The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

Sources: Frank founder Charlie Javice, sentenced in September 2025 to 85 months for defrauding JPMorgan Chase, has been seeking a presidential pardon from Trump (Wall Street Journal) [28d]
A profile of Kalshi COO Luana Lopes Lara, who has overseen a tremendous pace of growth over the past year as the company faces political and regulatory backlash (Emily Nicolle/Bloomberg) [28d]
Chinese Tesla drivers are using tiny plastic heads to fool Tesla's distracted-driving controls, which appear unable to distinguish figurines from real people (Zeyi Yang/Wired) [28d]
A government crackdown on online casinos operating in the Isle of Man has led to a major tax revenue loss, accelerating the island's slide toward a fiscal cliff (Jack Adamović Davies/Bloomberg) [28d]
Satya Nadella says companies must build both human capital and token capital, with human judgment guiding AI systems that learn and improve over time (Satya Nadella/@satyanadella) [28d]
Sources: senior Anthropic technical staff are in DC to meet WH officials and try to fix the Mythos 5 dispute; both sides say they are eager to resolve the issue (Maria Curi/Axios) [28d]
Canadian PM says the Anthropic ban shows the dangers of "over-reliance on certain models", and compares the risks to those that led to the 2008 financial crisis (Bloomberg) [28d]
Sources: UK plans an "Australia plus" social media ban for under-16s, including restrictions on chatting with strangers on gaming apps, under-18 curfews, more (The Guardian) [28d]
EU says it is looking at the practical consequences of US restricting Anthropic's models, notes such measures "should not be discriminatory against partners" (Reuters) [28d]
Siri AI is good enough to ease Apple's AI crisis; sources: the ability to tap third party AI models beyond OpenAI's is already active in internal iOS 27 builds (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg) [28d]
Since Russia ratcheted up control over the internet this year, some Russians are turning to solutions like using multiple phones and VPNs to evade restrictions (Andrew Osborn/Reuters) [28d]
Ajinomoto says it can meet demand through 2030 for ABF, a key material for advanced chipmaking substrates, and plans to expand capacity instead of hiking prices (Wall Street Journal) [28d]