um, and it would probably be on the hardware side, actually. Robotics, right? And the robotics side. Robotics. Right. Which is, it's, I don't wanna say that it's not getting funding ‘cause it's clearly, uh, it's, it's sort of non-consensus to almost not invest in robotics at this point. But, um, we spent a lot of time in that space and I think for us, we just haven't seen the chat GPT moment.[00:20:22] Happen on the hardware side. Um, and the funding going into it feels like it's already. Taking that for granted.[00:20:30] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. But we also went through the drone, you know, um, there's a zip line right, right out there. What's that? Oh yeah, there's a zip line. Yeah. What the drone, what the av And like one of the takeaways is when it comes to hardware, um, most companies will end up verticalizing.[00:20:46] Like if you're. If you're investing in a robot company for an A for agriculture, you're investing in an ag company. ‘cause that's the competition and that's surprising. And that's supply chain. And if you're doing it for mining, that's mining. And so the ad team does a lot of that type of stuff ‘cause they actually set up to [00:21:00] diligence that type of work.[00:21:01] But for like horizontal technology investing, there's very little when it comes to robots just because it's so fit for, for purpose. And so we kinda like to look at software. Solutions or horizontal solutions like applied intuition. Clearly from the AV wave deep map, clearly from the AV wave, I would say scale AI was actually a horizontal one for That's fair, you know, for robotics early on.[00:21:23] And so that sort of thing we're very, very interested. But the actual like robot interacting with the world is probably better for different team. Agree.[00:21:30] Alessio: Yeah, I'm curious who these teams are supposed to be that invest in them. I feel like everybody's like, yeah, robotics, it's important and like people should invest in it.[00:21:38] But then when you look at like the numbers, like the capital requirements early on versus like the moment of, okay, this is actually gonna work. Let's keep investing. That seems really hard to predict in a way that is not,[00:21:49] Martin Casado: I think co, CO two, kla, gc, I mean these are all invested in in Harvard companies. He just, you know, and [00:22:00] listen, I mean, it could work this time for sure.[00:22:01] Right? I mean if Elon's doing it, he's like, right. Just, just the fact that Elon's doing it means that there's gonna be a lot of capital and a lot of attempts for a long period of time. So that alone maybe suggests that we should just be investing in robotics just ‘cause you have this North star who's Elon with a humanoid and that's gonna like basically willing into being an industry.[00:22:17] Um, but we've just historically found like. We're a huge believer that this is gonna happen. We just don't feel like we're in a good position to diligence these things. ‘cause again, robotics companies tend to be vertical. You really have to understand the market they're being sold into. Like that's like that competitive equilibrium with a human being is what's important.[00:22:34] It's not like the core tech and like we're kind of more horizontal core tech type investors. And this is Sarah and I. Yeah, the ad team is different. They can actually do these types of things.[00:22:42] swyx: Uh, just to clarify, AD stands for[00:22:44] Martin Casado: American Dynamism.[00:22:45] swyx: Alright. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I actually, I do have a related question that, first of all, I wanna acknowledge also just on the, on the chip side.[00:22:51] Yeah. I, I recall a podcast that where you were on, i, I, I think it was the a CC podcast, uh, about two or three years ago where you, where you suddenly said [00:23:00] something, which really stuck in my head about how at some point, at some point kind of scale it makes sense to. Build a custom aic Yes. For per run.[00:23:07] Martin Casado: Yes.[00:23:07] It's crazy. Yeah.[00:23:09] swyx: We're here and I think you, you estimated 500 billion, uh, something.[00:23:12] Martin Casado: No, no, no. A billion, a billion dollar training run of $1 billion training run. It makes sense to actually do a custom meic if you can do it in time. The question now is timelines. Yeah, but not money because just, just, just rough math.[00:23:22] If it's a billion dollar training. Then the inference for that model has to be over a billion, otherwise it won't be solvent. So let's assume it's, if you could save 20%, which you could save much more than that with an ASIC 20%, that's $200 million. You can tape out a chip for $200 million. Right? So now you can literally like justify economically, not timeline wise.[00:23:41] That's a different issue. An ASIC per model, which[00:23:44] swyx: is because that, that's how much we leave on the table every single time. We, we, we do like generic Nvidia.[00:23:48] Martin Casado: Exactly. Exactly. No, it, it is actually much more than that. You could probably get, you know, a factor of two, which would be 500 million.[00:23:54] swyx: Typical MFU would be like 50.[00:23:55] Yeah, yeah. And that's good.[00:23:57] Martin Casado: Exactly. Yeah. Hundred[00:23:57] swyx: percent. Um, so, so, yeah, and I mean, and I [00:24:00] just wanna acknowledge like, here we are in, in, in 2025 and opening eyes confirming like Broadcom and all the other like custom silicon deals, which is incredible. I, I think that, uh, you know, speaking about ad there's, there's a really like interesting tie in that obviously you guys are hit on, which is like these sort, this sort of like America first movement or like sort of re industrialized here.[00:24:17] Yeah. Uh, move TSMC here, if that's possible. Um, how much overlap is there from ad[00:24:23] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:24:23] swyx: To, I guess, growth and, uh, investing in particularly like, you know, US AI companies that are strongly bounded by their compute.[00:24:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I, I would view, I would view AD as more as a market segmentation than like a mission, right?[00:24:37] So the market segmentation is, it has kind of regulatory compliance issues or government, you know, sale or it deals with like hardware. I mean, they're just set up to, to, to, to, to. To diligence those types of companies. So it's a more of a market segmentation thing. I would say the entire firm. You know, which has been since it is been intercepted, you know, has geographical biases, right?[00:24:58] I mean, for the longest time we're like, you [00:25:00] know, bay Area is gonna be like, great, where the majority of the dollars go. Yeah. And, and listen, there, there's actually a lot of compounding effects for having a geographic bias. Right. You know, everybody's in the same place. You've got an ecosystem, you're there, you've got presence, you've got a network.[00:25:12] Um, and, uh, I mean, I would say the Bay area's very much back. You know, like I, I remember during pre COVID, like it was like almost Crypto had kind of. Pulled startups away. Miami from the Bay Area. Miami, yeah. Yeah. New York was, you know, because it's so close to finance, came up like Los Angeles had a moment ‘cause it was so close to consumer, but now it's kind of come back here.[00:25:29] And so I would say, you know, we tend to be very Bay area focused historically, even though of course we've asked all over the world. And then I would say like, if you take the ring out, you know, one more, it's gonna be the US of course, because we know it very well. And then one more is gonna be getting us and its allies and Yeah.[00:25:44] And it goes from there.[00:25:45] Sarah Wang: Yeah,[00:25:45] Martin Casado: sorry.[00:25:46] Sarah Wang: No, no. I agree. I think from a, but I think from the intern that that's sort of like where the companies are headquartered. Maybe your questions on supply chain and customer base. Uh, I, I would say our customers are, are, our companies are fairly international from that perspective.[00:25:59] Like they're selling [00:26:00] globally, right? They have global supply chains in some cases.[00:26:03] Martin Casado: I would say also the stickiness is very different.[00:26:05] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:26:05] Martin Casado: Historically between venture and growth, like there's so much company building in venture, so much so like hiring the next PM. Introducing the customer, like all of that stuff.[00:26:15] Like of course we're just gonna be stronger where we have our network and we've been doing business for 20 years. I've been in the Bay Area for 25 years, so clearly I'm just more effective here than I would be somewhere else. Um, where I think, I think for some of the later stage rounds, the companies don't need that much help.[00:26:30] They're already kind of pretty mature historically, so like they can kind of be everywhere. So there's kind of less of that stickiness. This is different in the AI time. I mean, Sarah is now the, uh, chief of staff of like half the AI companies in, uh, in the Bay Area right now. She's like, ops Ninja Biz, Devrel, BizOps.[00:26:48] swyx: Are, are you, are you finding much AI automation in your work? Like what, what is your stack.[00:26:53] Sarah Wang: Oh my, in my personal stack.[00:26:54] swyx: I mean, because like, uh, by the way, it's the, the, the reason for this is it is triggering, uh, yeah. We, like, I'm hiring [00:27:00] ops, ops people. Um, a lot of ponders I know are also hiring ops people and I'm just, you know, it's opportunity Since you're, you're also like basically helping out with ops with a lot of companies.[00:27:09] What are people doing these days? Because it's still very manual as far as I can tell.[00:27:13] Sarah Wang: Hmm. Yeah. I think the things that we help with are pretty network based, um, in that. It's sort of like, Hey, how do do I shortcut this process? Well, let's connect you to the right person. So there's not quite an AI workflow for that.[00:27:26] I will say as a growth investor, Claude Cowork is pretty interesting. Yeah. Like for the first time, you can actually get one shot data analysis. Right. Which, you know, if you're gonna do a customer database, analyze a cohort retention, right? That's just stuff that you had to do by hand before. And our team, the other, it was like midnight and the three of us were playing with Claude Cowork.[00:27:47] We gave it a raw file. Boom. Perfectly accurate. We checked the numbers. It was amazing. That was my like, aha moment. That sounds so boring. But you know, that's, that's the kind of thing that a growth investor is like, [00:28:00] you know, slaving away on late at night. Um, done in a few seconds.[00:28:03] swyx: Yeah. You gotta wonder what the whole, like, philanthropic labs, which is like their new sort of products studio.[00:28:10] Yeah. What would that be worth as an independent, uh, startup? You know, like a[00:28:14] Martin Casado: lot.[00:28:14] Sarah Wang: Yeah, true.[00:28:16] swyx: Yeah. You[00:28:16] Martin Casado: gotta hand it to them. They've been executing incredibly well.[00:28:19] swyx: Yeah. I, I mean, to me, like, you know, philanthropic, like building on cloud code, I think, uh, it makes sense to me the, the real. Um, pedal to the metal, whatever the, the, the phrase is, is when they start coming after consumer with, uh, against OpenAI and like that is like red alert at Open ai.[00:28:35] Oh, I[00:28:35] Martin Casado: think they've been pretty clear. They're enterprise focused.[00:28:37] swyx: They have been, but like they've been free. Here's[00:28:40] Martin Casado: care publicly,[00:28:40] swyx: it's enterprise focused. It's coding. Right. Yeah.[00:28:43] AI Labs vs Startups: Disruption, Undercutting & the Innovator's Dilemma[00:28:43] swyx: And then, and, but here's cloud, cloud, cowork, and, and here's like, well, we, uh, they, apparently they're running Instagram ads for Claudia.[00:28:50] I, on, you know, for, for people on, I get them all the time. Right. And so, like,[00:28:54] Martin Casado: uh,[00:28:54] swyx: it, it's kind of like this, the disruption thing of, uh, you know. Mo Open has been doing, [00:29:00] consumer been doing the, just pursuing general intelligence in every mo modality, and here's a topic that only focus on this thing, but now they're sort of undercutting and doing the whole innovator's dilemma thing on like everything else.[00:29:11] Martin Casado: It's very[00:29:11] swyx: interesting.[00:29:12] Martin Casado: Yeah, I mean there's, there's a very open que so for me there's like, do you know that meme where there's like the guy in the path and there's like a path this way? There's a path this way. Like one which way Western man. Yeah. Yeah.[00:29:23] Two Futures for AI: Infinite Market vs AGI Oligopoly[00:29:23] Martin Casado: And for me, like, like all the entire industry kind of like hinges on like two potential futures.[00:29:29] So in, in one potential future, um, the market is infinitely large. There's perverse economies of scale. ‘cause as soon as you put a model out there, like it kind of sublimates and all the other models catch up and like, it's just like software's being rewritten and fractured all over the place and there's tons of upside and it just grows.[00:29:48] And then there's another path which is like, well. Maybe these models actually generalize really well, and all you have to do is train them with three times more money. That's all you have to [00:30:00] do, and it'll just consume everything beyond it. And if that's the case, like you end up with basically an oligopoly for everything, like, you know mm-hmm.[00:30:06] Because they're perfectly general and like, so this would be like the, the a GI path would be like, these are perfectly general. They can do everything. And this one is like, this is actually normal software. The universe is complicated. You've got, and nobody knows the answer.[00:30:18] The Economics Reality Check: Gross Margins, Training Costs & Borrowing Against the Future[00:30:18] Martin Casado: My belief is if you actually look at the numbers of these companies, so generally if you look at the numbers of these companies, if you look at like the amount they're making and how much they, they spent training the last model, they're gross margin positive.[00:30:30] You're like, oh, that's really working. But if you look at like. The current training that they're doing for the next model, their gross margin negative. So part of me thinks that a lot of ‘em are kind of borrowing against the future and that's gonna have to slow down. It's gonna catch up to them at some point in time, but we don't really know.[00:30:47] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:30:47] Martin Casado: Does that make sense? Like, I mean, it could be, it could be the case that the only reason this is working is ‘cause they can raise that next round and they can train that next model. ‘cause these models have such a short. Life. And so at some point in time, like, you know, they won't be able to [00:31:00] raise that next round for the next model and then things will kind of converge and fragment again.[00:31:03] But right now it's not.[00:31:04] Sarah Wang: Totally. I think the other, by the way, just, um, a meta point. I think the other lesson from the last three years is, and we talk about this all the time ‘cause we're on this. Twitter X bubble. Um, cool. But, you know, if you go back to, let's say March, 2024, that period, it felt like a, I think an open source model with an, like a, you know, benchmark leading capability was sort of launching on a daily basis at that point.[00:31:27] And, um, and so that, you know, that's one period. Suddenly it's sort of like open source takes over the world. There's gonna be a plethora. It's not an oligopoly, you know, if you fast, you know, if you, if you rewind time even before that GPT-4 was number one for. Nine months, 10 months. It's a long time. Right.[00:31:44] Um, and of course now we're in this era where it feels like an oligopoly, um, maybe some very steady state shifts and, and you know, it could look like this in the future too, but it just, it's so hard to call. And I think the thing that keeps, you know, us up at [00:32:00] night in, in a good way and bad way, is that the capability progress is actually not slowing down.[00:32:06] And so until that happens, right, like you don't know what's gonna look like.[00:32:09] Martin Casado: But I, I would, I would say for sure it's not converged, like for sure, like the systemic capital flows have not converged, meaning right now it's still borrowing against the future to subsidize growth currently, which you can do that for a period of time.[00:32:23] But, but you know, at the end, at some point the market will rationalize that and just nobody knows what that will look like.[00:32:29] Alessio: Yeah.[00:32:29] Martin Casado: Or, or like the drop in price of compute will, will, will save them. Who knows?[00:32:34] Alessio: Yeah. Yeah. I think the models need to ask them to, to specific tasks. You know? It's like, okay, now Opus 4.5 might be a GI at some specific task, and now you can like depreciate the model over a longer time.[00:32:45] I think now, now, right now there's like no old model.[00:32:47] Martin Casado: No, but let, but lemme just change that mental, that's, that used to be my mental model. Lemme just change it a little bit.[00:32:53] Capital as a Weapon vs Task Saturation: Where Real Enterprise Value Gets Built[00:32:53] Martin Casado: If you can raise three times, if you can raise more than the aggregate of anybody that uses your models, that doesn't even matter.[00:32:59] It doesn't [00:33:00] even matter. See what I'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah. So, so I have an API Business. My API business is 60% margin, or 70% margin, or 80% margin is a high margin business. So I know what everybody is using. If I can raise more money than the aggregate of everybody that's using it, I will consume them whether I'm a GI or not.[00:33:14] And I will know if they're using it ‘cause they're using it. And like, unlike in the past where engineering stops me from doing that.[00:33:21] Alessio: Mm-hmm.[00:33:21] Martin Casado: It is very straightforward. You just train. So I also thought it was kind of like, you must ask the code a GI, general, general, general. But I think there's also just a possibility that the, that the capital markets will just give them the, the, the ammunition to just go after everybody on top of ‘em.[00:33:36] Sarah Wang: I, I do wonder though, to your point, um, if there's a certain task that. Getting marginally better isn't actually that much better. Like we've asked them to it, to, you know, we can call it a GI or whatever, you know, actually, Ali Goi talks about this, like we're already at a GI for a lot of functions in the enterprise.[00:33:50] Um. That's probably those for those tasks, you probably could build very specific companies that focus on just getting as much value out of that task that isn't [00:34:00] coming from the model itself. There's probably a rich enterprise business to be built there. I mean, could be wrong on that, but there's a lot of interesting examples.[00:34:08] So, right, if you're looking the legal profession or, or whatnot, and maybe that's not a great one ‘cause the models are getting better on that front too, but just something where it's a bit saturated, then the value comes from. Services. It comes from implementation, right? It comes from all these things that actually make it useful to the end customer.[00:34:24] Martin Casado: Sorry, what am I, one more thing I think is, is underused in all of this is like, to what extent every task is a GI complete.[00:34:31] Sarah Wang: Mm-hmm.[00:34:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. I code every day. It's so fun.[00:34:35] Sarah Wang: That's a core question. Yeah.[00:34:36] Martin Casado: And like. When I'm talking to these models, it's not just code. I mean, it's everything, right? Like I, you know, like it's,[00:34:43] swyx: it's healthcare.[00:34:44] It's,[00:34:44] Martin Casado: I mean, it's[00:34:44] swyx: Mele,[00:34:45] Martin Casado: but it's every, it is exactly that. Like, yeah, that's[00:34:47] Sarah Wang: great support. Yeah.[00:34:48] Martin Casado: It's everything. Like I'm asking these models to, yeah, to understand compliance. I'm asking these models to go search the web. I'm asking these models to talk about things I know in the history, like it's having a full conversation with me while I, I engineer, and so it could be [00:35:00] the case that like, mm-hmm.[00:35:01] The most a, you know, a GI complete, like I'm not an a GI guy. Like I think that's, you know, but like the most a GI complete model will is win independent of the task. And we don't know the answer to that one either.[00:35:11] swyx: Yeah.[00:35:12] Martin Casado: But it seems to me that like, listen, codex in my experience is for sure better than Opus 4.5 for coding.[00:35:18] Like it finds the hardest bugs that I work in with. Like, it is, you know. The smartest developers. I don't work on it. It's great. Um, but I think Opus 4.5 is actually very, it's got a great bedside manner and it really, and it, it really matters if you're building something very complex because like, it really, you know, like you're, you're, you're a partner and a brainstorming partner for somebody.[00:35:38] And I think we don't discuss enough how every task kind of has that quality.[00:35:42] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:35:43] Martin Casado: And what does that mean to like capital investment and like frontier models and Submodels? Yeah.[00:35:47] Why “Coding Models” Keep Collapsing into Generalists (Reasoning vs Taste)[00:35:47] Martin Casado: Like what happened to all the special coding models? Like, none of ‘em worked right. So[00:35:51] Alessio: some of them, they didn't even get released.[00:35:53] Magical[00:35:54] Martin Casado: Devrel. There's a whole, there's a whole host. We saw a bunch of them and like there's this whole theory that like, there could be, and [00:36:00] I think one of the conclusions is, is like there's no such thing as a coding model,[00:36:04] Alessio: you know?[00:36:04] Martin Casado: Like, that's not a thing. Like you're talking to another human being and it's, it's good at coding, but like it's gotta be good at everything.[00:36:10] swyx: Uh, minor disagree only because I, I'm pretty like, have pretty high confidence that basically open eye will always release a GPT five and a GT five codex. Like that's the code's. Yeah. The way I call it is one for raisin, one for Tiz. Um, and, and then like someone internal open, it was like, yeah, that's a good way to frame it.[00:36:32] Martin Casado: That's so funny.[00:36:33] swyx: Uh, but maybe it, maybe it collapses down to reason and that's it. It's not like a hundred dimensions doesn't life. Yeah. It's two dimensions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like and exactly. Beside manner versus coding. Yeah.[00:36:43] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:36:44] swyx: It's, yeah.[00:36:46] Martin Casado: I, I think for, for any, it's hilarious. For any, for anybody listening to this for, for, for, I mean, for you, like when, when you're like coding or using these models for something like that.[00:36:52] Like actually just like be aware of how much of the interaction has nothing to do with coding and it just turns out to be a large portion of it. And so like, you're, I [00:37:00] think like, like the best Soto ish model. You know, it is going to remain very important no matter what the task is.[00:37:06] swyx: Yeah.[00:37:07] What He's Actually Coding: Gaussian Splats, Spark.js & 3D Scene Rendering Demos[00:37:07] swyx: Uh, speaking of coding, uh, I, I'm gonna be cheeky and ask like, what actually are you coding?[00:37:11] Because obviously you, you could code anything and you are obviously a busy investor and a manager of the good. Giant team. Um, what are you calling?[00:37:18] Martin Casado: I help, um, uh, FEFA at World Labs. Uh, it's one of the investments and um, and they're building a foundation model that creates 3D scenes.[00:37:27] swyx: Yeah, we had it on the pod.[00:37:28] Yeah. Yeah,[00:37:28] Martin Casado: yeah. And so these 3D scenes are Gaussian splats, just by the way that kind of AI works. And so like, you can reconstruct a scene better with, with, with radiance feels than with meshes. ‘cause like they don't really have topology. So, so they, they, they produce each. Beautiful, you know, 3D rendered scenes that are Gaussian splats, but the actual industry support for Gaussian splats isn't great.[00:37:50] It's just never, you know, it's always been meshes and like, things like unreal use meshes. And so I work on a open source library called Spark js, which is a. Uh, [00:38:00] a JavaScript rendering layer ready for Gaussian splats. And it's just because, you know, um, you, you, you need that support and, and right now there's kind of a three js moment that's all meshes and so like, it's become kind of the default in three Js ecosystem.[00:38:13] As part of that to kind of exercise the library, I just build a whole bunch of cool demos. So if you see me on X, you see like all my demos and all the world building, but all of that is just to exercise this, this library that I work on. ‘cause it's actually a very tough algorithmics problem to actually scale a library that much.[00:38:29] And just so you know, this is ancient history now, but 30 years ago I paid for undergrad, you know, working on game engines in college in the late nineties. So I've got actually a back and it's very old background, but I actually have a background in this and so a lot of it's fun. You know, but, but the, the, the, the whole goal is just for this rendering library to, to,[00:38:47] Sarah Wang: are you one of the most active contributors?[00:38:49] The, their GitHub[00:38:50] Martin Casado: spark? Yes.[00:38:51] Sarah Wang: Yeah, yeah.[00:38:51] Martin Casado: There's only two of us there, so, yes. No, so by the way, so the, the pri The pri, yeah. Yeah. So the primary developer is a [00:39:00] guy named Andres Quist, who's an absolute genius. He and I did our, our PhDs together. And so like, um, we studied for constant Quas together. It was almost like hanging out with an old friend, you know?[00:39:09] And so like. So he, he's the core, core guy. I did mostly kind of, you know, the side I run venture fund.[00:39:14] swyx: It's amazing. Like five years ago you would not have done any of this. And it brought you back[00:39:19] Martin Casado: the act, the Activ energy, you're still back. Energy was so high because you had to learn all the framework b******t.[00:39:23] Man, I f*****g used to hate that. And so like, now I don't have to deal with that. I can like focus on the algorithmics so I can focus on the scaling and I,[00:39:29] swyx: yeah. Yeah.[00:39:29] LLMs vs Spatial Intelligence + How to Value World Labs' 3D Foundation Model[00:39:29] swyx: And then, uh, I'll observe one irony and then I'll ask a serious investor question, uh, which is like, the irony is FFE actually doesn't believe that LMS can lead us to spatial intelligence.[00:39:37] And here you are using LMS to like help like achieve spatial intelligence. I just see, I see some like disconnect in there.[00:39:45] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think, you know, I think, I think what she would say is LLMs are great to help with coding.[00:39:51] swyx: Yes.[00:39:51] Martin Casado: But like, that's very different than a model that actually like provides, they, they'll never have the[00:39:56] swyx: spatial inte[00:39:56] Martin Casado: issues.[00:39:56] And listen, our brains clearly listen, our brains, brains clearly have [00:40:00] both our, our brains clearly have a language reasoning section and they clearly have a spatial reasoning section. I mean, it's just, you know, these are two pretty independent problems.[00:40:07] swyx: Okay. And you, you, like, I, I would say that the, the one data point I recently had, uh, against it is the DeepMind, uh, IMO Gold, where, so, uh, typically the, the typical answer is that this is where you start going down the neuros symbolic path, right?[00:40:21] Like one, uh, sort of very sort of abstract reasoning thing and one form, formal thing. Um, and that's what. DeepMind had in 2024 with alpha proof, alpha geometry, and now they just use deep think and just extended thinking tokens. And it's one model and it's, and it's in LM.[00:40:36] Martin Casado: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.[00:40:37] swyx: And so that, that was my indication of like, maybe you don't need a separate system.[00:40:42] Martin Casado: Yeah. So, so let me step back. I mean, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, these things are like nodes in a graph with weights on them. Right. You know, like it can be modeled like if you, if you distill it down. But let me just talk about the two different substrates. Let's, let me put you in a dark room.[00:40:56] Like totally black room. And then let me just [00:41:00] describe how you exit it. Like to your left, there's a table like duck below this thing, right? I mean like the chances that you're gonna like not run into something are very low. Now let me like turn on the light and you actually see, and you can do distance and you know how far something away is and like where it is or whatever.[00:41:17] Then you can do it, right? Like language is not the right primitives to describe. The universe because it's not exact enough. So that's all Faye, Faye is talking about. When it comes to like spatial reasoning, it's like you actually have to know that this is three feet far, like that far away. It is curved.[00:41:37] You have to understand, you know, the, like the actual movement through space.[00:41:40] swyx: Yeah.[00:41:40] Martin Casado: So I do, I listen, I do think at the end of these models are definitely converging as far as models, but there's, there's, there's different representations of problems you're solving. One is language. Which, you know, that would be like describing to somebody like what to do.[00:41:51] And the other one is actually just showing them and the space reasoning is just showing them.[00:41:55] swyx: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Got it, got it. Uh, the, in the investor question was on, on, well labs [00:42:00] is, well, like, how do I value something like this? What, what, what work does the, do you do? I'm just like, Fefe is awesome.[00:42:07] Justin's awesome. And you know, the other two co-founder, co-founders, but like the, the, the tech, everyone's building cool tech. But like, what's the value of the tech? And this is the fundamental question[00:42:16] Martin Casado: of, well, let, let, just like these, let me just maybe give you a rough sketch on the diffusion models. I actually love to hear Sarah because I'm a venture for, you know, so like, ventures always, always like kind of wild west type[00:42:24] swyx: stuff.[00:42:24] You, you, you, you paid a dream and she has to like, actually[00:42:28] Martin Casado: I'm gonna say I'm gonna mar to reality, so I'm gonna say the venture for you. And she can be like, okay, you a little kid. Yeah. So like, so, so these diffusion models literally. Create something for, for almost nothing. And something that the, the world has found to be very valuable in the past, in our real markets, right?[00:42:45] Like, like a 2D image. I mean, that's been an entire market. People value them. It takes a human being a long time to create it, right? I mean, to create a, you know, a, to turn me into a whatever, like an image would cost a hundred bucks in an hour. The inference cost [00:43:00] us a hundredth of a penny, right? So we've seen this with speech in very successful companies.[00:43:03] We've seen this with 2D image. We've seen this with movies. Right? Now, think about 3D scene. I mean, I mean, when's Grand Theft Auto coming out? It's been six, what? It's been 10 years. I mean, how, how like, but hasn't been 10 years.[00:43:14] Alessio: Yeah.[00:43:15] Martin Casado: How much would it cost to like, to reproduce this room in 3D? Right. If you, if you, if you hired somebody on fiber, like in, in any sort of quality, probably 4,000 to $10,000.[00:43:24] And then if you had a professional, probably $30,000. So if you could generate the exact same thing from a 2D image, and we know that these are used and they're using Unreal and they're using Blend, or they're using movies and they're using video games and they're using all. So if you could do that for.[00:43:36] You know, less than a dollar, that's four or five orders of magnitude cheaper. So you're bringing the marginal cost of something that's useful down by three orders of magnitude, which historically have created very large companies. So that would be like the venture kind of strategic dreaming map.[00:43:49] swyx: Yeah.[00:43:50] And, and for listeners, uh, you can do this yourself on your, on your own phone with like. Uh, the marble.[00:43:55] Martin Casado: Yeah. Marble.[00:43:55] swyx: Uh, or but also there's many Nerf apps where you just go on your iPhone and, and do this.[00:43:59] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. [00:44:00] Yeah. And, and in the case of marble though, it would, what you do is you literally give it in.[00:44:03] So most Nerf apps you like kind of run around and take a whole bunch of pictures and then you kind of reconstruct it.[00:44:08] swyx: Yeah.[00:44:08] Martin Casado: Um, things like marble, just that the whole generative 3D space will just take a 2D image and it'll reconstruct all the like, like[00:44:16] swyx: meaning it has to fill in. Uh,[00:44:18] Martin Casado: stuff at the back of the table, under the table, the back, like, like the images, it doesn't see.[00:44:22] So the generator stuff is very different than reconstruction that it fills in the things that you can't see.[00:44:26] swyx: Yeah. Okay.[00:44:26] Sarah Wang: So,[00:44:27] Martin Casado: all right. So now the,[00:44:28] Sarah Wang: no, no. I mean I love that[00:44:29] Martin Casado: the adult[00:44:29] Sarah Wang: perspective. Um, well, no, I was gonna say these are very much a tag team. So we, we started this pod with that, um, premise. And I think this is a perfect question to even build on that further.[00:44:36] ‘cause it truly is, I mean, we're tag teaming all of these together.[00:44:39] Investing in Model Labs, Media Rumors, and the Cursor Playbook (Margins & Going Down-Stack)[00:44:39] Sarah Wang: Um, but I think every investment fundamentally starts with the same. Maybe the same two premises. One is, at this point in time, we actually believe that there are. And of one founders for their particular craft, and they have to be demonstrated in their prior careers, right?[00:44:56] So, uh, we're not investing in every, you know, now the term is NEO [00:45:00] lab, but every foundation model, uh, any, any company, any founder trying to build a foundation model, we're not, um, contrary to popular opinion, we're

Looks like game consoles are about to become more expensive...what is driving this? We'll tell you, Apple announces special international event to reveal new products on March 4 and plenty more science and technology news in this week's 'Tech It Out'

As Mark Zuckerberg was preparing to go to court, the muses struck.

Boletín 19/02/2026: Nuevo informe muestra que los niveles de deuda de Australia están en su punto más alto desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Mark Zuckerberg se arrepiente por el lento progreso en la detección de usuarios menores de edad. María del Carmen Alva y José María Balcázar disputan Presidencia interina en Perú.

Las autoridades dieron nuevos detalles en torno a la excursión que derivó en el reporte sobre la muerte de ocho esquiadores.Hombre y mujer sufren quemaduras en incidente doméstico.Mireya, la madre de Juan Nicolás, el bebé de 2 meses, enfermo de bronquitis aguda, dice que perdió todo.Educadores demandan a operativos de ICE cerca de planteles educativos.Varias ciudades y estados se han unido para frenar los operativos migratorios de la administración de Donald Trump.Alcaldesa de DC declara emergencia y pide ayuda federal por desastre ambiental en río Potomac.Mark Zuckerberg compareció en juicio histórico contra Meta.Los apple watch a menudo presentan errores sobre los datos de hipertensión.Nuevas pistas sobre búsqueda de Nancy Guthrie: Un posible anillo, armas y comunicación con México.El ejército espera orden de Trump para atacar Irán.El Papa León XIV alerta sobre un mundo "en llamas".Escucha de lunes a viernes el ‘Noticiero N+ Univision Edición Nocturna' con Paulina Sodi. 

Ciudades lideradas por demócratas se han unido para frenar los operativos migratorios de la administración Trump. Varios alcaldes han firmado órdenes ejecutivas para restringir  para restringir las acciones de ICE.En otras noticias: El bebé de dos meses y su madre deportados desde el centro de Dilley pasaron su primera noche en México y por ahora su futuro es incierto.En California fueron hallados los cuerpos de ocho esquiadores que estaban desaparecidos. Uno más sigue desaparecido.Autoridades siguen investigando la desaparición de Nancy Gothrie. Habrá colaboración con autoridades mexicanas.Mark Zuckerberg se presentó para testificar en un juicio contra las plataformas de redes sociales, cuestionado por el daño sicológico que las redes sociales estarían ocasionando a menores de edad.

La sección 'Maneras de Vivir' de María José Navarro en el programa 'Herrera en COPE' ha repasado los temas más virales que han sacudido el panorama mediático. Desde el mundo del fútbol hasta la política y el espectáculo, varias escenas y declaraciones han generado un intenso debate en las redes sociales.El exfutbolista paraguayo José Luis Chilavert ha vuelto al foco mediático por sus contundentes declaraciones. El que fuera nombrado mejor portero del mundo en tres ocasiones se ha solidarizado con Prestianni en su enfrentamiento con Vinicius, de quien ha dicho que "es el primero que va e insulta".Las críticas de Chilavert se han extendido a Kylian Mbappé, quien había mostrado su apoyo a Vinicius. Otro exfutbolista, Javi Poves, ha protagonizado uno de los momentos más comentados a raíz de un incidente con un árbitro tras un partido del Rayo Majadahonda. Poves ha reconocido que le dijo al colegiado la frase "yo te entierro en dinero", aunque ha matizado el ...

Meta's CEO takes the stand in a landmark social media trial. The AP's Jennifer King reports.

The BBC reported on Thursday morning that UK police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The alleged misconduct likely relates to his time as UK trade envoy before 2011. Last October, King Charles III formally stripped his younger brother of his princely title and removed him from the Windsor Estate. King Charles released a statement saying he is ‘deeply concerned' by reports involving Mountbatten-Windsor's allegations of misconduct in public office, and that the matter must be handled through a full and proper legal process, with the family offering full cooperation.Trump is also hosting the first Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, with more than 40 countries expected to attend. The board is expected to pledge more than $5-billion toward humanitarian efforts in Gaza. President Trump is also sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest warship, to the Middle East, alongside a fleet of fighter jets and aerial refuelers. The massive military buildup is a potential indication that Trump is preparing a large scale strike against Iran, if negotiations with the regime fail.Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on Wednesday in Los Angeles, in a trial centered around a woman, who claims her early use of social media led to addiction and mental health problems. Zuckerberg told the jurors that children under 13 are banned from Meta platforms, and that Meta removes accounts when it discovers users are underage. The plaintiff's lawyer pushed back, pointing to internal documents suggesting Meta estimated millions of underage users were on Instagram. Zuckerberg has rejected claims that social media is intentionally addictive or harmful.

United States correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Lisa Owen about several skiers who have died following an avalanche in California, as well Mark Zuckerberg who testified in the landmark social media addiction trial being held in Los Angeles.

This Day in Legal History: Edison Receives Patent on PhonographOn February 19, 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for one of his most transformative inventions: the phonograph. The device could record and reproduce sound, a breakthrough that stunned the public and reshaped the relationship between technology and creativity. Until that point, copyright law primarily protected written works such as books, maps, and sheet music. The phonograph introduced an entirely new category of expression—recorded sound—that did not fit neatly into existing statutes. Lawmakers and courts were soon confronted with a difficult question: who owns a performance once it is captured on a machine?Early copyright frameworks did not clearly account for performers' rights in recorded works. As the recording industry grew, pressure mounted to recognize both composers and performers as legal stakeholders. Congress responded incrementally, expanding federal copyright protections to cover sound recordings in the twentieth century. These changes reflected a broader shift toward adapting intellectual property law to technological innovation. Courts also played a role by interpreting statutes in ways that acknowledged the economic realities of recorded music. The phonograph's legacy thus extends far beyond its mechanical design. It forced the legal system to confront how creative labor should be valued in an age of reproduction. In doing so, Edison's invention helped lay the foundation for modern intellectual property law governing sound recording and broadcasting.A coalition of environmental and public health organizations has filed suit against the Trump administration over its decision to revoke the scientific “endangerment finding” that underpins federal climate regulations. The case was brought in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and also challenges the Environmental Protection Agency's move to repeal vehicle tailpipe emissions limits. The administration recently announced it would eliminate the 17-year-old finding and end greenhouse gas standards for model years 2012 through 2027.The endangerment finding, first adopted in 2009, concluded that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, triggering regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act. Its repeal would remove requirements for measuring and complying with federal vehicle emissions standards, though immediate effects on stationary sources like power plants remain uncertain. The administration characterized the rollback as a major cost-saving measure, estimating $1.3 trillion in taxpayer savings.By contrast, the Biden administration had previously argued the vehicle standards would produce net consumer benefits, including lower fuel and maintenance costs averaging thousands of dollars over a vehicle's lifetime. The lawsuit marks one of the most significant legal challenges yet to President Trump's broader effort to scale back climate policy, promote fossil fuel development, withdraw from the Paris Agreement, and dismantle clean energy incentives. Transportation and power generation each account for roughly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the stakes of the regulatory reversal.Environmental groups challenge Trump decision to revoke basis of US climate regulations | ReutersMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify in a Los Angeles jury trial examining whether Instagram harms young users' mental health. The case centers on allegations that Meta designed its platform to keep children engaged despite knowing about potential psychological risks. A California woman who began using Instagram and YouTube as a child claims the platforms contributed to her depression and suicidal thoughts. She is seeking damages, arguing the companies prioritized profit over user well-being.Meta and Google deny the accusations and point to safety features they have implemented. Meta has also cited research suggesting that evidence does not conclusively show social media directly changes children's mental health. Defense attorneys argue the plaintiff's struggles stem from personal and family issues rather than her social media use.The lawsuit is part of a broader wave of litigation in the United States, where families, schools, and states have filed thousands of similar claims against major tech companies. Internationally, governments such as Australia have imposed age-based restrictions, and other countries are considering similar measures. The trial could test the tech industry's longstanding legal protections against liability for user harm. If the plaintiff prevails, the verdict may weaken those defenses and open the door to additional claims. Zuckerberg is expected to face questions about internal company research concerning Instagram's effects on teens.Meta's Zuckerberg faces questioning at youth addiction trial | ReutersA federal judge in San Francisco has ordered a lawyer representing passengers in sexual assault litigation against Uber to pay sanctions for violating a protective order. The ruling requires attorney Bret Stanley to pay $30,000 in legal fees to Uber after he disclosed confidential company information obtained during discovery. The case is part of consolidated litigation accusing Uber of failing to implement adequate safety measures and background checks for drivers, claims the company denies.U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros found that Stanley improperly shared the names of internal Uber policies in unrelated lawsuits and with other plaintiffs' attorneys. Uber argued that he used the confidential material as a roadmap to pursue evidence in other cases. The judge concluded that Stanley acted unreasonably by unilaterally deciding to disclose protected information. However, she rejected Uber's request for more than $168,000 in fees, finding that the company had not demonstrated significant harm from the disclosures.Stanley defended his actions, stating he intended to streamline discovery in related cases and accused Uber of delaying document production nationwide. The judge also indicated Stanley will owe additional fees tied to a separate sanctions request, after finding he searched case documents to assist another lawsuit. The decision comes shortly after a federal jury awarded $8.5 million to a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by an Uber driver.Uber wins sanctions against lawyer for sexual assault plaintiffs | Reuters This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children. During questioning, Zuckerberg said he still agrees with a previous statement that the existing body of scientific work has not proven that social media causes mental health harms. Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Zuckerberg took the stand as did the head of Instagram in a landmark decision. Their own internal documents are damning and the allegations can change the face of social media forever. This is Social Media's Tobacco Lawsuit moment. Chapters00:00 Meta's Legal Battle: A New Era for Big Tech Accountability02:45 The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health05:37 The Role of Internal Documents in the Trial08:53 The Consequences of Negligence: Real Stories of Harm11:44 Facial Recognition and Privacy Concerns14:42 The Trial's Implications for Future Regulations17:31 Resources for Parents and Victims of CybercrimeQuestions? Text our Studio direct. We read these and when helpful we give a special shout out for those to contact us.Growth without Interruption. Get peace of mind. Stay Competitive-Get NetGain. Contact NetGain today at 844-777-6278 or reach out online at www.NETGAINIT.com Support the show

Mark Zuckerberg declaró ante un jurado de California, en un juicio que podría volverse histórico. México y Canadá armaron un plan de acción bilateral para ampliar inversiones, comercio y reducir trabas regulatorias. Además… Claudia Sheinbaum anunció una reforma contra las pensiones millonarias de exfuncionarios; tras un año de su imposición, un informe de la Fed reveló que son los estadounidenses quienes pagan más aranceles; el Gabinete de Seguridad informó que decomisó 534 paquetes de cocaína; ICE sigue bajo la lupa en Estados Unidos; regresa la NFL a México con los 49ers como locales; y Bad Bunny protagonizará el debut cinematográfico de Residente.Y para #ElVasoMedioLleno… En Iztapalapa se encuentra la primera tortillería de maíz nativo. Ésta es parte de la Red Centli, que apuesta por fortalecer la soberanía alimentaria, rescatar el maíz nativo y acercar productos tradicionales a más hogares.Para enterarte de más noticias como estas, síguenos en redes sociales. Estamos en todas las plataformas como @telokwento. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI cloned a woman's voice and her mom wired fifteen thousand dollars before she knew what hit her. I break down exactly how scammers do it in three seconds, why your bank's voice authentication is already defeated, and the one code word your family needs today. Plus, Mark Zuckerberg's kids aren't on social media but yours might be, Microsoft's AI was reading your boss's confidential emails for weeks, and your phone posture might be causing your heartburn. Time to sit up straight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Colbert called out CBS for bowing to FCC pressure and pulling an interview with a Democratic lawmaker. Meanwhile, Congress is set to depose the former CEO of Victoria's Secret over his ties to Epstein. Then, major price hikes are on the way, as companies big and small blame high tariffs. Plus, Meta's Zuckerberg is set to take the stand in a landmark trial looking to hold big tech accountable for harming kids. Jeff Mason, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Sam Stein, Brendan Greeley, Jeff Horwitz, Natasha Sarin, and Jon Meacham join The 11th Hour this Tuesday night. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A.M. Edition for Feb. 18. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to take the stand today in a bellwether California trial testing claims that social media harms teens. Plus, WSJ tech reporter Sam Schechner details how Europe's push to regulate big tech is gaining steam. And strain in the U.S. commercial real-estate market nears a breaking point, as lenders call in tens of billions of dollars of troubled loans. Luke Vargas hosts. Check out the latest episode of WSJ's Take On the Week to hear why the “K-Shaped economy” is making it harder to forecast growth. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lazlo gives a health update, and rants about his mom. Are you participating in the great lock in?? Bring back MySpace! Can we leave Mark Zuckerberg alone? Lazlo believes there should be a universal age where you become an adult. SlimFast gives his daily Nancy Guthrie update. Should Mr. Beast give $100 million to ECU? Stream The Church of Lazlo podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

The Blade Angels,  Zuckerberg on the Hotseat, Passing of a Civil Rights Icon, Not So Birdbrained, Waymo Door Dilemma & Bad Bunny's Retro Ride! 

Plus: FCC overhauls $3 billion Lifeline phone and internet subsidy program to curb improper payments. And Moody's rebuts concerns about AI disruption. Julie Chang hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The owner of Instagram and Facebook has been testifying in a landmark legal case over social media addiction, which could pave the way for future hearings.Also on the programme: Les Wexner, who gave Jeffrey Epstein his own fortune to manage and who was pivotal in his rise as a financier, has told a Congressional inquiry he was naive and was duped, but not himself involved in sexual abuse. And the widow of the Hollywood actor Chadwick Boseman tells us about the revival of "Deep Azure," a play he wrote twenty years ago, in London.(Picture: Mark Zuckerberg arrives in court. Credit: Reuters)

Mark Zuckerberg took the stand in federal court to defend Instagram against allegations that it was deliberately designed to be addictive to children and teens. It's the first time he's testifying about child safety in front of a jury. YouTube is also included in the lawsuit. TikTok and Snapchat chose to settle before the trial began. Geoff Bennett discussed the implications with Bobby Allyn. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy