-
Reuters: ChatGPT app hits 1 billion monthly active users in record time, data shows (Jun. 2, 2026)
ChatGPT hit 1 billion monthly active app users in May, the fastest to reach that milestone, per Sensor Tower. Rival Anthropic’s Claude is growing faster. -
Ben Thompson: The Google Capital Company (Jun. 2, 2026)
It contrasts Google’s ad-driven, low-marginal-cost, user-fed aggregator model with Berkshire-style, capital-intensive businesses. Google Cloud’s fast AI growth, and Alphabet’s $80 billion equity raise, including Berkshire’s $10 billion deal, prompt questions about funding, scale, and debt decisions. -
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: AI Economics for Dummies – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (Jun. 11, 2026)
The piece satirizes how AI companies and investors use misleading accounting and hype (e.g., upfront payments, inflated ARR) to make finances look much healthier than they are. -
NY Times: How Box Created 13 New Types of Jobs Because of A.I. (Jun. 1, 2026)
Box has created 13 new A.I.-focused roles, such as A.I. architects, solutions managers, and platform leaders, and plans to grow headcount. The company says A.I. boosts productivity, creates new jobs. -
The Algorithmic Bridge: What Apple Knows About AI That Silicon Valley Won't Admit (May 30, 2026)
Tech treats AI like religion, with cloud giants pouring hundreds of billions into AI, while Apple spends far less and faces criticism. -
WSJ: SoftBank to Plow $52 Billion Into French Data Centers (May 30, 2026)
SoftBank will invest at least €45 billion to build up to 3.1 gigawatts of AI data-center capacity in France. -
Ethan Mollick: Co-Existence and the End of Co-Intelligence (Jun. 4, 2026)
AI shifted from cooperative chatbots to autonomous agents that now write most code and multiply developer output. Co-Existence offers ways to work with AIs that are sometimes better than you. -
The Atlantic: The Biggest Tell That Something Was Written by AI (May 29, 2026)
AI writing has quietly saturated everyday life and elite literary spaces, used out of convenience and competitive pressure despite public distrust. Its polished sameness erodes thought, judgment, and meaningful editing, producing bland, sycophantic prose that conceals errors. -
NY Times: Florida Sues OpenAI Over Chatbot Safety Concerns (Jun. 1, 2026)
Florida sued OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT endangers children and that the company hid risks, seeking damages and penalties. -
NY Times: As A.I. Makes Strides in Mathematics, Mathematicians Urge Caution (Jun. 2, 2026)
After an A.I. model claimed to disprove an 80-year-old Erdos conjecture, 16 mathematicians issued the Leiden Declaration urging caution, transparency, verification, and broader access. -
NY Times: What It’s Like to Be a Student at the First A.I.-Powered University (Jun. 1, 2026)
California State University spent $16.9 million to provide ChatGPT licenses and embed A.I. across campuses, like S.J.S.U.’s A.I. avatar, A.I. librarians, and new courses. The rollout has sparked faculty backlash, student confusion, and questions about education, equity, and jobs. -
Transformer: Do voters care about existential AI risks? Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow thinks so (Jun. 4, 2026)
Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Senate candidate, is answering voter anxiety about AI, jobs, and safety across the state. She unveiled a plan to make companies fund retraining, impose a token tax, require human oversight. -
WSJ: Gavin Newsom Wants an AI New Deal (May 29, 2026)
Gavin Newsom proposes an AI “New Deal,” including job protections, wage replacement, and universal basic capital, aiming to shield workers but risking bigger welfare programs, weaker hiring incentives, and slower economic growth. -
NY Times Opinion: Multimember Districts? Ranked Choice? This Is How to Fix Our Elections. (Jun. 4, 2026)
The piece argues for electoral reforms like proportional representation, multimember districts, and especially majority-rule voting, where ranked ballots decide winners by head-to-head comparisons. My solution is much simpler: make Congress much bigger. -
ScienceDaily: Forget LASIK: Safer, cheaper vision correction without lasers or surgery (May 26, 2026)
Researchers developed electromechanical reshaping, using mild electric pulses and shaped electrodes to soften and mold the cornea without lasers or cutting, improving vision in rabbit eyes. It may be cheaper, less invasive, potentially reversible, but remains experimental.