Occam's Razor Split: Moves in Tech Regulation, OpenClaw Call-Out, Alpha School

Skill Issue: Agentic Coding Tools, Circular Funding Deals, Double Standards in Content Policy

Today's show is cohosted by Oz Brown! Oz is nontraditional software engineer who went through bootcamp at Amazon after a history doing creative work, including voice acting, and customer support, including for Xbox. We talk about the philosophy and current state of agentic coding tools, the Anthropic-SpaceX deal and the state of circular funding, and the double standards in platform content policy and copyright enforcement. -- Show Notes: State of AI coding tools * https://ramp.com/leading-indicators/ai-index-may-2026 [https://ramp.com/leading-indicators/ai-index-may-2026]  * Are software engineers' brains rotting https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/ [https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/]  Circular finance * https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-ai-circular-deals/ [https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2026-ai-circular-deals/] * https://www.anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex [https://www.anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex] * https://www.platformer.news/did-xai-just-concede-the-ai-race/ [https://www.platformer.news/did-xai-just-concede-the-ai-race/]    Copyright/content policies and inconsistent enforcement * Kickstarter: https://www.comicsbeat.com/kickstarter-nsfw-ban-story/ [https://www.comicsbeat.com/kickstarter-nsfw-ban-story/]

Multiple Specialized Throbbing Brains: AI & Jobs, UBI, PSM

This week I'm joined by Frank Kane, independent educator and one of the handful of people I know posting sane takes about AI on LinkedIn. We have the AI job loss conversation in the context of reporting that software engineer job listings are actually rising, go over recent developments in the realm of universal basic income (or similar things), and then talk about Anthropic's "Persona Selection Model" as a new framework for thinking about how LLM's work. Find more about Frank at: https://www.sundog-education.com/ [https://www.sundog-education.com/] -- Show Notes: Is AI killing jobs? Update * https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/ai-jobs-unemployment-silicon-valley.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/opinion/ai-jobs-unemployment-silicon-valley.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f1A.Ax4x.HdNCkCgVSsk_&smid=url-share] * https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-isnt-killing-software-coding-jobs-booming-trueup-2026-4 [https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-isnt-killing-software-coding-jobs-booming-trueup-2026-4] UBI developments * https://www.platformer.news/ubi-ai-public-wealth-fund-musk-openai-bores/ [https://www.platformer.news/ubi-ai-public-wealth-fund-musk-openai-bores/]  * OpenAI policy doc https://openai.com/index/industrial-policy-for-the-intelligence-age/ [https://openai.com/index/industrial-policy-for-the-intelligence-age/]  * Elon Musk tweet https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2044990537145753894 [https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2044990537145753894]  * Andrew Yang https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/podcasts/hardfork-tim-cook-yang-ubi.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/podcasts/hardfork-tim-cook-yang-ubi.html]  * Alex Bores proposal https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores-Dividend_Policy.pdf [https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores-Dividend_Policy.pdf] Persona Selection Model https://www.anthropic.com/research/persona-selection-model [https://www.anthropic.com/research/persona-selection-model]

Programming Note: Schedule & Format Changes

There will be a hiatus in weekly episodes of this podcast and there may be some newer things coming soon! Email podcast@graphenesoftware.com [podcast@graphenesoftware.com] with suggestions or if you'd like to come on the pod!

Snake Oil: Block Layoffs, Netflix & WB, Anthropic RSP, Anthropic and OpenAI vs the DoD

We start the episode with a less-than-lightning round through some events of the week, including Block's 40% layoffs, Netflix walking away from the Warner Bros acquisition, and Anthropic's updates to their Responsible Scaling Policy. Then we discuss at length the drama around Anthropic refusing the Department of Defense's contract terms, and OpenAI coming in to accept the deal a few hours later. -- Show notes Block lays off 40% of the company (~4000 people) * https://x.com/jack/status/2027129697092731343 [https://x.com/jack/status/2027129697092731343] Netflix walks away from Warner Bros deal * https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/media/netflix-paramount-wbd [https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/media/netflix-paramount-wbd]  Anthropic RSP updates * https://www.anthropic.com/news/responsible-scaling-policy-v3 [https://www.anthropic.com/news/responsible-scaling-policy-v3]  Anthropic vs DoD * https://www.axios.com/2026/02/24/anthropic-pentagon-claude-hegseth-dario [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/24/anthropic-pentagon-claude-hegseth-dario]  * "Incoherent" https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/incoherent-hegseths-anthropic-ultimatum-confounds-ai-policymakers-00800135 [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/incoherent-hegseths-anthropic-ultimatum-confounds-ai-policymakers-00800135]  * Dario Amodei's statement https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war [https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war]  * Google + Open AI Employee support https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/google-openai-workers-push-for-military-ai-limits [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/google-openai-workers-push-for-military-ai-limits]  * OpenAI takes Anthropic's side? https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/altman-openai-anthropic-pentagon [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/27/altman-openai-anthropic-pentagon]  * Trump & Hegseth tweets https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/trump-anthropic-claude-drop/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/trump-anthropic-claude-drop/] * Dario Amodei responds https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-comments-secretary-war [https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-comments-secretary-war] * OpenAI reaches deal with DoD https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.html]  * Jeremy Lewin clarifies it was the "compromise" deal  https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/28/pentagon-anthropic-fight-silicon-valley/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/28/pentagon-anthropic-fight-silicon-valley/]  * Opinion piece on Anthropic and DoD dealings with AI companies https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/ [https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/]

Occam's Razor Split: Moves in Tech Regulation, OpenClaw Call-Out, Alpha School

After a lightning round of updates in government interaction with tech, we discuss the fascinating case study of an OpenClaw agent writing a call-out blog post for an open source maintainer who rejected its pull request, and 404 Media's detailed investigation of Alpha School, the AI enabled school surrounded by hype. For more on OpenClaw: https://carlyrector.substack.com/p/openclaw-mj-rathbun-and-falling-back [https://carlyrector.substack.com/p/openclaw-mj-rathbun-and-falling-back] -- Show Notes: Regulation lightning round * CFTC threatens States over prediction markets * https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9183-26 [https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9183-26]  * https://x.com/govcox/status/2023795059980988874 [https://x.com/govcox/status/2023795059980988874] * Dario Amodei meets with senators about chip sales to China * https://www.axios.com/2026/02/10/anthropic-ceo-china-chip-ban [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/10/anthropic-ceo-china-chip-ban]  * Data center energy costs * https://www.anthropic.com/news/covering-electricity-price-increases [https://www.anthropic.com/news/covering-electricity-price-increases]  * https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/business/energy-environment/data-center-energy-electricity-costs.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/business/energy-environment/data-center-energy-electricity-costs.html]  * https://www.energy.gov/articles/fact-sheet-trump-administration-outlines-plan-build-big-power-plants-again [https://www.energy.gov/articles/fact-sheet-trump-administration-outlines-plan-build-big-power-plants-again]  * Hegseth threatens Anthropic * https://www.axios.com/2026/02/16/anthropic-defense-department-relationship-hegseth [https://www.axios.com/2026/02/16/anthropic-defense-department-relationship-hegseth]  OpenClaw writes a hit piece * https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me-part-3/ [https://theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me-part-3/]  * On getting LLMs to pull quotes: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-do-ai-analysis-you-can-actually [https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-do-ai-analysis-you-can-actually]  * https://crabby-rathbun.github.io/mjrathbun-website/blog/posts/rathbuns-operator.html [https://crabby-rathbun.github.io/mjrathbun-website/blog/posts/rathbuns-operator.html]  Alpha School * https://www.404media.co/students-are-being-treated-like-guinea-pigs-inside-an-ai-powered-private-school/ [https://www.404media.co/students-are-being-treated-like-guinea-pigs-inside-an-ai-powered-private-school/]  * https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/podcasts/hardfork-education-alpha-school.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/podcasts/hardfork-education-alpha-school.html]