Technology

The Mental Health Crisis of AI Transition

AI Is Training Your Replacement—Start Training Yourself to Leave At Meta this week, thousands of employees sat at their desks, fingers flying across keyboards, mouse clicking through workflows, while invisible software recorded every movement. The Model Capability Initiative—Meta’s aptly named tracking program—logged keystrokes, cursor paths, clicks, and occasional screen snapshots. All of it fed into training AI agents meant to replicate those very tasks. Meanwhile, an internal directory refreshed with the quiet dread of knowing that on May 20, roughly 8,000 colleagues—10% of the workforce—would receive the layoff email. Some cried in the shower before work. Mental health leave became an…

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AI Doublespeak Is Collapsing

Graduates See What the Elites Won’t Admit In April, I wrote that AI is a tool, Marian — channeling Alan Ladd’s Shane to remind everyone that technology itself is morally neutral. A gun, an axe, a shovel: it becomes good or bad based on the character and incentives of the person wielding it. That piece pushed back against fatalistic UBI talk and the notion that AI would simply “wipe out” work rather than transform it through markets, adaptation, and human ingenuity. This follow-up is necessary because the people holding the tool are currently engaged in a glaring contradiction that cannot last.…

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Mark Cuban’s Realistic AI Take

Why the Next Job Wave Belongs to Integrators, Not Wizards Mark Cuban has seen technology shifts before. He built a career explaining personal computers to businesses that had never touched one. In August of 2025, he called the next wave with characteristic bluntness. Now in 2026, his words have proved prescient. Mark Cuban on the next big job students should focus on:Most companies don’t know how to implement AI, especially small businesses.“Companies don’t understand how to implement AI right now to get a competitive advantage… learn to customize a model, walk into a company, show… pic.twitter.com/Cwl6yGBand— TBPN (@tbpn) February 15, 2026…

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Transformed, Not Wiped Out

The Real Story of AI and Entry-Level Work Yesterday we talked about AI as a tool, no better or worse than the character and ingenuity of those who wield it. Guns don't kill people, axes don't chop wood by themselves, and AI won't magically "wipe out" half the entry-level jobs in tech, law, consulting, and finance. Yet here we are again, watching the same dramatic warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei make the rounds on X: 50% of those roles "completely wiped out" in 1–5 years. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: “50% of all tech jobs, entry-level lawyers, consultants, and finance professionals…

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AI Is a Tool, Marian

Why the Rush for Universal High Income Misses the Real Story of Creative Destruction Elon Musk posted a characteristically bold provocation on X about AI and Universal Income: Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI. AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2026 Hours later, Andrew Yang replied with his own crisp declaration: It’s clear that AI will wind up funding universal income. Let’s make that happen…

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Building AI’s River Rouge

Factories, Financing, and Freeing Energy The column started with a single X post from @HedgieMarkets laying bare the financial engineering behind the AI boom: massive data centers funded through special purpose vehicles, off-balance-sheet debt, and leverage that would make a subprime lender blush. Meta's $27 billion Hyperion deal with Blue Owl, Oracle's $38 billion Vantage play tied to OpenAI's Stargate, xAI's $20 billion raise looping in Nvidia GPUs-these aren't just big numbers. They're bets on explosive revenues that have to show up in the next 5 to 15 years, or the whole structure risks looking like a house of cards when…

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The Irreplaceable Mentor

Why Human Experience Still Wins in the AI Era The fire's crackling low tonight, casting that warm, steady glow across the room. Blue jeans, flannel-pull up a chair-maybe a good cigar if that's your thing. We're not here for stiff lectures or casual rambles. This is just one mentor sharing what he's seen, what he's learned, and what still matters when the world changes faster than we can sometimes keep up. Let's start where this whole conversation began: that IBM announcement from Friday. A $240 billion company, the kind that's supposed to be the bellwether for where tech is headed, flips…

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Tesla’s AI Breakthroughs

Fusion, Not Magic – Lessons from Creative Repurposing I've always believed the most profound changes in our world don't arrive as sudden miracles or some deus ex machina swooping in to save the day. They come from clever people spotting what's already there-an existing tool, a familiar skill, an old piece of hardware-and combining it with fresh insight in ways no one quite expected. Take Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. You know him as the pony-tailed guitarist who helped shape Steely Dan's sound and powered The Doobie Brothers through their golden era. He's a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, a session legend…

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Your Smart Health Gadgets at CES 2026

How to Keep Your Data Safe and Private Picture this: You're at CES 2026, the big tech show in Las Vegas that just wrapped up today, surrounded by shiny new gadgets like smart rings that track your sleep and hormones, or scales that check your heart health with a quick step-on. Sounds amazing, right? Devices from companies like Oura, Mira, and Withings are using artificial intelligence (AI) to give you personalized tips on everything from your menstrual cycle to your daily energy levels. But if you're like many folks I hear from on X, you're thinking: "What about my privacy? Is…

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Inside OpenAI’s Cyber Resilience Plan

Navigating the Double-Edged Sword of AI in Cybersecurity In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, few developments underscore the dual-use nature of technology as starkly as the advancements in AI-driven cybersecurity. On December 10, 2025-just three days ago-OpenAI published a pivotal blog post titled "Strengthening Cyber Resilience as AI Capabilities Advance," outlining their strategy to harness increasingly powerful models while mitigating risks. As AI models like GPT-5.1-Codex-Max achieve unprecedented benchmarks in capture-the-flag challenges (jumping from 27% to 76% proficiency in mere months), the promise of bolstering defenses against cyber threats is tantalizing. Yet, this same capability introduces profound dual-use risks:…

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