Inklings #018 📧

Anthropic reversed its decision to quietly sabotage rivals using its Fable model after public backlash, opting instead to explicitly prohibit such use. Apple's Siri AI receives positive early reviews for reliability, a stark contrast to its historical performance. Elon Musk's net worth approaches $1 trillion, though context shows Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos would have reached that milestone earlier had they held their stakes.

Inklings 018 📧 As the AI frontier models keep improving unabated, a funny thing is happening to the user base. That is, different segments are increasingly looking elsewhere as costs rise and capabilities become more clear. Apple's hybrid approach with Siri AI between on-device and cloud is clearly something we're going to see more of... day to those who celebrate... SpaceX IPO Thoughts On... 😈 Anthropic Walks Back Their Sabotage Strategy – Because we can't go a week without an AI strategy and comms crisis https://spyglass.org/ai-luddites/ , after some major pushback https://x.com/deanwball/status/2064665679307985244?ref=spyglass.org , Anthropic has decided that, you know what, maybe they will tell those trying to use their new Fable model for their own training purposes that they can't do that – rather than just quietly undermining their code Look, we get that they don't want rivals and potentially bad actors trying to distill their work, but who thought this strategy would work for a company that is trying to grab the ethical high ground and help with AI's trust issues https://spyglass.org/ai-steve-jobs/ ? Now that Anthropic is seen as the AI front-runner, we should and they should expect even more scrutiny https://spyglass.org/ai-perception-problems/ over some of their um, interesting https://spyglass.org/cynical-read-on-anthropics-book-settlement/ strategies https://spyglass.org/claude-mythos-quandry/ and comms blunders https://spyglass.org/amodei-another-day/ . Upside: I now have some Beastie Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE&ref=spyglass.org stuck in my head. And now you do too. Wired 🔒 🗣️ Siri AI Actually Seems To Just Work – The early reviews are in Well, previews . This is just the first of many betas before a roll out – which will still be in beta – in the Fall. But these first impressions https://x.com/mweinbach/status/2065156441476878476?ref=spyglass.org seem pretty universally positive across the board. Clearly, the bar was low – perhaps so low so as to be impossible to go under. Most takes seem to be "well, this is simple" or "yeah, other systems have been able to do this for a while" but still... it works https://x.com/iupdate/status/2064078761856037112?ref=spyglass.org I have Siri AI on two systems currently, a backup MacBook and an old iPad. It's a bit buggy again, as you'd expect and slightly slow on the iPad which is several years old. But still, it works You just couldn't say that really about Siri, and not just in the past couple of years with Apple Intelligence debacle https://spyglass.org/apple-ai-siri/ , but really since Siri first launched 15 years ago https://spyglass.org/this-is-the-year-of-siri/ . There will obviously be times still where she doesn't work or misfires – and we'll see how she scales – but the hits seem to happen far more often already. It's early, but I've been impressed https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/ . If anything, she might be too cold? Verge 💎 Elon's Diamond Hands – A trillion dollars. It's an insane amount of money, obviously. But as with Hollywood box office results https://spyglass.org/box-office-records-inflation/ , there's some caveats and context required. First and foremost, Bill Gates https://thoughts.spyglass.org/i/163328874/bill-gates-the-would-have-been-trillionaire?ref=spyglass.org and then Jeff Bezos https://spyglass.org/signal-an-m5-smack-in-the-face/ :~:text=Amazingly%2C%20when%20the%20company%20went%20public%20in%201997%2C%20he%20owned%20over%2043%25.%20Today%2C%2043%25%20of%20Amazon%20would%20be%20worth%20just%20under%20%241T.%20Yes%2C%20with%20diamond%20hands%20 and%20without%20a%20divorce %20he%20would%20be%20the%20world%27s%20first%20trillionaire%20today.%20Remember%2C%20he%20was%20one%20of%20the%20first%20investors%20in%20Google%20too would have hit the number first if they had just held on to all of their shares in Microsoft and Amazon, respectively. Instead, they either sold off over time or in the case of Gates https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2025/05/09/bill-gates-would-be-a-trillionaire-if-hed-kept-all-his-microsoft-stock/?ref=spyglass.org , famously gave most of it to charity alongside Warren Buffett. Musk's method is a very uncharitable way to look at things, quite literally. The divorces haven't helped either of course, but Musk has plenty of those too. The difference is that Musk has held or bought up/been granted more shares in each of his companies. Diversification is for wimps, one might say https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v ZFVSgZ8Mk?ref=spyglass.org . Actually, Musk's method of diversification is to start new companies. Whereas almost all of his net worth used to be tied to Tesla, with today's IPO and $2T+ valuation, his 50% stake in SpaceX now dwarfs his other holdings and he's obviously going to merge them all at some point anyway https://spyglass.org/spacex-tesla-xai-cursor-mistral-ai/ . Bezos is perhaps learning this lesson with his new https://thoughts.spyglass.org/p/hail-hail?utm campaign=email-half-post&r=bvcu&utm source=substack&utm medium=email :~:text=Yeah%20I%20mean,%5BNYT%5D Prometheus AI startup, currently valued just under $30B and rising fast https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/technology/bezos-prometheus-ai-engineer.html?ref=spyglass.org . But really, while the piece notes that Musk's trillion would now trump John D. Rockefeller's billion back in 1937 in terms of share of US GDP 3% versus 1.5% , globally, Musk controls a mere 0.9% of GDP honestly, that is maybe the most insane stat . Augustus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus?ref=spyglass.org controlled something more like 25% - 30% during his time atop the Roman Empire. Mansa Musa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa Musa?ref=spyglass.org may have commanded more during the Mali Empire. Everyone needs goals to aspire to, even Elon. NYT 📺 Apple TV Really is the New Old HBO — From a quality-perspective, I’ve been saying https://spyglass.org/its-not-tv-its-apple-tv-plus/ this for years https://daringfireball.net/linked/2020/10/28/stewart-apple-tv-plus?ref=spyglass.org at this point, but Janko Roettgers' point here is a slightly different one: that Apple TV is relying on a few tentpole shows to drive their subscriptions and word-of-mouth, just like HBO used to do in the days of cable. But streaming has obviously changed everything, and as a result, Apple TV remains a non-player to the point of still not showing up on overall charts despite some of their high-profile content. They started with no library https://500ish.com/hbos-corpus-of-content-and-apple-s-lack-thereof-12fd1d6e858e?ref=spyglass.org , of course, but years later, it’s still tiny compared to Netflix and the like. If and when they push into an ad-tier, that’s likely to change. They’ll start licensing more content on top of what they produce. This is inevitable from a Services-perspective https://spyglass.org/hbo-apple-services/ – because ads are https://spyglass.org/apple-adds-apple-ads/ . Because while being the new HBO is nice and the content is for the most part great – big fan of their latest show, Widow's Bay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow%27s Bay?ref=spyglass.org – it still isn’t moving many — if any https://spyglass.org/apple-tv-plus-strategy/ — needles. There’s some halo effects https://spyglass.org/apple-f1-box-office-not-so-fast/ , for sure, but Apple is a $4T company. They missed out on HBO https://spyglass.org/apple-hbo-warner-bros/ . Maybe they should buy Disney https://spyglass.org/disney-plus-apple/ ? Lowpass I Wrote... 'Xbox Everywhere' doesn't make sense if Xbox is nowhere... I Quote... "The faster the potential RSI takeoff looks like it could be, the more it could be advantageous to delay an IPO. Technology and the world may change in surprising ways, and there might be good reasons to be a private company during that time." – Sam Altman , telling OpenAI employees https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-openai-preps-new-ai-model-expects-go-public-within-next-year?rc=lsmcir&ref=spyglass.org why the company may not rush to IPO https://spyglass.org/inklings-social-reckoning-apples-models-on-nvidia-chips-no-siri-ai-for-eu-openais-ipo/ :~:text=M.G.%20Siegler-,I%20Quote...,-%22It%20may%20be even with SpaceX now public and Anthropic on the path. There's been a lot written about that race https://spyglass.org/ai-ipo-race/ and while I do think it would have been good for OpenAI to go out before Anthropic for all the obvious optics and narrative reasons https://spyglass.org/openai-anthropic-ipo-pressure/ , with that ship having sailed https://spyglass.org/inklings-nvidias-cpus-anthropics-ipo-apples-smart-glasses-in-2027-intels-new-ai-gpu-surface-laptop-ultra/ :~:text=%F0%9F%93%88%20Anthropic%20Files%20to%20go%20Public , it may actually make more sense to wait. Then the question becomes if they can afford to, quite literally. Given their burn, they'll need to raise money again before achieving profitability – yes, even after the largest fundraise in history https://thoughts.spyglass.org/i/192991624/openais-122b-round?ref=spyglass.org – and the public market is going to give them more avenues to do so. That said, there are tradeoffs, as Altman is alluding to. And given where OpenAI seems to be on the path to profitability versus Anthropic – which is to say, far behind – there's a world https://spyglass.org/dossier-001-go-blue/ :~:text=%F0%9F%94%A5%20OpenAI%27s%20Internal%20IPO%20Tension in which the market punishes OpenAI more than their peers. And that's not a good place to be. Lastly, it's interesting to see the seemingly coordinated pivot https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/28/rsi-is-the-new-agi-and-its-just-as-hard-to-pin-down/?ref=spyglass.org around "RSI" – recursive self-improvement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive self-improvement?ref=spyglass.org – as the key talking point in terms of the next big thing in AI. Obviously, it points towards the path to AGI, but all of the labs clearly going to believe it's either the first step, the next step, or the major step. And coming soon – earlier this week I noted https://spyglass.org/inklings-social-reckoning-apples-models-on-nvidia-chips-no-siri-ai-for-eu-openais-ipo/ :~:text=3%EF%B8%8F%E2%83%A3%20OpenAI%27s%20%27Third%20Phase%27 that OpenAI put a very specific date out there: March 2028. Anthropic clearly thinks https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement?ref=spyglass.org we're on the cusp. Google https://spyglass.org/oliver/ :~:text=%F0%9F%A4%96%20Google%20Admits%20Being%20Behind%20in%20AI%20Coding . Etc. Asides... - As SpaceX gets ready to list, a look back at when Tesla went public in June 2010 – at a $1.7B market cap. Yes a 'B' not a 'T' like today. NYT Meta's Manus shitshow https://spyglass.org/inklings-googles-anthropic-money-openaiphone-xchat-elon-vs-openai-china-blocks-manus/ :~:text=%F0%9F%87%A8%F0%9F%87%B3%20China%20Blocks%20Meta%27s%20Manus%20Deal continues, as the companies https://spyglass.org/meta-manus-deal/ are being cleaved apart – appropriately, with firewalls put in place – as the buy-back talks continue https://spyglass.org/inklings-openai-missing-their-numbers-amazons-quick-superagent-cost-per-click-ai-ads-stargate-shift-metas-reverse-hackquisition/ :~:text=%F0%9F%94%99%20Meta%27s%20Reverse%20Hackquisition . Bloomberg 🔒 - Still unable to sell their GPUs in China , it sure looks like NVIDIA is gearing up to sell their CPUs. Not the new PC ones https://spyglass.org/nvidia-cpu-microsoft-surface-ai/ – at least not yet https://spyglass.org/ai-pc-race/ – but the Vera racks for data centers. Reuters - OpenAI may have NVIDIA as their data center funding backstop https://spyglass.org/inklings-social-reckoning-apples-models-on-nvidia-chips-no-siri-ai-for-eu-openais-ipo/ :~:text=%F0%9F%8C%8C%20A%20Stargate%20Reborn%20in%20Ohio , so Anthropic grabs Google , it seems. Information 🔒 - Record ad buys for the World Cup this year despite an advertising slowdown. Why? Companies pushing AI , of course. FT 🔒 - Not sure how I'm https://spyglass.org/is-there-a-ghost-in-my-house/ just hearing about this, but Amazon and BBC are teaming up to make a series out of John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold .also draws from and takes its name from his last George Smiley book before he passed away and has seemingly every British actor cast in it. Legacy of Spies Telly Visions - Oddly, it seems like it will stream on MGM+ and not Prime Video , at least at first. This is the same strategy they're using for the streaming release of– what? Project Hail Mary Variety - Oddly, it seems like it will stream on Steven Spielberg asked to direct amovie, James Bond twice . And was rejected, twice . And this was after Jaws . And then after Close Encounters of the Third Kind . Of course, he's American, a bridge the franchise didn't cross until Cary Joji Fukunaga helmed No Time to Die in 2021. And that was only after Danny Boyle backed out... THR I Spy... The look that Apple SVP of Marketing Greg Joswiak gives – to the camera – after SVP of Software Craig Federighi tells Laurie Segall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoUnUYAFNEU&ref=spyglass.org that "I don't think the sexy part belongs in your computer, it belongs in your life." is just priceless. A real Office -like moment of breaking the fourth wall. It's the look of a man who knows that what Craig just said it going to launch a thousand https://www.theverge.com/tech/948890/siri-wont-be-your-ai-girlfriend?ref=spyglass.org headlines https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/11/apple-siri-ai-interview/?ref=spyglass.org and https://letsdatascience.com/news/federighi-siri-wont-be-your-ai-girlfriend-e8230e71?ref=spyglass.org memes https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/11/craig-federighi-and-greg-joswiak-talk-siri-ai-and-more-in-new-interview-video/?ref=spyglass.org . I'll spare Apple here, but might I just suggest that were I to write a whole post around this, it might be titled something like: Siri AI Not DTF . In all seriousness though, the whole interview for Segall's Mostly Human podcast is well worth the watch/listen, a lot of meat in here about Apple's AI mindset. And yes, it went decidedly better https://spyglass.org/spyglasslighting/ for Federighi and Joz than last year's showdown with Joanna Stern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTLk53h7u k&time continue=17&source ve path=MjM4NTE&embeds referring euri=https%3A%2F%2Fspyglass.org%2F&ref=spyglass.org . It helps when they have something to actually talk about https://spyglass.org/siri-ai/ Aside: while asked to reflect on his 40th anniversary at Apple Joz gives a nice Michigan shout-out as both he and Segall are grads . GoBlue 🎶 Listening to "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys 🍺 Enjoying a Kernal Table Beer 🇬🇧 Sent from London, England