This Week in AI

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Today’s show:
Anthropic shipped Claude Fable 5.2. Panelist Alex Finn calls it a breakthrough on intelligence, speed, and cost at once, while noting that it’s still best to actually build things in Grok Bot, “by far the best harness on Planet Earth.” He actually asked Grok Bot, Claude Duet and ChatGPT Dots to send a $1,000 PayPal. Only Grok Bot got it done.
TWiAI 39’s all star panel also includes Sara Hooker (co-founder & CEO of Adaption Labs) and Manu Sharma (co-founder & CEO of Labelbox). They’re discussing whether the model or harness matters more, and Sara observes that the entire Fable 5.2 roll-out is “almost entirely a story about cost.” Anthropic wants to own both the model and the harness so switching feels more painful.
Manu explains why enterprises tend to remain locked in once IT wires up all their integrations… but Jason still feels his team drifting from Claude over to Grok Bot. So who wins in the end?
PLUS: Anthropic sets its IPO range and drops new Claude office apps, Nvidia’s still investigating whether its CEO unethically sent extra chips to China, and are shadowy overseas interests behind the anti-data center push? The panel has some theories…
Guests
Sara Hooker on X: https://x.com/sarahookr
Adaption Labs: https://adaptionlabs.ai/
Manu Sharma on X: https://x.com/manuaero
Labelbox: https://labelbox.com/
Alex Finn on X: https://x.com/AlexFinn
Henry Intelligent Machines: https://meethenry.ai/
Relevant Links
Anthropic releases Claude Fable 5.2 and Claude Mythos 5.2 ahead of IPO (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/09/anthropic-claude-fable-5-2-mythos-5-2.html
Claude's launch post: https://x.com/claudeai/status/2119867114450268322
OpenAI launches GPT-6 Cyber with a higher API price than Anthropic and Google (VentureBeat): https://venturebeat.com/technology/openai-launches-gpt-6-cyber-with-stronger-exploit-research-and-higher-api-price-than-anthropic-and-google
Grok Bot turns agents into persistent digital coworkers (VentureBeat): https://venturebeat.com/ai/spacexais-grok-bot-turns-agents-into-persistent-digital-coworkers-that-can-operate-your-apps-for-120-per-month/
Hermes Agent (Nous Research): https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent
Anthropic sets IPO price range of $70 to $78 a share (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/10/anthropic-sets-ipo-price-range-of-70-to-78-per-share-to-reach-an-implied-valuation-of-1-404-trillion/
Nvidia will investigate Jensen Huang's relationship with a possible Chinese spy (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/08/nvidia-says-its-investigating-ceo-jensen-huangs-relationship-with-possible-chinese-spy/
Report: Alice Huang helped move $7.5B in Nvidia chips into China (Tom's Hardware): https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/alice-huang-reportedly-instrumental-in-securing-over-usd7-5-billion-of-nvidia-ai-gpu-imports-during-three-year-relationship-with-jensen-huang-helped-move-240-000-banned-chips-into-china-mostly-h100-and-h200
An unexpected activist emerged to help block a $5 billion data center in Maryland (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2026/11/07/nx-s1-6007770/data-centers-activist-moratorium

Timestamps:
0:00 "Anthropic clearly has had a breakthrough"
0:31 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co
9:41 Frontier models vs. smaller workhorse models
11:18 Alex's PayPal agent test
15:03 Enterprise lock-in and managed IT integrations
20:39 Is Claude commoditizing SaaS?
26:53 The $7.5B Nvidia chip report
39:01 Do Chinese labs even need chips on the mainland?
49:29 How export controls are like the War on Drugs
58:51 How should data centers win Americans back?
1:04:50 Attackers have the edge for now

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Today’s show:
Grok Bot users maxed out their weekly limits over Halloween Weekend, and SpaceX now says that serving compute to all Bot-heads is financially unsustainable. So how much does AI have to cost for the math to actually line up? And is there anyone actually willing to pay?
Jason says he’d spend about $1000/month for his personal bots, and the panel mostly aligns. (One outlier? Code Metal CEO Peter Morales, who just had a fight with his CTO over dropping $100K in tokens in just a few weeks.)
On TWiAI Ep 38, our expert panel showcases their favorite recent AI builds and designs, plus breaks down more of the week’s biggest AI news and trends, including the chip stock selloff and debt squeeze on neoclouds, the AI advancements that are making mathematicians cry, and where LLMs actually get their news updates about major elections.
Guests
Peter Morales on X: https://x.com/PeterMoralesX
Code Metal: https://www.codemetal.ai/
Nick Harris on X: https://x.com/theanalognick
Lightmatter: https://lightmatter.com/
Mark Jeffrey on X: https://x.com/markjeffrey
Stillcore Capital: https://stillcorecapital.com/
Relevant Links
Elon Musk throttles Grok Bot limits over "unsustainably high" costs (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/02/elon-musk-throttles-grok-bot-limits-due-to-unsustainably-high-costs/
Elon's post on Grok Bot costs: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2116992258520064397
Goldman Sachs pulls AI coding tools from traders and bankers (The Decoder): https://the-decoder.com/goldman-sachs-pulls-ai-coding-tools-from-traders-and-bankers/
Garry Tan spends up to $200K a year on tokens (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2026/11/02/y-combinators-garry-tan-uses-ai-agents-so-much-he-spends-up-to-200k-a-year-on-tokens/
Jason's post: "< $40k a year on tokens… getting $2m+ in value": https://x.com/Jason/status/2117126320962351277
Lovable: https://lovable.dev
Notion: https://www.notion.com
ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io
Bittensor: https://bittensor.com
Tao Bubbles: https://taobubbles.net/
Engy (subnet 53): https://subnetalpha.ai/subnet/engy/
Athena, Jason's assistant service: https://athenawow.com
Jason's "Unsponsored" Chrome extension for Amazon: https://x.com/Jason/status/2116380861167714594
Sam Altman hates local AI models (Futurism): https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-hates-local-ai-models-computers
Steven Strogatz on The Daily, "When A.I. Comes for Your Purpose in Life" (NYT): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/podcasts/the-daily/mathematicians-problem-ai-jobs.html
Abbott halts data center approvals until audits are done (NBC DFW): https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/data-center-approvals-in-texas-halted-until-audits-completed-gov-greg-abbott-says/4058445/
How an obscure website became a force in America's election information machine (Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/30/how-an-obscure-website-became-force-americas-election-information-machine
Google restricts Gemini from answering 2024 election questions (Quartz): https://qz.com/goggle-gemini-ai-chatbot-india-us-election-1851330306

Timestamps:
1:16 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co
3:00 How much should a company spend on AI?
8:40 Engy, Lium, and the road to cheaper inference
14:57 So what's the most you'd pay per month for your agents?
22:06 How unmetered inference changes the way you work
25:33 AI Agent Show & Tell
38:57 Chip stocks sink, lenders pull back from neoclouds
45:02 Dreaming of an agentic Christmas
49:46 Sam Altman hates that you have DRAM
55:01 Leaving math and science's Age of Heroes
1:04:23 Where do the LLMs get election info?
1:15:59 Subscribe to the TWiAI newsletter!

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Today’s show:
Anthropic’s S-1 is finally out and it’s a beast: $16.3 billion in revenue in the first half of this year, up from $1.2 billion in 2025. Plus a $1.6 billion adjusted operating profit!
Anthropic’s already at the front of a very fast-moving train, but Runlayer CEO Andy Berman points out that this journey’s just getting started. Only 2-3% of major enterprises are using AI as much as you’d think (at least, if you listen to this podcast), and everyone’s dragging their heels on connecting models to the kind of real-world business data that’s needed to truly super-charge results.
Andy and Norm Ai founder John Nay join Jason and Lon to break down the filing, the agent explosion coming just over the horizon, and what happens to entry-level jobs and recent grads when intelligence is on tap?
PLUS how to avoid becoming a “meat proxy,” why Andy suggests browser use is already solved, and why Reddit’s r/opensource community banned not just AI projects but non-native English speakers.
Guests
John Nay on X: https://x.com/johnjnay
Norm Ai: https://www.norm.ai/
Andy Berman on X: https://x.com/berman66
Runlayer: https://www.runlayer.com/
Relevant Links:
Anthropic's S-1 (SEC): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026067168/anthropicpbc-sx1.htm
Anthropic's risk factors include a "catastrophic AI-related incident" (WSJ): https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-10-26-2026/card/anthropic-s-risk-factors-include-catastrophic-ai-related-incident--aAwPiJrvIG5OHdQGAo1n
Gallup's AI indicator: https://www.gallup.com/699797/indicator-artificial-intelligence.aspx
Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/26/microsoft-msft-voluntary-buyouts.html
Students at an A.I. School Were Supposed to Learn Faster. Many Aren't. (NYT): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/us/alpha-school-ai-education-parents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K1E.IcJn.2l4XIQK5gQsl
Meat Proxy: https://meatproxy.me/
r/opensource just banned AI, non-English speakers, and more (The Verge): https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1018217/reddit-opensource-ai-ban
When AI comes for your purpose in life, with Steven Strogatz (NYT): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/podcasts/the-daily/mathematicians-problem-ai-jobs.html
Peter Thiel says AI will be "worse" for math people than word people (Fortune): https://fortune.com/2026/03/07/peter-thiel-ai-math-vs-word-skills-banks-smaller-headcounts/
Timestamps:
0:00 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co
1:43 What we learned from Anthropic's S-1
9:30 Why only 2-3% of companies are really using AI
18:03 Jason's "reverse to-do list" agent
23:23 Will AI labs evolve beyond charging per token?
32:36 Browser use is basically solved
41:24 Are colleges giving performative "slop" degrees?
53:00 Why r/opensource banned AI projects
59:39 So what happens to the junior lawyers and analysts?
1:06:01 Peter Thiel's "math people vs. word people" binary
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Today’s show:
Sam Altman told OpenAI staff that there are only three ways for AI regulation to go: an international watchdog, every lab merging into one CERN-style entity, or one company getting so powerful that they “melt everyone else’s GPUs.”
Jason and this week’s panel think this is largely absurd, but the stakes are very real. Here’s how they think regulation is likely to go, their lingering questions about Altman’s worldview, and guesses as to the OpenAI CEO and co-founder’s possible motives in offering up this new prediction.
Plus:
The US Government banned DeepSeek from every federal computer… What has them so spooked, and how does this impact US companies?
Did ElevenLabs steal a YouTuber’s voice or is it all a misunderstanding.
Why Chinese labs are ordering more chips than Nvidia can even produce.
And more!

Guests
Jaleh Rezaei on X: https://x.com/jalehr
Mutiny: https://www.mutinyhq.com/
Alex Cheema on X: https://x.com/alexocheema
EXO Labs: https://exolabs.net/

Relevant Links
DHS order banning DeepSeek (Federal Register): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/20/2026-21447/notice-of-order-regarding-exclusion-and-removal-of-deepseek-products-from-federal-civilian-executive
DeepSeek’s DeepInfer on GitHub: https://github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepInfer
Sam Altman’s 3 AI Endgames (The Information): https://www.theinformation.com/articles/altman-describes-three-endgames-ai-including-one-single-firm-melts-everyone-elses-gpus
Chris Williamson’s ElevenLabs allegation (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxDNHLgWInU
Archer voice actor response (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33AWhQwL1I
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi on recursive self improvement (a16z): https://a16z.com/podcast/databricks-ceo-on-ai-pacing-cyber-risk-and-the-enterprise/
Looking for backdoors in Jane Street LLMs (LessWrong): https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/a98MFPmqH54J2ayBn/looking-for-backdoors-in-jane-street-llms-1
Exo turns 4 Mac Studios into a 4.8TB/s AI cluster (AlphaSignal): https://alphasignal.ai/news/exo-turns-four-mac-studios-into-a-4-8tb-s-ai-cluster

Timestamps:
0:00 Cold Open / Show Intro
0:58 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co
2:56 How much hardware it takes to run local AI models
4:32 DHS orders DeepSeek out of federal systems
5:53 Why enterprise clients are uneasy about Chinese models
9:47 Could an open-source model "phone home" to Beijing?
14:10 Why enterprises are much more price sensitive about AI tools
16:39 Are Sam Altman's AI endgame theories "deranged"?
25:45 Why the major labs want more regulations
26:28 The ElevenLabs Archer controversy continues
34:30 Who actually owns the rights to your voice?
45:17 "Substack for AI Models"
46:20 China needs more chips than Nvidia can make
52:40 Are enterprises running more local models?

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Today’s show:
Companies are spending $1 million on AI in a single month, but can’t always point directly to any resulting revenue. Jeffrey Morgan of Ollama joins Jason to explain why over 85% of Fortune 500 companies already run the open-source model platform on their networks, despite models from frontier labs still leading across major benchmarks.
Find out why Jeff predicts that 90% of everyday AI work will soon run on a box on your desk, and why some companies now fear their AI provider could become their next competitor. Is AI alive? Jeff doesn’t think so. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to worry about.

Guests:
Jeffrey Morgan on X: https://x.com/jmorgan
Ollama: https://ollama.com

Relevant Links:
Ollama, the easiest way to run open models locally and in the cloud → https://ollama.com
Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI, the trillion-plus parameter open model Jeff mentioned → https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3
Reflection AI, the US open model lab Jeff is excited about → https://reflection.ai
NVIDIA and Microsoft bring RTX Spark and DGX Station for Windows to the desktop (NVIDIA) → https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/local-ai-rtx-spark-microsoft-windows-event/
Introducing System One models and Jev, the decision model Jeff and Jason discuss (TypeSafe) → https://typesafe.ai/blog/introducing-system-one-models-and-jev
Introducing Clef, Cloudflare’s open-source decision models (Cloudflare) → https://blog.cloudflare.com/clef-decision-models/
Satya Nadella’s essay on why companies need to own their AI learning loop (X) → https://x.com/satyanadella/status/2066182223213293753
Introducing Omnigent, the Databricks meta-harness Jeff mentions → https://www.databricks.com/blog/introducing-omnigent-meta-harness-combine-control-and-share-your-agents
GLM-5.3 and the spread of advanced cyber capabilities (Anthropic) → https://www.anthropic.com/research/glm-5-3-and-the-spread-of-advanced-cyber-capabilities
The Hugging Face incident and the road ahead (OpenAI) → https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/

Timestamps:
0:43 PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at https://paypal.launch.co
3:11 Why enterprises are getting token shock
4:23 Can you trust the frontier labs with your data
7:06 Why companies want to own their AI stack
8:56 How close are open models to the frontier?
11:57 Running real AI work on your own desk
15:14 The Goldilocks zone and unmetered AI
25:12 Decision models that replace code
29:32 Who makes money when everything gets commoditized
33:19 Why every enterprise is building its own router
35:56 Can you depend on the frontier labs
42:37 Sentient being or powerful software
43:57 Open models, security, and the Hugging Face hack

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