Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

💰 Tesla proposes giving Elon Musk $29 billion so he stays CEO.
🚫 Perplexity is accused of scraping websites that explicitly blocked AI scraping.
🏦 Palantir tops $1B in revenue for the first time and boosts guidance.
🔥 Trump vows to ramp up India tariffs in escalation over Russia.
🚕 Lyft and China’s Baidu look to bring robotaxis to Europe next year.

TECHNOLOGY

• Tesla proposes giving Elon Musk $29 billion so he stays CEO

  • Tesla proposes $29 billion restricted stock award to incentivize Musk to remain through 2027.

  • New compensation comes after the Delaware court voided Musk's original $50 billion pay package as unfair.

  • Tesla stock dropped 20% this year amid protests over Musk's Trump support and controversial government work.

• Perplexity is accused of scraping websites that explicitly blocked AI scraping

  • Cloudflare accuses Perplexity of crawling websites that explicitly blocked AI scraping through Robots.txt files.

  • AI startup allegedly circumvents blocks by changing bot user agents and network identifiers across millions.

  • Perplexity spokesperson dismisses Cloudflare's research as "a sales pitch," claiming the bot isn't theirs despite evidence.

• Google calls the Med-Gemini model an error typo, but experts cite medical risks

  • In medical reports, Google's Med-Gemini AI model mistakenly used "basilar ganglia," a nonexistent brain region.

  • The error conflates the basal ganglia and the basilar artery, which require completely different medical treatments and approaches.

  • Medical experts call the mistake "super dangerous," highlighting risks of AI hallucinations in healthcare settings.

BUSINESS

• Palantir tops $1B in revenue for the first time and boosts guidance

  • Palantir topped Wall Street estimates and hiked full-year guidance due to the artificial intelligence boom.

  • AI software provider's revenues grew 48% during the period, hitting $1 billion milestone for the first time.

  • The company benefits from President Trump's focus on cutting government costs through AI analytics solutions.

• Foxconn sells former GM factory to mystery buyer after EV failure

  • Foxconn sells former GM factory after three years of failing to establish meaningful EV production.

  • Mystery buyer "Crescent Dune LLC" was created in Delaware just 12 days before the purchase.

  • The sale marks Foxconn's second major US manufacturing failure following the Wisconsin LCD factory disappointment under Trump.

• Trump vows to ramp up India tariffs in escalation over Russia

  • Trump threatens to substantially raise tariffs on Indian exports over Russian oil purchases and resale.

  • The President accuses India of buying massive Russian oil amounts then selling it for profits on the markets.

  • New Delhi slams tariff threat as unjustified amid escalating fight between two major world economies.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Why India's IT sector is shedding jobs amid AI disruption

  • India's largest IT employer, TCS, announced 12,000 job cuts from middle and senior management levels.

  • AI automation threatens the traditional low-cost labor model as clients demand higher innovation and fewer repetitive tasks.

  • The IT sector employs 5 million people, contributing 7.5% to India's GDP with significant economic ripple effects.

• Lyft and China’s Baidu look to bring robotaxis to Europe next year

  • Lyft partners with Baidu to deploy Chinese-made Apollo Go robotaxis in Germany and the UK by 2026.

  • Partnership represents Lyft's European expansion strategy following $197 million acquisition of German app FREENOW last year.

  • Deal reflects competition between Lyft and Uber to secure autonomous vehicle partnerships after ending internal programs.

• Indonesian police detain ex-eFishery CEO and two others who faked data

  • Indonesian police detain eFishery co-founder and former CEO, who admitted to faking financial information.

  • Gibran Huzaifah was arrested along with two other former executives from the aquaculture startup company.

  • Detentions handled by the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency's special economic crimes director, Helfi Assegaf.

CONTENT

• Dwarkesh Patel and Noah Smith explore what artificial general intelligence means

  • Discussion covers competing AGI definitions, including economic, cognitive, and "godlike" intelligence capability frameworks and approaches.

  • Debate examines AI versus human labor substitution complementarity and what capabilities current models still lack.

  • Conversation explores AGI's potential impact on global power, geopolitics, work, and galaxy-colonizing robot possibilities.

• Miles Dieffenbach explains what is inside Carnegie Mellon's $4B endowment

  • Miles Dieffenbach oversees CMU’s $4B endowment with a focus on venture capital and private equity.

  • He argues that most limited partners should avoid venture due to liquidity risks and poor returns.

  • The episode explores seed fund pitfalls, multi-stage fund problems, and elite university investment strategies.

• Author M.G. Siegler discusses Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for personal superintelligence technology

  • M.G. Siegler discusses Zuckerberg’s personal superintelligence vision and its real intent or recruiting angle.

  • They explore whether Big Tech’s massive AI investments will bring long-term payoff or fail expectations.

  • The episode debates outsourcing writing to AI and how deeply AI shapes Big Tech strategy.

FUTURISM

• OpenMind wants to be the Android operating system of humanoid robots

  • OpenMind builds the OM1 operating system software for humanoid robots, acting as an Android equivalent for robotics.

  • Company unveils FABRIC protocol allowing robots to verify identity and share context with other machines.

  • Software enables robots to instantly learn from each other, including languages, without direct human training.

• One of the biggest newsletter platforms now syndicates to Bluesky and Mastodon

  • Ghost 6.0 enables publishers to syndicate posts across social platforms like Bluesky Threads and Mastodon.

  • New native analytics suite helps publishers filter data by audience type to understand content performance.

  • Ghost raises cheapest plan prices from $9 to $15 monthly, while publishers earned $100 million total.

• Electric air taxi developer Joby buys Blade helicopter rideshare for $125M

  • Joby acquires the Blade brand and passenger business, including US and European operations, for growth.

  • Deal provides instant access to 12 terminals in key markets, including New York City airports.

  • Blade's digital network flew over 50,000 passengers in 2024 using helicopter rideshare services globally.

EXTRAS

• OpenAI says ChatGPT is on track to reach 700M weekly users

  • ChatGPT is on track to hit 700 million weekly active users this week, up from 500 million.

  • App has grown 4x since last year with 5 million paying business users, up from 3 million.

  • Users spend an average of 16 minutes daily on ChatGPT, using it over 12 days per month, typically.

• Google calls the Med-Gemini model an error typo, but experts cite medical risks

  • In medical reports, Google's Med-Gemini AI model mistakenly used "basilar ganglia," a nonexistent brain region.

  • The error conflates the basal ganglia and the basilar artery, which require completely different medical treatments and approaches.

  • Medical experts call the mistake "super dangerous," highlighting risks of AI hallucinations in healthcare settings.

• Intel's credit rating downgraded by Fitch due to demand challenges ahead

  • Fitch downgrades Intel's credit rating to BBB from BBB-plus, just two notches above junk status.

  • Rating agency cites heightened challenges in maintaining demand amid growing competition from NXP, Broadcom, and AMD.

  • Intel needs a stronger market, successful product ramps, and debt reduction over 12-14 months for recovery.

AND MORE

• Google says its AI-based bug hunter found 20 security vulnerabilities.

• Europe's record heat waves drive spikes in air conditioning demand.

• Hong Kong sees record rainstorm warnings as deluge engulfs city.

• Memo readers don’t just scroll—they act. They forward, they buy, they share. Let’s put your brand in that flow.*

• Google dunks on Apple Intelligence in new Pixel 10 ad.

• Australia switches on the world's most powerful super battery system.

• Italian regulator hits Shein with 1 million euro greenwashing fine

• With AppSumo, get 1 year of access to three AI tools for just $39.*

• Banning teens from YouTube won't keep them safe online.

• Pets end up in LA shelters after their owners are detained in immigration raids.