Techmeme Ride Home

We talked recently about how Nvidia wasn’t home free in China just yet, and low and behold, they’re stopping H20 chip production over Chinese concerns. Did Elon Musk talk to Mark Zuckerberg about buying OpenAI together? And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Nvidia Orders Halt to H20 Production After China Directive Against Purchases (The Information) Meta Signs $10 Billion-Plus Cloud Deal With Google (The Information) Elon Musk tried to enlist Mark Zuckerberg in $100bn bid for OpenAI (Financial Times) OpenAI Is Challenging Google—While Using Its Search Data (The Information) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: He Sold His Likeness. Now His Avatar Is Shilling Supplements on TikTok. (NYTimes) Bill Gates meets Willy Wonka: How Epic’s 82-year-old billionaire CEO, Judy Faulkner, built her software factory (CNBC) Mutant Podcast Army Fantasy Football League Link poyeg1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is going on at Meta AI story number 77. A deeper look at that new chip that Google unveiled with the Pixel phones yesterday and what that could suggest for Google’s hardware strategy. And an interesting startup that is making AI smartglasses happen now. Links: Meta Freezes AI Hiring After Blockbuster Spending Spree (WSJ) Suddenly, Silicon Valley Is Lowering AI Expectations (NYMag) Google did more than just switch to TSMC for Tensor G5 — This is what’s new (9to5Google) DeepSeek Touts Model That Outdoes Flagship in Agentic AI Step (Bloomberg) Sony is raising PS5 prices, starting tomorrow (The Verge) Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the headlines from the Made By Google event where we saw the new Pixel 10 lineup and the 4th gen Pixel Watch. We have a release date for those new Xbox handhelds. More seeming chaos at Meta’s AI headquarters. And a report back from the first ever AI film festival. Links: The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first fully dust-resistant foldable (The Verge) Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL are all about upgrades you can’t see, still starting at $999 [Hands-on] (9to5Google) Google debuts Pixel Watch 4 with domed display, emergency Satellite Communication (TechCrunch) Microsoft and Asus’ new Xbox Ally handhelds launch on October 16th (The Verge) Mark Zuckerberg Shakes Up Meta’s A.I. Efforts, Again (NYTimes) US tech stocks hit by concerns over future of AI boom (FT) I Saw the Future of AI Film and It Was Empty (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Masa Son is investing $2B into Intel, and the Uncle Sam might join in as well. Small AI models continue to have a moment. Chamath is reentering the arena with a new SPAC. The Texas AG is investigating AI chatbots. And does GPT-5 prove that we’ve hit an AI ceiling, even if only temporarily? Links: ⁠Intel is getting a $2 billion investment from SoftBank⁠ (CNBC) ⁠Nvidia releases a new small, open model Nemotron-Nano-9B-v2 with toggle on/off reasoning⁠ (VentureBeat) ⁠‘SPAC King’ Chamath Palihapitiya is back with a new one⁠ (Pitchbook) ⁠Texas attorney general accuses Meta, Character.AI of misleading kids with mental health claims⁠ (TechCrunch) ⁠Is AI hitting a wall?⁠ (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meta is readying smartglasses with a display, but also, a look at their theoretical and prototype roadmap for the future of headware hardware generally. Is all the money in the world not actually going to get Zuck what he wants in AI? And is the acquihire in all but name trend of recent months breaking Silicon Valley’s fundamental business model? Links: Apple’s Vision Pro Is Suffering From a Lack of Immersive Video (Bloomberg) Meta Tiramisu "Hyperrealistic VR" Hands-On: A Stunning Window Into Another World (UploadVR) Meta Boba 3 Prototype Hands-On: Ultra-Wide Field Of View Without Compromise (UploadVR) Startup down rounds are at a 10 year high, according to PitchBook data (Fortune) Meta Plans Fourth Restructuring of AI Efforts in Six Months (The Information) Zuckerberg Squandered His AI Talent. Now He’s Spending Billions To Replace It. (Forbes) Big Tech Is Eating Itself in Talent War (WSJ) Enough is enough—I dumped Google’s worsening search for Kagi (ArsTechnica) Learn more abo

Will the US government take a stake in Intel? Why was Meta letting spicy conversation happen with their AI bots? What does it mean if Foxconn’s AI business is now bigger than its gadget assembly business? And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Trump Administration Said to Discuss Taking Stake in Intel (Bloomberg) Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold ‘sensual’ chats with kids, offer false medical info (Reuters) Forget Foxconn the iPhone factory. AI’s made it a server-slinger first and foremost (The Register) Apple returns blood oxygen monitoring to the latest Apple Watches (The Verge) Whoop Refuses to Pull Blood Pressure Tool After FDA Warning (Bloomberg) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone (NYTimes) Behind Wall Street’s Abrupt Flip on Crypto (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York is suing Zelle. Another IPO pop has me raising my eyebrows. Maybe Perplexity really was serious, at least about getting a browser. Does Apple want to make basically that Pixar lamp? And AI has so broken the hiring process that some companies are resorting again to in-person interviews. Links: New York sues Zelle, says security lapses led to $1 billion consumer fraud losses (Reuters) Crypto Firm Bullish Soars 84% in Debut After $1.1 Billion IPO (Bloomberg) Before Wild Chrome Bid, Perplexity Had Been Hunting for Browsers (The Information) Apple Plots Expansion Into AI Robots, Home Security and Smart Displays (Bloomberg) AI Is Forcing the Return of the In-Person Job Interview (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perplexity offers to acquire Chrome, but how serious are they? Fine, says OpenAI, have your GPT-4o back. Are AI companions the next breakout AI business beyond coding help? And is GM getting back in the self-driving car business for real this time? Links: Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5 Billion Offer for Chrome (WSJ) OpenAI brings GPT-4o back as a default for all paying ChatGPT users, Altman promises ‘plenty of notice’ if it leaves again (VentureBeat) OpenAI rolls out Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts integration in ChatGPT (BleepingComputer) UK porn site traffic plunges as age verification rules take effect (Financial Times) AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 (TechCrunch) GM Plans Renewed Driverless-Car Push After Cruise Debacle (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elon says he might take legal action against Apple, but it’s probably his beef with Sam Altman rearing its head once again. A long piece looking at how Jenson won in China, though also, HAS he won WITH China… yet? And is the race to the bottom in AI pricing happening already? Links: Musk says xAI to take legal action against Apple over App Store rankings (Reuters) Tech giants Apple and Google lose landmark court case as federal judge rules they engaged in anti-competitive conduct (ABC) China Urges Firms to Avoid Nvidia H20 Chips After Trump Resumes Sales (Bloomberg) With Billions at Risk, Nvidia CEO Buys His Way Out of the Trade Battle (WSJ) Anthropic offers Claude chatbot to US lawmakers for $1 (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nvidia and AMD are paying the US government 15% of revenue to sell AI chips to China. Remember how with GPT-5, they took away the old models? Well, the old models are back. Some critical analysis of the whole GPT-5 moment. And you know what is finally never coming back? AOL dialup internet. Links: Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US government (FT) Trump Bid for Cut of Chip Revenue Risks ‘Dangerous World’ (Bloomberg) Intel CEO Singled Out by Trump to Visit White House on Monday (WSJ) OpenAI Faces Backlash for Retiring Older Models With GPT-5 Launch (PCMag) GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that’s not the worst of it. (Gary Marcus) A BEST CASE SCENARIO FOR AI? (David Sacks) AOL discontinues its dial-up internet, and we're just surprised they even offered it in 2025 (PCGamer) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I spoke with the great Paul Kedrosky to discuss the significant impact of AI capital expenditure (CapEx) on the economy, exploring how it contributes to GDP growth and the implications of this spending. Qw delve into the rapid growth of AI-related investments, the short lifespan of data centers, and the potential risks associated with this economic phenomenon. 00:00 The Impact of AI Capital Expenditure on the Economy 09:34 The Dynamics of Data Center Investments 19:39 Debt Financing and Its Implications 30:09 Potential Risks and Future Outlook for AI Investments Articles mentioned on this episode: Paul Kedrosky: Honey AI Capex Ate The Economy Chris Mims in the WSJ Noah Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tracking the fallout and implications from GPT-5’s rollout yesterday. Why is Google’s AI chatbot filled with self-loathing and recrimination? Are President Trump’s comments just the latest worry for the CEO of Intel? Are those AI coding companies actually making any money? And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: GPT-5: Key characteristics, pricing and model card (Simon Willison) GPT-5 Hands-On: Welcome to the Stone Age (Latent Space) Google says it's working on a fix for Gemini's self-loathing 'I am a failure' comments (Business Insider) Intel’s Chief Holds Firm After Trump Demands His Resignation (NYTimes) High costs and thin margins threatening AI coding startups (TechCrunch) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’ (WSJ) SEO Is Dead. Say Hello to GEO. (NYMag) Is Perrier as pure as it claims? The bottled water scandal gripping France (BBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon

All the news around the big unveiling of GPT-5. President Trump calls on the CEO of Intel to “resign immediately.” Also, the threat of 100% tariffs on chips and semiconductors. But Apple gets a pass because they’re committing to building more in the US. Links: GPT-5 is being released to all ChatGPT users (The Verge) OpenAI Unveils GPT-5, Its Latest and Most Powerful Model, After Two-Year Wait (WSJ) OpenAI’s GPT-5 is here (TechCrunch) Trump Urges ‘Conflicted’ Intel CEO Tan to Resign Immediately (Bloomberg) Trump Eyes 100% Chips Tariff, Exempting Firms That Invest in US (Bloomberg) Apple Announces $100 Billion US Investment Ahead of Trump Event (Bloomberg) Could AI Datacenter Spending Blow Up The Economy? With Paul Kedrosky (YouTube) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disney is making big streaming moves with the new ESPN app and a revamp to Hulu. Then, it’s all basically AI announces. OpenAI’s new open-weight models. Grok’s new spiciness is already generating nudity. A new AI model to identify malicious software autonomously. And Nvidia wants you to know: no back-doors! Links: ESPN flagship streaming service to launch Aug. 21 (CNBC) Hulu App to Be Phased Out as Disney Is ‘Fully Integrating’ Service Into Disney+ (Variety) OpenAI Just Released Its First Open-Weight Models Since GPT-2 (Wired) Anthropic's powerful Opus 4.1 model is here - how to access it (and why you'll want to) (ZDNet) Qwen-Image is a powerful, open source new AI image generator with support for embedded text in English & Chinese (VentureBeat) Grok’s ‘spicy’ video setting instantly made me Taylor Swift nude deepfakes (The Verge) Microsoft’s new AI reverse-engineers malware autonomously, marking a shift in cybersecurity (GeekWire) Nvidia defiant over backdoors and kill switc

TSMC has fired employees for allegedly attempting to pilfer information on their 2nm tech. Figma could have raised more money in its IPO but chose not to. Creating entire video game worlds with just a text prompt. And exactly how big Patreon has grown in the creator economy. 00:32 TSMC Spygate 02:50 Cloudflare V. Perplexity 04:52 Figma Followup 07:35 Music AI 09:53 New Google Models 14:58 Patreon Numbers Links: TSMC says employees tried to steal trade secrets on iPhone 18 chip process (9to5Mac) Cloudflare says Perplexity’s AI bots are ‘stealth crawling’ blocked sites (The Verge) Figma’s Pursuit of Long-Term Backers Kept IPO Price in Check (Bloomberg) Voice Startup ElevenLabs Launches AI Music Service (WSJ) Google’s new AI model creates video game worlds in real time (The Verge) Google’s Kaggle to host AI chess tournament to evaluate leading AI models’ reasoning skills (Silicon Angle) Exclusive: Patreon crosses $10 billion creator payment milestone (Axios) Learn more about

Robotaxies are coming to Europe. Apple wants Answers. Literally. The AI researcher who turned down a billion and a half dollars. How the vibe seems to have definitively shifted in Silicon Valley. And will rollable laptop screens become mainstream? 00:33 Robotaxis In Europe 02:12 Apple Wants Answers 03:57 Lina Khan 05:54 Billion Dollar Turn-Down 07:54 AI Trading Bots 10:25 The Silicon Valley Boom Is Back 14:23 A Rollable Laptop Links: Lyft Partners With Baidu on Robotaxis in European Expansion (Bloomberg) Apple’s New ‘Answers’ Team Eyes ChatGPT-Like Product in AI Push (Bloomberg) Lina Khan points to Figma IPO as vindication of M&A scrutiny (TechCrunch) Thanks for Your $1 Billion Job Offer, Mark Zuckerberg. I’m Gonna Pass. (WSJ) ‘Dumb’ AI Bots Collude to Rig Markets, Wharton Research Finds (Bloomberg) Silicon Valley Is in Its ‘Hard Tech’ Era (NYTimes) Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me

Well, it looks like Tech IPO’s might be back on the menu because Figma’s first day pop was like the good old days. Anthropic seems to be getting traction, OpenAI raises again. Earnings from Apple and Amazon, and of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Chapters: 00:33 Figma IPO 04:57 Anthropic And Open AI Numbers 08:45 New Deep Think Model 11:08 Tech Earnings Omnibus 14:35 Longreads Links: Figma more than triples in NYSE debut after selling shares at $33 (CNBC) Anthropic Revenue Pace Nears $5 Billion in Run-Up to Mega Round (The Information) Exclusive: OpenAI Secures Another Giant Funding Deal (NYTimes) Google rolls out Gemini Deep Think AI, a reasoning model that tests multiple ideas in parallel (TechCrunch) Reddit wants to be a search engine now (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The first commercial space station is nearly here. And it could change space forever (BBC Science Focus) A Deadly Fungus Killed 10 Scientists Working in a Tomb. It Could Be a Bre

Microsoft and Meta earnings suggest AI is paying off so far, at least for the big guys. Has OpenAI’s revenues tripled so far in 2025? Devs are using AI more than ever, but that doesn’t mean they trust it. And at the end of the show, as promised, the huge podcast announcement. Links: Microsoft officially tops $4 trillion in market cap, joining Nvidia in exclusive club (CNBC) Investors Cheer an A.I. Spending Bonanza (NYTimes) Meta shares climb 10% on revenue beat, raised forecast (CNBC) Apple, Google, OpenAI to Work With Federal Agencies to Make Health Data Helpful (Bloomberg) OpenAI Hits $12 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Breaks 700 Million ChatGPT Weekly Active Users (The Information) Stack Overflow data reveals the hidden productivity tax of ‘almost right’ AI code (VentureBeat) Google DeepMind says its new AI can map the entire planet with unprecedented accuracy (VentureBeat) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Age verification for web users is sweeping the globe. ChatGPT debuts a study mode for students. What, exactly is Zuckerberg trying to achieve by hiring everyone in AI? Maybe Cohere is the real dark horse in the AI model race. And what if the real money in AI video is in training robots? Links: YouTube rolls out age-estimation tech to identify US teens and apply additional protections (TechCrunch) ChatGPT’s Study Mode Is Here. It Won’t Fix Education’s AI Problems (Wired) Apple Loses Fourth AI Researcher in a Month to Meta’s Superintelligence Team (Bloomberg) Meta’s AI Recruiting Campaign Finds a New Target (Wired) AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears (The Information) Runway, Luma Target Sales to Robotics Companies (The Information) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sony says Tencent has ripped off one of their biggest games. Microsoft wants to get ahead of the whole AI browser thing. Are rate limits coming for AI usage as some people are using AI too much? Waymo is coming to Dallas. And further proof of my thesis that smartglasses are the next big thing in tech hardware. Links: Sony sues Tencent for allegedly ripping off 'Horizon' video games (Reuters) Microsoft revolutionizes Edge as an AI-powered web browser with new experimental 'Copilot Mode' — here's how to enable it right now (Windows Central) Anthropic unveils new rate limits to curb Claude Code power users (TechCrunch) A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users’ DMs About Abortions and Cheating (404Media) Waymo, Avis Plan Dallas Robotaxi Launch in Multiyear Deal (Bloomberg) Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses revenue tripled over the year, EssilorLuxottica says (CNBC) Oakley Meta glasses review: A familiar formula with some upgrades (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices