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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🖼️ People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images.
🛢️ Brent crude opens week higher as US vows to keep attacking Houthis.
🤖 Building the next generation of conversational AI with Anjney Midha.
⚔️ Russia seeks NATO exclusion in Ukraine's peace treaty.
🐸 Solana Meme coin sent new JellyJelly app off to a sweet start.

TECH

• People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images

  • Last week, Google expanded access to its Gemini 2.0 Flash model’s image generation feature.

  • Gemini 2.0 Flash will uncomplainingly create images depicting celebrities and copyrighted characters, and remove watermarks.

  • As several X and Reddit users noted, Gemini 2.0 Flash won’t just remove watermarks, but attempt to fill in any gaps created.

• Joby will launch UK air taxi service with Virgin Atlantic

  • Virgin Atlantic announced a partnership with California-based Joby Aviation to launch an air taxi service in the UK.

  • This becomes the latest airline to bet on a new class of electric aircraft vying to become taxis in the sky.

  • Under the partnership, customers will be able to book a seat in one of Joby’s multi-rotor aircraft through the Virgin Atlantic website and app.

• Amazon’s Echo will send all voice recordings to the cloud starting March 28

  • Amazon Echo users will no longer have the option to process their Alexa requests locally.

  • This means that all of their voice recordings will be sent to the company’s cloud.

  • This comes as Amazon is rolling out a new version of its voice-controlled AI assistant, now known as Alexa+.

BUSINESS

• Brent crude opens week higher as US vows to keep attacking Houthis

  • Brent crude futures rose 0.6% in early Asian trading on Monday, reaching $70.98 per barrel.

  • This follows the United States' commitment to continue airstrikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels until they cease attacks on shipping.

  • The recent U.S. airstrikes, resulting in at least 53 fatalities, mark the largest military operation in the Middle East since January.

• Treasury Secretary Bessent says White House is heading off a ‘guaranteed’ financial crisis

  • Bessent said the Trump administration is focused on preventing a financial crisis that could be the result of massive government spending.

  • President Donald Trump has made getting the government’s fiscal house in order a priority since taking office.

  • He created the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, to spearhead job cuts and early retirement incentives.

• Porsche SE says it is not considering sale of Volkswagen shares

  • Porsche SE, the primary shareholder of Volkswagen AG, firmly denied recent reports of contemplating the sale of its Volkswagen shares.

  • This clarification came in response to an article by the German tabloid Bild, which claimed of considering reducing their stake in Volkswagen.

  • Porsche SE disclosed substantial impairments on its major holdings, amounting to €19.9B on Volkswagen and €3.4B on Porsche AG.

CONTENT

• Building the next generation of conversational AI with Anjney Midha

  • In this episode, Sesame’s cofounder and CTO, Ankit Kumar, joins a16z’s Anjney Midha for a deep dive behind their voice technology.

  • They discuss the technical challenges of real-time speech generation, the trade-offs in balancing personality with efficiency.

  • Ankit breaks down the complexities of multimodal AI, full-duplex conversation modeling, and the computational optimizations.

• How to thrive without changing who you are with Susan Cain

  • Joining the conversation is Susan Cain, the author of the bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

  • Cain shares a guide for how introverts can thrive in the workplace without sacrificing their authentic selves.

  • Cain offers a powerful reframing: success doesn't require becoming more extroverted, it demands becoming more fully yourself.

• Jamie Dimon on AI impact: It will replace jobs in banking and financial services

  • “Artificial Intelligence is as transformative as the steam engine and the internet” says JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in this conversation. 

  • Dimon warns that AI will replace jobs across industries, just as tractors and automation did in agriculture and manufacturing.

  • Dimon stresses the need for businesses to prepare for workforce disruptions through attrition, reskilling, and redeployment. 

WORLD

• Russia seeks NATO exclusion in Ukraine's peace treaty

  • Russia has articulated specific demands as prerequisites for any peace agreement.

  • Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko emphasized that Russia seeks ‘ironclad security guarantees’.

  • This demand ensures Ukraine's neutrality and explicit exclusion from NATO membership.

• Would ‘America First’ Champagne Have the Same Sparkle? Tariff Threats Jolt French Wineries

  • The Domaine Chandon has all the hallmarks of a French wine estate with one exception: It is located in Napa Valley.

  • The question facing its owner, Bernard Arnault, is whether U.S. properties like Domaine Chandon will have the appeal and scale.

  • This is to soak up the billions in sales at risk from President Trump’s threat of a 200% tariff on wine and spirits imported from Europe.

• France’s Bayrou rules out bringing retirement age back to 62

  • French Prime Minister François Bayrou has firmly rejected proposals to revert the legal retirement age from 64 back to 62.

  • He emphasizes the necessity of maintaining the current age to ensure the financial sustainability of France's pension system.

  • Bayrou highlighted projections from France's audit office indicating that the pension system is expected to face deficits.

AND MORE…

• Solana Meme coin sent new JellyJelly app off to a sweet start

  • The launch of the Solana meme coin, JELLYJELLY, in January prompted signups for an app to soar even after it fell 98% from its all-time high.

  • Now nearly two months after its creation, JellyJelly, which debuted on Pump.fun, is set to be integrated into the app. 

  • JELLYJELLY climbed to a $250 million market cap, after it was tied to the in-development AI-powered podcasting app of the same name.

• The iPhone 17 Air makes other models look chunky in new leaked dummy shots

  • A set of iPhone 17 dummies appeared last night in a new leak from Sonny Dickson.

  • Sonny has a long history of reliably leaking the nonfunctional versions of iPhones that case and accessory makers use for the next year’s handsets.

  • The edge-on shots here really do a good job showing the big difference between the rumored iPhone 17 Air and the others.

• Nvidia’s next act needs to be even bigger

  • Nvidia has barely started shipping its latest artificial intelligence chips, and everybody is already looking to hear about the next ones. 

  • Nvidia’s annual GTC developers conference in San Jose, Calif., used to be a relatively modest affair.

  • The event now unofficially dubbed “AI Woodstock” is expected to bring more than 25,000 in-person attendees.

• Unlock exponential growth: the playbook modern leaders swear by*

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