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

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

🔐 Everyone is navigating AI security in real time, even Google.
🎧 iOS 27 rumors point to a revamped AirPods menu & Siri redesign.
🕵️‍♂️ The White House seeks $9B to buy AI chips for spy agencies.
💵 The dollar softens as Hormuz reopening hopes lift market sentiment.
🏛️ Rubio says the U.S. will find ‘another way’ if Iran talks fail.

TECHNOLOGY

• Everyone is navigating AI security in real time, even Google (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Tech Buzz, CXO}}

  • Google Cloud COO Francis de Souza says companies are in a transition period before AI security reaches a better state.

  • He warns security cannot be bolted on later, urging firms to adopt a platform approach from the start.

  • De Souza flagged 'shadow AI,' where employees use consumer tools without oversight, as a major risk to organizations.

• iOS 27 rumors point to revamped AirPods menu & Siri redesign (MacRumors)
  ^{_{More: The Verge}}

  • Apple will unveil iOS 27 next month, featuring a dedicated Siri app and expanded Apple Intelligence across core apps.

  • Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports a revamped AirPods menu, better Genmoji quality, and a darker Siri interface are coming.

  • EU users may gain the ability to set AirPlay alternatives like Google Cast as default in the update.

• Hackers exploit chatbot 'personalities' to bypass safety rules with simple tricks (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: BBC, Futurism}}

  • Early AI chatbots could be jailbroken without technical skills, often by simply asking them to ignore safety rules.

  • Common tricks included role-play games or telling bots to forget instructions, unlocking meth recipes and bomb-making guides.

  • One viral jailbreak told Twitter bots to 'ignore all previous instructions,' producing poetry, art and absurd posts.

BUSINESS

• White House seeks $9B to buy AI chips for spy agencies (NY Times)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, The Information}}

  • The White House approved a secret $9B request for AI chips to power U.S. spy agencies.

  • Funding targets infrastructure for NVIDIA's Grace Blackwell superchip, needing massive electrical power and specialized liquid cooling systems.

  • Susie Wiles authorized the NSA to keep using Anthropic's Mythos model despite Pentagon flagging the company as a threat.

• Dollar softens as Hormuz reopening hopes lift risk appetite across markets (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Economic Times}}

  • The U.S. dollar held near a week-low as hopes of a Strait of Hormuz deal pushed oil below $100 per barrel.

  • Brent crude fell 5.4% to $97.91 while the dollar index slipped to 98.95, its weakest level since May 18.

  • Trump said a peace memorandum with Iran was 'largely negotiated,' though Washington downplayed chances of a near-term deal.

• Two top Walmart executives depart under new CEO John Furner (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: WSJ, Reuters, MSN}}

  • Tom Ward, COO of Sam's Club, is retiring, while Cedric Clark, Walmart's EVP of U.S. store operations, is leaving.

  • The departures come nearly four months after John Furner took over as Walmart's CEO earlier this year.

  • A replacement for Clark is expected within weeks, while a timeline for filling Ward's role remains unclear.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Rubio says U.S. will find 'another way' if Iran talks fail (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Straits Times, Indian Express}}

  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will pursue alternatives if diplomacy with Iran fails to produce an agreement.

  • Talks center on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear negotiations, and the release of frozen Iranian funds.

  • Trump said the U.S. blockade on Iranian ships will stay in place until an agreement is certified and signed.

• Drone attacks raise safety fears as Colombians vote for new president (AP)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, The Independent}}

  • Colombian voters face safety fears from drone-dropped explosives targeting police stations as they head to the polls on May 31.

  • Authorities blame a rebel faction that rejected a decade-old peace deal with the Colombian government for the attacks.

  • The election is seen as a referendum on President Gustavo Petro's controversial 'total peace' initiative with remaining rebel groups.

• SolarSquare in talks to raise up to $60M for rooftop solar push (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Tech Buzz}}

  • SolarSquare is in advanced talks to raise $55M to $60M in a Series C round co-led by B Capital and Lightspeed.

  • The deal could value the Indian rooftop solar startup between $450M and $500M, more than doubling its valuation in 18 months.

  • Existing investor Elevation Capital is expected to join the round, which is set to close next month pending final terms.

FUTURISM

• XREAL, Google's smartglasses partner, believes it has finally cracked the industry (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Tech Buzz}}

  • Smart glasses have been a Silicon Valley dream for years, but the industry has burned massive investments with little profit.

  • XREAL CEO Chi Xu admits everyone is losing money, calling smart glasses development one of the hardest tech challenges.

  • At Google I/O, Xu promoted Project Aura, XREAL's latest attempt at functional XR glasses people actually want to wear.

• Huawei's 'chip queen' etches her name in China's tech folklore (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Japan Times}}

  • He Tingbo, Huawei's 'chip queen,' has led the company's semiconductor push since 2003 with a $400M annual budget.

  • She is one of two women on Huawei's 17-member board and heads its Scientist Committee and chip business.

  • He is driving Huawei's post-Moore's Law strategy as China seeks alternative chip paths amid ongoing U.S. sanctions.

• Dreamie alarm clock finally broke my decade-long phone-in-bed habit (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!}}

  • The Dreamie alarm clock helped the writer stop sleeping with their phone at the bedside for the first time.

  • After more than a decade of nightly phone use in bed, the device offered a workable replacement for waking up.

  • Poor sleep from phone use affects mental and physical health, making Dreamie appealing to people glued to their devices.

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

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CONTENT

• Dan Shipper on the AI paradox: more automation, more humans, more work (Lenny's Podcast)

  • Every CEO Dan Shipper predicts the future of work will unfold inside coding tools like Codex or Claude Code.

  • He forecasts every company will have a Slack-based 'super-agent' that employees regularly talk to for daily tasks.

  • Shipper is bullish on SaaS stocks, arguing users bringing their own AI tokens will actually improve SaaS margins.

• Why Anthropic is causing a comp crisis in the sales world (20VC)

  • Chad Peets and Chris Degnan partner with founders of fast-growing AI companies like Harvey and Factory to build elite sales teams.

  • Degnan scaled Snowflake from $0 to $4B in ARR, while Peets is known as a no-nonsense sales leader.

  • The pair share views on hunters versus order takers, setting quotas, and why most VCs add little value on boards.

• How the best companies defend against mediocrity & slow internal rot (Y Combinator)

  • Eric Ries discusses his new book on why good companies go bad and how great companies stay great.

  • He argues shareholder primacy often drives product degradation and explains how founders can lose control of what they built.

  • Ries explores legal structures and governance models that can protect a company's core mission from outside threats.

EXTRAS

• Nintendo ignores AI completely & the market is still rewarding it (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!}}

  • Nintendo's hands-off approach to AI is paying off as shares climbed up to 6.8% over three days in Tokyo.

  • The rally reflects investors rotating out of AI tech into beaten-down names amid concerns about unsustainable AI sector gains.

  • Analysts say investors are hedging ahead of NVIDIA earnings, temporarily selling AI stocks and lifting names like Nintendo.

• Star Citizen hits $1B in funding, 14 years after announcement (IGN)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, Variety}}

  • Star Citizen crossed $1B in crowdfunding after a DefenseCon event raised $6.6M in one hour on May 24.

  • The milestone arrived shortly after a new $5k virtual spaceship went on sale that players cannot fly in-game.

  • Critics call the 14-year-old project a scam, citing pricey ships and lingering doubts about whether it will properly launch.

• What's really driving a tricky summer for the live music industry (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: MSN}}

  • Rising ticket prices and tighter household budgets are reshaping how consumers spend on live music this summer season.

  • Higher gas prices and a broader pullback in discretionary spending are pricing many fans out of shows they want to attend.

  • Industry observers fear the lower end of the live music market may fall out entirely as demand shifts.

AND MORE

• Elon Musk has officially given up on solar power here on Earth.

• South Africa's Pick n Pay slumps after delaying its new financial target.

• Thousands of AI roles at frontier companies, matched to your profile and sent straight to you. Stop scrolling.*

• Six kitchen gadgets that make the daily grind of adulting feel easier.

• Polymarket banned in Indonesia after users placed bets on Prabowo's ouster.

• Ferrari taps IBM's AI to turn casual fans into Formula 1 superfans.

• Rolls-Royce credits energized staff for fueling the engine maker's strong revival.

• Google goes for glitter with disco-ball icons, but fans question the redesign.