Memorandum
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Musk Lobbies For Driverless Vehicle Rules

Musk Lobbies For Driverless Vehicle Rules

OpenAI aims for ChatGPT as super assistant, China criticizes Trump over abuse of export controls, and Gap shares slide as tariffs loom large.

Memorandum
May 31, 2025

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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🚗 Elon Musk is lobbying lawmakers on driverless vehicle rules.
🧠 OpenAI aims to make ChatGPT a super assistant for daily life.
🛃 China criticizes Trump over ‘abuse’ of export controls on semiconductor technology.
👕 Gap shares slide as tariffs loom large over apparel maker's turnaround plans.
📈 Anthropic reaches $3 billion annual revenue driven by growing business AI demand.

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TECHNOLOGY

Elon Musk is lobbying lawmakers on driverless vehicle rules
- Elon Musk is actively lobbying Congress to support the Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act.
- Musk’s push aligns with Tesla’s strategy to dominate AI-driven autonomous vehicle development and deployment.
- Tesla plans to launch a robotaxi service and eventually deploy steering wheel–free Cybercabs nationwide.
OpenAI aims to make ChatGPT a super assistant for daily life
- OpenAI plans to evolve ChatGPT into a personalized “super assistant” for everyday and complex digital tasks.
- The assistant will use advanced models, multimodal input, and generative UI to enhance user interaction.
- Strategy documents suggest hardware integration and positioning ChatGPT as a helpful, emotionally intelligent companion.
China criticizes Trump over ‘abuse’ of export controls on semiconductor technology
- China rebukes U.S. export controls following Trump’s claim it violated their trade agreement.
- Both nations recently agreed to a 90-day suspension on most mutual tariffs amid tensions.
- U.S. escalated restrictions by banning use of Huawei’s AI chips by American companies.

BUSINESS

Gap shares slide as tariffs loom large over apparel maker's turnaround plans
- Gap shares fell 20% in early trading on Friday after the Old Navy owner warned that U.S. tariffs would squeeze this year's profit.
- The company reaffirmed its annual forecasts that did not include tariff-related costs but flagged expenses of up to $300 million.
- The stock has surged 30% so far this month, as investors focused on the firm's efforts to improve product innovation and store operations.
Shein’s troubled IPO signals growing challenges for the fast fashion giant
- Shein faces new obstacles in its IPO amid continued regulatory and market scrutiny.
- Analysts expected Shein’s move from London to Hong Kong, reflecting changing strategic priorities.
- A London listing offered global legitimacy and access to more established investors.
Anthropic reaches $3B annual revenue driven by growing business AI demand
- Anthropic’s annualized revenue surged to $3 billion by May 2025, doubling since March 2025.
- Growth driven by AI code generation and enterprise SaaS solutions, backed by Alphabet and Amazon.
- Despite OpenAI competition, Anthropic scales revenue fast with expanded models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet.

MARKETS

S&P	5,911.69	-0.01%
NASDAQ	19,113.77	-0.32%
Dow	42,270.07	+0.13%
10-Year	4.41%	-0.18%
Bitcoin	103,778.89	-1.37%
Gold	3,313.10	-0.92%

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WORLD

India’s economy grew faster than expected at 7.4% in March quarter
- India’s economy grew 7.4% annually in the March quarter, exceeding expectations significantly.
- This growth marks India’s strongest quarterly expansion in the 2025 fiscal year.
- New Delhi is poised to secure a trade deal with the U.S., following China and the U.K.
Malaysian minister’s party switch aims to test ruling coalition’s stability
- Malaysian Minister Zafrul Aziz leaves UMNO to join Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s People's Justice Party.
- His party switch is viewed as a test of the ruling coalition’s overall political stability.
- The move could affect upcoming elections and shift the government’s balance of power significantly.
Macron urges Europe and Asia to unite amid rising U.S.-China tensions
- Macron urged Indo-Pacific nations to form a coalition against U.S.-China rivalry impacts.
- He positioned France as a balancing force between the two superpowers.
- Macron highlighted shared Asia-Europe interest in preserving the global order’s stability.

CONTENT

Victor Shih on Xi Jinping’s paranoid approach to AGI and politics
- Victor Shih discusses China’s massive local debt crisis and its economic implications in detail.
- The conversation covers the Chinese Communist Party’s views and policies regarding artificial intelligence.
- Shih provides insights on China’s political future, including what may happen after Xi Jinping.
Rep. Greg Landsman talks about the hidden details buried in the bill
- Congressman Greg Landsman explains the House budget bill’s hidden impacts and lengthy 1,100+ pages.
- Discussion covers how Democrats can regain trust from working-class voters in purple districts.
- Landsman shares insights from his district and why a '90s kid might lead the future.
OpenAI’s $6B Jony Ive deal signals victory for YC’s unique approach
- Rory O’Driscoll and Jason Lemkin discuss major startup failures, IPO impacts, and late-stage venture challenges.
- Topics include Builder.ai’s $500M collapse, Chime’s losses, dilution issues, and OpenAI’s $6B Jony Ive deal.
- They analyze market trends, AI layoffs, unicorn valuations, and why 2021 IPO frenzy won’t repeat soon.

FUTURISM

Gemini will now summarize long emails automatically, unless users opt out
- Gemini will now auto-generate email summaries in Gmail without requiring user interaction or consent.
- The AI creates summary cards highlighting key points and updates them as new replies are received.
- Despite convenience, concerns remain over AI reliability, as past summaries have shown frequent errors and inaccuracies.
China’s startups race to lead the fast-approaching AI robot industry boom
- Chinese startups like EngineAI are advancing humanoid robotics using AI to teach robots complex, adaptive tasks.
- Events like robot marathons and kickboxing show China’s growing innovation in humanoid development despite challenges.
- Backed by manufacturing strength and state support, China may soon dominate the global humanoid robotics race.
It’s not your imagination: AI is speeding up the pace of change
- Mary Meeker's new report highlights AI's adoption as historically faster than any previous tech revolution.
- ChatGPT hit 800 million users in 17 months; AI spending and user growth are unprecedented.
- Inference costs have dropped 99% in two years, despite soaring model training expenses nearing $1 billion.

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