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

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

💎 Thieves steal nine French Crown Jewels from the Louvre in seven minutes.
🇯🇵 Japan’s Sanae Takaichi set to become first female prime minister.
🌐 AWS outage takes down Snapchat, Fortnite, and Robinhood worldwide.
📈 Meta AI users surge 250% after Vibes video feed launch.
🧠 Anthropic releases Claude Code for web and mobile developers.

TECHNOLOGY

• Anthropic's Claude Code Comes to Web and Mobile (The New Stack)
  _{^{More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Engadget}}

  • Anthropic launched Claude Code on web and mobile, letting developers delegate multiple coding tasks in parallel.

  • Available to Pro and Max subscribers via browser and iOS app, with cloud-based instances handling execution.

  • Each session runs in sandboxed environments with secure GitHub proxies and configurable network access controls.

• OpenAI Cracks Down on Sora 2 Deepfakes (CNBC) 
  _{^{More: Variety, Deadline, NBC News}}

  • OpenAI strengthened Sora 2 protections after Bryan Cranston's likeness was generated without consent during launch.

  • Company partnered with SAG-AFTRA, CAA, and UTA to implement opt-in protocols and expedited complaint responses.

  • All parties endorsed the NO FAKES Act federal legislation to establish national standards for digital replication.

• DeepSeek's OCR System Compresses Image-Based Text (The Decoder) 
  _{^{More: South China Morning Post, MarkTechPost}}

  • DeepSeek released an OCR system achieving tenfold compression while maintaining ninety-seven percent information accuracy.

  • System processes over two hundred thousand pages daily per GPU using only sixty-four to four hundred tokens.

  • Code and model weights are open source, supporting one hundred languages and complex document formats.

BUSINESS

• Amazon Web Services Outage Takes Down Major Websites (CNBC) 
  _{^{More: Washington Post, NBC News, Al Jazeera}}

  • AWS suffered a major outage affecting Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, and Robinhood due to DNS resolution issues.

  • The US-EAST-1 region experienced elevated error rates starting around midnight Pacific time, fully recovering by afternoon.

  • Financial impact could reach hundreds of billions due to lost productivity across millions of dependent services.

• Top OpenAI, Google Brain Researchers Set Off a $300M VC Frenzy for Their Startup Periodic Labs (TechCrunch) 
  _{^{More: Inc., Yahoo Finance}}

  • Former OpenAI researcher Liam Fedus and Google Brain's Ekin Cubuk raised three hundred million in seed funding.

  • Felicis led the round with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Jeff Bezos, and Eric Schmidt for AI-powered materials science.

  • The startup aims to automate scientific discovery using robotic labs and language models to find new superconductors.

• OpenAI Investor Reid Hoffman Calls Anthropic One of the Good Guys (CNBC) 
  _{^{More: Axios, Bloomberg, Inc.}}

  • Reid Hoffman defended Anthropic publicly after criticism from Trump's AI czar David Sacks, praising their safety approach.

  • Hoffman is an investor in both OpenAI and Anthropic through Greylock, emphasizing importance of backing responsible companies.

  • The exchange reignited tensions between PayPal mafia members over AI regulation and deployment strategies in Washington.

MARKETS

WORLD

• How Chile Embodies A.I.'s No-Win Politics (New York Times) 
  _{^{More: WebProNews, ECLAC}}

  • Chile faces political debates over billions in AI investment amid fears of public backlash versus falling behind.

  • The country leads Latin America with a seventy point five AI readiness score and updated national policy frameworks.

  • Critics warn AI could worsen inequality and unemployment while supporters tout projects like LATAM GPT for transformation.

• Louvre Robbery: Jewelry Heist (New York Times) 
  _{^{More: CNN, NBC News, NPR}}

  • Thieves stole nine French Crown Jewels from the Louvre in a seven-minute heist using truck-mounted ladders.

  • Napoleon-era treasures including diamond tiaras and emerald necklaces remain missing despite a nationwide manhunt.

  • Experts warn jewelry may already be abroad and dismantled for black market sale, with recovery prospects grim.

• Japan Poised to Elect First Female Prime Minister in Sanae Takaichi (Washington Post) 
  _{^{More: CNN, Al Jazeera, NPR}}

  • Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan's first female prime minister after forming coalition with opposition party.

  • The hardline conservative LDP leader needs two more votes in parliament for confirmation expected Tuesday afternoon.

  • Her ascension comes days before Trump's Asia visit amid political instability following coalition partner Komeito's departure.

FUTURISM

• This Retina Implant Lets People With Vision Loss Do a Crossword Puzzle (MIT Technology Review) 
  _{^{More: ScienceDaily, NBC News, Business Wire}}

  • Science Corporation acquired PRIMA retina implant technology enabling macular degeneration patients to read text and crosswords.

  • The chip uses infrared light and tiny solar panels to bypass damaged photoreceptors, improving vision by five lines.

  • Thirty-eight European patients received implants, with Science Corporation now seeking regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S.

• Meta AI's App Downloads and Daily Users Spiked After Launch of Vibes AI Video Feed (TechCrunch) 
  _{^{More: Yahoo Finance, DQ India, Social Media Today}}

  • Meta AI's daily active users jumped to two point seven million from seven hundred seventy-five thousand in four weeks.

  • The surge correlates with September's Vibes feed launch featuring AI-generated short-form videos in the mobile app.

  • Meta AI saw fifteen percent growth while ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity experienced declines of three to seven percent.

CONTENT

• Make $1M+ in 2026 with This Trend (Greg Isenberg)

  • Greg Isenberg and Jonathan Courtney explore how to profit from the “anti-AI” movement by building high-value in-person experiences.

  • Courtney shares his frameworks for crafting IRL events that command premium prices and sell out consistently.

  • They discuss how scarcity, authenticity, and human connection make physical experiences more desirable than digital ones.

• Deel CEO, Alex Bouaziz on Raising $300M+ at a $17BN Valuation (20VC)

  • Alex Bouaziz breaks down Deel’s journey to $1B ARR and its latest $300M raise led by a16z, Ribbit, and Coatue.

  • He explains how Deel grew through 13 acquisitions, handled media controversies, and maintained profitability for three years.

  • The discussion dives into leadership, valuations, and why discipline beats hype in scaling a global company.

• AI Is Running Up America’s Energy Costs — Who’s Footing the Bill? (The Prof G Pod)

  • Scott Galloway and Ed Elson analyze how AI’s infrastructure demands are driving up U.S. energy bills nationwide.

  • They explore Big Tech’s role in mental health fallout and how companies like Meta and OpenAI are addressing it.

  • The episode ends with insights on new players challenging SpaceX and where the next wave of investment lies.

• Turn AI noise into signal*

  • Cut through the hype. Roko’s Basilisk distills the day’s AI breakthroughs, market moves, and workable workflows into a five-minute brief.

  • Get one sharp deep dive, fast Quick Hits, and a witty pro tip, plus links that actually matter.

  • Join 100k+ readers who start decisions here each morning.

EXTRAS

• Friend AI Device Subway Ad Protest NYC (The Verge) 
  _{^{More: Adweek, TechCrunch, Gothamist}}

  • Friend AI spent over one million dollars on eleven thousand NYC subway ads for its wearable companion device.

  • New Yorkers rapidly defaced the white-space ads with graffiti like ‘surveillance capitalism’ and ‘get real friends.’

  • CEO Avi Schiffmann claims the vandalism was intentional, designed to spark conversation about AI and loneliness.

• OpenEvidence, the ChatGPT for Doctors, Raises $200M at $6B Valuation (TechCrunch) 
  _{^{More: New York Times}}

  • OpenEvidence raised two hundred million dollars at a six billion valuation just three months after previous round.

  • The medical AI platform trained on JAMA and NEJM handles fifteen million clinical consultations monthly for free.

  • Google Ventures led the round with participation from Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Blackstone, and Thrive Capital.

• Rodrigo Paz Wins Bolivia's Presidential Runoff (NPR)
  _{^{More: CNN, Al Jazeera, PBS}} 

  • Centrist Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential election with fifty-four percent over right-wing rival Jorge Quiroga's forty-five percent.

  • Paz inherits an economy with twenty-three percent inflation, dollar shortages, and fuel crisis after twenty years of MAS rule.

  • His viral TikTok running mate Edman Lara, an ex-cop fired for exposing corruption, energized working-class voters.
    

AND MORE

• Mediators step up diplomacy after truce in Gaza nearly collapses.

• Asian stocks surge as easing U.S.–China trade tensions boost global markets.

• Oil prices slide to five-month lows amid oversupply and demand concerns.

• Your brand deserves to be in front of people who actually make decisions. That’s Memo’s audience.*

• China prioritizing expansionism over domestic reforms, says Taiwan official.

• Sergei Naryshkin warns world security is at its most fragile moment since WW2.

• Amazon Web Services recovers after global outage disrupted major web services.

• U.S. and Australia agree to secure critical minerals supply, reducing China’s dominance.