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

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

📦 White House blasts Amazon’s tariff listing idea as politically manipulative.
💊 Pfizer delays investment plans due to Trump’s shifting trade policies.
🤖 Meta launches AI assistant app with social feed and voice chat.
📉 UPS to cut 20,000 jobs and shutter 164 sites in restructuring.
🎧 Google’s AI podcast tool expands to over 50 languages.

TECH

• Meta's ChatGPT competitor shows how your friends use AI

  • Meta launches a standalone AI assistant app with a social feed showcasing friends' shared AI interactions for engagement.

  • Features include text and voice interaction, image generation, and web search, powered by Meta's Llama 4 model.

  • The app emphasizes voice interaction through an experimental ‘full-duplex’ mode for dynamic, conversational engagement.

• WhatsApp Is Walking a Tightrope Between AI Features and Privacy

  • WhatsApp introduces cloud-based AI tools while maintaining end-to-end encryption, using a system called Private Processing.

  • Private Processing employs specialized hardware to ensure user data is processed securely and inaccessible to Meta or others.

  • Users can opt into AI features and control AI usage in group chats via Advanced Chat Privacy settings.

• Google's AI podcast maker is now available in over 50 languages

  • Google's Audio Overviews tool, converting research into podcast-like conversations, expands to over 50 languages.

  • Accessible through the NotebookLM app, users can adjust settings to receive audio in their preferred language.

  • Integrated into Gemini AI chatbot and Google Docs, enabling broader transformation of written materials into audio formats.

BUSINESS

• White House blasts Amazon over tariff cost report: 'Hostile and political act'

  • Amazon proposed showing Trump-era tariffs on listings, which officials slammed as a hostile, politically charged customer manipulation.

  • The White House accused Amazon of pushing anti-tariff sentiment, while Amazon said the plan was never publicly implemented.

  • The move adds fuel to growing tensions between Trump’s administration and large tech platforms over transparency and trade.

• Pfizer CEO: Trump tariff uncertainty is deterring U.S. investment

  • Pfizer’s CEO said Trump’s shifting tariff policies are delaying long-term investments and disrupting manufacturing strategy globally.

  • He noted Pfizer may move some operations to the U.S. to limit risk from escalating international trade barriers.

  • Industry leaders warn that unpredictability in tariff enforcement is impacting growth plans across the broader pharmaceutical supply chain.

• Amazon's first 27 internet satellites were launched into space

  • Amazon launched its first 27 Project Kuiper satellites, moving closer to global broadband coverage and Starlink competition.

  • The mission is part of a plan to deploy over 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit for the internet.

  • Success marks a milestone in Amazon’s space strategy and bolsters its long-term internet infrastructure development ambitions.

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CONTENT

• Mark Zuckerberg – Meta’s AGI plan

  • Zuckerberg says Llama 4 prioritizes usefulness over benchmarks, with AGI focused on assistants, agents, and personal tools.

  • He defends open-source AI, warns about export controls, and critiques reward-hacking risks in consumer-facing AI systems.

  • Topics include AI girlfriends, Orion glasses, China’s DeepSeek, and Trump’s tech influence on global AI competition.

• Stanford creativity expert: This simple shift will 10x your AI creativity

  • Jeremy Utley explains that treating AI as a teammate, not a tool, unlocks far greater creative collaboration.

  • He urges people to let AI ask questions, enabling deeper exploration and more surprising, productive ideation sessions.

  • Mindset—not skill—is the key factor behind creative success with AI, especially for non-technical professionals using LLM tools.

• Sleep time compute – AI that 'thinks' 24/7

  • Matthew Berman reveals how sleep-time compute pre-processes data offline to reduce cost and boost model efficiency.

  • It’s ideal for predictable queries, freeing up real-time compute during user interactions while maintaining strong performance.

  • The method outperforms test-time models on cost and response time, especially in reasoning and doc-heavy use cases.

WORLD

• U.S. airstrike on Yemeni migrant center kills dozens

  • A U.S. strike hit a Houthi-run detention center in Yemen, killing over 60 African migrants, mostly Ethiopians.

  • The attack drew global condemnation as videos showed charred bodies and destroyed shelters inside the crowded Saada compound.

  • U.S. officials confirmed awareness of civilian deaths and announced an investigation into the military’s targeting process immediately.

• Three dead in Uppsala shooting amid Sweden's gang violence surge

  • A gunman opened fire inside a Swedish barbershop, killing three, before fleeing the scene on an electric scooter.

  • Authorities linked the incident to Sweden’s escalating gang violence, prompting renewed debate over tougher criminal enforcement policies.

  • Police are still searching for suspects and have urged citizens to share surveillance footage from the surrounding area.

• UPS to cut 20,000 jobs and close 164 facilities in 2025

  • UPS will lay off 20,000 workers and shut 164 facilities, citing reduced shipping demand and Amazon volume declines.

  • Executives say Trump-era tariffs have complicated forecasts and worsened macroeconomic conditions.

  • The restructuring will cost up to $600 million but is expected to save $3.5 billion in annual operational expenses.

AND MORE…

• Meta says its Llama AI models have been downloaded 1.2B times

  • Meta's Llama AI models reached 1.2 billion downloads, up from 1 billion in mid-March, showcasing rapid adoption.

  • Thousands of developers contribute to the ecosystem, creating tens of thousands of derivative models downloaded extensively each month.

  • Meta's AI assistant, powered by Llama models, has approximately one billion users, reflecting significant user engagement.

• Duolingo will replace contract workers with AI

  • Duolingo plans to phase out contractors for tasks automatable by AI, aiming to become an ‘AI-first’ company.

  • CEO Luis von Ahn emphasizes reallocating resources to creative work, reducing repetitive tasks through AI integration.

  • The company will incorporate AI into hiring, performance reviews, and resource allocation to enhance efficiency.

• Spotify adds 5M premium users and hits record operating income

  • Spotify added 5 million premium subscribers in Q1 2025, totaling 268 million, marking its highest first-quarter growth since 2020.

  • The company reported a record operating income of €509 million, with revenue increasing 15% year-over-year to €4.2 billion.

  • Monthly active users reached 678 million, driven by growth in Latin America and other regions outside North America and Europe.