Alphabet Pulls Out the Big Bonds
In a landmark shift away from the asset‑light model, Alphabet’s $20 billion bond sale, anchored by a 6.125% century bond, will fund massive AI data centers, custom TPUs, and clean energy assets, even as free cash flow is projected to plunge from $70 billion to roughly $8 billion next year.
Anthropic Safety Researcher Quits
Anthropic’s AI safety expert, Mrinank Sharma, resigned, accusing the company of downplaying catastrophic risks and joining a wave of safety leaders leaving top labs over fears that commercial goals are trumping efforts to control advanced AI.
Waymo’s Path to 1M Weekly Rides
AI Still Faces Adoption Problem in Large Enterprises
At a Charter conference, OpenAI’s top economist warned that AI has a ‘Goldilocks problem’: workers either underuse it on minor queries or overreach by throwing billion‑dollar problems at it, and that the defining AI story of 2026 will be closing this usage gap rather than inventing yet another, slightly better model.
NIST Awards SBIR Phase II Funding
Through $3.19 million in SBIR Phase II awards, NIST is backing small‑business innovation in quantum and AI, from Icarus Quantum’s deterministic photon source to new AI compliance and SEM simulation tools, as a bridge to larger Phase III commercialization capital.
Commerce Committee Backs Deal to Fast Track Satellite Licenses
The Senate Commerce Committee today approved a revised SAT Streamlining Act negotiated by Sens. Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz that accelerates satellite licensing while carving out sensitive federal spectrum, tightening interagency coordination, and preventing the FCC from green‑lighting applications by default over interference or national security objections.
Anthropic Covering Consumer Energy Increases
Anthropic is positioning its AI data centers as a catalyst for broader US energy investment, pledging to pay for grid interconnection upgrades, help bring new generation online, and offset demand-driven price impacts so local consumers are protected from higher electricity bills while the company advocates for federal reforms that make new, affordable power easier to build.
Mr. Beast Acquires FinTech App
Beast Industries, the company behind YouTube star MrBeast, is acquiring Gen Z banking app Step, folding its 7 million–plus users into a growing empire that now stretches from viral videos and Feastables chocolate into youth-focused financial services aimed at teaching teens credit, saving, and investing basics.
China Completes First Ocean Landing For Reusable Rocket
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🍫 Power Numbers
$54B - the volume of bets DraftKings took in for fiscal 2025, with a potential liability of $2.5T
7 - New European markets that Uber is expanding into
30,700 - tech layoffs worldwide this year, on track to surpass 2025’s 'total of 245K
7M - pairs of Meta smart glasses sold in 2025
$20M - How much Anthropic is investing into MidTerm elections
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