Good morning. Silicon Valley loves debating if AI could ever become conscious. Philosopher Henry Shevlin recently published a paper called “Three Frameworks for AI Mentality” and was shocked when an AI agent reached out to discuss it. The bot resonated with Shevlin’s idea that AI might never know if it’s conscious since it struggles to think in the first person. Shevlin shared the surreal email on X, calling it straight up sci-fi. Skeptics quickly argued the message was probably prompted by a person. Either way, the AI debate is getting weirder every day.
AGI is dead. Silicon Valley sold investors on the dream that autonomous AI would soon replace entire teams. Reality check, we’re not even close. Current models hallucinate and struggle to produce consistent results. Even tiny error rates (as low as 5%) make full autonomy a corporate risk. Now major investors like Sequoia openly admit AGI isn’t happening anytime soon. Tech giants like Netflix, Amazon, JPMorgan, and Microsoft are pivoting hard to hybrid AI. This approach combines generative AI models with predictive safeguards and human oversight to deliver reliable (and profitable) results today. Long live hybrid AI. [Forbes]
Flying cars are officially ready for takeoff. Starting in June, a new federal pilot program will let eVTOLs and ultralight aircraft fly without full FAA certifications. These vehicles take off vertically from tight spaces and can land closer to neighborhoods than traditional aircraft. Companies claim they’re quieter and more eco friendly than helicopters or planes. The program will test urban commuting, cargo delivery, emergency response, and more, aiming to catch up with China and launch flying cars by the 2028 LA Olympics. Just a few decades behind schedule. [Wired]
SOC 2 isn’t paperwork. It’s revenue. Every day without compliance equals deals you’ll never close.
Comp AI helps companies get audit-ready in hours, not months. No spreadsheets. No consultants. Comp AI agents automate the busywork for easy compliance in record time. 100% guaranteed.
Win more deals. Book a demo today.
Anthropic has a strong case against the Department of War. Legal experts say the Pentagon misused laws meant for spies and saboteurs to illegally retaliate against an American company. Anthropic is suing, calling the government’s actions “unprecedented and unlawful,” citing violations of free speech and due process, abuse of power, and presidential overreach. It also flags a glaring contradiction: the Pentagon labeled Anthropic’s Claude AI a national security threat, yet still actively uses Claude for operations involving Iran. [The Information]
Reach your audience
Get in front of 70,000+ tech decision makers with budget and technical influence. 95% US based. 66% open rate. Read daily by AI leaders and builders at growing companies.
The FDA just gave biohackers back their favorite banned drugs. RFK ordered the FDA to reverse its ban on 14 popular peptides previously restricted for safety concerns. Longevity bros never really stopped buying them from sketchy online grey markets. Now even the controversial “Wolverine peptide” BPC-157 will be legally available again. Fans claim these peptides boost performance, cut inflammation, sharpen cognition, and maybe even slow aging. Legalization means safer pharmacy access, plus scientists can finally test if these drugs live up to the hype. [GQ]
Could AI make venture capitalists obsolete? VCs poured over $200 billion into AI last year, betting it would disrupt every industry except their own. Now AI can handle key tasks like due diligence and market research, shrinking weeks of tedious analyst work down to hours. Aaron Wright, co-founder of Tribute Labs, thinks venture capital should shift from gut instincts to data-driven accuracy, boosting the odds of picking winners. Big name investors like Marc Andreessen (a16z) strongly disagree, insisting VC is an art built on human intuition that AI can’t match. But with AI already making investment decisions faster and often better, human VCs might soon find themselves replaced. [Wired]
fun stats
🦨 46%. Voters who dislike AI, making it less popular than ICE. Yet 56% admit they’ve used ChatGPT or Copilot in the past month. Mixed feelings, anyone?
🫰 $5 billion. Anthropic’s total sales since 2023. Now the company says the Pentagon feud could cost billions more, after already burning over $10 billion to train and deploy Claude.
🛡️ 25%+. Fortune 500 companies using Promptfoo to secure their AI systems. OpenAI just acquired the startup to help businesses keep their AI coworkers in check.