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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🗼 NVIDIA's Jensen Huang leaves Japan with AI factory and robotics deal.
🎬 Christopher Nolan says everyone can see through AI's 'Trojan horse' disguise.
💰 Regulatory filing shows Netflix spent $587M on Affleck's AI film startup.
📱 Federal employees may download TikTok on government devices again.
🧬 Samsung Biologics makes $1.8B all-cash offer for Swiss PolyPeptide Group.

TECHNOLOGY

• NVIDIA's Jensen Huang leaves Japan with AI factory & robotics deals (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: TOI, Forbes, Yahoo!}}

  • Huang's two-day Tokyo visit produced a national AI factory, robotics partnerships, and chip-supply agreements.

  • Government-backed Noetra unites 44 firms, including SoftBank and Sony, with $6.2B for homegrown physical AI.

  • Japan targets 10M AI-equipped robots by 2040 and 30% of the global AI robotics market.

• Christopher Nolan says everyone can see through AI's 'Trojan horse' disguise (Firstpost)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, Tech Buzz}}

  • Nolan called AI "a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside" during an interview.

  • The 'Odyssey' director said he's never seen technology advance so fast yet face total rejection.

  • He finds public skepticism "pretty encouraging," noting young people dismiss AI videos as 'AI slop.'

• Kimi K3 release reignites debate over China's open source AI progress (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Radar, Yahoo!}}

  • Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 showed frontier-level performance, spooking Wall Street and dropping the Nasdaq 1%.

  • David Sacks blamed U.S. regulations for losing the AI race, calling Claude 'woke' and 'lobotomized.'

  • Travis Kalanick accused Chinese firms of 'distilling off' American models, though American models borrow too.

BUSINESS

• Regulatory filing shows Netflix spent $587M on Affleck's AI film startup (Tech in Asia)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Variety, MSN}}

  • A regulatory filing shows Netflix paid $587M in cash for InterPositive, co-founded by Ben Affleck.

  • The startup's AI tools fix post-production issues like missing shots, background replacements, and incorrect lighting.

  • Affleck joined as senior advisor, and Netflix says around 300 titles have already used generative AI.

• Federal employees may download TikTok on government devices again, DOJ says (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, TechCrunch, Inc.com}}

  • The DOJ says a 2022 law banning TikTok on federal devices no longer applies after ownership changed.

  • TikTok's U.S. operations now belong to a joint venture backed by Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX.

  • Trump cleared downloads at agency discretion, having repeatedly delayed the broader U.S. ban since early 2025.

• Waymo resumes San Francisco robotaxi service after hour-long power outage pause (SF Chronicle)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!}}

  • Waymo paused San Francisco service for about one hour during an outage affecting 7k PG&E customers.

  • Riders were told service was "temporarily paused" and that "freeway routes are unavailable."

  • Past outages have stalled Waymo vehicles before, including a December blackout and Fourth of July incident.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Samsung Biologics makes $1.8B all-cash offer for Switzerland's PolyPeptide Group (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg, Reuters}}

  • Samsung Biologics has bid 1.46 billion Swiss francs ($1.8B) for Switzerland's PolyPeptide Group.

  • The acquisition expands its pipeline into peptide therapeutics to tap the booming weight-loss drug market.

  • The South Korean biologics drugmaker expects to complete the deal by the end of the year.

• U.S. bombing of Iran expands as troops die & Tehran hits Gulf (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Financial Times, AP, The Guardian}}

  • The U.S. struck Iran early Monday after another service member died, targeting suspected underground missile bases.

  • Iran retaliated against Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.

  • A crumbling interim deal, stalled Strait of Hormuz traffic, and Brent crude above $90 signal escalation.

• Too much cash is breaking the economy in the West Bank (AP)
  ^{_{More: Washington Post, The Hill}}

  • Palestinian banks hold more Israeli shekels than they can manage, making paper money harder to spend.

  • Israel caps how much physical currency it takes back, and officials say it deepens economic crisis.

  • Unlike blockaded Gaza's cash shortages, West Bank banks are running out of vault space for shekels.

FUTURISM

• Nonprofit Current AI builds free, open AI infrastructure for the world (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Crypto Briefing}}

  • Current AI partnered with India's Bhashini to launch Suno Sutra, an offline device running 22 languages.

  • The nonprofit allocated $3.2M in grants and launched an open-source chatbot at Geneva's AI for Good Summit

  • CEO Ayah Bdeir, who previously led Mozilla's AI strategy, says AI isn't representing India's hundreds of languages.

• Spotify doubles down on AI features while fighting a slop flood (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!}}

  • Spotify removed over 75M spammy tracks last year as AI-generated music infiltrates playlists and charts.

  • An executive said AI has taken existing spam tactics "to a new level" on the platform.

  • Despite the flood, Spotify keeps adding AI features like playlists, its 'DJ,' and 'About the Song.'

• A 600-mile road trip shows EV charging has finally improved (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN}}

  • Just over half of AAA survey respondents cited public charging infrastructure as a key EV concern.

  • The writer's 600-mile Montreal trip in an Audi e-tron was nearly flawless despite its 220-mile range.

  • A Better Route Planner, now owned by Rivian, optimized stops using winds, temperature, and vehicle specs.

• 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.

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CONTENT

• Netflix's Elizabeth Stone explains why systems thinkers beat specialists in AI (Lenny's Podcast)

  • Elizabeth Stone, Netflix's Chief Product and Technology Officer, oversees Engineering, Product, and Design across the company.

  • She names 'systems thinking' as her top skill and treats AI fluency as a universal expectation.

  • Stone discusses managing the flood of AI output and what 'excellence as an operating system' means.

• Curative CEO cancels $600K Salesforce contract after building his own version (20VC)

  • Fred Turner scaled Curative's COVID testing from $0 to $5B revenue and seven to 7k employees.

  • The company ran over 206k tests in a single day and signed contracts worth hundreds of millions.

  • Curative is now a unicorn health insurer, using AI agents to replace entire back-office departments.

• Replit's Amjad Masad on memes, media, & building in public (a16z)

  • Replit CEO Amjad Masad discusses founder-led storytelling and why communicating a vision rivals executing on it.

  • He argues founders building ahead of the market need a compelling story to attract talent and capital.

  • Masad shares lessons on authenticity, navigating controversy, and why retreating from public view is the real risk.

EXTRAS

• In China, people brave simulated typhoons to prepare for real ones (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Straits Times, Yahoo!}}

  • Huang Zhen shut his cafe for a day to train against surging waters and powerful winds.

  • The Hangzhou center charges 1,599 yuan ($235) daily for realistic typhoon and flash flood experiences.

  • Simulations generate winds up to 165 kph, and five more training centers are planned within three years.

• Police cane supporters of India's cockroach movement as thousands march (NBC)
  ^{_{More: Business Standard, Reuters}}

  • Police caned supporters of India's youth-led 'cockroach' movement marching on parliament despite denied permission.

  • The months-old movement is seen as the biggest public challenge to Modi in his third term.

  • Youth anger is fed by exam failures and a lack of urban jobs, drawing millions online.

• Ryanair stock slides 6% as fuel costs from Iran war dent profit (BBC)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, Yahoo!}}

  • Ryanair's first-quarter profit fell 34% to 538 million euros ($615.3M) amid rising unhedged fuel prices.

  • Declining ticket fares during the ongoing Iran war added pressure to the budget airline's earnings.

  • CEO Michael O'Leary warned that "unprofitable airlines face a difficult winter" in the earnings report.

AND MORE

• Vertu wants executives to pay $6,880 for an AI agent that underperforms.

• AI pioneer Kai-Fu Lee's startup targets Hong Kong IPO next year.

• Hire vetted LATAM engineers in as little as five days, and save up to 70% on salary costs.*

• Cybersecurity risks from over-the-air tech in cars are concerning analysts.

• Neil Rimer thinks the AI money is coming back out.

• Russia pounds Kyiv as NATO chief warns Moscow would lose by attacking Baltics.

• All the EVs that were discontinued or killed off in the U.S. this year.