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Latest Episodes:

Sam Says Some Things Feb 23, 2026

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Sam Altman has a lot of stuff to say about AI and let’s just say comms needs to have a quiet word with him. SaaS may or may not be dead, but is the replacement vertical AI? And a big thought experiment. If the AI bulls are right and AI transforms the economy, what might that look like?

Sam Altman Says Companies Are ‘AI Washing’ Layoffs (Gizmodo)
People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much. (NYTimes)
Sam Altman would like to remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too (TechCrunch)
Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open. (Garry's List)
Google Restricts AI Ultra Subscribers Over OpenClaw OAuth, Days After Anthropic Ban (Implicator.ai)
THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS (Citrini Research)

When AI Breaks Things Feb 20, 2026

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When your AI bot breaks your operations, even when you’re AWS. More on OpenAI’s hardware plans. Hey, remember Perplexity? What’s up with them? Is Uber roadkill in the self-driving car horserace? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Amazon service was taken down by AI coding bot (FT)
Ex-Googlers Charged With Stealing Phone Processor Secrets (Bloomberg)
OpenAI Plans to Price Smart Speaker at $200 to $300, as AI Device Team Takes Shape (The Information)
Microsoft has a new plan to prove what’s real and what’s AI online (MIT Technology Review)
Perplexity’s Retreat From Ads Signals a Bigger Strategic Shift (Wired)
Uber, Latest Victim of Disruption Panic, Still Has Role in Robotaxis (WSJ)

Weekend Longreads Suggestion:

Who needs a laptop when you have a folding phone? (The Verge)

A Canticle For Leibowitz Feb 19, 2026

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Gemini is getting with the increased cadence of AI releases. Honestly, can we even keep up at this point? A dispatch from the social media trial as Zuck takes the stand. At long last, Amazon dethrones Walmart. Apple seems poised to unleash a slew of AI wearables. And the new storage system to preserve data, Canticle for Leibowitz-style.

New Pixel Feb 18, 2026

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New pixel phone. A bunch of new AI models including Gemini’s entry into the music AI space. Everybody is trying to make AI fetch happen in India. And Matthew Ball’s state of the gaming industry report doesn’t paint as gloomy a picture as our own headlines might have suggested this year.

The Pixel 10A is a little too much like last year’s phone (The Verge)
Anthropic releases Sonnet 4.6 (TechCrunch)
Google’s AI music maker is coming to the Gemini app (The Verge)
Adani bets $100 billion on data centres to power India’s AI ambitions (Reuters)
Nvidia secures multibillion-dollar Meta deal as it battles chip rivals (FT)
Global game content sales rose 5.3% to $195.6bn in 2025 (GamesIndustry.biz)

AI Gettin' SaaS-y Feb 17, 2026

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The big regulatory guns are out for Grok. Memory chip shortage now hit the Steam Deck. Manus is already coming to your favorite messaging app. Turns out Buy Now Pay Later really works for vacations. And another lengthy AI essay, this time detailing what it’s doing, and has the potential to do to SaaS companies.

EU privacy watchdog opens probe into Elon Musk’s X over sexualised AI images (FT)
Valve’s Steam Deck OLED will be ‘intermittently’ out of stock because of the RAM crisis (The Verge)
Raspberry Pi soars 40% as CEO buys stock, AI chatter builds (Reuters)
Meta-owned Manus launches AI agents on Telegram (SiliconRepublic)
Airbnb expands its “Reserve Now, Pay Later” globally (TechCrunch)
10 Years Building Vertical Software: My Perspective on the Selloff (@nicbstme)

OpenAI Grabs OpenClaw’s Creator Feb 16, 2026

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OpenClaw’s creator is joining OpenAI, but the OpenClaw project lives on. The AI-caused memory shortage might delay the next Playstation. Is the Pentagon about to cut ties with Anthropic? And Vitalik Buterin is growing concerned with the prediction markets.

OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger is joining OpenAI (The Verge)
Peter Steinberger Chose OpenAI. The Code Was Never the Point. (Implicator.AI)
Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis (Bloomberg)
ByteDance to curb AI video app after Disney legal threat (BBC)
Exclusive: Pentagon threatens to cut off Anthropic in AI safeguards dispute (Axios)
The hidden infrastructure crisis in mortgage and real estate finance that only tokenization can solve (Crypto.news)

How To AI With WSJ's Chris Mims Feb 14, 2026

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Buy Chris' book: How To AI

Anthropic Makes Its Move Feb 13, 2026

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Anthropic raises the second largest financing round of all time. Other AI players are beginning to show hockey stick revenue growth. Meta wants to add facial recognition to its glasses. Ring pulls back from some recognition partnerships for its camera. And, of course, your Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The AI Gold Rush Is Breaking a Silicon Valley Taboo: Cashing Out Before the IPO (WSJ)
The New Fabio Is Claude (NYTimes)

Pour Moi, C'est Le Déluge Feb 12, 2026

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Aaannddd…. Right on time here come the Chinese AI models. Elon Musk kicks off a major reorg of xAI. Google is warning of AI distillation attacks. New Waymo cars hit the road. And another interesting AI essay to read to you.

Chinese AI startup Zhipu releases new flagship model GLM-5 (Reuters)
Musk announces xAI re-org following co-founder departures, SpaceX merger (CNBC)
Elon Musk Wants to Build an A.I. Satellite Factory on the Moon (NYTimes)
Google says attackers used 100,000+ prompts to try to clone AI chatbot Gemini (NBCNews)
Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis to extend its U.S. lead (CNBC)
The AI Vampire (Steve Yegge)

The “Covid Moment” For AI? Feb 11, 2026

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Forget the ChatGPT moment, is this the “Covid Moment” for AI, the moment when everything has changed its just that not everyone knows it yet? More weird musical chairs at the AI companies. TikTok but for around the block. And do we finally have a universal translator but for phone calls?