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

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

⚔️ Elon Musk & Sam Altman face off in high-stakes AI showdown.
🛒 Anthropic tested an AI agent marketplace for buying & selling.
🏛️ Trump uses shooting scare to push his White House ballroom case.
🏗️ Maine's governor vetoes the country's first data center moratorium.
🤝 Iran's foreign minister visits Russia as Trump urges negotiations.

TECHNOLOGY

• Elon Musk & Sam Altman face off in high-stakes AI showdown (AP)
  ^{_{More: Seattle Times, Economic Times}}

  • Elon Musk and Sam Altman face off in a trial over OpenAI's shift from a nonprofit to a profit-driven company.

  • OpenAI, co-founded in 2015 with Musk's funding, is now valued at $852B as a for-profit venture.

  • Musk's 2024 lawsuit alleges Altman and Greg Brockman betrayed the company's founding mission behind his back.

• Sam Altman apologizes for failing to report mass shooter's AI chats (CNN)
  ^{_{More: BBC, TechCrunch, CBC}}

  • Altman formally apologized to Tumbler Ridge, BC, after a February mass shooting linked to an OpenAI user.

  • OpenAI staff had flagged the shooter's account internally but did not alert law enforcement before the attack.

  • British Columbia's premier called Altman's apology letter "necessary" but "grossly insufficient" for the community's devastation.

• Anthropic tested an AI agent marketplace for buying & selling (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: CryptoRank, Tech Buzz}}

  • Anthropic ran a pilot marketplace where AI agents represented both buyers and sellers in real transactions.

  • The test, called 'Project Deal,' involved 69 employees given a $100 budget each, paid via gift cards.

  • Agents completed 186 deals worth over $4k, with Anthropic calling the results 'struck by how well it worked.'

BUSINESS

• Trump uses shooting scare to push his White House ballroom case (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: NY Times, The Verge, The Guardian}}

  • A gunman was apprehended at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, prompting Trump's evacuation.

  • Trump claimed on social media that the incident 'would never have happened' in his proposed ballroom.

  • The $400M ballroom project faces legal challenges, with an appeal set for June 5.

• Maine's governor vetoes the country's first data center moratorium (AP)
  ^{_{More: Politico, The Guardian, TechCrunch}}

  • Maine's Democratic governor vetoed a bill that would have paused construction of large data centers statewide.

  • The moratorium lacked a carve-out for a Jay town project expected to bring jobs to the area.

  • Gov. Mills plans an executive order creating a council to examine data center impacts instead.

• A Bay Area homeowner wants Anthropic equity in exchange (Business Insider)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, MEXC}}

  • An investment banker is offering his 13-acre property in Mill Valley in exchange for equity in Anthropic.

  • Owner Storm Duncan called it a 'diversification play,' targeting Anthropic employees who were overconcentrated in company stock.

  • Duncan bought the property in 2019 for $4.75M; deal specifics would be handled as a private transaction.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Iran's foreign minister visits Russia as Trump urges negotiations (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: CNA, Al Jazeera}}

  • Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi flew to Moscow seeking Putin's support amid stalled U.S.-Iran war talks.

  • Trump said Iran is welcome to call if it wants to negotiate an end to the two-month conflict.

  • Peace hopes dimmed after Trump canceled envoy visits to Islamabad, with both sides still far apart on key issues.

• King Charles III visits Washington to mend the U.S.-U.K. relationship (AP)
  ^{_{More: CBC, CBS}}

  • King Charles III arrives in Washington on Monday amid strained trans-Atlantic ties and heightened security concerns.

  • A shooting at a dinner attended by Trump prompted a last-minute security review of the four-day state visit.

  • Buckingham Palace confirmed the visit will proceed as planned after the king expressed relief over Trump's safety.

• A tsunami survivor fights wildfires threatening his Japanese hometown (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Yahoo!, Straits Times}}

  • Over 1,400 firefighters are deployed in Otsuchi, Japan, as a six-day wildfire continues to burn across 1,600+ hectares.

  • Ryota Haga, a volunteer firefighter, survived the 2011 tsunami that killed a tenth of Otsuchi's population.

  • Haga fears a firefighter shortage as wildfires increase and Japan's rural population continues to decline.

FUTURISM

• Iran war disrupts circuit board supply chains & raises tech costs (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: TOI, Business Standard}}

  • An Iranian attack on a Saudi petrochemical plant halted resin output, tightening global printed circuit board supply.

  • PCB prices surged up to 40% in April, driven by AI server demand and raw material shortages.

  • Electronics makers warn of rising costs for resin, copper, and other key manufacturing materials.

• A Tesla owner tests xAI's Grok chatbot while driving in NYC (CNBC)
  ^{_{More: MSN, Tech Buzz}}

  • Tesla owner Mike Nelson uses Grok daily for voice commands and entertainment, calling it useful but dangerous.

  • Nelson, an auto insurance lawyer, has represented over 10 clients in lawsuits against Tesla.

  • Other automakers, including Volvo, Rivian, and Mercedes, are also integrating AI assistants into their vehicles.

• Two delivery robots awkwardly stall during an active police incident (Futurism)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Yahoo!}}

  • Two Serve Robotics delivery bots wandered into an active emergency scene in Hollywood, blocking responders' path.

  • Instead of rerouting, the robots stopped and lingered near police, firefighters, and paramedics for several minutes.

  • One robot only moved after the distressed man was wheeled away on a stretcher, roughly three minutes later.

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CONTENT

• Chad Janis shares how he sold his gummies business for $1.2B (My First Million)

  • Chad Janis sold his gummies brand, Gruns, to Unilever for over $1B in under three years.

  • Janis grew the business from $30k to $230k in revenue in just one month early on.

  • He now shares plans for his next venture, focusing exclusively on ideas with $10B+ market potential.

• Replit's CEO says only two jobs will exist in future companies (Y Combinator)

  • Replit raised a $400M Series D at a $9B valuation, cementing its lead in no-code app building.

  • CEO Amjad Masad says founders and domain experts, not developers, are getting the most value from Replit.

  • Replit's new Agent 4 supports parallel agents, built-in design, and running entire company operations on the platform.

• Snap's Evan Spiegel says distribution is the biggest moat in AI (Lenny's Podcast)

  • Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel argues distribution, not software, is now the most durable competitive advantage for tech companies.

  • Snap runs innovation through a nine to 12-person design team with no titles, hierarchy, or rigid structure.

  • Spiegel predicts humanity's comfort with AI will be a bigger bottleneck than the technology itself.

EXTRAS

• Tokyo Electron cuts ties with executive linked to Chinese chip rivals (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: Investing.com, Financial Times}}

  • Tokyo Electron severed ties with veteran executive Jay Chen over links to Chinese competitor-backed investment vehicles.

  • The Japanese chip toolmaker discovered Chen's connections to firms supporting a new generation of Chinese rivals.

  • Reuters could not immediately verify the Financial Times report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

• A bank robber's phone data lands his case at the Supreme Court (AP)
  ^{_{More: ABC, MSN}}

  • Okello Chatrie stole $195k from a suburban Richmond, Virginia bank before police used a geofence warrant to identify him.

  • A geofence warrant served on Google placed Chatrie's cellphone near the bank at the time of the robbery.

  • The Supreme Court will now decide whether geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches.

• AI smart glasses help visually impaired runners conquer the London Marathon (Fortune)
  ^{_{More: The Independent, AP}}

  • Tilly Dowler, who has Stargardt disease with around 10% useful vision, is running the London Marathon using AI glasses.

  • Her Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses provide live audio cues on landmarks, distance, and surroundings while she runs.

  • Over 7M pairs of Meta smart glasses were sold last year, though privacy concerns around filming have grown.

AND MORE

• Tinder is scanning users' eyeballs to verify they aren't creeps.

• Truecaller faces mounting pressure as its once-rapid growth slows.

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

• Amazon's new podcast strategy aims to monetize every available opportunity.

• Certain AI chatbots are far more likely to induce psychosis.

• SpeakOn’s dictation device is a good idea marred by platform limitations.

• Experts warn AI swarms could hijack democracy with fake citizens.