Podcasts about Xai

Iran is cracking down on dissent to prevent an uprising by its citizens. The Wall Street Journal’s Margherita Stancati breaks down the situation Iranians are in. Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin begins the confirmation process today to become the next homeland-security secretary. The Atlantic’s Nick Miroff discusses what Mullin might do with large warehouses the administration purchased to convert into megajails. Cuba is dealing with a major economic crisis and the failure of its antiquated power grid. Carmen Sesin of NBC News joins to discuss what life is like for some Cubans day to day. Plus, why teens are suing Elon Musk’s xAI, the House Oversight Committee officially subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi, and how spas and gyms took over traditional retail space. Today’s episode was hosted by Cecilia Lei.

The EU imposes sanctions after cyberattacks. DHS boosts surveillance spending. AI firms recruit weapons-risk experts. Stryker disruption, no patient impact. LeakNet leans on ClickFix. Sears chatbot data spills. A Chinese security firm leaks a private key. Tech giants team up on scams. Teens sue xAI over alleged AI-generated abuse. On today's Threat Vector segment, David Moulton and guest Erica L. Shoemate, founder of The EN Strategy Group, explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the security landscape. Cyber crooks cause a complimentary curbside convenience.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. Threat Vector What if the choices we make about AI security today determine who holds power tomorrow? On this Threat Vector segment, David Moulton and guest Erica L. Shoemate, founder of The EN Strategy Group, explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the security landscape, from compressed decision-making timelines and asymmetric threat capabilities to the erosion of trust that creates strategic vulnerabilities. You can listen to David and Erica's full conversation here and catch new episodes of Threat Vector from Palo Alto Networks each Thursday on your favorite podcast app. Selected Reading EU Sanctions Iranian and Chinese Firms for Cyberattacks Against European Networks (TechNadu) DHS-built surveillance apparatus to surge in year ahead, documents show (FedScoop) AI firm Anthropic seeks weapons expert to stop users from 'misuse' (BBC) Stryker attack wiped tens of thousands of devices, no malware needed (Bleeping Computer) LeakNet ransomware uses ClickFix and Deno runtime for stealthy attacks (Bleeping Computer) Sears Exposed AI Chatbot Phone Calls and Text Chats to Anyone on the Web (WIRED) China's biggest cybersecurity firm accidentally leaked an SSL key in a public installer (Neowin) Google has signed the Industry Accord Against Online Scams and Fraud. (Google) Teenage girls sue Musk's xAI, accusing Grok tool of creating child sexual abuse material (The Guardian) Free parking in Russia after Distributed Denial-of-Service attack knocks city's parking system offline (Bitdefender) Share your feedback. What do you think about CyberWire Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show. Want to hear your company in the show? N2K CyberWire helps you reach the industry's most influential leaders and operators, while building visibility, authority, and connectivity across the cybersecurity community. Learn more at sponsor.thecyberwire.com. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson, Richard Campbell, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit preview.modulate.ai monarch.com with code TWIT spaceship.com/twit threatlocker.com/twit

From "gainfully employed robots" to AI that accidentally ruins lives, this week's conversation unpacks the real-world fallout of futuristic promises. Leo, JPT, Iain, and Richard tackle energy sources, social media effects, tech layoffs, and the algorithms quietly taking charge. Meta is planning sweeping layoffs as AI costs mount Meta Said to Push Back Launch of Avocado Model Social media addiction trial: the plaintiff, Meta, and YouTube make closing arguments; jurors begin deliberations Friday on liability for harm to children Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal Bluesky CEO Jay Graber will step aside Digg's open beta shuts down after just two months, blaming AI bot spam X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation Fake AI Content About the Iran War Is All Over X Musk admits xAI 'not built right' — weeks after Tesla invested $2 billion Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform Amazon Wins Court Order To Block Perplexity's AI Shopping Bots Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery U.S. State Bans on Lab-Grown Meats Challenged in Court Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them EcoFlow brings its plug-in solar power plant to US homes (related to the plug-in solar story) TerraPower gets permit to build reactor Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick Debuts Plan for 'Gainfully Employed Robots' Tennessee grandmother jailed after AI facial recognition error links her to fraud Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case Palantir CEO Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power Palantir's lethal AI weaponry deployed to find chairs for US government staff How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world 'Flying Cars' Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue Ig Nobel Prize flees US for Switzerland after 35 years over safety concerns Swiss e-voting can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them Tony Hoare, Turing Award-Winning Computer Scientist Behind QuickSort, Dies At 92 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Iain Thomson, Richard Campbell, and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit preview.modulate.ai monarch.com with code TWIT spaceship.com/twit threatlocker.com/twit

美股科技七巨頭 MAG7 2026 展望與核心價值分析 https://miula.kaik.io/courses/2026mag7 --- EP286. xAI 整個打掉重練、Meta 又要大裁員、卓肯米勒投資觀點 | M觀點 --- (00:40) EP286 預告 (03:05) 業配時間： 美股科技七巨頭 MAG7 2026 展望與核心價值分析 (06:47) 第一個話題：xAI 整個打掉重練 (43:04) 第二個話題：Meta 又要大裁員 (55:53) 第三個話題：卓肯米勒投資觀點 --- M觀點資訊 --- 科技巨頭解碼: https://bit.ly/3koflbU M觀點 Telegram - https://t.me/miulaviewpoint M觀點 IG - https://www.instagram.com/miulaviewpoint/ M觀點Podcast - https://bit.ly/34fV7so M報: https://bit.ly/345gBbA M觀點YouTube頻道訂閱 https://bit.ly/2nxHnp9 M觀點粉絲團 https://www.facebook.com/miulaperspective/ 任何合作邀約請洽 miula@outlook.com -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

This is a recap of the top 10 posts on Hacker News on March 13, 2026. This podcast was generated by wondercraft.ai (00:30): Meta Platforms: Lobbying, dark money, and the App Store Accountability ActOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47362528&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(01:55): Can I run AI locally?Original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47363754&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(03:21): “This is not the computer for you”Original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47359744&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(04:47): TUI Studio – visual terminal UI design toolOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47362613&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(06:13): Vite 8.0 Is OutOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47360730&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(07:39): Qatar helium shutdown puts chip supply chain on a two-week clockOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47363584&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(09:05): 1M context is now generally available for Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6Original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47367129&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(10:30): The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We'll Be "Stunned" by NSA Under Section 702Original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47366374&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(11:56): Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort faltersOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47366666&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(13:22): E2E encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 MayOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47363922&utm_source=wondercraft_aiThis is a third-party project, independent from HN and YC. Text and audio generated using AI, by wondercraft.ai. Create your own studio quality podcast with text as the only input in seconds at app.wondercraft.ai. Issues or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: team@wondercraft.ai

“Whether you like Amodei or not, at least he's a leader.” — Andrew KeenDario Amodei is the most interesting man in America right now. Not because he runs a $500 billion company or because he's suing the Trump administration or because Anthropic's Claude topped the iPhone charts. But because he's doing something nobody else in Silicon Valley has the balls to do: he's acting like a human being in public. He has principles, he states them, and he accepts the consequences. That's leadership. It shouldn't be remarkable. In 2026, it is.This week's That Was The Week is about how America both loves and hates AI. An NBC poll found 60–70% of Americans are concerned about AI — making it even less popular than the Democratic Party (quite an achievement). A hundred planned data centers have been cancelled because of local protests. 10,000 authors published an anti AI manifesto at the London Book Fair this week. Each week, in contrast, a billion people used ChatGPT, but these users often seem oblivious to its weaknesses. So Keith's AI-generated video for the show was, by universal agreement (including his own), not going to win an Oscar tomorrow. Except for Most Sloppy AI generated video.Every road this week led back to Amodei who is anything but sloppy. He's become a Rorschach test for the entire industry. Tech progressives Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway are lauding him. The MAGA crowd — including David Sacks, Trump's AI czar — on the All In podcast are doing the opposite. Keith thinks Dario is a naive CEO making bad business decisions — comparing him to his own doomed battle in the late Nineties against Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. It's a fair point. Should a tech CEO really be setting AI policy? Keith's answer is no — that's for people like David Sacks appointed by executive, legislative, and judicial branches. I'm not so sure. In an America defined by its dysfunctional political system, we need leaders like Amodei to take ethical stands. If not, then who?The IPO race this year between Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI makes this particularly interesting. I wonder whether Amodei might use the IPO itself to force a public debate that nobody in government is willing to have. Not just about guardrails or weapons — but about what kind of society AI is building and who gets to decide what does and doesn't get used. Musk, by publicly embracing white racists and other groups of hate, is making his politics clear. Sam Altman, as always, is wearing every hat simultaneously. Amodei, in contrast, knows his hat. Rather than MAGA, it should say: The Most Interesting Man in America. He's got my vote. Even if he's not running for office. Five Takeaways•       AI Is Less Popular Than the Democrats: An NBC poll found 60–70% of Americans are concerned about AI. A hundred data centres have been cancelled due to local protests. 10,000 authors published an anti-AI manifesto at the London Book Fair. Close to a billion people use ChatGPT each week — but the haters are the non-users, and they outnumber the lovers by a wide margin.•       Amodei Is the 21st Century's First Real Leader: He's suing the Trump administration. He's refusing to let Claude be used for autonomous weapons. He's accepting the business consequences. Keith thinks he's naive. I think he's the only person in Silicon Valley acting like a human being in public. The debate between us is the show.•       Keith Compares Amodei to His Own Doomed Battle Against Ballmer: In the late Nineties, Keith fought Microsoft with RealNames and lost. He sees Amodei on the same trajectory — noble, principled, already finished. I compared Keith to Pete Hegseth declaring the Iranian regime defeated. The MAGA crowd on All In, including Trump's AI czar David Sacks, agree with Keith. That alone should give him pause.•       The IPO Race Will Force the Debate: Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI are all expected to go public this year. Amodei could use the IPO to force a conversation about what kind of society AI is building — a conversation nobody in government is willing to have. Musk is making his politics clear by embracing white racists. Altman is wearing every hat. Amodei knows his.•       In the Absence of Leadership, Fear Thrives: Keith's best point of the week. Nobody is setting AI policy. The politicians are clowns. The tech CEOs are children. In the vacuum, fear wins. Amodei is trying to fill it. Whether he succeeds or not, at least he's trying. That's more than anyone else can say. About the GuestKeith Teare is the publisher of That Was The Week and co-founder of SignalRank. He is a serial entrepreneur, former CEO of RealNames, and a regular sparring partner on Keen On America.References:•       That Was The Week: AI Loved and Hated — Keith Teare's editorial.•       Rex Woodbury, “Why Does Everybody Hate AI?” — Digital Native.•       Josh Dzieza, The Verge — on lawyers, PhDs, and scientists in the AI gig economy.•       Noah Smith — “Something Feels Weird About This Economy.”•       Meta's acquisition of Moltbook — the AI agent social network.About Keen On AmericaNobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction: AI loved and hated (01:17) - NBC poll: AI less popular than the Democrats (03:10) - Rex Woodbury and the haters: is it really AI people hate? (04:21) - AI slop and Keith's terrible video (07:28) - The adoption curve: AI companies are isolated from mainstream opinion (07:51) - Dario Amodei as the answer to both lovers and haters (10:14) - Keith vs Ballmer redux: why Amodei has already lost (12:09) - OpenAI and Google employees rush to Anthropic's defense (14:24) - Woodbury, The Verge, and AI taking jobs (16:51) - Keith's Apple TV app: vibe coded in a weekend (19:29) - AI will destroy universities: cheating at apocalyptic levels (21:41) - Noah Smith: something feels weird about this economy (27:00) - The IPO race: Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX (30:42) - Could Amodei blow up the IPO proce...

The Information's Rocket Drew talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about the $109 billion legal threat facing OpenAI in its court battle with Elon Musk. We also talk with Theo Wayt about xAI's leadership turnover and new hires from Cursor, Ex-ChatGPT Product Head Peter Deng about the future of consumer AI and "taste" in product development, and Managing Editor Laura Mandaro about the startups inching toward IPOs in a volatile market. Lastly, we get into Meta's "Avocado" model delay and the prospect of licensing Google Gemini with our Co-Executive Editor Martin Peers.Articles discussed on this episode: https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/meta-said-push-back-launch-avocado-modelhttps://www.theinformation.com/articles/startups-inching-toward-ipo-volatile-markethttps://www.theinformation.com/articles/xai-hires-two-senior-leaders-cursor-catch-codinghttps://www.theinformation.com/articles/musk-openai-lawyers-face-109-billion-claimSubscribe: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agendaTITV airs weekdays on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Follow us:X: https://x.com/theinformationIG: https://www.instagram.com/theinformation/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@titv.theinformationLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theinformation/

SpaceX is currently preparing for the highly anticipated Flight 12 mission, which will feature the debut of the Starship Version 3 hardware. CEO Elon Musk has projected a launch date for early April 2026, marking a slight delay from earlier estimates as the company finalizes testing on the new Booster 19 and Ship 39 vehicles. Significant infrastructure milestones are also underway at the Starbase facility in Texas, including the commissioning of a second orbital launch pad designed to support these upgraded rockets. Beyond technical development, SpaceX is reportedly exploring a Nasdaq stock market listing with a valuation that could reach $1.75 trillion. Meanwhile, other Musk-led ventures like The Boring Company and xAI continue to hit growth benchmarks, such as completing record-breaking tunnels in Las Vegas and expanding massive AI supercomputing clusters. Together, these sources highlight a period of intensive scaling and transition across Musk's various aerospace and technology enterprises.

Companies Complying with or Directly Impacted by Transparency Laws Major generative AI developers are broadly subject to AB 2013, which requires them to publicly disclose high-level summaries of the datasets used to train their models.OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google were among the first companies to voluntarily comply with the law, publishing the required training data documentation on their websites when the law took effect on January 1, 2026.Meta is also heavily impacted by these laws and is frequently cited for its extensive efforts to harvest public and copyrighted data across the internet to train its foundation models.Companies Actively Challenging the LawxAI (founded by Elon Musk) is the primary company fighting the legislation. In late December 2025, xAI filed a federal lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block the enforcement of AB 2013. xAI argues that forcing it to disclose its training data constitutes an unconstitutional taking of its trade secrets and violates its First Amendment rights. In March 2026, a federal judge denied xAI's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the law.Separately, xAI is under investigation by the California Attorney General and received a cease-and-desist letter over its AI chatbot, Grok. The tool's "spicy mode" has allegedly been used to generate nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes and child sexual abuse material.Companies Sued Over AI Training Data and Copyright The push for transparency laws like AB 2013 and AB 412 stems largely from a massive wave of lawsuits filed by authors, artists, and media companies who allege that AI developers misappropriated their intellectual property to train models. Companies currently defending against these copyright lawsuits include:OpenAI and Microsoft (sued by The New York Times, The Daily News, the Authors Guild, Raw Story Media, and others).Anthropic (sued by Concord Music Group and various authors).Google and YouTube (sued by Mike Huckabee, David Milette, and others).Perplexity AI (sued by Dow Jones, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune).Stability AI, Midjourney, Runway AI, and Deviant Art (sued by visual artists and Getty Images).Meta, Nvidia, Databricks, and Mosaic ML.AI audio, music, and voice generation companies like Suno, Udio, Lovo, and ElevenLabs.Ross Intelligence (sued by Thomson Reuters for allegedly using copyrighted Westlaw data to train its own legal search tool).Other AI Companies Facing State ScrutinyCharacter.AI: Sued by the Kentucky Attorney General in January 2026 for consumer protection violations, alleging the company's companion chatbots preyed on children and contributed to psychological manipulation and self-harm. Google was also sued in related private litigation due to its substantial investment in Character.AI.Clearview AI: Cited by privacy advocates as a notorious example of unethical data sourcing, having scraped billions of images from social media to build a massive facial recognition database.

Kalshi Lawsuit, Musk Loses AI Transparency Fight, and AI Data Center Cost Backlash Jim Love covers a lawsuit against prediction market Kalshi after it refused to pay out roughly $54 million on bets tied to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaving office, citing a disputed "death carve-out" clause, as regulators face questions about prediction markets, possible insider trading, and whether they are gambling. He also reports a judge rejecting Elon Musk and xAI's bid to block a California AI transparency law requiring disclosures about training data and safety practices. The episode notes major tech firms pledging not to pass AI data center electricity costs to consumers amid rising regulatory and community pushback. Reuters reports OpenAI robotics and consumer hardware head Caitlin Kalinowski resigning after a Pentagon partnership, citing concerns about surveillance and lethal autonomy. Finally, Oracle is rumored to plan up to 30,000 layoffs as AI data center financing tightens. Hashtag Trending would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/htt 00:00 Sponsor and Headlines 00:51 Kalshi Death Bet Lawsuit 03:39 Musk Loses Transparency Fight 05:55 AI Data Center Power Pledge 08:16 OpenAI Robotics Resignation 09:37 Oracle Layoffs and AI Cooling 10:49 Wrap Up and Sponsor Thanks

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 365, “Time Truly Is in God's Hands,” Kim discusses the request of King Hezekiah for more time. Hezekiah was approached by the prophet Isaiah and told he was going to die and to get his affairs in order. Hezekiah did not panic but immediately turned to the Lord and poured out his pain and preference. The Lord chose to provide a miracle of more time, but also a miracle of growth in Hezekiah, who stated, “This anguish was good for me.” The Lord doesn't always answer our request for more time in the way we think He should, but we can be comforted knowing time is still in His control, and He can help us make the most of every moment given.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 20:1-11, with 2-3 as the focal verses:   2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.     WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   Have you ever prayed for more time? To live? For someone else? For a task?   Additional Resources and Scriptures: Isaiah 38:1-22 EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings (1 & 2 Chronicles) PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III. xAI. (2026). Grok [Large language model]. https://x.ai/grok/chat      "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/      

Anthropic claque la porte du Pentagone, OpenAI récupère le contrat : l'IA s'invite au cœur des tensions géopolitiques. Pendant ce temps, Apple dégaine de nouveaux produits et le Mobile World Congress dévoile les innovations qui façonneront la tech de demain.

The Office of Personnel Management removed Claude and added Grok and Codex in an update to its public disclosure of AI use cases dated Wednesday. Removal of Claude comes after a disagreement between its maker, Anthropic, and the Department of Defense over the technology's guardrails culminated in President Donald Trump issuing a governmentwide ban on the company late last week. In the following days, numerous federal agencies have made moves to stop using Anthropic's services, including OPM. While the changes to the disclosure were made at the same time, Grok and Codex were not added as the result of Claude's removal, OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover said in an emailed response to FedScoop. The human capital agency is “constantly working to provide the best tools to the OPM workforce. These initiatives were already underway,” Pinover said. According to the new inventory, the “first production use” for both tools is listed as the first quarter of 2026. Pinover confirmed that date references the calendar year rather than fiscal year. Grok, a product of Elon Musk's xAI, is listed as in production, and Codex, a coding specific AI tool from OpenAI, is being deployed in a sandbox phase — which generally describes a kind of controlled environment. OPM also added several other systems that deploy AI to its public disclosure, including Wiz, Zendesk, Waze, Google Maps, and the Apple iPhone. James “Aaron” Bishop has been tapped to serve as the Pentagon's chief information security officer and deputy CIO for cybersecurity, the department announced on social media Thursday. He assumed the role of CISO in an acting capacity on Feb. 27, according to a LinkedIn post from the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In his new position, he'll work under DOD CIO Kirsten Davies and be responsible for providing policy, technical, program and oversight support to the CIO on all cybersecurity matters. Bishop previously served as CISO for the Department of the Air Force, which includes the Air and Space Forces. According to his Air Force bio, his prior jobs in the private sector included CEO and founder of the Quantum Security Alliance, CEO and founder of Eigenspace, vice president and CISO for Science Applications International Corporation, and general manager of Microsoft's National Security Group, among other roles. David McKeown, who previously served as the department's CISO, deputy CIO for cybersecurity and special assistant for cybersecurity innovation, plans to leave government service for the private sector, according to the announcement. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

After Anthropic was blacklisted for refusing a military contract that lacked surveillance and lethality safeguards, OpenAI quickly stepped in to secure a deal with the Pentagon. CEO Sam Altman eventually admitted the move was "opportunistic and sloppy" following a massive public backlash and a surge in popularity for Anthropic's rival chatbot, Claude. While Altman claims the revised agreement now includes protections against domestic surveillance, critics argue these changes contain loopholes and lack the strict ethical boundaries Anthropic originally fought for. The situation has created significant industry friction, as the government threatens to cripple Anthropic's business partnerships while transitioning classified operations to OpenAI and xAI. Ultimately, the sources highlight a growing conflict between corporate ethics and the rapid militarization of artificial intelligence.https://dashboard.babel.audio/sign-up?referrer=vVDO6yebQQK4LiZ8SQV2Nw.7Q3oJEnZ&referrerName=William

Who dares to make predictions in the current landscape? We do!  Our Predictions are back. Will our track-record continue on a high or will we be fundamentally wrong? Listen in to our Predictions for 2026 Navigation: Intro What will 2026 be all about? AI, AI and … more AI The big Hardware movements Of Start-ups and VCs Regulatory & Geopolitical Headwinds… and the Wars Fintech, Crypto and Frontier Tech Conclusion Our co-hosts: Bertrand Schmitt, Entrepreneur in Residence at Red River West, co-founder of App Annie / Data.ai, business angel, advisor to startups and VC funds, @bschmitt Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, Managing Partner, Founder at Chamaeleon, @ngpedro Our show:   Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news Subscribe To Our Podcast Bertrand Schmitt Introduction Welcome to Tech Deciphered Episode 74. That would be an episode about some predictions about 2026. What will be 2026 all about? I guess this year is probably starting with a bang. We saw the acquisition of xAI by SpaceX. We saw an acquisition from Grok by NVIDIA. What’s your take about what would be the big themes in 2026? I guess it would be for sure about AI and space. Nuno Goncalves Pedro What will 2026 be all about? Yeah. I predict a year that will be a little bit more of a year of reckoning in some way. There will be a lot of things that I think we’ll start seeing through. The fact that we are in the midst of an amazing transformational era for technology, the use of AI, but at the same time, obviously, a ridiculous bubble that is going alongside it as we’ve discussed in previous episodes. I think that we’ll start seeing some early reckonings of that, companies that might start failing, floundering, maybe a couple of frauds along the way, etc. I’ll tell you what I will not make many predictions about today, which is geopolitics. Geopolitics, I will not make predictions at all. Who the hell knows what’s going to happen to the world this year in 2026? I don’t dare making any predictions on that. Back to things where I would make predictions. I think on AI, we’ll have a little bit of reckoning. We’ll talk about it a little bit more in detail during this episode. Interesting elements around the hardware and physical space. Physical space, we just dedicated a full episode to it. We won’t go into a lot of details on that, but definitely on the hardware side, we’ll talk a little bit more about it. The VC landscape is going through an incredible transformation. We’ll talk about it today as well and some of our predictions for this year. What will happen to the asset class? It seems to be transforming itself dramatically. Obviously, that has a very direct impact on startups, so we’ll talk about that as well. And then to close a little bit the chapter on this, we will address some regulatory and geopolitical, let’s call it, headwinds without making maybe too many complex predictions. We shall see. Maybe by that time of the episode, we will be making some predictions. You guys should stay and listen to us, and maybe we will actually make some predictions about the geopolitical transformations that we will see this year in the world. Then last but not the least, we’ll talk about fintech, crypto, frontier tech, and a couple of other areas before concluding the episode. A classic predictions’ episode. We normally have a pretty good track record on some of these, but right now, the world is going a bit interesting, not to say insane. Bertrand Schmitt Yes, and going back to some news, Groq technically was not acquired, but, practically, it’s as if it got acquired. I’m talking about Groq, G-R-O-Q. The AI semiconductor company focused on inference AI, and it was late December. It was a way to end the year. This year, we started again with an acquisition of xAI by its sister company, SpaceX. I guess that’s where we are starting. AI, AI and … more AI We are going to start on AI. That’s definitely the big stuff. Everything these days, I guess, is about AI or has to have some connection with AI, or it doesn’t matter. I think every company in the world has seen that. You have to have the absolute minimum on AI strategy. You better execute on this strategy and show results, I would say. For the companies that were not AI native, you truly have to have a way to transform yourself. I guess at some point, the stretch might be too much, and it’s not really reasonable. Then you maybe better stay on what you are doing, especially if you’re in tech, you better be moving faster to AI. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Just to highlight, and I think throughout the episode, you’ll see that there’re obviously a lot of implications that would manifest themselves into capital markets. I mean, we’ll specifically talk about VCs and startups later on. But the fact that everything needs to be AI, the fact that there’s so much innovation happening right now, in my opinion, and this is maybe the first pre-topic to AI, is we’ll see a tremendous increase in M&A activity this year across the board. I mean, we’ve seen already some big acquihires we mentioned in some of our previous episodes, but we’ll see a lot more activity on M&A this year. Normally, that’s a precursor to the opening of capital markets. I predict also that there will be a reopening of the IPO market that never really reopened last year, to be honest. M&A, a lot more, reopening of the IPO market. Normally, it happens in the second or third quarter of the year. That’s what my M&A friends tell me. First quarter of year, everyone’s figuring out stuff. Then last quarter of the year, things should be more or less closed. Maybe the third quarter is the big quarter. We shall see. But definitely, as a precursor to our conversation today, I think we’ll see a lot of M&A, and we’ll see reopening of the IPO mark. Bertrand Schmitt I guess last year was not as big as you could expect on M&A given the tariff situation announced in April and May. I mean, it became quite tough to do IPO in such market conditions. Definitely, we can hope for something dramatically different in 2026. I guess talking about public markets and IPO, I guess the big one everyone is waiting for is SpaceX. SpaceX getting even more interesting with its xAI acquisition. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Do you think that because of the acquisition, it’s more likely that it will happen this year, or because of the acquisition, it’s less likely that it will happen this year? Bertrand Schmitt That’s a good question. My guess is the acquisition of xAI is all about xAI needing more financing and cheaper financing. This acquisition is a pathway to that. SpaceX being a much bigger company, a company that is also making much more revenues. I could bet that there is higher probability that, actually, SpaceX will go public in order to finance itself. At the same time, will it have enough time to prepare itself for the IPO given this acquisition just happened? Can they do that in 6 months? I mean, if anyone can do it, I guess it’s Elon Musk. It’s a strategy to present an even more attractive company with an even more interesting story, a story of vertical integration from AI to space. I guess the story as it’s presented itself right now, it’s one about having your AI data centers in space. Because in space, you have much better solar energy production with solar panels. You have a perfect cooling situation because you are in space. Thanks to Starlink, you have the mean to communicate between the satellites and with Earth itself. I think if someone can pull up a story like AI data center in space, I guess Elon Musk can. There is, of course, a lot of questions about is it practical? Is it economical? Yes. I certainly agree. I’m not clear on the mass, and can you make it work? Again, I mean, Elon Musk single-handedly, with SpaceX, managed to transform the space market on its head. I mean, they are the biggest satellite launching company in the world. They have the most satellites in the world. I mean, I’m not sure I would bet against him, and I guess I would probably believe that he could pull up something. Time frames, different story. The 2-3 years data center in space for AI as cheap as on Earth, I have more trouble with that one. I mean, it’s a usual suspect with Elon Musk. You promise something unachievable in a few years, but, ultimately, you still manage to reach it in 5 or 10. Again, I would not bet against the strategy. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Yeah. I’ve talked to a couple of space experts, people that have launched rockets, and have worked JPL, NASA, and a couple of other places, etc. For what it’s worth, their feedback is, “No way in hell, and we’re decades away.” We’ll see. I mean, to your point, Elon has pulled very dramatic stuff. Not as fast as he normally says he’s going to pull it, but within a time span that we all see it. Difficult to bet against him. In terms of actually the prediction, maybe to respond to the prediction as well, will SpaceX IPO? I’m going to make a prediction that has a very high likelihood of missing the mark, but I think Tesla’s going to buy and merge them both into it. It’s going to become a public company through Tesla. That’s my hypothesis. Bertrand Schmitt No. That’s supposed to be it. That’s how you solve that. Nuno Goncalves Pedro And Elon controls the whole universe. X, xAI, Tesla, SpaceX, all under one umbrella beautifully run. And SolarCity is well in there, of course, so wonderful. Bertrand Schmitt That’s possible. Certainly, you are not the only one thinking Tesla will acquire or merge with SpaceX. To remind everyone, Tesla is around 1.3, 1.5 trillion market cap. Depending on the day, SpaceX seems to be valued at similar range, 1.2, 1.3 trillion. It looks like it’s the most valued private company at this stage. These are companies of similar size, so that’s one piece of the puzzle. When you think about the combined company, we could be talking about a 3 trillion entity. Playing right here with the biggest companies in the marketplace today. Nuno Goncalves Pedro With a couple of tweets from Elon, it will rapidly get to 4 to 5 trillion. Bertrand Schmitt That’s so tricky. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Yes. On AI and back to AI, one thing I think that we’re about to see is this will probably be the year of agentic AI. Obviously, we predict a lot of growth on that side of the fence, in particular on the enterprise B2B side. We see a lot of opportunities coming through. From our perspective, at least at Chamaeleon, we generally believe that there’s going to be a lot of movements on agentic AI. It’s also going to be probably the year of the first big fails of agentic AI that will be newsworthy. There will be some elements about that loop and how it gets closed that will happen. I think we might see some scandals already. We’re already seeing the social network of bots talking to bots. We will see other scandals going on this year even in the consumer space and in the bot to bot space, which we now can talk about or in the AI agent to AI agent space. My prediction is we will see some move forwards. There’ll be some dramatic funding rounds along the way. We’ll see a couple of really cool things out of the gates coming out that are really impressive, but we’ll also see the first big misses of the technology stack. I don’t think we’ll go fully mainstream yet this year, so it’s probably maybe something more for 2027 along the way. That would be my prediction again. I think enterprise will lead the way. We’ll definitely see a lot of stuff on consumer as well that is cool. Then we’ll all have our own personal assistance in our hands, basically, literally in our phones. Bertrand Schmitt Going back to agentic AI, we also started the year with some pretty dramatic move. I mean, the launch of Clawdbot, renamed OpenClaw. I mean, this stuff took fire in like a week or 2. It was coded by just one person who actually didn’t even code the product but used AI to build the product, 100% used AI, proposing some new ways also to leverage AI to do coding. He has a pretty unique approach. It’s not vibe coding. I would say it’s a better way to do that. Then the surprising evolution with the launch of a social network for AI agents, Moltbook. I mean, this stuff, probably there is some fake in it. But at the same time, I think it’s quite impressive because it’s the first time we see truly 100,000 plus agents communicating directly to each other. Yeah. I mean, that’s the first time we see surfacing the possibility of some sort of hive mind on the Internet. It’s pretty surprising. Right now, all of this is a hack done in a few days. By end of year, by 2 years, 3 years, we might discover that, actually, the best approach to AI might not be the AI assistant like we are doing today, but a combination of hundreds of thousands of AI working closely together. We might be witnessing the first sign of new intelligence in a way. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Things like this social network might either be Skynet, the beginning of Skynet. They might be the beginning of Her, or they might just be a fad and nothing really happens. It’s just interesting to see what these agents are doing. Bertrand Schmitt Totally. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Obviously, there are real and clear and present dangers of some of the integrations of AI we’re seeing in the market. Interesting enough, and I’ll ask you for your prediction a bit, Bertrand. I think we’ll probably see the first big mishap of AI being used in some infrastructural decision in the age of AI. I mean, we’ve seen AI issues in the past and software issues in the past. We talked in previous episodes about that as well. Mishaps of software that have led to people dying. But I think probably the first big mishap will happen this year as well. Very public mishap of the use of AI and serve its interactions with infrastructure or something that’s very platform related, etc, that will have big impact that everyone will notice. That’s my prediction for the year as well. We’ll have the first big oops moment, as I would call it, for AI in this new age of full on AI. Bertrand Schmitt I would say first some perspective. I think today, people are not using AI directly for life and death decision, at least not that I’m aware. We’re not going to let AI fly a plane, for instance, tomorrow so you can be, reassured. At the same time, given there is such a race to AI, there definitely might be some mistakes. We were talking about the social network for AI agents, Moltbook. Apparently, all the keys used to secure the AI were shared by mistake because it was not properly locked down. We can see that indirectly, mistakes will be made for sure. Two, it’s highly probable that some people will trust AI too much to do some stuff, and this stuff might not work and might have some grave consequence. Hopefully, there is not so much of this. Hopefully, it’s mostly AI used for the good. But you’re right. I mean, at some point, the more we use the technology, the more there would be issue. I mean, it’s highly probable. Nuno Goncalves Pedro That will lead me to another prediction, which is, and we’ll talk about more of it later, but it probably will lead to the first significant movement in terms of regulatory environment certainly in the US at some point if it happens in the US in particular, where there will be some movement that will be like, “Hey, you guys can’t do this anymore.” Because this will probably emerge from mismanaged interfaces. From systems having access to stuff that they shouldn’t have access to in the first place. Talking a little bit more about what’s happening in AI. You’ve already mentioned some of the issues that relate actually to security and cybersecurity. We keep talking about AI. We keep talking about all these infrastructure pieces and platforms that are being built. I think we’ll have a lot more incidents like the one you just mentioned where things will be shared that shouldn’t have been shared, where people will break systems and get into it, etc. Let’s see where that takes us, which is a little bit ironic because, obviously, with AI, the promise is that cybersecurity becomes more robust as well because there’re agents working on our behalf on the cybersecurity side. There’s also agents working on the other side. Bertrand Schmitt It’s a constant race. It’s the attackers, defenders. Each time you have new technology, you have a new race to who is going to attack or defend the best. Each new wave of technology, it’s an opportunity to challenge the status quo. Nuno Goncalves Pedro The attackers have been winning, and I feel they’ll continue winning in 2026. I think it’s going to still be a year of attack. We’ll see more and more breaches, more and more stuff that will happen. Bertrand Schmitt I don’t know if they will win. I mean, it’s normal that they win once in a while. For sure, some infrastructure is not updated as it should. Some stuff are not managed as it should, so there will always be breaches. I don’t know if things are dramatically going to change because, again, everyone who cares who is going to update his infrastructure with AI for defense. There is no question that you have no choice. We will see. That I don’t know. For sure, AI will be used to attack directly with AI. Maybe you’re able to do bigger, larger scale attack. Or thanks to AI, you are simply able to create new type of attacks more easily. AI can be used behind the scene as a way to prepare and organise new type of attacks, even if it’s not used directly live in the battle. Nuno Goncalves Pedro One topic that we’ll come back to later is the geopolitics of everything, but maybe more broadly. On the geopolitics of AI, it’s very clear that we have an arms race going on. Obviously, the US on the one hand, China on the other hand is the two extremes, putting tremendous amount of capital into data centers just at the base of that infrastructure. Chipset development, chipset access, a huge theme in terms of the export restrictions, etc, that are being forced by the US. I think it will continue. From a European standpoint, obviously, they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, to be very honest. Let’s see what happens on that side of the fence. My view of the world is that certainly from a US and China perspective, we’re going to see a lot more movements in 2026, like big movements. The Chinese movements we always see in delay.  It takes us a couple of months, sometimes even more than that to understand exactly what’s going on. I think we’re going to see some huge moves this year in terms of the States, the United States of America, and China really pouring capital into the creation of the next big winners around AI. I think the US is obviously more visible. We see a lot of these companies. We’ve just discussed xAI and its acquisition by SpaceX or merger. I don’t know what they’re calling it exactly. Effectively, on the China side, the movements I think are already very big. As I said, it will take a while to figure out exactly what those moves are. One thing that I propose is that at some point, China will have very little dependency on chipsets from the US. I’m not sure it’s going to happen this year, but I think the writing is on the wall. Irrespective of any other geopolitical issues that is coming to the fore at this moment in time. That’s one of the key areas or in arenas of fight. Bertrand Schmitt It makes sense. If you are China, you will look at what happened. You would think that you cannot just depend on the largest of one country. It makes rational sense, the same way it makes rational sense for the US to limit exports to China because there is value to delay some peer pressure that could use these technologies for good but also for bad. If you were an ally of the US, that would be one thing. But when you are not an ally of the US, that certainly should be a different perspective. Maybe one last point concerning agents, I think there will be a lot that will revolve around coding. We can see OpenAI with Codex. We can see Cloud with code. There was, of course, [inaudible 00:18:28] that was trying to be big on agentic coding. I think agentic coding was one of the big transformation in 2025 and is going to get bigger in 2026. I think for a lot of people who do coding, there was a radical transformation in terms of what you can achieve, what you can do, how much you can trust AI to help you code. I start to think we might see this year, the replacement of not just one AI replace one coder, but one AI replace a full team because of the new ability to manage that at scale. Coding might be a common activity where you are going to think about outcomes, think about objective, think about how you organise, but not really coding by itself anymore. A big change, like you used to code, directly your hand on the stuff, but step by step, everyone is going to become a manager of agent. I think in one year, we saw enough transformation to think that in the coming year, the transformation can be even more dramatic. Nuno Goncalves Pedro The big Hardware movements Now switching gears to hardware. Obviously, a lot of movements in 2025 and over the last few years. One piece of thesis that we’ve had long-standing at Chamaeleon is that we will see the emergence of AI devices. Some of them have been tremendous failures as we discussed in the past. I predict that we’ll have a couple of really interesting full stack AI devices in the market this year. Why does that matter? Because, as many of you know, obviously, there’s compute that can happen in data centers and cloud infrastructure all over the world, but also there’s compute that can happen at the edges. The more you can move to the edges and the more you can create devices that actually allow you to have user experiences that are very distinctive at the edge, the more powerful some of these devices might become. I predict Apple will not be the first to launch anything on this. I predict probably OpenAI, after the acquisition of IO, will maybe not launch something this year, but will announce something this year. I’ll step back on that prediction. They’ll announce something this year, but maybe not launch. But we’ll start seeing some devices that have some interesting value in the market, probably devices that are AI devices, but they are very focused on very specific user flows, and so very much adequate to specific activities. I won’t make a prediction on that, but I think areas that would make sense for that to happen would be obviously around fitness, health, et cetera, et cetera, where we already have the ascendancy of products like Oura Ring and others out there. Definitely, that’s one area that might have quite a lot of developments. I think AI-first devices, devices that are very focused on compute at the edges, providing user flows that are AI-enabled to end users, we’ll see a lot more of that and a lot more activity this year. Again, I don’t think Apple will be necessarily ahead of the game. Again, maybe OpenAI will give us something to at least think about and look forward to. Bertrand Schmitt First, I’m not sure it will be that transformational because if it’s not in your phone, in your pocket, there is only so much you can do with it, and there is only so much computing power you will have. I’m doubtful it would be really impactful this year. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I feel we’ve been discussing this shift of paradigm in input and output. For me, some of these devices could lead to that shift. Because, again, a mobile phone is not a great long-term paradigm for the usage that we have because it’s really constrained by the screen. The screen is really what takes most of the battery life away. If we didn’t have that screen, what could we do? If we have the block that is as big as a mobile phone, and it didn’t have a screen, it was just compute, that’s a mini computer, a microcomputer. Bertrand Schmitt That’s a fair point, but I don’t see that transformation this year. That’s really more my point. I can see that you can have AI-enabled smart glasses, and it’s clear there is a race to AI-enabled smart glasses. My point is more to go beyond the gadget, it would take quite a while. It would need to have cameras. It would need to analyse what you see. It would need to hear what you hear. Again, it might come, but then at some point, it would be okay, what do you do with it? We have the example of the movie Her. That’s showing Her what it could be. There are definitely possibilities. It’s clear that if you take the big VR headset like the Apple Vision Pro, there is a failure from that perspective in the sense that I think it’s a great, amazing device. The big problem is that it’s doing way more that makes sense. I think there will be a clearer separation between your smart AR glasses that has to be light, that has to be always unconnected, and that’s primarily there to help you make sense of the world around you. The true VR headset that doesn’t really require much in terms of AI, and it’s just there to immerse you in a different world. For this, we know, unfortunately, in some ways, that there is not a lot of demand for it. Maybe there is little demand because you are too hidden in your own world. The technology is not working well enough yet. There are a lot of reasons. But I think Apple trying to do both at the same time, AR and VR, with the Vision Pro, was a pretty grave structural mistake. I think we would see a clearer line of separation between the two. There is bigger market opportunity for AR glasses. That, I certainly agree. There is opportunity to connect that to a computing device. As you talk about, your glasses are your screen, your phone becomes something in your pocket connected to your glasses. Nuno Goncalves Pedro For me, Apple has their way of doing things. From the perspective of what you said, they normally really plan their devices. Even if it’s a big shift in terms of a new area, like they tried with the Vision Pro, and we criticised them for launching it as a device that should have been more of a dev device that they really launched as a full-on device, but that’s their playbook, classically. I think Apple needs to change how they put products out and how they experiment with those products, et cetera. I think they have enough money to be doing everything all the time and figuring it out. If they don’t want to put it out, then they need to do a lot more hell of testing internally with their silos, but they should be playing across all these arenas, VR, AR, everything. They just should put devices out that are either ready for prime time, or they should call it something else. They should call it like this is a dev device or whatever it is. Bertrand Schmitt I agree with you. My complaint is more that it was marketed as a consumer device when it was not. It was a true developer device. Two, they tried to mix the two at once, and it made no sense. No one is going to walk in their home or in the street with their Vision Pro on their head. You have to be deranged, quite frankly, to have use cases like this. I think that for me is a crazy mistake from a company like Apple that prides itself in pure UI, pure user interface, very well-designed device for one specific use case, not mixing the two use cases. We still don’t have Macs with a touchscreen, you know?  We still don’t have an iPad with a good OS that makes use of this great hardware. For some strange reason, they decided to mix everything in the Vision Pro with a device that weighs a ton on your head and is so uncomfortable. That’s why, for me, I’m like, “Guys, what is wrong? Why did you let this team run crazy?” I hope at some point, Apple will go back to the drawing board. My understanding is that that’s what they are doing. They are going to have two devices, one smart glasses, an evolution of the Vision Pro, just focus on VR. They might actually abandon the concept of the pure VR-oriented headset. Because, from a market size perspective, it might not be big enough for Apple, quite frankly. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I read on all of the above, and people at this point was like, “Why are then players like Samsung and others not doing it. LG, et cetera?” Because those players historically have not invented new categories. They’re amazing at catching up once the category is invented, and then they scale the hell out of it, and that’s what these companies have been exceptional at. I wouldn’t see a dramatic innovation, I think, in terms of devices coming from any of the big ones on that side of the fence. Not to disrespect them in any way, but I think that’s not been their playbook ever. Again, if the origination doesn’t come from a start-up or from an Apple, I don’t see those guys going after it. My bet is that we’ll see some start-up activity and, again, hopefully, some announcement from IO now within the OpenAI world. Bertrand Schmitt I would slightly disagree with you. I see where you are coming from. But take the Samsung Galaxy Note, that sudden much bigger headphone that no one was doing that was launched by Samsung, at some point, it forced Apple to launch an iPhone Max. Let’s look at the Z Fold that Samsung launched 7 years ago, copied by everyone. Now Samsung launching a trifold. Apple has still not launched their foldable phone. I think there is a mix, actually, of sometimes- Nuno Goncalves Pedro For me, that’s not a proper new category. It’s still a mobile phone. It just happens to have a screen that folds in half. Bertrand Schmitt The iPhone was still a mobile phone, you could argue.  Nuno Goncalves Pedro No. I think the iPhone was…  I could actually agree with you on that point. Maybe Apple is not as innovative in that case. I think what Steve Jobs was exceptionally good at in terms of his ability as this master product manager was to be an exceptional curator of user flows and user experiences, and creating incredible experiences from devices based on that. That was his secret sauce. Could you say, “Wasn’t all of this stuff already around?” It was. You just put it all together very neatly and very nicely. But if you’re talking about significant shifts in how a category is done, the iPhone was a significant shift in how the category was done. The Fold is still an interesting device. I actually have a Fold right now in front of me. The 7 that you highly recommended to me that we both got, the Z Fold 7. I think they do amazing devices. I don’t think they normally are the most innovative players. Then, when they come to innovation, it comes from technology edges. Obviously, they have Samsung Display, there’s a bunch of other things. They had the ability to do foldable screens in-house themselves. Bertrand Schmitt I don’t disagree with you. I think there is an interesting situation where some companies have some strengths, another one has some strengths. My worry with Apple is that this was not demonstrated with the Vision Pro. The Vision Pro was a hot pot of technologies barely integrated together, with use cases absolutely not well-defined and certainly not something that makes sense for most of us. There is a question of has Apple lost it? While Samsung actually keeps doing their own stuff, that, yes, might be more minor improvements, but at least they are doing it. Because it looks like Apple is missing the train on even the minor improvements. By the way, you might not be aware, but Samsung launched its Vision Pro competitor. Interestingly enough, it might be a better product in some ways, being much lighter and much more comfortable. Nuno Goncalves Pedro We should play around with that and report back to our listeners. Of Start-ups and VCs Moving to venture capital and the startup ecosystem and what’s happening there, I think it is very much a bifurcated environment, and it’s bifurcated for both VCs and for startups. If you’re a startup in the AI space, and you have the hottest team since sliced bread, and you can create FOMO at the speed of light, you can raise ridiculous rounds. Five hundred million at the $3 billion, or $4 billion, or $5 billion valuation, and you still haven’t really even started. First round, you can raise 500 million. That’s back to the whole discussion on Bubble and where are we, et cetera. Some of these companies might actually become huge, some of them might not. But definitely, we are seeing really the haves and have-nots on the startup ecosystem with incredible teams raising a lot of money very, very early on or mid-stage if they’ve already existed for a while, and then the rest not being able to raise. We see a lot of non-necessarily AI sectors, some of the areas of SaaS that don’t necessarily have AI in it, or fintech, or the consumer space that are really, really struggling. If you don’t have an AI story for your startup right now, it’s extremely difficult to raise money unless your numbers are just the best numbers ever. That’s, I think, the first part of the element of bifurcation that we’re seeing today. The second element of bifurcation that we’re seeing today in terms of fundraising is for VCs themselves, and really propelled by the large VC firms raising more and more capital in recent orbits, announcing 15 billion across funds raised. Lightspeed, I think, had made an announcement a couple of weeks ago as well. They’ve raised a bunch of money as well. The big guys are all raising a lot of money. At some point in time, the question some of you might ask is, “These VCs are redeploying more and more money if they have a couple of billion for a VC fund. How does that look like? Is that still VC?” My perspective, I’ve shared before in some of our previous episodes, is that that’s no longer venture capital. At that point in time, we’re talking about something else. Private equity hedge funds, if you want to call them, maybe funds that are really driven by growth investment or late-stage investment. If you have a couple of billion under management, you’re not going to make your returns by writing a $3 million check in a series seed and leading that round.  That has implications for everyone in the ecosystem. It has implications for smaller funds that obviously have a lot more difficulty in raising capital. It’s difficult to differentiate. Last but not least, also for startups that really continue searching for that capital that is out there. Andreessen Horowitz, for example, runs Speedrun, which is a great program for companies around consumer in particular. Initially, it was a lot for gaming. But at some point in time, Andreessen Horowitz could decide that they don’t want to invest more in you. They just put money from Speedrun, which is obviously a very small check compared to the very large checks they could write mid to late stage and that will have an effect on you as a startup. What happens at that point in time if Andreessen Horowitz is not backing you up in later stages? More than that, what happens if I can’t get these big funds interested in me? Are the small funds still valuable to me? Punchline, my view is yes. Obviously, we’re a smaller fund, so there’s parochial interest in what I’m saying. Small funds can still create a ton of value for you, also in terms of credibility, ability to accompany you in those first stages of investment, and the ability to bring other larger investors later down the road as well. There’s definitely a big movement happening in terms of the fundraising for VC funds, which we shouldn’t neglect, which is the big guys are raising a lot more capital and are therefore emptying the market to smaller funds that are having more and more difficult raising at this point in time. We had discussed that there would be a need for concentration in the industry, that micro funds would need to concentrate, and we didn’t have the space for so many micro funds as we had around. But the way it’s happening is extremely dramatic at this moment in time. I think it will continue through 2026. Bertrand Schmitt Remember a few years ago, with the rise of AI, there was more and more of the question about, “What’s the point of SaaS at this stage?” Because SaaS was around for 15 years. Basically, how do you come up with something new that was not already tested, validated by the market? How do you bring something new? We say this was reinforced to the power of 10. If your product is not clearly built from the ground up for a new use case enabled by AI, anyone could then might have built your product 5, 10 years ago, and therefore, why now has no clear answer, and it’s a big problem. I’m still surprised myself to still see some entrepreneurs where you talk to them about AI because you don’t see them in the deck, and they explain to you, “It’s not yet there,” and you’re like, “What’s wrong with you guys?” Fine. Do whatever you want. Do a small business and whatever, but don’t think you can come up pitch and raise without an AI story. The second category is people who come with an AI story, but you can feel very quickly, I guess you saw that many times, Nuno, where just a story layered on top with little credibility. It’s not better. It’s not enough to just have a story. Your business needs to be radically built differently or radically proposing some brand-new use cases that were impossible to solve 5 years ago. Nuno Goncalves Pedro To stack up on that, absolutely in agreement. If you’re just adding to the story, and it’s an afterthought, and you’re just trying to make the story somehow gel, once you go into one or two layers of due diligence, your investors will very quickly realise that you’re not really AI-first or dramatically AI-enabled or whatever. It’s just you’re sort of stacking something on top of another thesis. It needs to make sense from the product onwards. It’s not just, let’s just put it together with chewing gum, and magically, people will give you money. It was true also if we remember the good old crypto blockchain days, where everyone’s investing in crypto. A lot of stories that didn’t make much sense. In that sense, it’s not very different. I would go one step further. I think in the world of the VC winter that we’re a little bit in, where it’s more and more difficult if you’re a smaller fund to raise your fund at this moment in time, there’s a lot of sources of distinctiveness still talked about, like proprietary networks, access to deal flow, fast track record, all that stuff that really, really matters. But our bet continues at Chamaeleon continues being that you need to be AI-first as a VC fund yourself. You need to have core advantages in using not only readily-available AI tools or third-party available AI tools, data sources, technology stacks, but actually building your own stack over time, which is what we did with Mantis at Chamaeleon. Again, just to reinforce that, I think we’re at the beginning of that stage. We, Chamaeleon, are ahead of the game, but we think that the rest of the market will have to move towards that as well. Still, to be honest, very surprising to me to see that many significant large players are doing very little still around some of these spaces. They have data scientists. They’re running some tools. They’re running some analysis and all that stuff, but it’s still, again, back to the point I was making for startups, all glued up with chewing gum. It doesn’t all come together nicely, which it does need to from a platform standpoint. Bertrand Schmitt It’s quite surprising. I agree with you that some VC funds might think that they can do business as usual in that brand-new world. It’s difficult to believe. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Maybe moving a little bit toward the capital formation piece. We already discussed the M&A space really accelerating. We’ve also discussed the IPO market and some predictions on that. Secondaries, there’s obviously a lot of liquidity coming from secondaries from mid to late stage. I think it will continue throughout the rest of 2026. A lot of activity in buying, selling in secondaries as some asset managers are becoming more distressed, as some very high net worth individuals and family offices are becoming more distressed as well, at the same time, where there’s a lot of opportunities to potentially arbitrage around some investments. I believe a lot of money will be made and lost this year by decisions made this year, just to be very, very clear in terms of equity, purchases, et cetera. Exciting year ahead of us. Definitely a very, very interesting market ahead of us. Secondaries, M&A, growth, and late-stage investing, also, early-stage investing will continue just for those that were wondering. Last but not least, the public markets, the IPO market as well. Bertrand Schmitt One of the big questions for the IPO market would be, will SpaceX go public? Would it be good for the startup ecosystem? Because suddenly that they go public, it would be to raise money. If they raise money, will there be any money left for anybody else? That would be an interesting test of the market. For sure, it would be proof that market are risk on financing a new IPO like this one. Or as you said, maybe there is no IPO, and it’s a merger with Tesla. Time will tell. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Regulatory & Geopolitical Headwinds… and the Wars Moving maybe to our topic of regulation and geopolitical headwinds, as we’re seeing … definitely not tailwinds. The Google antitrust verdict and, obviously, the remedies are expected to come forward now, and a lot of people are saying, “There are some risks of structural separation.” What do you think? Is it cool, but nothing will happen in the end dramatically? Alphabet or Google? I’m not sure, actually. It’s Google LLC. I think that’s the case. It’s The United States versus Google LLC. Bertrand Schmitt I’m not sure. Personally, I’m not a big fan. I think there needs to be a better way to manage some anticompetitive behavior. I’m not a big fan. There was this temptation to do that for Microsoft 25 years ago. Look at what happened. No one needed to buy Microsoft to leave space for others. I see the same with Google, and I guess they are happy to not be the number 1 in AI today, but to have an open AI in front of them. Even if they are doing a great job, by the way, to move forward and go faster and faster. Personally, quite impressed now with some of what they have released. Gemini 3 is doing great from my perspective. I’m not a big fan of this. I think to be clear, it’s important that bigger companies don’t behave anticompetitively, but at the same time, we need to find the right approach where it’s not about breaking these companies, and it’s also not about forbidding them to do acquisitions. Because then you end up with what NVIDIA just did with a $20 billion acquihire IP licensing type of acquisition, because they didn’t want to have the uncertainties. They didn’t want to wait 1–2 years in order to acquire the people and the technology, so they organised it in a different way. But I don’t like that. I think they should be able to acquire companies without facing so much uncertainty. To be clear, it’s not new. Uncertainty when you are Google, NVIDIA, or others, it happens. It has happened for a decade plus, 2 decades. I think there needs to be, for sure, some safety valves. At the same time, we want an efficient capital market. An efficient capital market need companies that can acquire other companies. If you don’t do that efficiently, it will be worse for the entrepreneurs, it will be worse for the investors, it will be worse for everybody. I think we have not reached a good equilibrium from my perspective. We need more efficient acquisition process. And at the same time, we need to also enforce faster anticompetitive behavior. Because what you talk about concerning Google, this is a case that was what? That is 10 years old. You see what I mean? This is way too long. If you’re a startup, you are dead by then. It’s like the story of Netscape facing Microsoft. They were dead long after the fact. I think we need a different approach. I’m not sure the best answer. I’m not sure we’ll get a better approach. There are probably too many vested interest. My hope is that it will get better with this current administration because, certainly, the past administration was very anti acquisition and efficient markets. Nuno Goncalves Pedro We’ve talked about the European Union AI Act a bunch of times, so I don’t want to spend too many cycles on that. The only effect that I would say is we are seeing in very slow motion the splitting of the Internet. I once had Tim Berners-Lee, by the way, shouting at me that we were going to break the Internet when we were applying for the .mobi top-level domain. I was part of that consortium that eventually did get the .mobi top-level domain, and I had him shouting at us. But, apparently, this is going to split the Internet, Tim. So in case you’re listening. Because it will create all these different rules. If your data is relating to consumers there, then it’s treated in a different way, and The US is… Well, obviously, we have the case of California with its own rules and laws. I don’t know. I feel we’re having a moment of siloing that goes beyond economic and geopolitical siloing. It will also apply to the digital world, and we’ll start having different landscapes around it. We’ll see how this affects global expansion of services, for example, around AI, particularly for consumer, but I don’t foresee anything dramatically positive. Recently, we had the whole deal around TikTok finally having a solution for their US problem where there’s now a US conglomerate magically that owns it. The conglomerate doesn’t magically own it, they just straight up own it for the US. But it was driven by many of these concerns around data ownership. Where’s the data? Where is it based? I think a lot of other concerns that have to do with the geopolitics of China, obviously, being the basis of ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, that still is a significant owner, by the way, in TikTok in US. Then also the interest in the economics of making money out of something as powerful as TikTok, to be honest, in The US. Just to be clear, I don’t think this was all about the best interests of consumers. It was also about money. Just follow the money. Bertrand Schmitt There are for sure, some powerful interest at play. But let’s be clear. I think one is data, as you rightfully said, but the other one is algorithm. It’s not as if China is authorising any competitor on its territory. They have blocked access to most of the Internet platforms from the US, either finding new rules or just trade blocking them. So I don’t think it’s fair competition. You don’t want some of that data in China about the US or European consumer. Three, it’s about the algorithm. If suddenly, you are a foreign power, and you can as we know in China, you better follow what’s required of you from the Chinese Communist Party. You cannot take a chance with influencing other stuff like elections in other countries. It’s fair from the US perspective. One could even argue it’s fair from a Chinese perspective to want that. I think the only one in the middle who doesn’t really know what they want is Europe because on one side, they want to benefit from American platforms, on the other end, they want to have some controls. On the other end, they don’t create the environment for startups to flourish. So in that weird situation where they have to accept some control by the big US providers and either provider of underlying infrastructure or provider of consumer business facing services. Then they try to regulate them. But I think they are misunderstanding the power relationship, and I think some of this regulation would get some blowback, at least by the current administration. Just, I believe, this morning, there was some news around X being under a criminal investigation in France. This is not going to end well for the French startup and VC ecosystem. This is not going to end well for France and Europe when you depend so much from your American friends. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Regulation will be weaponised. Regulation constraints around exports, all of this will be weaponised geopolitically, and the bigger guys will normally win. I think that’s normally what we’ve seen. Just on TikTok just to… And you guys, if you’re listening to us, just see if you see a pattern here, but obviously, 19.9% still owned by ByteDance of the TikTok entity in the US. It was initially said that 80% of the TikTok entity is owned by non-Chinese investors. Initially, people were saying US investors, and then they changed it to non-Chinese because MGX, I think, has 15% of it. MGX is based in the UAE, connected obviously to Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Silver Lake is in there, I think, with 15% as well. Oracle as well with 15%. Those three are the big bucket owners together, 45%. Silver Lake having collaborated with MGX before, and I’m sure a lot of connectivity there. Then you still see a pattern in this in terms of shareholders. If you don’t, then just Google it. Dell Family Office, Vastmir Strategic Investments, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Yass, Alpha Wave Partners, obviously involved with a bunch of things like SpaceX and Klarna, Virgoli, Revolution, which is Steve Case’s, a former founder of AOL, is also in there. Meritway, which is managed by partners, I think, of Dragonair. Vinova from General Atlantic, an affiliate of General Atlantic. Also, NJJ Capital, which I believe is Xavier Nil, the French billionaire that founded Iliad. Mostly American, I think, if the math is correct. 80% non-Chinese, which was what mattered, I think, in many cases. But do see if you saw a pattern in most of those investors. I won’t say anything more than that. Maybe moving to other topics, maybe just to finalise on regulation and geopolitics. In geopolitics, we should talk about wars if we predict anything. Not that we are nasty and one want to be negative, but what the hell is going on? Will we have ending to the wars we already have ongoing or not? But before that, the struggles on the App Stores, I think, will continue both for Apple and for Google Play Store. The writing’s on the wall, the EU keeps pushing it dramatically and Apple keeps just doing stuff. I’m on the board of an App Store company. Apple just creates all these things that basically make you not really… It doesn’t work. You can’t provision then an App Store on Apple devices. On iPhones, et cetera. We’ll see how that will continue going, but I feel the writing’s on the wall. Both Apple and Google will have to open up a bit more of their platforms. I’m not sure it will have a huge impact in the medium to long term, but definitely we need to see more openness in access to apps as given by the two big platform owners, Apple and Google, out there. Bertrand Schmitt Let’s be clear. Google is way more open than Apple. We both have Android devices. You can install alternative app stores. It’s a different ballgame by very far. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Google does other nasty stuff. It’s public. You can check which board I’m a part of. You can see what that company has done towards Google over time. But to your point, yes. It is true that Google has been more open than Apple, but Google has done their own things. Just to be very clear, so I’ll just leave that caveat bracketed there for people to think about it and maybe read a little bit about it as well. Bertrand Schmitt I can say that, me, from my perspective, that path of total control that Apple has been going through on all their devices, that includes macOS, pushed me to, over the past 2, 3 years, to completely live and abandon the Apple ecosystem. I just couldn’t accept that level of control, that golden handcuff approach of the Apple ecosystem, each their own obviously, they are golden, their handcuffs, but they are still handcuffs. Personally, that pushed me way more to Linux, Android, Windows, back to Windows after all these years. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I want to pick my devices. I want to pick what I install on them, and I don’t want to be controlled like this by just one entity for all my tech devices. For me, at some point, it was just not acceptable anymore. It’s still very warm, very golden handcuffs, but for me, they were just handcuffs at this stage. Yes, what they are doing with the App Store is very typical of that mindset. I think it’s quite sad because I think it started with good intention in some ways. “We need a new computing paradigm, we need to make things smoother and safer,” but it has really become a way to control your clients. For me, it has reached a point where it’s just way too much. Nuno Goncalves Pedro There’s obviously the great power comes great responsibility that uncle Ben told Spider-Man or Peter Parker. But there’s also with great power comes shitload of money, and control. So it’s like, “Yeah. Should we open the server? Do we want to delay opening it up?” “Yeah.” Anyway, it is what it is. Maybe let’s end on the more difficult note of the episode, which is going to be around wars. What’s our prediction? Will we have an end to the Gaza situation with Israel? Will we have an end to Ukraine and, obviously, Russia? What will happen in Iran? Those are the three big, big conflicts right now. Then, obviously, if we want to add just bonus points, what’s going to happen to Greenland, and what’s going to happen to Taiwan, and what’s going to happen to Venezuela? Let’s throw the whole basket in there. We’ve never had like… Let’s talk about all these territories and all these countries. At some point in time, I’m saying this in a light manner, but it’s obviously more tragic than it should be light, and people are dying, and there’s a lot of implications of all of that that is happening right now. Do you have any predictions, Bertrand, for this year? Bertrand Schmitt No. It’s tough to predict on an individual basis. I think on a more bigger picture basis is on one side, obviously, the rise of China on one side. You have also the rise of other countries like India, while very indirectly connected to some of these conflicts are still part of the game, buying oil from Russia, for instance. At the same time, I think overall, the US is more clear about with the sheriff in town. I think it’s good because in some ways, you cannot pay for the goods, you cannot have such a massive advantage versus nearly every other country on earth and just not be clear about who is the boss in some ways. As a result, what are the rules of the game and how it should be played? The US is not alone, obviously, you have China, you have Russia, you have India, you have Europe. You have different other countries. But at some point, it’s not good when countries are not rational and are not clear. I think I prefer the current situation where things are more clear and where you have to assume responsibilities about what you are doing. It’s time to be rational again about how the world behave. Yes, the concept of power and balance of power. I think there has been that dream, maybe mostly coming from Europe, about the end of history. I think that’s simply not the case. It’s not the end of history. It’s still about the balance of power. It has always been about the balance of power. If you are dumb enough to think it was not about that anymore, I just have a bridge to nowhere to sell you. I don’t have specific prediction, but I think it’s clear there is a new sheriff in town. There is a new doctrine about the Western Hemisphere that has been in some ways resurrected on the [inaudible 00:51:35] train, and I think we’ll see more of it. I think at this point, the biggest question is for the Europeans. What do they want to do? Because right now, their position of being a dwarf militarily while being a pretty big giant economically, I don’t think it works. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I agreed on everything that you said. I do have predictions. I’ll stick a flag on the ground just with my predictions. Bertrand Schmitt Good luck. Nuno Goncalves Pedro They are mostly positive. I do think we’ll see an end or, for the most, end to the two big conflicts, the one in Gaza and the one in Ukraine. I think Ukraine will end up in readjustment of territory and splitting between Russia and the Ukraine, but the end of hostilities, I think that we will see an end to the conflict in Gaza also with a readjustment on what that will mean for the Palestinian territories and the Palestinians in general. That I’m not sure, but I feel that there will be an end to those two big conflicts. Iran, I have no clue. I will not put a stick on the ground that I have no clue. There are so many things that could go wrong there. I’ve been reading some really interesting thoughts about even some aggressive thoughts that this might be the time to really change regimes in Iran and for the US to have a bit more of an aggressive stance. I really don’t have a perspective. Obviously, there’s a lot at stake there. Then, if we talk about the other parts, Greenland, I will not opine too much on. Maybe we’re done for now. Maybe there’ll be some other concessions to the US that weren’t already there in the ’50s. Taiwan, I won’t bet either. I’m sad to say I think it might happen at some point in time, but I’m not sure when and what would drive it. Last but not the least, Venezuela is my only really negative prediction. I feel it will continue to be a significant dictatorship as it was before managed enough by other people with the difference now that it has a tax to be paid to the US in the form of oil of some sort, etcetera, and maybe gas, maybe other things as well that it didn’t have before. That’s probably my most negative prediction for the coming year on the geopolitical side. Bertrand Schmitt Without going into detail, I would mostly agree with what you shared. At least that makes sense. But as we know, it’s not always what makes sense, but what might happen. I can tell you 100% I would not have guessed this operation against Maduro. This was so well done, well executed, and shocking at the same time that it’s… I think it shows that it’s hard to guess some of this stuff because there are certainly some new ways to wage limited war, for instance. So it’s certainly interesting, and we certainly need to get used to pretty bombastic statements. But for Venezuela, I don’t think it can be worse than what it was before. I’m probably more optimistic that gradually it can get better. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Just to put perspective on why we’re not making predictions on some of these elements, I think this is a funny story, but I was in Madeira. Actually, first time I was in Madeira, although I’m originally from Portugal. I’ve never been to the islands. Obviously, as you guys know, or some of you might know, there’s a lot of connection between Madeira and Venezuela. There’s a lot of immigration from Madeira Islands to Venezuela. One of my Uber or Bolt drivers there in Madeira was Venezuelan. Was born in Venezuela, but Portuguese descent, et cetera. He was telling me this was still last year. Late last year. Because I told him I lived in US, et cetera, and he was like, “Oh, hopefully, Trump will get Maduro out of there.” In my mind, I was like, “Dude.” No disrespect to the gentleman, but it’s like, “Okay. Mike, your perspective on geopolitics is maybe a little bit exaggerated.” And a couple of days later, we know what happened. When geopolitical decisions are better predicted by some probably very astute Uber drivers, you’re like, “Maybe I shouldn’t make a bet. I have no clue what’s going to happen, no clue what’s going to happen in Greenland, et cetera.” Anyway, a couple of predictions on that element. Bertrand Schmitt That’s why it’s so right. You have to be careful with the prediction, but it doesn’t remove the fact that I think nations and companies that have to play a global game have to understand in some ways what is the game, what are the powers in place, what could happen potentially, but also be realistic. Not be about wish and dreams, but more about, what’s the power relationship? Who has the money? Who has the means? Who has the capacity to do this or that? Because if you start that way, at least the scope of what’s possible, what’s reasonable is more and more clear more quickly. Some stuff like happened with Maduro, I would never have predicted, but for sure, if there’s one country that can do this sort of stuff, it’s the US. I’m not sure anyone has a technology and the means in terms of support infrastructure to do something like this. It’s tough to predict what will happen a year from now for any specific country, but I think that even trying to get a better understanding about the forces in play and their capacity and understanding and accepting that at some point, it’s all about real politic and relationship of power, the more your eyes would be wide open about what’s possible versus simple, wishful thinking. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Fintech, Crypto and Frontier Tech Moving maybe to our last section around fintech, crypto, and frontier tech. For me, just two very quick predictions, views of the world. I think on the frontier tech side, I won’t make a prediction. I will just tell you all to go and listen to our episodes, the one on infrastructure, which is immediately prior to this one, and the episodes that we’ve had around a couple of other topics including AI, what’s the future of your children, because I think they illustrate a lot of the points that we’re seeing and manifesting themselves over the next year and over the next 2 or 3 years as well beyond that. I feel those tomes are complete in and out of themselves, so you can just go and listen to them. Then my second comment is on crypto. I feel crypto has become of the essence, particularly under the current administration in the US, very favored. Obviously, we are now in a world where crypto is just part of the economic system, and I think we’ll see more and more of that emerging, and in some ways, crypto is becoming mainstream. Question is what blockchains will be the blockchains of the future? Obviously, there’s a bunch of bets put out there. We, ourselves, as Chamaeleon, have one investment in one of the significant bets in the space. But besides that, who’s going to win or not, we feel that we’re past the crypto winter. It’s now mainstream days, and we’ll see a lot more activity in there. Bertrand Schmitt I must say with crypto, I’m a bit confused. As you say, we are past the crypto winter. There is much less uncertainty in regul

Elon Musk is betting big on artificial intelligence. But is this a visionary leap forward, or a high-stakes gamble? His latest move is to merge SpaceX with his A.I. lab xAI, consolidating his companies' finances and laying the groundwork for something even more ambitious: satellite data centres designed to push A.I. development into space.Zoë Grünewald is joined by The Economist's US technology editor Henry Tricks to unpack Musk's moves, what it means for the world's richest man, and whether this enormous bet on A.I. could end up putting his empire on the line. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Zoë Grünewald. Producer: Liam Tait and Sophie Clark. Audio production: Robin Leeburn. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. www.podmasters.co.uk  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GenerativeAIMeetup Mark's Travel Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/@kumajourney11 Mark's Personal Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@markkuczmarski896 Attend a live event: https://genaimeetup.com/ Shashank Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shashu10/  Novacut: https://novacut.ai    Mark and Shashank break down the latest developments in AI from their travels in Fukuoka and Seychelles. They cover Gemini 3.1 Pro matching human performance on the ARC-AGI-1 benchmark at a fraction of the cost, the upcoming ARC-AGI-3 video game-style test, and why only three US companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) seem to be pushing state-of-the-art right now while Meta and xAI deal with leadership shakeups. The conversation moves to OpenAI's GPT 5.3 Codex Spark model running on Cerebras hardware for lightning-fast inference, Abu Dhabi's M42 initiative sequencing 700,000+ genomes and centralizing health records for AI-driven healthcare, and the viral OpenClaw incident where an AI agent wrote a hit piece on a human open-source maintainer who rejected its pull request. They also discuss the Anthropic vs. Pentagon drama over autonomous weapons and mass surveillance restrictions, an ex-Google Maps PM who vibe-coded a Palantir-style intelligence dashboard in a weekend, and their hands-on experiences with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and MCP integrations. The episode wraps with thoughts on agent swarms, the human-in-the-loop problem for taste-driven tasks, and whether we're close to the first solo-founder billion-dollar company powered entirely by AI agents.

The most consequential development highlighted in the episode is Anthropic's refusal to alter its AI contract terms for the US federal government, specifically regarding the prohibition of mass domestic surveillance and the deployment of autonomous lethal robots. Anthropic declined to allow the government unrestricted, legally permitted use of its software, resulting in the cancellation of a $200 million federal contract and the company's designation as a supply chain threat. This sequence underscores ongoing concerns about ethical, operational, and governance risks associated with AI technologies deployed at scale by government agencies. Supporting details reveal that all other major AI providers servicing federal contracts—including OpenAI, Google, and xAI—agreed to the government's revised terms, which permit any legal use without restriction. According to Amy Babinchak, Anthropic's stance was based on reliability and readiness issues in its platform, specifically in domains of domestic surveillance and fully autonomous military systems, which remain controversial from both technical and moral standpoints. The government's response, involving not only contract withdrawal but restrictions on federal contractor usage, demonstrates the gravity of compliance expectations and supply chain security considerations. The episode also addresses practical strategies for MSPs seeking to establish themselves as trusted local providers. James Kernan and Amy Babinchak emphasize consistent community engagement, including recurring events, charitable involvement, and practical low-cost networking tactics such as sponsoring social gatherings at local venues. The importance of consistent marketing, ongoing relationship-building with prospects and partners, and active participation in local business organizations are discussed. Additionally, operational news from the IT sector, such as the moderate decline in wage inflation since 2022 and the continued rise in IT spending, is briefly reviewed, as is product development by vendors like NinjaOne adding asset management capabilities. For MSPs, IT service providers, and technology decision-makers, the episode provides quantifiable insights concerning operational risk, vendor accountability, and compliance tradeoffs. AI adoption at enterprise or governmental levels requires rigorous evaluation of contractual terms, ethical boundaries, and supply chain impact. Local reputation-building demands sustained effort and investment, while operational trends such as wage stabilization and product enhancements reflect current market realities. Taken together, these developments point to the need for increased diligence in risk management, careful vendor selection, and ongoing community-facing operations to achieve sustainable business outcomes.   Topics / Events:   https://businessof.tech/2026/02/02/it-services-market-growth-to-1-09t-coincides-with-declining-wage-inflation/ North America IT Services Market is projected to grow significantly, rising from approximately $602.15 billion in 2025 to about $1.09 trillion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate of 7.72%. Global technology spending is on the rise,  marking a 7.8% increase as generative artificial intelligence drives the surge. Enterprises are focusing on AI talent, with job postings related to AI accounting for 20% of available tech roles Terms of Service – FEDERAL GOVT  AI   - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pentagon-vs-anthropic-an-a-i-agent-slandered/id1528594034?i=1000750653008 https://businessof.tech/2026/02/10/ninjaone-adds-asset-management-zoom-launches-ai-workspace-tool-jumpcloud-opens-vc-arm/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Xai from Beloved Captures is a photographer. Xai de Beloved Captures es una fotógrafa. FOLLOW Xai de Beloved Captures on SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.instagram.com/xai.captures/https://www.instagram.com/belovedcaptures/ FOLLOW FEN on SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/fencorrea/https://www.instagram.com/fencorrea/https://twitter.com/fencorreahttps://fencorrea.weebly.com/bloghttps://www.tiktok.com/@fencorrea FIND FEN'S Books on Amazon/Spotify/YouTube/Bandcamp: https://www.amazon.com/Fernando-E.-E.-Correa-Gonz%C3%A1lez/e/B07221Q1FY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1536059902&sr=8-1 https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dUtrVampVxlHJSXNVaTi9?si=i6kqQ3N_Sv-Rlesi48mHrw  https://www.youtube.com/fencorrea  https://fencorrea.bandcamp.com

President Donald Trump hosts a White House roundtable with major technology leaders, administration officials, and lawmakers to unveil the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, an initiative designed to prevent rising electricity costs for American households as AI infrastructure rapidly expands. The discussion centers on the massive energy demands created by AI data centers and the administration's strategy to ensure those costs are not passed on to consumers. Under the pledge, leading tech companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, and XAI commit to fully funding the electricity generation and infrastructure required to power their AI facilities, including building new power plants and expanding grid capacity. Participants highlight how the agreement aims to expand American energy production while strengthening the power grid, creating skilled labor jobs, and positioning the United States to maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence. Officials emphasize that companies will pay for the energy their operations require and invest in local infrastructure, workforce training, and backup power systems for surrounding communities. Throughout the roundtable, speakers frame the pledge as a partnership between government, industry, and labor to support economic growth, AI innovation, and long term energy stability while protecting American ratepayers from increased electricity costs.

On today's disturbingly dirty episode of Quick Charge, Elon Musk is undoing nearly two decades of decarbonization by pumping out massive amounts of pollution to keep his xAI and Grok slop-machines rolling – and hurting some of America's most vulnerable communities at the same time. Tesla's troubles with pollution and carbon don't end there, either – two of company's biggest buyers of carbon credits are taking their business elsewhere, and the damage to Tesla's bottom line could be in the billions. Plus: it's a record month for Hyundai IONIQ 5 sales, electric semi trucks really do save fleets money, and some cool pictures of Volvo heavy equipment assets getting topped off at the Circle K! And, before you ask: NO! The irony is not lost on me ... but I didn't waste any water making the image, I just copy/pasted it in (he said, defensively). Source Links Tesla loses Toyota and Stellantis from its EU CO2 pool, taking billions with them Elon Musk's xAI is undoing Tesla's climate work all in the name of AI slop Hyundai bucks the trend as IONIQ 5 EV sales surge 33% in record-setting February Real-world test: electric semi trucks can save fleets nearly $160,000 per truck Where do you charge your wheel loader? Try the Circle K! Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. New episodes of Quick Charge are (allegedly) recorded several times per week, most weeks. We'll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don't miss a minute of Electrek's high-voltage podcast series. Got news? Let us know!Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show. If you're considering going solar, it's always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it's free to use, and you won't get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.  Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you'll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

This week we talk about Anthropic, the Department of Defense, and OpenAI.We also discuss red lines, contracts, and lethal autonomous systems.Recommended Book: Empire of AI by Karen HaoTranscriptLethal autonomous weapons, often called lethal autonomous systems, autonomous weapons systems, or just ‘killer robots,' are military hardware that can operate independent of human control, searching for and engaging with targets based on their programming and thus not needing a human being to point it at things or pull the trigger.The specific nature and capabilities of these devices vary substantially from context to content, and even between scholars writing on the subject, but in general these are systems—be they aerial drones, heavy gun emplacements, some kind of mobile rocket launcher, or a human- or dog-shaped robot—that are capable of carrying out tasks and achieving goals without needing constant attention from a human operator.That's a stark contrast with drones that require either a human controlled or what's called a human-in-the-loop in order to make decisions. Some drones and other robots and weapons require full hands-on control, with a human steering them, pointing their weapons, and pulling the trigger, while others are semi-autonomous in that they can be told to patrol a given area and look for specific things, but then they reach out to a human-in-the-loop to make final decisions about whatever they want to do, including and especially weapon-related things; a human has to be the one to drop the bomb or fire the gun in most cases, today.Fully autonomous weapon systems, without a human in the loop, are far less common at this point, in part because it's difficult to create a system so capable that it doesn't require human intervention at times, but also because it's truly dangerous to create such a device.Modern artificial intelligence systems are incredibly powerful, but they still make mistakes, and just as an LLM-based chatbot might muddle its words or add extra fingers to a made-up person in an image it generates, or a step further, might fabricate research referenced in a paper it produces, an AI-controlled weapon system might see targets where there are no targets, or might flag a friendly, someone on its side, or a peaceful, noncombatant human, as a target. And if there's no human-in-the-loop to check the AI's understanding and correct it, that could mean a lot of non-targets being treated like targets, their lives ended by killer robots that gun them down or launch a missile at their home.On a larger scale, AI systems controlling arrays of weapons, or even entire militaries, becoming strategic commanders, could wipe out all human life by sparking a nuclear war.A recent study conducted at King's College London found that in simulated crises, across 21 scenarios, AI systems which thought they had control of nation-state-scale militaries opted for nuclear signaling, escalation, and tactical nuclear weapon use 95% of the time, never once across all simulations choosing to use one of the eight de-escalatory options that were made available to them.All of which suggests to the researchers behind this study that the norm, approaching the level of taboo, associated with nuclear weapons use globally since WWII, among humans at least, may not have carried over to these AI systems, and full-blown nuclear conflict may thus become more likely under AI-driven military conditions.What I'd like to talk about today is a recent confrontation between one AI company—Anthropic—and its client, the US Department of Defense, and the seeming implications of both this conflict, and what happened as a result.—In late-2024, the US Department of Defense—which by the way is still the official title, despite the President calling it the Department of War, since only Congress can change its name—the US DoD partnered with Anthropic to get a version of its Claude LLM-based AI model that could be used by the Pentagon.Anthropic worked with Palantir, which is a data-aggregation and surveillance company, basically, run by Peter Thiel and very favored by this administration, and Amazon Web Services, to make that Claude-for-the-US-military relationship happen, those interconnections allowing this version of the model to be used for classified missions.Anthropic received a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in mid-2025, as did a slew of other US-based AI companies, including Google, xAI, and OpenAI. But while the Pentagon has been funding a bunch of US-based AI companies for this utility, only Claude was reportedly used during the early 2026 raid on Venezuela, during which now-former Venezuelan President Maduro was taken by US forces.Word on the street is that Claude is the only model that the Pentagon has found truly useful for these sorts of operations, though publicly they're saying that investments in all of these models have borne fruit, at least to some degree.So Anthropic's Claude model is being used for classified, military and intelligence purposes by the US government. Anthropic has been happy about this, by all accounts, because that's a fair bit of money, but also being used for these purposes by a government is a pretty big deal—if it's good enough for the US military, after all, many CEOs will see that as a strong indication that Claude is definitely good enough for their intended business purposes.On February 24 of 2026, though, the US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, threatened to remove Anthropic from the DoD's stable of AI systems that they use unless the company allowed the DoD to use Claude for any and all legal purposes—unrestricted use of the model, basically.This threat came with a timeline—accede to these demands by February 27 or be cut from the DoD's supply chain—and the day before that deadline, the 26th, Anthropic's CEO released a statement indicating that the company would not get rid of its red lines that delineated what Claude could and could not be used for, and on the 27th, US President Trump ordered that all US agencies stop using Anthropic tools, and said that he would declare the company a supply chain risk, which would make it illegal for any company doing business with the US government at any level and in any fashion to use Anthropic products or services—a label that's rarely used, and which was previously used by the Trump administration against Chinese tech giant Huawei on the basis that the company might insert spy equipment in communications hardware installed across the US if they were allowed to continue operating in the country.Those red lines that Anthropic's CEO said he wouldn't get rid of, not even for a client as big and important as the US government, and not even in the face of threats by Hegseth, including that he might invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow him to force the company to allow the Pentagon to use Claude however they like, or Trumps threat that the company be blacklisted from not just the government, but from working with a significant chunk of Fortune 500 companies, those red lines include not allowing Claude to be used for controlling autonomous weapon systems, killer robots, basically, and not allowing Claude to be used for surveilling US citizens.The Pentagon signed a contract with Anthropic in which they agreed to these terms, but Hegseth's new demand was that Anthropic sign a new version of the contract in which they allow the US government to use Claude and their other offerings for ‘all legal purposes,' which apparently includes, at least in some cases and contexts, killer robots and mass surveillance.So the Pentagon tried to strong-arm a US-based AI company into allowing them to use their product for purposes the company doesn't consider to be moral, and that led to this situation in which Anthropic is now being phased out from US government use—it'll apparently take about 6 months to do this, and some analysts speculate that timeline is meant to serve as a period in which further negotiation can occur—but either way, it's being phased out and it may even have trouble getting major clients in the future as a result of being blackballed.As all this was happening, OpenAI stepped in and offered its products and services to fill the void left by Anthropic in the US government.OpenAI's CEO has been cozying up to Trump a lot since he regained office, and has positioned the company as a major US asset, too big to fail because then China will win the AI race, basically, so this makes sense. Its CEO released several statements and press releases in the wake of this further cozying, saying that they believe the same things Anthropic does, and that they're not giving up any credibility for doing this because they have the same red lines, no killer robots, no mass surveillance of US citizens.But this is generally assumed to be bunk, because why would the Pentagon agree to the same terms all over again, and with a company that provides, for their purposes and right now, anyway, inferior services instead of the one they just chased out and blackballed, and which was helping them do purposeful, effective things, like kidnapping a foreign leader from a secure facility, today?Instead, what it sounds like is OpenAI is trying to have its cake and eat it too, saying publicly that they don't want their offerings used to control autonomous weapons systems or mass surveil Americans, but instead of writing that into the contract, they've got some basic guardrails baked into their systems, and they are assuming those guardrails will keep any funny business from happening. So it's a sort of gentleman's agreement with their clients that OpenAI products won't be used for mass surveillance or killer robots, rather than something legally binding, as was the case with Anthropic.The response to all this within the tech world has been illustrative of what we might expect in the coming years. Many people, including folks working on these technologies, are halting their use of OpenAI tech in protest, and in some (at this point at least) fewer cases, people are quitting their OpenAI jobs, because they are strongly opposed to these use-cases and would prefer to support a company that takes a strong stand on these sorts of moral issues.Some analysts also wonder if this will ensure the Pentagon only ever has access to inferior AI models because they intentionally threatened and disempowered a key AI industry CEO in public, saying that they had final say over how these tools are used, and many such CEOs are both unaccustomed to such stripping down, but are also doing the work they're doing for ideological reasons—they have beliefs about what the future, as enabled by AI technologies, will look like, and they believe they will play a vital role in making that future happen.The idea, then, is why would they want to work with the Pentagon, or the US government more broadly, if that means no longer being in charge of the destiny of these tools they're putting so much time, effort, and resources into building? Why would they take on a client, even a big, important one, if that means no longer having any grain of control over the future of the world as shaped by the systems they're building?We'll know a bit more about how all this plays out within the next handful of months, as this could serve as a moral differentiator between otherwise near-match products in the AI category, allowing companies like Anthropic to compete, both in terms of clients and in terms of employees, with the likes of OpenAI and xAI by saying, look, we don't want killer robots or mass surveillance and we gave up a LOT, put our money where our mouths are, in support of that moral stance.That could prove to be a serious feather in their cap, despite the initial cost, though it could also be that the pressure the US government is willing and able to apply to them instead serves as a warning to others, and the likes of OpenAI and Google and so on just get better at speaking out of both sides of their mouths on this issue, creating sneakier contracts that allow them to say the same on paper, seeming to take the same moral stance Anthropic did, while behind closed doors allowing their clients to do basically whatever they want with their products, including using them to control killer robots and to mass surveil US citizens.Show Noteshttps://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/artificial-intelligence-under-nuclear-pressure-first-large-scale-kings-study-reveals-how-ai-models-reason-and-escalate-under-crisishttps://www.axios.com/2026/02/26/ai-nuclear-weapons-war-pentagon-scenarioshttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_autonomous_weaponhttps://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/885963/anthropic-dod-pentagon-tech-workers-ai-labs-reacthttps://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/886816/openai-reached-a-new-agreement-with-the-pentagonhttps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/trump-moves-to-ban-anthropic-from-the-us-government/https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-pentagon-ai-dario-amodei-hegseth-0c464a054359b9fdc80cf18b0d4f690chttps://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/whats-really-at-stake-in-the-fight-between-anthropic-and-the-pentagon-d450c1a1https://openai.com/index/our-agreement-with-the-department-of-war/https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/artificial-intelligence-under-nuclear-pressure-first-large-scale-kings-study-reveals-how-ai-models-reason-and-escalate-under-crisishttps://www.axios.com/2026/02/26/ai-nuclear-weapons-war-pentagon-scenarios This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Fighting Words. This year we look at energy arguments, battles and debates: the impact of data centers on power prices, the cost of solar plus storage as baseload power, the “primary energy fallacy” that ignores waste heat, the true cost of small modular reactors, Germany's decision to shut down nuclear, China's dominance of renewable supply chains, solid oxide fuel cells as turbine alternatives, the materiality of demand response, staffing cuts at the EIA, the hype around geothermal and geologic hydrogen, the misplaced fascination with small country energy transitions, satellite vs factor-based oil & gas basin methane emissions, the mostly profitless EV industry, xAI mobile gas plant permits, negligible progress on carbon capture and renewable fuels, and the unfavorable economics of charging my Jeep Wrangler hybrid. Watch the video

Our 235th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news!Recorded on 02/27/2026Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie HarrisFeel free to email us your questions and feedback at andreyvkurenkov@gmail.com and/or hello@gladstone.aiRead out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/In this episode:Model and tool updates highlight Anthropic's Sonnet 4.6 (1M context; strong ARC-AGI-2 results), Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro (major ARC-AGI-2 jump and multimodal demos), xAI's Grok 4.2 beta (multi-agent debate), plus Anthropic's Claude Code “Remote Control” and Perplexity's multi-agent “Computer” coordinator.Compute and business moves include Meta's reported up-to-$100B AMD chip deal with warrant/equity incentives, MatX raising $500M to build specialized transformer chips shipping in 2027, World Labs raising $1B for world-model/3D environment tech, and a new startup raising $100M to simulate/predict human behavior.Infrastructure and geopolitics cover Stargate data-center delays amid OpenAI/Oracle/SoftBank control disputes and cash concerns, and China's plan to scale 7nm/5nm wafer output despite yield and tooling constraints.Research and safety/policy discuss optimizer gains from masked updates, “deep thinking tokens” as a reasoning-effort signal, LLM attractor-state behaviors in bot-to-bot chats, mechanistic interpretability of counting/line-wrapping, methods to map task difficulty to human time horizons, plus Anthropic–Pentagon contract tensions, Anthropic's report on distillation attacks (DeepSeek/Moonshot/Minimax), and OpenAI's report on disrupting malicious use.A thank you to our current sponsors:Box - visit Box.com/AI to learn moreODSC AI - go to odsc.ai/east and use promo code LWAI for an additional 15% off your pass to ODSC AI East 2026.Factor - head to factormeals.com/lwai50off and use code lwai50off to get 50 percent off and free breakfast for a yearTimestamps:(00:00:10) Intro / Banter(00:01:52) News PreviewTools & Apps(00:03:20) Anthropic releases Sonnet 4.6 | TechCrunch(00:11:24) Google Rolls Out Latest AI Model, Gemini 3.1 Pro - CNET(00:14:54) Elon Musk says Grok 4.20 public beta is now available: Capabilities of AI chatbot offered by xAI - The Times of India(00:18:06) Anthropic just released a mobile version of Claude Code called Remote Control | VentureBeat(00:21:01) Perplexity announces "Computer," an AI agent that assigns work to other AI agents - Ars TechnicaApplications & Business(00:23:40) Meta strikes up to $100B AMD chip deal as it chases 'personal superintelligence' | TechCrunch(00:27:05) Nvidia challenger AI chip startup MatX raised $500M | TechCrunch(00:31:00) World Labs lands $1B, with $200M from Autodesk, to bring world models into 3D workflows | TechCrunch(00:33:07) Simile Raises $100 Million for AI Aiming to Predict Human Behavior(00:33:52) Stargate AI data centers for OpenAI reportedly delayed by squabbles between partners — sources say OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank disagreed on who would have ultimate control of the planned data centers(00:36:43) China to increase leading-edge chip output by 5x in two years, report claims — aims to lift 7nm and 5nm production to 100,000 wafers per month, targeting half a million monthly by 2030Research & Advancements(00:40:33) On Surprising Effectiveness of Masking Updates in Adaptive Optimizers(00:48:03) Think Deep, Not Just Long: Measuring LLM Reasoning Effort via Deep-Thinking Tokens(00:54:52) models have some pretty funny attractor states(01:01:41) When Models Manipulate Manifolds: The Geometry of a Counting Task(01:05:16) BRIDGE: Predicting Human Task Completion Time From Model Performance(01:12:00) NESSiE: The Necessary Safety Benchmark -- Identifying Errors that should not Exist(01:13:15) The least understood driver of AI progress(01:21:45) The Persona Selection Model: Why AI Assistants might Behave like HumansPolicy & Safety(01:25:04) Anthropic CEO Amodei says Pentagon's threats 'do not change our position' on AI(01:33:04) Musk's xAI, Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems(01:34:17) Detecting and preventing distillation attacks(01:38:36) OpenAI details expanding efforts to disrupt malicious use of AI in new report - SiliconANGLESee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

MRKT Matrix - Monday, March 2nd S&P 500 teeters, cutting earlier losses as traders buy the dip after U.S.-Iran attacks (CNBC) Jamie Dimon expects cyber, terror attacks in retaliation for Iran strikes (CNBC) Jamie Dimon Says Iran Conflict Won't Be Major Inflationary Hit (WSJ) Hedge funds rethink emerging market bets after US-Israel strikes on Iran (FT) Geopolitics Bets Hit a Record on Polymarket as Iran War Escalates (Bloomberg) Mortgage rates jump sharply higher after Iran strikes, reversing last week's decline (CNBC) Apple Debuts iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air, Starting Product Wave (Bloomberg) NVIDIA Announces Strategic Partnership With Lumentum to Develop State-of-the-Art Optics Technology (Nvidia) Nvidia's stock is stuck. Morgan Stanley says it's time to buy again (CNBC) Anthropic's Claude Goes Down Amid ‘Unprecedented Demand' (Bloomberg) Musk's X, xAI to Pay Back $17.5 Billion Debt as SpaceX IPO Nears (Bloomberg) --- Subscribe to our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://riskreversalmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MRKT Matrix by RiskReversal Media is a daily AI powered podcast bringing you the top stories moving financial markets Story curation by RiskReversal, scripts by Perplexity Pro, voice by ElevenLabs

Sam Altman's OpenAI was reportedly aware of potential danger from the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter, yet the company's privacy thresholds prohibited employees from alerting law enforcement of the disturbing content. Instead, nine people were killed. In the aftermath of the update, federal AI and innovations minister, Evan Solomon called out the powerhouse behind ChatGPT, saying their failure to act was a failure in and of itself. Solomon is set to meet with Altman this week to discuss the incident further. Host Caryn Ceolin speaks with Ebrahim Bagheri, a professor at the University of Toronto who founded and directed the NSERC CREATE initiative on responsible AI. They discuss what AI companies do when they find troublesome behaviours, the need to respect privacy, and what the government might be able to do to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 364, “Crying Out in Prayer to God,” Kim discusses the incident in 2 Chronicles 32:20 when King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah cried out to the Lord on behalf of the people of Judah. We all encounter times of extreme danger, pain, and concern, when a guttural cry is the only kind of prayer we can utter. Kim shares multiple scriptures she prays in times of crisis.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Chronicles 32:1-23, with 20-21 as the focal verses:   20 Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to God in heaven. 21 And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace to his own land. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.     WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   When you truly cry out to the Lord, what scriptures are your default?   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24) 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. (Romans 8:26-27) 11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. (Psalm 91:11) 7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. 9 Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me….12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you….17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Psalm 51:7-10, 12, 17) 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) 7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28) EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings (1 & 2 Chronicles) PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III. xAI. (2026). Grok [Large language model]. https://x.ai/grok/chat      "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

We chart how AI leapt from chat to code, why product is now the leverage point, and how startups can market to algorithms without losing trust. David Yakobovitch shares hard-won views on moats, data, defense tech, and the immigrant energy powering American dynamism.• leaders and market share across Google, OpenAI, Anthropic• vibe coding benefits, code quality risks, review loops• prompt libraries, agent swarms, PRD automation• weekly shipping pace and the SaaS squeeze• marketing to algorithms, buyer agents, bot traffic control• pilot to production gap, rise of forward-deployed engineers• moats beyond models via domain, workflow, and proprietary data• China's progress, open source, and on-device AI bets• defense tech, swarms, and physical AI opportunities• endurance mindset, yoga discipline, and founder stamina• personal workflows across Gemini, Claude, and OpenAI• investing across seed and growth with outcome focusThe model wars aren't theoretical anymore—they're shaping how software gets built, shipped, and sold. We sit down with David Yakobovitch, GP at Data Power Capital and former global product lead at Google, to map where AI is actually working in 2026: vibe coding that shrinks teams, agent swarms that harden quality, and product-led moats that outlast model churn. David pulls back the curtain on how Claude, OpenAI, and Google now compete neck and neck on code and content, why prompt engineering as a job vanished while prompts became more valuable, and how forward-deployed engineers bridge the stubborn pilot-to-production gap that has haunted data projects for a decade.We explore go-to-market in a world where buyer agents screen your pitch before a human blinks. That means structuring materials for machines, tuning sites for humans and crawlers, and building demos that agents can evaluate safely. We also go into what happens as models commoditize: the moat shifts to domain depth, proprietary offline data, secure connectors, and measurable workflow outcomes. From small language models running on CPUs in air‑gapped containers to Apple's on-device bet, the edge is back—especially for Europe's sovereignty demands and public sector buyers.Then we widen the lens. Defense and “physical AI” blend hardware and autonomy: swarms, hypersonics, and resilient edge compute that must perform in the real world. David shares why he's backing both the silicon and the software, and how American dynamism—powered by immigrants and impatient builders—remains a durable advantage. Along the way, we trade notes on multi-model workflows, open source momentum, China's narrowed gap, and the endurance mindset that carries teams through the disappointment dip after the first shiny demo.David Yakoboitch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidyakobovitch/David Yakobovitch is a General Partner and Managing Director of DataPower Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm investing across Applied AI, Inference Infrastructure, and DeepTech.  With a portfolio of over 36 companies, David is an investor in the most defining frontier technology firms of our era, including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Neuralink, DataBricks, Groq, Cruesoe, Anduril and SpaceX. David is a leading voice as the host of HumAIn, a podcast focused on Applied and Responsible AI.  Previously, David served as a Global Product Lead aWebsite: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: sparkofages.podcast@position2.com

The Space Show Presents OPEN LINES, Sunday, 2-15-26Quick SummaryThe Space Show Wisdom Team discussed Elon Musk's decision to pivot SpaceX's focus from Mars to the Moon, examining both technical and business reasons for the shift. Ajay presented technical arguments against Starship's capability to achieve significant payload delivery to orbit, while others debated whether this pivot represented a permanent shift away from Mars colonization goals. The discussion explored potential business motivations, including the need for a public IPO to secure funding for ambitious lunar projects like orbital data centers, and considered how regulatory and legal challenges might impact SpaceX's plans. The panel also examined how this pivot might affect public perception and investor confidence, particularly given Musk's previous statements about prioritizing Mars over the Moon.Detailed SummaryThe Team discussed a recent article by Will Lockett, who critiques Elon Musk's pivot from Mars to the Moon. Ajay found the article on Substack, but most of it is behind a paywall. Phil was able to access the full article with a free account. The group debated Lockett's credentials and the validity of his claims, noting that he is a liberal commentator who has been critical of both Musk and Trump. They also discussed the upcoming schedule for the Space Show, including a program about Shenzhou 20 debris scares and a discussion on spaceports with Karen Jones of the Aerospace Corp.The group discussed a critical article about Starship's performance, where the author labeled it a failure due to boil-off issues that prevent sufficient refueling in orbit for Mars and moon missions. Philip explained that the analysis was based on assumptions including a 1% boil-off rate and weekly launches, with the depot reaching a maximum capacity of 360 tons before becoming a boil-off replenishment system. The discussion explored potential solutions, including the use of cryo-coolers to prevent boil-off, though this would require significant solar panels that could affect orbital decay rates. David provided background on the author, Will Lockett, describing him as a climate and political journalist who critically analyzes various issues, including SpaceX and Elon Musk.The group discussed Starship's payload capabilities, with Phil explaining his analysis of test flight data which suggested Starship could carry 20 tons to orbit, significantly less than the 100 tons claimed by SpaceX. Ajay presented his company's system-of-systems calculations which confirmed the challenges of achieving high payload fractions without multiple refuelings. The discussion clarified that payload capabilities are evolving with each test flight, and Marshall noted that SpaceX's own documentation shows payload capacities increasing from 15 tons for Block 1 to 35 tons for Block 2, with Block 3 targeting 100 tons.The group discussed the challenges and uncertainties associated with the Starship rocket's development, particularly in comparison to the Falcon Heavy. Ajay emphasized the importance of a robust solution, advocating for the Falcon Heavy due to its proven track record and lower risk, despite its lower payload capacity. He expressed concerns about Starship's landing capabilities on the moon and its overall reliability, stating he would not feel comfortable putting astronauts on board even after 2-3 years of development and testing. Phil clarified that astronauts would only be at risk during the descent and landing phase, not the orbital transfer. Doug suggested that successful cargo landings might be a step towards gaining Ajay's confidence in risking human lives.The team discussed concerns about SpaceX's Starship design for lunar missions, particularly its tall and slender shape which Dr. raised as a potential issue for stability during landing. Phil and Doug countered that SpaceX's engineering capabilities and adaptive landing systems could overcome these challenges, while Marshall suggested that emergency abort options could be implemented to prevent tip-over scenarios. The discussion concluded with a debate about SpaceX's strategic pivot to focus on lunar missions rather than Mars, with some participants suggesting this might be due to internal challenges and the need to demonstrate practical business applications to investors, while others noted that this pivot could help solidify SpaceX's hold on the lunar lander system.The group discussed Elon Musk's shift in focus from Mars to the Moon, with John Jossy highlighting practical advantages like frequent launch windows and shorter transit times. Doug explained that Musk's timeline for Mars remains unchanged, with crewed missions still targeted for 2031 or 2033. The discussion also touched on potential lunar business opportunities, such as orbital data centers using lunar regolith, and Bob Zubrin's disappointment with Musk's pivot to the Moon. Philip suggested that Zubrin should have kept his options open and not put too much emphasis on Musk's plans.The group discussed Elon Musk's shift in focus from Mars to the moon, with Ajay arguing that the moon should be prioritized as a testing ground for space colonization before attempting Mars. Philip countered that Mars offers more scientific opportunities and geopolitical significance, while David noted that Musk's decision to align with government moon programs rather than pursue a private Mars mission has surprised many who viewed him as a leader in independent space exploration. The discussion highlighted a shift in public perception about Musk's space ambitions and the broader debate over lunar versus Martian exploration priorities.The group discussed Elon Musk's decision to pivot SpaceX's focus from Mars to the Moon, which David attributed to Musk's experience with public company scrutiny and the upcoming IPO. They explored how Musk's controlling ownership of SpaceX (42%) and Tesla (12.5%) gives him significant influence over both companies, though the potential merger of XAI into SpaceX could change that balance. The discussion concluded that while environmental groups and scientific communities might oppose commercial operations on Mars and the Moon, legal challenges would likely face significant hurdles, though they could potentially increase costs and cause delays for SpaceX.The team discussed SpaceX's pivot from Mars to the Moon, with Marshall and Doug agreeing that this shift could help mitigate legal and environmental concerns surrounding Mars missions. Ryan Watson joined the call and shared his perspective that the economic potential of the Moon makes it a more attractive focus for space exploration. The conversation also covered SpaceX's decision to go public, with David explaining that this move provides liquidity for investors and allows for controlled share releases. Finally, Doug and Phil discussed the technical aspects of mass drivers and the feasibility of producing solar cells from lunar regolith, with Philip offering to present a standalone show on this topic in the future.The group discussed technical challenges and feasibility of launching data centers to the moon using mass drivers, with Doug proposing a compact design of accordion-folded solar panels and a low-mass processing unit. Marshall shared details about the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier electronic catapult system capable of launching at 3G forces, while Bill raised concerns about the structural challenges of deploying solar panels under such acceleration. The discussion concluded with Ajay sharing insights from a recent meeting with a senior advisor to Senator Scott, who expressed interest in space initiatives but raised concerns about launch cadence, and plans for upcoming shows including an interview with astronomer Andy Fraknoi about the lunar eclipse on March 1st.Special thanks to our sponsors:American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Helix Space in Luxembourg, Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, Astrox Corporation, Dr. Haym Benaroya of Rutgers University, The Space Settlement Progress Blog by John Jossy, The Atlantis Project, and Artless EntertainmentOur Toll Free Line for Live Broadcasts: 1-866-687-7223 (Not in service at this time)For real time program participation, email Dr. Space at: drspace@thespaceshow.com for instructions and access.The Space Show is a non-profit 501C3 through its parent, One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc. To donate via Pay Pal, use:To donate with Zelle, use the email address: david@onegiantleapfoundation.org.If you prefer donating with a check, please make the check payable to One Giant Leap Foundation and mail to:One Giant Leap Foundation, 11035 Lavender Hill Drive Ste. 160-306 Las Vegas, NV 89135Upcoming Programs:Broadcast 4512: Zoom: Dr. Andrew Fraknoi | Sunday 01 Mar 2026 1200PM PTGuests:Andrew FraknoiZoom: Astronomer “Andy” Fraknoi talks upcoming lunar eclipse and lots moreSpace Show weekly schedule pending. See Upcoming Show Menu on the right side of our home page, www.thespaceshow.com. The weekly newsletter will be posted on Substack when completed. Get full access to The Space Show-One Giant Leap Foundation at doctorspace.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter more to the American dream than any new software ever could. Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to back down in AI safeguards fight Musk's xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude How will OpenAI compete? — Benedict Evans My first vibe coding project! Anthropic Links AI Agent With Tools for Investment Banking, HR THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS QuitGPT is going viral — 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for these AI rivals IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat OpenAI's first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ChatGPT spits out surprising insight in particle physics "Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels

What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter more to the American dream than any new software ever could. Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to back down in AI safeguards fight Musk's xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude How will OpenAI compete? — Benedict Evans My first vibe coding project! Anthropic Links AI Agent With Tools for Investment Banking, HR THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS QuitGPT is going viral — 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for these AI rivals IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat OpenAI's first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ChatGPT spits out surprising insight in particle physics "Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels

What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter more to the American dream than any new software ever could. Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to back down in AI safeguards fight Musk's xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude How will OpenAI compete? — Benedict Evans My first vibe coding project! Anthropic Links AI Agent With Tools for Investment Banking, HR THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS QuitGPT is going viral — 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for these AI rivals IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat OpenAI's first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ChatGPT spits out surprising insight in particle physics "Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels

What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter more to the American dream than any new software ever could. Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to back down in AI safeguards fight Musk's xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude How will OpenAI compete? — Benedict Evans My first vibe coding project! Anthropic Links AI Agent With Tools for Investment Banking, HR THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS QuitGPT is going viral — 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for these AI rivals IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat OpenAI's first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ChatGPT spits out surprising insight in particle physics "Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels

What happens when the creator of Stack Overflow decides he's going to take on rural poverty with a guaranteed minimum income—and bankrolls it himself? Find out why Jeff Atwood believes AI and philanthropy might matter more to the American dream than any new software ever could. Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to back down in AI safeguards fight Musk's xAI and Pentagon reach deal to use Grok in classified systems Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude How will OpenAI compete? — Benedict Evans My first vibe coding project! Anthropic Links AI Agent With Tools for Investment Banking, HR THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS QuitGPT is going viral — 700,000 users are reportedly ditching ChatGPT for these AI rivals IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares tank 13% on Anthropic programming language threat OpenAI's first ChatGPT gadget could be a smart speaker with a camera ChatGPT spits out surprising insight in particle physics "Clavicular was mid jestergooning when a group of Foids came and spiked his Cortisol levels

SpaceX. OpenAI. Anthropic. The companies everyone wants to own but can't buy on the share market. In this episode, we unpack how private equity works, why the biggest companies are staying private for longer, and how the Pengana Private Equity Trust (ASX:PE1) gives ASX investors exposure to SpaceX and 500+ other private companies.In this episode:0:00 SpaceX, IPO rumours & why private markets matter2:10 The economics of space6:01 Why companies are staying private longer10:51 Private equity 101: how it works14:03 Has private equity outperformed?18:59 Why PE1 is structured as a listed investment trust21:35 PE1 performance, buybacks & distributions24:41 Beyond SpaceX: AI exposure, GROQ & compoundersStocks & ETFs mentioned: Pengana Private Equity Trust (ASX:PE1), SpaceX (private), OpenAI (private), Anthropic (private), xAI (private), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS), Spice World (private), GROQ (private)None of Pengana Private Equity Trust (“PE1”), Pengana Investment Management Limited (ABN 69 063 081 612, AFSL 219 462) (“Responsible Entity”), Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P., nor any of their related entities guarantees the repayment of capital or any particular rate of return from PE1. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance, the value of investments can go up and down. This document has been prepared by the Responsible Entity and does not take into account a reader's investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation. It is general information only and should not be considered investment advice and should not be relied on as an investment recommendation.Pengana Investment Management Limited (Pengana) (ABN 69 063 081 612, AFSL 219 462) is the issuer of units in the Pengana Private Equity Trust (ARSN 630 923 643) (the Trust). Before acting on any information contained within this report a person should consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to their objectives, financial situation and needs. An investment in the Trust is subject to investment risk including a possible delay in repayment and loss of income and principal invested.———Want to get involved in the podcast? Record a voice note or send us a message.And come and join the conversation in the Equity Mates Facebook Discussion Group.———Want more Equity Mates? Across books, podcasts, video and email, however you want to learn about investing – [we've got you covered.Keep up with the news moving markets with our daily newsletter and podcast (Apple | Spotify)We're particularly excited to share our latest show: Basis PointsListen to the podcast (Apple | [Spotify)Watch on YouTubeRead the monthly email———Looking for some of our favourite research tools?Download our free Basics of ETF handbookOr our free 4-step stock checklistFind company information on TIKRResearch reports from Good ResearchTrack your portfolio with Sharesight———In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Equity Mates Investing acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. ———Equity Mates Investing is a product of Equity Mates Media.This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1896, critics claimed the bicycle was "the devil's advance agent." In 1860, doctors swore trains traveling over 30 mph caused "instant insanity." Today, the panic has a new face and a $20 million price tag. CALL 1-774-462-5667 Boost This Episode: Grab Sats with River!⚡ Strike Makes it Quick it Grab Sats in 100s of Countries Boost with FountainWeb Zap This Episode: Web Zap the Show However you Want!Become a Member:Monthly Jupiter.Party Discount - Only for The Launch!Annual Jupiter.Party Discount - Launch Exclusive! Show Notes: Tech News — AI Regulation & Lobbying Anthropic to Donate $20M to AI Regulation-Backed PAC (Reuters)Anthropic CEO Pushes Regulation Favoring Big Companies (Reason)Context: Anthropic & OpenAI Plan IPO (YouTube)Anthropic CEO: AI Will Surpass Humans SoonClaude Identifies as DeepSeek — stevibe on XAnthropic Can De-Anonymize Users — Lukasz Olejnik on XAI's Biggest Builders Are Now Its Biggest Lobbyists (Forbes)Past Technology PanicsDoes the Bicycle Make Women Cruel?Edison Brings Electricity to New York CityThe 1912 War on Fake PhotosWar of the Worlds Panic Was Anti-Radio PropagandaVictorian Fear of Railway MadnessReese's / Hershey StoryReese's Family Member Accuses Hershey of Cheaper IngredientsGrandson of Reese's Inventor Criticizes Hershey (AP News)Obama & AliensObama Says Aliens Are Real (Short)Obama Clarifies Alien CommentsMusicDirt and Sand — Strange Love

A Pew Research Center study shows 54% of teens between 13 and 17 years old use chatbots for school assignments, a California judge dismisses a trade secrets lawsuit from xAI against OpenAI, and Japan’s antitrust authority raids Microsoft Japan’s offices over suspected violations of the antimonopoly act with Azure. MP3 Please SUBSCRIBE HERE for freeContinue reading "Study Shows Over 50% of Teens Use Chatbots for Schoolwork – DTH"

Charles Steele reflects on "more than two decades in private equity, banking," combined with "public service roles, including advising Tony Blair," and how these experiences led him to a late but powerful discovery: "the best way to really find purpose in life is to be creative, to make stuff." He explains that "the things I'm writing about now I am only able to write about because of what I spent the last two decades doing," and how this realization became a turning point. He describes how stepping outside traditional career paths creates "periods where you have perspective," and how "follow your curiosity" eventually brought him back to the ideas that mattered in his youth. He shares that "in the last five years, I feel like I've become a student again" and that this shift awakened a deeper understanding of work, mission, and meaning. Charles discusses the discipline behind creative work: "writing is not writing. Writing is rewriting," and how the creative act is "one of making mistakes, learning from them, getting better." He also explains the importance of reframing difficulty, saying, "if it was an easy thing to do, then everyone would do it," and why maintaining "a sense of humor" matters when navigating the inevitable "peaks and troughs." Turning to Elon Musk, Charles argues that Musk is "far more different than most people would imagine." He explains that Musk always says, "when I talk you don't need to read between the lines, just read the lines," and that understanding him requires stepping outside our assumptions: "you have to step out of your shoes and step into his shoes." Charles outlines Musk's worldview, guided by what Musk calls "a philosophy of curiosity." Musk believes "the universe is the answer," and that progress comes from learning to "ask better questions" so we can "increase our consciousness" as a civilization. Charles describes how Musk's companies, from Tesla to SpaceX to XAI, are designed as "civilizationally positive" efforts to "increase the scope and scale of consciousness." He explains Musk's use of first-principles thinking: "you need every time to go back to look at your assumptions," then "make a conjecture" and "try and prove that your theory is wrong." This mindset also shapes how Musk builds organizations: through mission, product obsession, and "the rate of innovation," a culture in which people "work extremely hard" because they believe deeply in the purpose. Charles closes by stressing the importance of alignment and risk-taking: that leaders must understand "your risk tolerance," think in "a range of different outcomes," and recognize that this discipline "really helps you to think about how much risk you're willing to take on for what return." Get Charles' book, The Curious Mind of Elon Musk, here: https://charlessteel.com/book/ Claim your free gift: Free gift #1 McKinsey & BCG winning resume www.FIRMSconsulting.com/resumePDF Free gift #2 Breakthrough Decisions Guide with 25 AI Prompts www.FIRMSconsulting.com/decisions Free gift #3 Five Reasons Why People Ignore Somebody www.FIRMSconsulting.com/owntheroom Free gift #4 Access episode 1 from Build a Consulting Firm, Level 1 www.FIRMSconsulting.com/build Free gift #5 The Overall Approach used in well-managed strategy studies www.FIRMSconsulting.com/OverallApproach Free gift #6 Get a copy of Nine Leaders in Action, a book we co-authored with some of our clients: www.FIRMSconsulting.com/gift

-OpenAI has successfully convinced the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's xAI, accusing the company of stealing its trade secrets. -Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will reportedly give Anthropic until Friday to drop certain guardrails for military use, as reported by Axios. -Uber is one step closer to going airborne. On Wednesday, the company previewed its air taxi booking service ahead of an expected launch in Dubai later this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we're talking about the war for AI talent. Right now, the hottest job market on the planet is for AI researchers. And the vast majority of these people are concentrated into a small number of hugely valuable, extremely fast-growing companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of which are now paying some of the highest salaries in the history of tech to poach from one another. We've been dying to really dig in and try to unpack what's going on with all these talent moves in AI. So we brought on Verge senior AI reporter Hayden Field, who's been covering the revolving door of the AI industry really closely and also the broader culture that's motivating workers to jump ship.  Links: What's behind the mass exodus at xAI? | The Verge OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI | The Verge Two more xAI co-founders leave after the SpaceX merger | The Verge AI safety leader says 'world is in peril' and quits to study poetry | BBC OpenAI is making the mistakes Facebook made. I quit. | NYT Anthropic's chief on AI: ‘We don't know if the models are conscious' | NYT Meet the one woman Anthropic trusts to teach AI morals | WSJ OpenAI plans fourth-quarter IPO in race to beat Anthropic to market | WSJ Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk is rapidly losing founders and engineers at his precious little xAI. And he's not the only one: OpenAI and Anthropic have also lost key players, whose resignations are worded ominously to say the least. But hey, at least Chinese robots are coming to snip our butts, right? Also this week's bonus episode is pure goofy chaos. Support us and get bonus content, ad-free versions and more plus your first 7 days free at https://benandemilshow.com ***THE SOUTHWEST COMPANION PASS IS BACK GET IT HERE: https://www.cardratings.com/bestcards/featured-credit-cards?src=691608&shnq=520080,4028088,4048122,4028085,3006151,4048149,4028089,4048084&var2= The newest acid video is out now so check it out! https://youtu.be/7vkFY3f5kkw WATCH THE LATEST EPISODE OF EMIL'S NEW SHOW! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHG9iIjhXvI OUR NEW CREDIT CARD SITE IS LIVE!!! Go get that AMEX personal card before it's gone! https://thecreditcardlist.com Give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it! And please leave us a comment! It helps us! ***Ben's new movies and tv podcast with Dillon is OUT NOW! GO WATCH the latest episode on our TOP MOVIES OF 2025: https://youtu.be/tbC-cMqcby8?si=tO0NK0PmpN2187ir **CHECK OUT EMIL'S LIVESTREAMS HERE: https://www.youtube.com/emilderosa __ SOME OTHER VIDEOS YOU MAY ENJOY: That's Cringe of Cody Ko: https://youtu.be/dTbEk0pVh2w Our AUSTIN VIDEO: https://youtu.be/yGSs56bFzRU Our episode with Kyla Scanlon: https://youtu.be/cIHWkY35cuc Big Tech is out of ideas (ft. ED ZITRON): https://youtu.be/zBvVGHZBpMw Arguing with a millionaire (ft. Chris Camillo): https://youtu.be/1ZUWTkWV_MM We bought suits HERE: https://youtu.be/_cM1XqA9n2U ***LINK TO OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/CjujBt8g ***Subscribe to Emil's Substack: https://substack.com/@emilderosa ***Trade with Ben at https://tradertreehouse.com __ FABRIC: Apply in minutes to help protect your family at meetfabric.com/BAES with promo code BAES. FACTOR: Head to factormeals.com/baes50off and use code baes50off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year for new subscribers. HIMS HAIR: For simple, online access to personalized and affordable care for Hair Loss, ED, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/BAES for your free online visit. __ Follow us on instagram! @ benandemilshow @ bencahn @ emilderosa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We kick things off in FOLLOW UP with the ongoing "nuclear war" between Automattic and WP Engine, where discovery has revealed Matt Mullenweg's alleged hit list of competitors and a desperate attempt to bully payment processors—because nothing says "open source" like an eight-percent royalty shakedown. Meanwhile, the Harvard Business Review confirmed what we already knew: AI isn't reducing our work; it's just compressing it until we're all working through lunch and burning out faster while Polymarket turns our collective brain rot into a literal "attention market" where you can bet on Elon's mindshare.Transitioning to IN THE NEWS, Elon has officially pivoted SpaceX from Mars to the Moon, presumably because building a "self-growing lunar city" is easier than admitting the Red Planet is hard, though his xAI all-hands rant about "ancient alien catapults" suggests he's been staring at the sun too long. Between X allegedly taking blue-check lunch money from sanctioned Iranian leaders, Meta facing trials for creating "predator-friendly hunting grounds," and Russia finally pulling the plug on WhatsApp, the internet is looking more like a digital dumpster fire than ever. Add in Discord leaking 70,000 government IDs, OpenAI shoving ads into ChatGPT while safety researchers flee the building like it's on fire, and a "cognitive debt" crisis eroding our ability to think, and you've got a recipe for a tech-induced psychosis that even crypto-funded human trafficking can't outpace.In MEDIA CANDY, we're wondering about the soft-core porn intro in the latest Star Trek: Starfleet Academy while Apple buys the total rights to Severance for seventy million dollars—because in-house production is the only way to keep those ballooning budgets under control. Super Bowl trailer season gave us a glimpse of The Mandalorian and Grogu and a Project Hail Mary teaser, while Babylon 5 has finally landed on YouTube for free, proving that even 90s serialized sci-fi eventually finds its way to the clearance bin.Over in APPS & DOODADS, Meta Quest is nagging us for our birthdays like a needy relative, while Roblox had to scrub a mass-shooting simulator—because "AI plus human safety teams" is apparently just code for "we missed it until it hit the forums." Ring's Super Bowl ad for "Search Party" accidentally terrified everyone by revealing a mass surveillance network for pets that's a slippery slope toward a police state, and Waymo is now paying DoorDashers ten bucks just to walk over and close the car doors that autonomous tech still can't figure out.Wrapping up with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, we dive into the Mandalorian Hasbro reveal where Sigourney Weaver's action figure comes with no accessories because her existence is enough of a flex. We explore the grim reality of "RentAHuman," where humans are paid pittance to pretend AI agents are actually doing work, and look at "Trash Talk Audio," which sells a $125 microphone made out of a literal old telephone for that authentic Gen-X "get off the line, I'm expecting a call" aesthetic. From Marcia Lucas finally venting about the prequels and a rare book catalog specifically for our aging generation, we're reminded that while the future is a chaotic mess of "GeoSpy" AI and corporate reshuffling at Disney, at least we still have our cynical memories and some free versions of Roller Coaster Tycoon to keep us from losing it completely.Sponsors:CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSDeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/733FOLLOW UPAutomattic planned to target 10 competitors with royalty fees, WP Engine claims in new filingAI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Intensifies ItPolymarket To Offer Attention Markets In Partnership With Kaito AIIsrael Arrests Members of Military for Placing Polymarket Bets Using Inside Information on Upcoming StrikesIN THE NEWSUnable to Reach Mars, Musk Does the Most Musk Thing PossibleWe'll Find the Remnants of Ancient Alien Civilizations': Read Musk's Gibberish Rant from His xAI All-Hands MeetingElon Musk's X Appears to Be Violating US Sanctions by Selling Premium Accounts to Iranian LeadersMeta Faces Two Key Trials That Could Change Social Media ForeverWhatsApp is now fully blocked in RussiaRussia is restricting access to Telegram, one of its most popular social media apps. Here's what we knowDOJ may face investigation for pressuring Apple, Google to remove apps for tracking ICE agentsDiscord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings GloballyDiscord says hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 usersFree Tool Says it Can Bypass Discord's Age Verification Check With a 3D ModelTesting ads in ChatGPTOpenAI Researcher Quits, Warns Its Unprecedented ‘Archive of Human Candor' Is DangerousOpenAI Fires Top Safety Exec Who Opposed ChatGPT's “Adult Mode”Anthropic AI Safety Researcher Warns Of World ‘In Peril' In ResignationMusk's xAI loses second co-founder in two daysAmerica Isn't Ready for What AI Will Do to JobsMonologue: No, Something Big Isn't ComingThe Scientist Who Predicted AI Psychosis Has a Grim Forecast of What's Going to Happen NextCrypto-Funded Human Trafficking Is ExplodingMEDIA CANDYShrinkingStar Trek: Starfleet AcademyPoor ThingsProject Hail Mary | Final TrailerMinions & Monsters | Official TrailerDisclosure Day | Big Game SpotThe Mandalorian and Grogu | A New Journey Begins | In Theaters May 22Babylon 5 Is Now Free to Watch On YouTubeApple acquires all rights to ‘Severance,' will produce future seasons in-houseOptimizing your TVAPPS & DOODADSTumbler Ridge Shooter Created Mall Shooting Simulator in RobloxHere's how to disable Ring's creepy Search Party featureWaymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving CarsTikTok US launches a local feed that leverages a user's exact locationApple just released iOS 26.3 alongside updates for the Mac, iPad and Apple WatchTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingWe Call It ImagineeringYour First Look at Hasbro's 'Mandalorian and Grogu' Figures Is Here (Exclusive)I Tried RentAHuman, Where AI Agents Hired Me to Hype Their AI StartupsTrash Talk AudioRoger Reacts to Star Wars - A New HopeMarcia Lucas Finally Speaks Out | Icons Unearthed: Unplugged (FULL INTERVIEW)What's wrong with the prequels?Rare Books, Gen X editionGeoSpyCLOSING SHOUT-OUTSRobert Tinney, who painted iconic Byte magazine covers, RIPBud CortSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Did you see Ring's Super Bowl ad and see happy puppies reunited with their owners? Or did you see the seeds of a complete, always-on surveillance nightmare coming for us all? David and Nilay discuss which is the right answer, why so many people don't want to trust tech companies, and why Ring might not care much about the difference. After that, the hosts discuss the ads coming to ChatGPT, the surprising number of AI executives quitting their jobs and issuing dire warnings on the way out, and the fake ad for OpenAI gadgets. In the lightning round, it's time for an extra long Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest Ferrari EV, the future of Siri, and more. Further reading: Jeffrey Epstein's digital cleanup crew  Jeffrey Epstein might not have created /pol/, but he helped carry out its mission Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance  Wyze is sticking it to Ring Sen. Markey calls on Amazon to “discontinue” Ring monitoring features Ring's new Search Party feature is on by default; should you opt out? Ring launches upgraded cameras with Retinal Vision 4K recording What the Guthrie case reveals about your ‘deleted' doorbell footage  FBI releases recovered footage from Nancy Guthrie's Nest cam  OpenAI's first hardware slips to 2027 OpenAI's supposedly ‘leaked' Super Bowl ad with ear buds and a shiny orb was a hoax  Two more xAI co-founders are among those leaving after the SpaceX merger  OpenAI reportedly disbanded its Mission Alignment team OpenAI fired exec who opposed ‘adult mode'  Read an Anthropic AI safety lead's exit letter: 'The world is in peril' Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw.  What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn't Know, Either ChatGPT's cheapest options now show you ads  Here are the brands bringing ads to ChatGPT  Claude gets more free features to capitalize on ChatGPT ads Ex-OpenAI researcher has “deep reservations” about its approach to ads Brendan Carr is a Dummy theme submitted by Michiel Vanhoudt on BlueSky FTC says it's ‘not the speech police' in letter warning Apple News about its alleged promotion of left-leaning outlets Ferrari's first EV will have an interior designed by Jony Ive  Here's what the Ferrari Luce's buttons, switches, and knobs sound like. The early reviews of the Rivian R2 are starting to roll in Live Nation's monopoly trial is reportedly fracturing Trump's Justice Department  YouTube is coming to the Apple Vision Pro Apple keeps hitting bumps with its overhauled Siri  The iPhone 17e could launch soon with MagSafe and an A19 chip  Apple might let you use ChatGPT from CarPlay  Paramount ups its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, again Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A.M. Edition for Feb. 12. The GOP-led House rejects President Trump's Canada tariffs, but backs him up on his voter-ID push. Plus, Elon Musk announces a shakeup at xAI as it merges with SpaceX. And WSJ's Aimee Look and CI&T's Melissa Minkow discuss how years of rising prices have left consumers increasingly cost-conscious – a trend clearly on display in recent retail earnings. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Elon Musk announces a reorganization and staff departures at xAI. And Lenovo posts record revenue driven by device sales and AI. Julie Chang hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's FOLLOW UP, Bitcoin is down 15%, miners are unplugging rigs because paying eighty-seven grand to mine a sixty-grand coin finally failed the vibes check, and Grok is still digitally undressing men—suggesting Musk's “safeguards” remain mostly theoretical, which didn't help when X offices got raided in France. Spain wants to ban social media for kids under 16, Egypt is blocking Roblox outright, and governments everywhere are flailing at the algorithmic abyss.IN THE NEWS, Elon Musk is rolling xAI into SpaceX to birth a $1.25 trillion megacorp that wants to power AI from orbit with a million satellites, because space junk apparently wasn't annoying enough. Amazon admits a “high volume” of CSAM showed up in its AI training data and blames third parties, Waymo bags a massive $16 billion to insist robotaxis are working, Pinterest reportedly fires staff who built a layoff-tracking tool, and Sam Altman gets extremely cranky about Claude's Super Bowl ads hitting a little too close to home.For MEDIA CANDY, we've got Shrinking, the Grammys, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's questionable holographic future, Neil Young gifting his catalog to Greenland while snubbing Amazon, plus Is It Cake? Valentines and The Rip.In APPS & DOODADS, we test Sennheiser earbuds, mess with Topaz Video, skip a deeply cursed Python script that checks LinkedIn for Epstein connections, and note that autonomous cars and drones will happily obey prompt injection via road signs—defeated by a Sharpie.IN THE LIBRARY, there's The Regicide Report, a brutal study finding early dementia signals in Terry Pratchett's novels, Neil Gaiman denying allegations while announcing a new book, and THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, vibing with The Muppet Show as Disney names a new CEO. We round it out with RentAHuman.ai dread relief via paper airplane databases, free Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert—still classy in the digital wasteland.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/732FOLLOW UPBitcoin drops 15%, briefly breaking below $61,000 as sell-off intensifies, doubts about crypto growBitcoin Is Crashing So Hard That Miners Are Unplugging Their EquipmentGrok, which maybe stopped undressing women without their consent, still undresses menX offices raided in France as UK opens fresh investigation into GrokSpain set to ban social media for children under 16Egypt to block Roblox for all usersIN THE NEWSElon Musk Is Rolling xAI Into SpaceX—Creating the World's Most Valuable Private CompanySpaceX wants to launch a constellation of a million satellites to power AI needsA potential Starlink competitor just got FCC clearance to launch 4,000 satellitesAmazon discovered a 'high volume' of CSAM in its AI training data but isn't saying where it came fromWaymo raises massive $16 billion round at $126 billion valuation, plans expansion to 20+ citiesPinterest Reportedly Fires Employees Who Built a Tool to Track LayoffsSam Altman got exceptionally testy over Claude Super Bowl adsMEDIA CANDYShrinkingStar Trek: Starfleet AcademyThe RipNeil Young gifts Greenland free access to his music and withdraws it from Amazon over TrumpIs it Cake? ValentinesAPPS & DOODADSSennheiser Consumer Audio IE 200 In-Ear Audiophile Headphones - TrueResponse Transducers for Neutral Sound, Impactful Bass, Detachable Braided Cable with Flexible Ear Hooks - BlackSennheiser Consumer Audio CX 80S In-ear Headphones with In-line One-Button Smart Remote – BlackTopaz VideoEpsteinAutonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road signAT THE LIBRARYThe Regicide Report (Laundry Files Book 14) by Charles StrossScientists Found an Early Signal of Dementia Hidden in Terry Pratchett's NovelsNeil Gaiman Denies the Allegations Against Him (Again) While Announcing a New BookTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingThe Muppet ShowDisney announces Josh D'Amaro will be its new CEO after Iger departsA Database of Paper Airplane Designs: Hours of Fun for Kids & Adults AlikeOnline (free!) version of Roller Coaster tycoon.Speaking of coasters, here's the current world champion.I am hoping this is satire...Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert.CLOSING SHOUT-OUTSCatherine O'Hara: The Grande Dame of Off-Center ComedyStanding with Sam 'Balloon Man' MartinezSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

(0:00) Besties intros: Brad Gerstner joins the show (3:16) Epstein Files (15:45) SaaS stocks crash out (35:11) Moltbook panic (47:37) Trump selects Kevin Warsh as new Fed Chair, replacing Jerome Powell (1:00:50) SpaceX and xAI merge (1:10:45) Brad's major win with Trump Accounts Follow Brad: https://x.com/altcap Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/business/epstein-investments-palantir-coinbase-thiel.html https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article214210674.html https://nypost.com/2026/01/31/us-news/linkedin-founder-reid-hoffmans-emails-with-jeffrey-epstein-revealed-in-doj-docs https://freebeacon.com/democrats/skype-sushi-and-a-phone-date-democratic-megadonor-reid-hoffman-maintained-jeffrey-epstein-relationship-years-after-he-said-it-ended https://nypost.com/2026/02/02/business/jeffrey-epstein-boasted-about-wild-dinner-with-mark-zuckerberg-reid-hoffman-in-unsealed-2015-email https://x.com/stockpickerspb/status/2009363916573290715 https://www.moltbook.com https://x.com/galnagli/status/2017573842051334286 https://x.com/balajis/status/1937517664907460980 https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-rises-over-1-geopolitical-economic-tensions-lift-precious-metals-2026-02-05 https://x.com/truflation/status/2019409671212396815 https://www.challengergray.com/blog/challenger-report-january-job-cuts-surge-lowest-january-hiring-on-record https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/ups-amazon-boost-us-planned-layoffs-january-challenger-survey-shows-2026-02-05 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/03/musk-xai-spacex-biggest-merger-ever.html https://polymarket.com/event/spacex-ipo-closing-market-cap-above

Meet my friends, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton! If you love Verdict, you might also dig the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Politics, news analysis, and some pop culture and comedy thrown in too. Here’s an episode recapping four takeaways. Give the guys a listen and then follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: ihr.fm/3InlkL8 1.) A Shattered Narrative Much of Hour 1 centers on new and damaging video evidence involving Alex Pretti, an anti ICE activist whose death during a confrontation with federal agents sparked nationwide controversy. Clay and Buck argue that the newly surfaced footage—showing Pretti screaming obscenities at ICE officers, spitting on them, and vandalizing a government vehicle days before the fatal incident—fundamentally undermines the media narrative portraying him as an innocent bystander or heroic humanitarian. 2.) Media Myths Collapse Again Throughout Hour 2, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton repeatedly draw parallels between the Duke lacrosse scandal and the current media portrayal of Alex Preti, arguing that both cases reflect a pattern of myth making, presumption of guilt, and moral panic when stories fit a preferred ideological script. They emphasize how contradictory evidence—such as alibis, video footage, or witness testimony—is often ignored until narratives collapse, at which point institutions quietly move on without accountability. The hosts also argue that social media has fundamentally changed this dynamic, crediting Elon Musk’s acquisition of X (formerly Twitter) and the rise of alternative AI tools like Grok for weakening centralized information control and allowing inconvenient facts to surface more quickly. 3.) Elon Musk, Genius The latter half of Hour 2 blends cultural commentary and lighter banter with ongoing political themes. Clay and Buck react in real time to being retweeted by Elon Musk, discussing the influence of X, AI, and tech consolidation on the future of information and public discourse. They also touch on breaking reports that SpaceX and xAI may be moving toward deeper integration, framing it as a potential seismic shift in technology, media, and artificial intelligence. 4.) Homan Takes Control Clay and Buck play multiple clips from Homan and praise his calm, data driven approach, highlighting his confirmation that Minnesota authorities will now notify ICE when violent criminal offenders are being released from custody so federal agents can assume responsibility. The hosts frame this as a strategic win that prioritizes public safety while making enforcement operations more targeted and less dangerous. They emphasize Homan’s repeated message that while criminals remain the top priority, no one who entered the country illegally is “off the table” for deportation, warning that signaling immunity for non violent illegal migrants would only encourage further unlawful entry. Throughout Hour 3, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton argue that Homan should remain the primary public face and operational leader of deportation efforts, crediting his decades of experience and ability to clearly explain enforcement realities while exposing what they describe as obstruction from sanctuary style jurisdictions. The hosts contrast cooperation in states like Texas with resistance in Minnesota and sharply criticize Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for advocating the abolition of ICE. Clay challenges Democratic leaders to articulate a specific numerical limit on illegal immigration, arguing that calls to halt enforcement ignore basic questions of capacity, sovereignty, and rule of law. Make sure you never miss a second of the show by subscribing to the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast wherever you get your podcasts: ihr.fm/3InlkL8 For the latest updates from Clay and Buck: https://www.clayandbuck.com/ Connect with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on Social Media: X - https://x.com/clayandbuck FB - https://www.facebook.com/ClayandBuck/ IG - https://www.instagram.com/clayandbuck/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/ClayandBuck TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clayandbuckYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.