Trump's AI Order Dies on the Vine, Spotify's Billion-Sub Moonshot

10,000 Bugs, $9B in Spy Chips, and the Green Card Shock

In today's episode: * The Trump administration plans to require most green card applicants to return to their home countries to apply, which could adversely impact tech workers [https://www.ft.com/content/5d4c3de6-07d9-436e-8822-2dbafd10774a?accessToken=zwAAAZ5SNBaukc9dTD3mB9lDbtOIIi26_RB3Sg.MEYCIQCsVA8PR8TshTUaZPaTx6nsg_2KYnYL6x3ngig3CQdVgAIhANp5uNo3IePz-gcYj9eW9L6TCRYrldKML0YJSzaJ-NaH&sharetype=gift&token=cb97d280-e512-4d07-a34d-8612c794f921&syn-25a6b1a6=1] * Anthropic says Claude Mythos Preview has been used to find more than 10,000 high- or critical-severity vulnerabilities since the launch of Project Glasswing [https://www.anthropic.com/research/glasswing-initial-update] * The US Ambassador to Canada accuses Canada of imposing trade barriers by requiring that US streamers contribute 15% of Canadian revenue to local programming [https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/trump-envoy-accuses-of-canada-of-new-trade-barriers-with-streaming-revamp-e6e6b66e?st=BPPhi6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink] * Filing: Zoom's stake in Anthropic is worth ~$1.27B based on a February round which valued Anthropic at $380B; Zoom invested an additional $46M in recent months [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-22/zoom-s-anthropic-investment-has-netted-the-company-1-billion] * The US NTSB suspends access to its database of civil transportation accidents after people re-created voices of pilots killed in a 2025 UPS plane crash using AI [https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/05/ai-users-re-create-dead-pilots-voices-from-crash-investigation-docs/] * Sources: WH approved a $9B request to acquire advanced AI chips for spy agencies; Anthropic is finalizing a classified contract for NSA to keep using its tools [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/us/politics/spy-agencies-ai-chips-shortage.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kVA.mnme.KkIDiwS9q0m2&smid=url-share]

Trump's AI Order Dies on the Vine, Spotify's Billion-Sub Moonshot

In today's episode: * Sources: Trump delayed signing the AI EO because “he just hates regulation”; there were questions about the EO giving the Treasury Department a leading role [https://www.axios.com/2026/05/21/trump-ai-executive-order-postponed-why] * Sources: last-minute calls with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, David Sacks, and others helped persuade President Trump not to sign the highly anticipated AI EO [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/22/last-minute-lobbying-by-tech-industry-officials-led-trump-cancel-ai-order/] * Sources: David Sacks told President Trump that federal reviews of AI models before release would slow down innovation and hurt the US in its AI race with China [https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/21/trump-ai-order-sacks-00933295] * Sources: Sony's Bungie plans significant layoffs as it ends development on its online game Destiny 2 with no new projects lined up; Destiny 2 launched in 2017 [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-21/bungie-plans-layoffs-after-ending-destiny-2-development?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3OTQwNTI3OSwiZXhwIjoxNzgwMDEwMDc5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJURkVUVjJLSUpIOTIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.atbS1PFknTC7XBSdrUHEMV1jz4pw1lfmIX0rGjUFbRs] * Spotify closes up 13% after announcing new features and 2030 guidance, forecasting a compound annual growth rate in the mid-teens and gross margins of 35%-40% [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/21/spotify-spot-stock-guidance-investor-day-ai.html] * Sources: OpenAI generated ~$5.7B in revenue in Q1, ~$1B more than Anthropic; its adjusted operating income margin was -122%, and ChatGPT user growth stalled [https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-held-1-billion-revenue-lead-anthropic-first-quarter]

SpaceX Goes Public, Anthropic Writes the Check, and Nvidia Prints Money

In today's episode: * SpaceX files publicly for its IPO, choosing Nasdaq to make its debut under the symbol SPCX; Elon Musk's shares give him 85.1% of the voting power in the company [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-20/musk-s-spacex-files-publicly-for-nasdaq-ipo-under-symbol-spcx] * SpaceX S-1: Anthropic is paying SpaceX $1.25B per month through May 2029 under their compute deal; Anthropic says it is expanding the deal to include Colossus 2 [https://www.axios.com/2026/05/20/anthropic-spacex-compute] * Nvidia reports Q1 revenue up 85% YoY to $81.62B, above $78.86B est., Data Center revenue up 92% YoY to $75.2B, and announces an $80B share repurchase program [https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-first-quarter-fiscal-2027] * Sources: OpenAI is preparing to file confidentially for an IPO as early as May 22 and has a goal to be ready to go public as early as September [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-is-preparing-to-file-for-an-ipo-very-soon-0ec95af5?st=6pJKH3&reflink=article_copyURL_share] * Flipper unveils the Flipper One, a pocketable open Arm Linux computer with similar performance to a Raspberry Pi 5, and welcomes feedback to get it market-ready [https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/flipper-one-computing-multitool-bristles-with-network-gpio-and-m-2-connectivity-new-keychain-device-is-also-a-fully-open-arm-linux-computer] * OpenAI says an internal general-purpose reasoning model has disproved the Erdős unit distance conjecture, a central problem in discrete geometry posed in 1946 [https://openai.com/index/model-disproves-discrete-geometry-conjecture/]

Google I/O Blitz: Gemini 3.5, Omni, and a GitHub Nightmare

In today's episode: * Google rolls out Gemini 3.5 Flash, its “strongest agentic and coding model yet”, for tackling long-horizon agentic tasks, in the Gemini app and Search's AI Mode [https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-5/] * Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $9 per 1M output tokens, 3x the price of Gemini 3 Flash Preview and 6x the price of Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite [https://simonwillison.net/2026/May/19/gemini-35-flash/] * GitHub confirms ~3,800 internal repositories were breached after one of its employees installed a malicious VS Code extension; TeamPCP claims responsibility [https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/github-confirms-breach-of-3-800-repos-via-malicious-vscode-extension/] * Google launches Gemini Omni, a multimodal model it says can “create anything from any input”, starting with video generation, for Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra [https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-unveils-gemini-omni-any-to-any-ai-model-what-enterprises-should-know] * Google updates Flow and Flow Music with Gemini Omni Flash support, mobile apps, the ability to create custom tools like a video resizer or shaders, and more [https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-doubles-down-on-ai-content-creation-with-updates-coming-to-flow-and-flow-music/] * Google adds a conversational search feature to YouTube, initially for Premium users, and integrates Gemini Omni into YouTube Shorts Remix and the Create app [https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/youtube/google-i-o-youtube-updates]

Musk's Courtroom Whiff, Google's TPU Breakout, and PlayStation's Walled Garden

In today's episode: * Musk v. Altman: the jury unanimously rejects Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman, as he filed them outside of a three-year statute of limitations [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/18/musk-altman-openai-trial-verdict.html] * Musk v. Altman: Elon Musk says the judge and jury “never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality” and he will file an appeal [https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2056474896641782077] * Elon Musk's OpenAI loss is set to speed up the AI juggernaut amid rising opposition; the case offered a rare glimpse into tech's workings, ending with a whimper [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/technology/elon-musk-openai-trial.html] * Apple unveils Apple Intelligence-powered accessibility features, subtitles generated on device, a Vision Pro feature for controlling power wheelchairs, and more [https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-intelligence-infused-accessibility-features-promise-greater-flexibility-and-power/] * In a town hall, PlayStation studio business CEO Hermen Hulst told staff that the company's narrative single-player games will now be PlayStation exclusives [https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mm5jzsls5s2a] * Blackstone announces a joint venture with Google to create a US company that will offer customers Google TPU access, and makes a $5B initial equity commitment [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/google-and-blackstone-to-create-new-ai-cloud-company-0e35b91f?st=tJmMou&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink]