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Fri. 06/13 – Stablecoins Everywhere Jun 13, 2025

Show notes

Do people know when they’re using the MetaAI app, it’s public? Chime had a successful IPO so let me tell you about my IPO-meter. The financials behind that fully-AI commercial running during the NBA playoffs. More signs stablecoins are taking over, but in the Longreads, do stablecoins represent a unique danger to the global financial system?

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The Meta AI app is a privacy disaster (TechCrunch)
Meta Risks Regulatory Scrutiny in Pursuit of Scale AI (Bloomberg)
Apple Targets Spring 2026 for Release of Delayed Siri AI Upgrade (Bloomberg)
Chime pops 37% in Nasdaq debut after pricing IPO above expected range (CNBC)
Walmart and Amazon Are Exploring Issuing Their Own Stablecoins (WSJ)
Here’s the $2,000 fully AI-generated ad that aired during the NBA Finals (The Verge)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Thu. 06/12 – Meta’s Big AI Acqui-hire Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

I explain how and why exactly this big Meta investment in Scale AI came about. Hollywood sues AI in a big way for the first time. A look at how stablecoins have mainstreamed crypto at long last. And episode number 205 of the long running series: we blew up traditional TV just to rebuild it.

Links:

Meta to Pay Nearly $15 Billion for Scale AI Stake and Startup’s 28-Year-Old CEO (The Information)
Disney, NBCU sue Midjourney over copyright infringement (Axios)
Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash (404Media)
How stablecoins are entering the financial mainstream (Financial Times)
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Doubles Prime Video Ads to 6 Minutes Per Hour (AdWeek)

Wed. 06/11 – o3-pro Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

OpenAI rolls out an o3-pro model. Android one-ups iOS with a quick release. So far so good for the launch of the Switch 2. What is Google doing with its headcount? And is essentially a giant hologram the future of video calling?

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OpenAI releases o3-pro, a souped-up version of its o3 AI reasoning model (TechCrunch)
God is hungry for Context: First thoughts on o3 pro (Latent Space)
Google Releases the Android 16 OS Months Earlier Than Expected (CNET)
Nintendo Switch 2 Sets Sales Record in Boon for Games Sector (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk says Tesla robotaxi rides in Austin ‘tentatively’ set to begin June 22 (CNBC)
Google Offers Buyouts to Employees in Search and Ads, Other Units (The Information)
HP reveals $24,999 hardware created just for Google Beam (The Verge)

Tue. 06/10 – Zuck’s Big AI Ambitions Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

Zuckerberg’s big ambitions for AI seem to be coming into focus. OpenAI is actively starting to play the field when it comes to compute. More signs AI is kneecapping web traffic. And what do we think? Is liquid glass a good design choice, or a cul-de-sac for Apple?

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Mon. 06/09 – WWDC 2025 Jun 09, 2025

Show notes

All the headlines from WWDC. Microsoft unveils the first iteration of that handheld gaming strategy. Meta is considering its largest external AI investment yet. And did Apple researchers reveal that Large Language Model have a structural ceiling, and are we basically there?

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Links:

Hands-On With the Xbox Ally X, the New Gaming Handheld from Asus and Microsoft (IGN)
Meta in Talks for Scale AI Investment That Could Top $10 Billion (Bloomberg)
A knockout blow for LLMs? (Gary Marcus On AI)

Fri. 06/06 – IPO’s Back On The Menu? Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

Circle had such a successful IPO, I’m wondering if IPO’s might finally be back on the menu. Turns out Anthropic cut off Windsurf for the most obvious reason. Maybe Manus really is stoking a new gold rush, at least in China. And in the Weekend Longreads Suggestions, the most consequential weather forecast of all time.

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Links:

Stablecoin issuer Circle soars 168% in NYSE debut after pricing IPO above expected range (CNBC)
Anthropic co-founder on cutting access to Windsurf: ‘It would be odd for us to sell Claude to OpenAI’ (TechCrunch)
Anysphere, Hailed as Fastest Growing Startup Ever, Raises $900 Million (Bloomberg)
Manus has kick-started an AI agent boom in China (MIT Technology Review)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Runway CEO Cris Valenzuela wants Hollywood to embrace AI video (The Verge)
The Man Whose Weather Forecast Saved the World (NYTimes)

Thu. 06/05 – Some In Hollywood (Quietly) LOVE AI Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

Reddit goes after Anthropic. Meta seems to be reading a much cheaper Vision Pro killer, while still moving forward with their ambitious smartglasses product. What if your Amazon delivery person was not a person at all, but a humanoid robot. And how, quietly, Hollywood studios are already deep into AI adoption.

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Links:

Reddit Sues Anthropic, Alleges Unauthorized Use of Site’s Data (WSJ)
Meta Talks to Disney, A24 About Content for New VR Headset (WSJ)
Here’s what’s inside Meta’s experimental new smart glasses (The Verge)
OpenAI slams court order to save all ChatGPT logs, including deleted chats (ArsTechica)
Amazon Prepares to Test Humanoid Robots for Delivering Packages (The Information)
Everyone Is Already Using AI (And Hiding It) (Vulture)

Wed. 06/04 – State Of The AI Coding Landgrab Jun 04, 2025

Show notes

Windsurf accuses Anthropic of blocking it from AI models in a sign that competition in the AI coding space is fierce. But will the real battle happen when the likes of Microsoft and Google really go after the startups? NotebookLM is now sharable. Pump.fun is raising big money. And Nintendo didn’t send out any Switch 2 review units. What are they afraid of?

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Tue. 06/03 – Framing The AI Debate Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

Elon Musk is suddenly fundraising everywhere. An attempt to solve the nomenclature problem around hacking groups. Is the solution to more energy for data centers already hidden inside the grid? And the final two pieces today are two different takes on the great AI debate, our entire civilization is having right now.

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Links:

Musk Taps Investors for Billions Days After Washington Exit (Bloomberg)
'Forest Blizzard' vs 'Fancy Bear' - cyber companies hope to untangle weird hacker nicknames (Reuters)
Gridcare thinks more than 100 GW of data center capacity is hiding in the grid (TechCrunch)
Walmart is supercharging revenue — but with fewer workers (Financial Times)
My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts (Thomas Ptacek)

Mon. 06/02 – How DoorDash Has Quietly Been Killing It Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

We know WWDC might be underwhelming this year, but to what degree? Is Samsung about to pick Perplexity as its horse in the AI race? AI based acquisition and wrapups continue to be the new hotness in VC investing. And how DoorDash has quietly been killing it in the delivery space.

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