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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

⚠️ White House presses OpenAI to delay new model rollout.
📩 Notion shuts down its Mail product to go all-in on agents.
🏦 JPMorgan sets new succession plan, but Dimon stays at least three years.
🎮 Microsoft raises Xbox console prices as memory component costs soar.
🚢 Iran strikes vessel in Hormuz, halting U.N. effort to evacuate ships.

TECHNOLOGY

• Citing safety concerns, White House presses OpenAI to delay new model rollout (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: CNN, The Verge}}

  • OpenAI will limit GPT 5.6 to select partners rather than the public, following Trump administration direction.

  • Altman told staff the government would approve access customer by customer during a limited preview period.

  • The Office of the National Cyber Director and Office of Science and Technology Policy requested the limited release.

• Notion shuts down its Mail product to go all-in on agents (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Yahoo!, TechCrunch}}

  • Notion is discontinuing Notion Mail on September 22, shifting fully to its AI agent offering.

  • More than half of Mail users already manage email without ever opening their inbox.

  • Gmail-connected emails stay intact, but users must export drafts and scheduled emails to keep them.

• Patronus AI raises $50M to build digital worlds that stress-test agents (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: MEXC, Tech Buzz}}

  • AI agents are evolving from answering questions to autonomously executing complex, multi-step tasks for users.

  • High benchmark scores do not prove an agent can reliably complete real-world jobs correctly.

  • Patronus AI builds simulated digital environments where model makers can evaluate and fine-tune agent performance.

BUSINESS

• JPMorgan sets new succession plan, but Dimon stays at least three years (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: WSJ, Business Insider, Straits Times}}

  • Jamie Dimon plans to stay as JPMorgan CEO for at least three more years, a source says.

  • The bank elevated Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh to co-presidents amid a top-rank reshuffle.

  • Marianne Lake, viewed as a top successor contender, is retiring, narrowing the field of candidates.

• Microsoft raises Xbox console prices as memory component costs soar (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, BBC, Forbes}}

  • Microsoft is raising Xbox console prices, following Apple's recent hikes on MacBooks and iPads.

  • From August 1, 512GB Series S consoles rise $100 to roughly $500, 1TB models $150.

  • Surging memory prices, driven by historic AI chipmaker demand, are hitting the consumer electronics industry.

• Polymarket confirms hackers stole user funds after third-party vendor breach (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: Decrypt, Yahoo!, TechCrunch}}

  • Polymarket confirmed hackers stole funds from some users after a compromise at a third-party vendor.

  • The company says it has contained the incident and is refunding affected victims in full.

  • Blockchain firm PeckShield reported a phishing campaign that stole roughly $3M worth of cryptocurrency.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Iran strikes vessel in Hormuz, halting U.N. effort to evacuate ships (CNN)
  ^{_{More: CNBC, Reuters, AP}}

  • Iran struck a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, pausing evacuations and challenging the U.S. agreement.

  • A U.S. official said an Iranian drone attacked the ship, though Iran has not claimed responsibility.

  • The attack halted the U.N. mission to evacuate hundreds of ships and over 11k stranded seafarers.

• Venezuelans dig through rubble for loved ones after two deadly earthquakes (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC7, Yahoo!, The Hill}}

  • Neighbors dug through rubble searching for loved ones after back-to-back earthquakes killed more than 230 people.

  • The death toll rose to around 235, with at least 4.3k injured and thousands reported missing.

  • The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes were among Venezuela's strongest in over a century.

• Korean stocks tumble 8% on chip selloff, triggering trading halt (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, Investing.com}}

  • South Korean stocks fell more than 8% Friday, triggering a 20-minute trading halt amid a chip selloff.

  • The KOSPI dropped 8.18% to 8,199.81, heading for its steepest weekly decline in over three months.

  • The halt marked the fifth circuit-breaker activation this year and only the 11th in market history.

FUTURISM

• Netflix unveils new horror game Unhinged to boost interactive offerings (Bloomberg)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, TOI, TechRadar}}

  • Netflix launches its new horror game Unhinged on June 30, available across all subscriber tiers.

  • Made by Oxenfree developer Night School Studio, it follows a woman escaping a home invasion.

  • The game is controlled via your phone and launches worldwide, per a tense social media trailer.

• China's premier calls tech advancements an opportunity for the world, not threat (AP)
  ^{_{More: Seattle Times, Washington Post}}

  • China's Premier Li Qiang defended the country's tech advancements as an opportunity for the world, not a threat.

  • Li said heavy state subsidies were not the main reason behind the rapid rise of high-tech industries.

  • He acknowledged growing global concerns, with some citing "China Shock 2.0" as a threat to advanced economies.

• General Intuition bets $2.3B that video games can train real-world AI agents (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Bitcoin World}}

  • General Intuition uses video games to train AI agents, betting that the skills transfer to robots.

  • The same AI brain powering its game-playing agent also controls a quadrupedal exploration robot.

  • Just eight minutes of street-collected robotics data fine-tuned the model for the quadruped bot.

• 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

• John Burn-Murdoch on why young people are giving up on adulthood (The Prof G Pod)

  • Scott Galloway and John Burn-Murdoch unpack why birth rates are collapsing and fewer young people form relationships.

  • They examine how housing costs, social media, and remote work are reshaping the path to adulthood.

  • They explore financial nihilism, the young men and women divide, and rebuilding connection and purpose.

• Zynga founder Mark Pincus says consumer isn't investible now, so build it (Y Combinator)

  • Zynga founder Mark Pincus discusses consumers in the AI age and why the opportunity is greater than ever.

  • His book "Life at the Speed of Play" distills the founder playbook from five companies.

  • Pincus argues investors are wrong about consumers and explores the distribution problem facing founders.

• Dr. Andrew Weil & Wade Davis discuss the many benefits of coca (Tim Ferriss)

  • Dr. Andrew Weil and Wade Davis discuss coca's health benefits, sacred history, and unjust prohibition.

  • The plant contains 14 alkaloids and has been used for 8k years with zero addiction.

  • They note coca eradication began 60 years before any cocaine problem existed.

EXTRAS

• U.S. Supreme Court backs Trump's authority to turn away asylum seekers (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: BBC, Washington Post}}

  • The U.S. Supreme Court backed the government's authority to turn away asylum seekers at overburdened border crossings.

  • The 6-3 ruling, powered by conservative justices, overturned a lower court's finding against the policy.

  • Trump's administration may seek to revive the "metering" policy that Joe Biden had dropped.

• Australia considers tougher enforcement as study shows teen social media ban faltering (AOL)
  ^{_{More: Reuters, Indian Express}}

  • Australia's prime minister wants to strengthen the country's social media ban for children against legal challenges.

  • A new study found the six-month-old measure had little impact on teen use.

  • The law bans platforms like Instagram and YouTube from giving accounts to under-16s.

• Vance, a Nixon admirer, says Watergate would be a 12-hour story today (AP)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg}}

  • JD Vance said the Watergate scandal that toppled Nixon would be a brief story in today's news cycle.

  • He drew parallels between Nixon and Trump, arguing "deep state" forces targeted both presidents.

  • Vance, a likely 2028 contender, made the remarks at the Nixon library while promoting his new book.

AND MORE

• YouTube Shorts get even shorter with new double-speed playback update.

• U.S. cranks up pressure on China EVs with Polestar ban.

• Explore all the tools and more here to outperform the competition.*

• a16z-backed Base Power offers cheaper electricity to grid that needs it most.

• Europe's heatwave was "virtually impossible" without climate change.

• Databricks' former AI chief says he can cut AI's power bill.

• King Charles will not live at Buckingham Palace after refit, officials say.

• Anthropic's Claude wins over paid consumers in market owned by ChatGPT.