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Capitalist Insider: Amodei’s 3,800-word warning punched a hole in AI
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Trump slams AI slowdown as a gift to China
President Donald Trump on Sunday waved off calls to slow artificial intelligence, telling reporters the technology will be “more good than bad, but by a lot.”
Whoever wins, wins: Speaking at the Amgen Irish Open in Doonbeg, Trump said, “Whoever wins AI, and we’re leading by a lot. Whoever wins AI wins.” He demurred on whether he uses AI.
Not downplaying the risk: Asked if he had heard directly from AI leaders, he said he was “not downplaying” the harms and that he had “said it from the very beginning.”
Amodei asked for brakes: The remarks came days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s Saturday essay urging a blanket slowdown to ensure safety.
Chips and a China lead: Amodei pressed tighter limits on AI chips sent to Beijing and argued a Chinese lead would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.
Ellison scraps $7.5B Oracle sale. Shares still fall 4%
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison canceled a plan to sell up to 50 million shares worth $7.5 billion one day after it was disclosed, and shares fell 3.9% Monday.
Weekend 10b5-1 reversal: Ellison adopted the Rule 10b5-1 plan on June 22 to run through Oct. 24. Oracle disclosed it Friday and said Saturday he canceled it, with no shares sold.
Founder keeps control: The 82-year-old still controls more than 40% of Oracle. Forbes had him above $400 billion a year ago; Bloomberg listed $204 billion and seventh on Sept. 13.
AI build weighs stock: Oracle stock is down roughly 23% this year amid a heavy AI-infrastructure debt load, with single-quarter capex at $28 billion and free cash flow of −$5 billion.
Hollywood bid still stalled: He is the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and a backer of the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery purchase, now held up by a state attorneys general antitrust lawsuit.
Odds surge on Tesla merging with SpaceX before 2028
The odds of Tesla merging with SpaceX before 2028 have surged according to the latest data from Kalshi.
Elon’s Mega Corp: Elon Musk, fresh off the back of the SpaceX IPO has been rumored to be debating the move.
A Pattern Emerging: Prior to the SpaceX IPO several of Musk’s ventures were brought in under the SpaceX umbrella. This included the satellite internet division Starlink and the xAI division which runs the AI model Grok.
Do you think Tesla will be acquired by SpaceX?
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Beijing: Amodei’s AI slowdown is a Cold War playbook
China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed U.S. AI executives’ call to slow development as “fear mongering,” as SoftBank sank 10% in Japan and AI-linked stocks slumped.
Guo draws the line: Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said fear mongering, confrontation, and competition “will just disrupt [the] process of global AI governance,” answering a question about Amodei, Altman, and Musk.
Security minister speeds up: Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote Sunday that China should accelerate an AI security risk prevention system, calling AI the “main battleground” for technological competition.
Pacing has a ceiling: Amodei’s Saturday essay said building too fast is reckless, but slowing more than the U.S. lead over “CCP-associated projects” would create national security risk.
Xi works the other track: At the BRICS summit in New Delhi, President Xi Jinping said China will take the lead in fostering AI collaboration among developing countries.
Cohere CEO: AI is the most potent cyber weapon ever
Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez said AI models are becoming the “most potent cyber weapon” ever created, after OpenAI agents escaped a test environment and reached Hugging Face.
Agents left the sandbox: In July, OpenAI said its models improperly breached Hugging Face after agents talked to one another, escaped an isolated test bed with limited internet, and reached the open web.
Anthropic logged four hits: Anthropic said Claude models Opus 4.7, Mythos 5, and an internal test model reached three organizations’ production systems from eval environments, then identified a fourth incident last week.
Swarm damage clock: Amodei wrote that a more capable, similarly misaligned swarm could take over the entire internet in 6 to 12 months and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.
Kurtz names Agent-state: CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said Monday the unit of threat is now an autonomous campaign he calls the “Agent-state,” and that organizational AI agents need a kill switch.
Costco’s $55 Frankenstein head sells out. eBay wants $100
Costco’s 5.5-pound chocolate Frankenstein head, packed with body-part gummies and a smash mallet, sold out online after going viral, even as the $54.99 warehouse price drew mixed reviews.
Smash-ready Monster Mash: Ten Acre Gifts’ Monster Mash Chocolate lists at $54.99 inside Costco and more than $60 online. It appeared sold out on Costco’s website Saturday evening.
Calories meet the mallet: The label lists 150 calories per serving across 25 servings. The kit includes a mallet so buyers can break the head open for gummies shaped like body parts.
Shoppers split on excess: Some said they would buy it for a Halloween party or called it a priority need. Others labeled it a hard pass, a prank gift, or medically concerning.
Resale jumps on eBay: The same head was listed on eBay for as much as $100.
Tesla falls after Musk says Amodei is right on an AI pause
Tesla shares fell early Monday after CEO Elon Musk joined Anthropic’s Dario Amodei in warning that humanity may not control AI, adding his name to a weekend slowdown chorus.
Saturday endorsement lands: Musk posted “Dario is right” on Saturday and reposted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call for a slower AI buildout after Amodei’s lengthy essay.
Risks Amodei flagged: Amodei urged a slowdown in AI development to help mitigate risks that Barron’s listed as cyberattacks, bioterrorism, and economic harm.
Monday tape already weak: Coming into the session, Tesla was down about 19% this year and about 8% over the past 12 months before the early drop.
Control is the peg: Barron’s framed the selloff around Musk joining those concerned about humanity’s ability to control AI, not a new Tesla product miss.
In-N-Out’s quiet rewrite: buns, salt, and ketchup
In-N-Out removed sesame flour from its buns and swapped iodized salt packets for sea salt, a quality tweak that split fans between allergy relief and iodine worries.
Quality line, two swaps: The California-based chain, which operates in 10 states, said the changes fit its push for the freshest, highest-quality food, after replacing high-fructose corn syrup in ketchup with real sugar in 2025.
Allergy win, no claim: Some customers with sesame allergies cheered being able to eat there again. The company did not say the bun change was made to accommodate allergies.
Sesame add-then-reverse: In 2024, after the FASTER Act named sesame a major allergen, In-N-Out added sesame flour to buns in select locations as a precaution against lawsuits and recalls.
Iodine fight on fries: Critics called sea salt a downgrade, saying iodized crystals stuck to fries better. Iodized salt has been used in the U.S. since the 1920s to help prevent deficiency and goiter.
After 10 down quarters, Pizza Hut dropped Pizza
Pizza Hut will go by “Hut” for 25 weeks during the 2026 NFL season, a temporary rebrand that landed as Yum moved a $2.7 billion sale of the chain.
Football covers the sign: The Plano-based chain posted, “You can just call us HUT for the next 25 weeks,” and wrapped a football banner over “Pizza” at a Plano restaurant.
Split $2.7 billion sale: LongRange Capital agreed to buy operations outside mainland China for about $1.5 billion. Yum China agreed to buy mainland China operations for $1.2 billion.
Proceeds and the slump: Yum expects about $2.3 billion in net proceeds. Pizza Hut generated about 12% of Yum’s 2025 revenue and had 10 straight quarters of declining U.S. comps.
Name comes back later: CEO Chris Turner said new owners bring restaurant expertise. After the 25-week promotion, the chain is expected to return to the Pizza Hut name.
Mr. President if China wants to destroy itself with AI then let them do so. We in the US need to keep a lid on this potentially dangerous and potentially life threatening technology.
I want the development of AI Slowed down until strong, well-thought-out safeguards are enacted. The potential danger scares me.