Think AI is replacing workers? The reality is more ironic: humans labor behind the scenes to build AI meant to replace them. The gap between hype and reality reveals uncomfortable truths about innovation, investment bubbles, and the actual human cost of chasing artificial intelligence dreams.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff learned that $1 billion in local donations doesn't buy permission to call federal troops into San Francisco—not when 25-year friendships end and fellow billionaires publish op-eds on moral laundering.
Good Morning from San Francisco, Salesforce answered an RFP you didn't know existed. The pitch: use AI to
OpenAI opened ChatGPT to third-party apps that render inside conversations, built on an open standard but distributed through algorithms it controls. The trade: reach 800M users, lose funnel ownership. Platform economics arrive at chat.
Google launches three security tools to automate defense against AI-accelerated attacks: an agent that patches code, a unified bug bounty, and guardrails for autonomous systems. The bet is that automation can flip the security balance. Execution will tell.
OpenAI made Codex generally available with Slack integration, a developer SDK, and enterprise admin tools. It also opened ChatGPT to third-party apps and launched AgentKit. The headline is maturity. The strategy is lock-in through workflow embeds.
Tech giants are committing billions to small nuclear reactors that won't exist until 2030—while AI's power demands double now. The bet hinges on untested manufacturing efficiencies and fuel supplies that don't yet exist at scale.
Anthropic's 470,000-employee Deloitte deal isn't a software contract—it's a distribution machine. By embedding Claude inside a Big Four consultancy, Anthropic gains reach into 90% of Fortune 500 boardrooms while Deloitte builds billable AI expertise.
Good Morning from San Francisco, OpenAI just bought 6 gigawatts worth of AMD chips. They paid with equity warrants—up
OpenAI hands AMD a 10% equity stake in exchange for $60B+ in chips—the latest twist in a trillion-dollar infrastructure spree funded by the very suppliers providing the hardware. The circular financing model is either genius or unsustainable.
Gmail made AI drafting free in early 2025, resetting the market. Startups now push deeper automation or compete on price against zero. The shake-out shows which AI features justify premium pricing—and which were always commodity infrastructure.
OpenAI flipped Sora's copyright policy from opt-out to opt-in within 72 hours of launch. The reversal—plus a new revenue-sharing model—reveals the collision between AI companies' burn rates, Hollywood's legal firepower, and the race to monetize generative video.
BlackRock's $40 billion bet on AI data centers collides with stubborn physics: chips demand exponential power, cooling consumes half the energy budget, and grids struggle to keep pace. The construction boom is real. So are the constraints.
Good Morning from San Francisco, Startups voted with their wallets this summer. Mercury banking data reveals which AI tools actually
A16z analyzed what 200,000 startups actually pay for in AI tools—and the results diverge from traffic rankings. Replit generated 15x more revenue than Lovable despite lower visibility. Copilots outnumber autonomous agents twelve to five. Budgets reveal what clicks conceal.
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