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

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

🎤 At HumanX, Claude emerged as the AI conference's most talked-about.
🚀 NASA's Artemis II crew returns safely after a 10-day Moon mission.
🤖 Trump officials are urging banks to test Anthropic's new Mythos model.
⏸️ A federal regulator has paused Arizona's criminal case against Kalshi.
⚡ Taiwan plans drills to secure energy supplies during a Chinese blockade.

TECHNOLOGY

• At HumanX, Claude emerged as the AI conference's most talked-about chatbot (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, MEXC, CNBC}}

  • Thousands of tech professionals gathered at HumanX in San Francisco to discuss the growing business impact of agentic AI.

  • Claude dominated conference conversations, while ChatGPT and OpenAI were widely seen as having lost momentum and focus.

  • OpenAI faces perception problems despite a $122B funding round, with distractions, bad press, and ad injection fueling skepticism.

• X is cutting payments to clickbait & rapid-fire news aggregators (Tech in Asia)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, MSN}}

  • X's head of product announced aggregator payouts were cut 60% this cycle, with another 20% reduction coming next cycle.

  • The platform is also reducing payments for accounts that habitually use breaking news bait tactics in every post.

  • X says content flooding crowded out real creators, but insists it won't restrict reach, only compensation.

• NASA's Artemis II crew returns safely after a 10-day Moon mission (BBC)
  ^{_{More: The Guardian, TechCrunch, CNN}}

  • The Orion spacecraft splashed down off San Diego at 5:07 p.m. PT, with all four crew members in good health.

  • Artemis II marked NASA's first crewed lunar orbit in over 50 years, traveling a record 252,760 miles from Earth.

  • The crew orbited the Moon, photographed unseen surface areas, witnessed a solar eclipse, and identified new craters.

BUSINESS

• Trump officials are urging banks to test Anthropic's new Mythos model (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, NY Times, The Guardian}}

  • Treasury Secretary Bessent and Fed Chair Powell encouraged bank executives to use Anthropic's Mythos model to detect vulnerabilities.

  • JPMorgan was an initial Mythos partner, but Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley are also testing it.

  • Anthropic has limited Mythos access despite its powerful vulnerability-detection capabilities, despite having no specific cybersecurity training.

• A federal regulator has paused Arizona's criminal case against Kalshi (Economic Times)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Binance, TechCrunch}}

  • The CFTC won a temporary restraining order blocking Arizona from pursuing its criminal case against prediction market Kalshi.

  • CFTC Chairman Selig said Arizona's use of state criminal law against federally compliant companies sets a dangerous precedent.

  • Selig is currently the sole CFTC commissioner following the departure of acting chair Caroline Pham to MoonPay.

• Nvidia-backed SiFive raises $400M, hitting a $3.65B valuation (Tech in Asia)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, MSN, TechCrunch}}

  • SiFive raised a $400M oversubscribed round at a $3.65B valuation, led by Atreides Management with Nvidia among investors.

  • The company licenses open RISC-V chip designs, offering a neutral alternative to dominant x86 and ARM architectures.

  • SiFive hadn't raised since a $175M round in March 2022, when it was valued at $2.33B pre-money.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Taiwan plans drills to secure energy supplies during a Chinese blockade (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Japan Times, Financial Post}}

  • Taiwan will run its first-ever joint ministry drills to escort oil & gas ships during a simulated naval blockade.

  • A senior official warned that blocking the Taiwan Strait would effectively cut energy supplies to the entire region.

  • The drills come amid heightened concern following Iran's closure of a major global energy chokepoint.

• Flipkart & Amazon are intensifying pressure on India's quick commerce market (Tech in Asia)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • India's quick commerce demand has more than doubled, but profitability remains under pressure amid intensifying competition.

  • Flipkart has surpassed 800 dark stores and plans to double that count by the end of 2026.

  • Over 6k dark stores now operate across India, creating significant overlap and squeezing smaller players in major cities.

• Orbán's election loss sends ripples through Trump & U.S. conservatives (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, NBC, The Economic Times}}

  • Orbán's defeat carries weight in the U.S., where Trump and conservatives have long championed him as a right-wing icon.

  • Trump backed Orbán's reelection and even sent VP Vance to Budapest to campaign for him last week.

  • The loss highlights how global incumbent discontent and the Iran war have weakened Trump's ability to aid allied leaders abroad.

FUTURISM

• Apple is testing four smart glasses designs for a 2027 launch (CNET)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Engadget, MSN}}

  • Apple plans to launch its first smart glasses in 2027, with a possible unveiling later this year.

  • Four designs are being tested, ranging from large and slim rectangular frames to oval and circular options.

  • The glasses represent a scaled-back AR vision following Vision Pro's delays and underwhelming market reception.

• Nearly half of Gen Z workers are deliberately sabotaging workplace AI tools (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Fortune}}

  • A survey of 1,200 knowledge workers found 29% admitted to actively sabotaging their company's AI initiatives.

  • Gen Z led the trend, with 44% of respondents admitting to deliberately undermining in-house AI deployments.

  • Top reasons included fear of automation, job loss, security concerns, and resentment that AI increased daily workload.

• Slate Auto is Bezos's bet on an ultra-cheap electric truck (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Yahoo!}}

  • Slate Auto emerged from three years of stealth in Michigan with Jeff Bezos backing and a cheap, customizable EV pickup.

  • TechCrunch broke the story in early April, weeks before Slate's official reveal, as prototypes surfaced across California.

  • Slate stands out in a struggling EV sector, targeting late 2026 production despite significant hurdles ahead.

• Explore the essential startup reading database*

  • Learning from the best is how you become the best. We've curated a list of top-notch articles, blogs, and readings essential for startup founders.

  • And here's the kicker: we've organized it all in a user-friendly Notion database for easy access and tracking. Double win!

  • As aspiring leaders and innovators, this list serves as a bridge to absorbing the knowledge that has propelled others to success.

CONTENT

• Keith Rabois shares why building in the AI era feels different (Lenny's Podcast)

  • Rabois, a PayPal Mafia veteran and Khosla Ventures MD, outlines what separates top-performing companies in the AI era.

  • He argues that talking to customers can be actively harmful for consumer products and that the PM role is dying.

  • Rabois also explains why CMOs (not engineers) are becoming the biggest consumers of AI tokens today.

• ElevenLabs' sales chief explains how the company built a $330M revenue machine (20VC)

  • ElevenLabs VP of Sales Carles Reina scaled the company's revenue from scratch to over $330M in just three years.

  • Reina breaks down ElevenLabs' unconventional 20x sales quota model and why standard AI outbound tools don't work.

  • The episode covers hiring obsessed salespeople, partner ecosystem pitfalls, and whether brands can shorten enterprise sales cycles.

• Hearth AI's founder talks about using Codex to build faster & more intentionally (OpenAI)

  • Ashe Magalhaes, founder of Hearth AI, discusses building fast with Codex and finding beauty in the tools she uses.

  • She shares her agentic personal operating system, designed to help her feel more present, connected, and intentional daily.

  • The episode covers early agent development, AI's role in human connection, and the value of building in public.

EXTRAS

• Sam Altman responds to ‘incendiary’ New Yorker article after attack on his home (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: San Francisco Chronicle, Tech Buzz, MSN}}

  • Someone allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman's San Francisco home on Friday; a suspect was later arrested at OpenAI HQ.

  • Altman connected the attack to a recent New Yorker investigation questioning his trustworthiness and business conduct.

  • The Ronan Farrow piece, based on 100+ interviews, portrayed Altman as having an unusually relentless drive for power.

• Trump blasts Pope Leo XIV over criticism of U.S. foreign policy (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: The Guardian, CNN, Axios}}

  • Trump publicly attacked Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social for criticizing U.S. military action in Iran.

  • The president said he doesn't want a pope who criticizes him, citing his landslide election mandate.

  • Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, has also clashed with Trump over his administration's domestic immigration policies.

• China is using social media & AI to mock the U.S. globally (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, Economic Times}}

  • Beijing has shifted from rigid propaganda to dynamic social media and AI-driven storytelling targeting global audiences.

  • A five-minute AI animation used martial arts allegory to frame the U.S. as an aggressor in the Iran war.

  • China's state media has produced multiple AI animations in recent months mocking U.S. foreign policy and Trump's ambitions.

AND MORE

• An AI K-pop startup called Galaxy is targeting a dual-market IPO.

• How AT&T created the most iconic phone ever.

• Roko’s Basilisk skips the buzz words and cuts straight to what moves markets, products, and careers.*

• The Hisense UR9 is a great first shot against OLED’s bow.

• YouTube Premium & YouTube Music are getting more expensive.

• Your article about AI doesn’t need AI art.

• AMC will stream ‘The Audacity’ premiere in 21 parts on TikTok.