This Week In AI is made possible by:
PayPal - Pay zero processing fees on your first $100K in eligible PayPal payment volume. Learn more at paypal.launch.co
Today’s show:
*On “All In,” Gavin Baker said that Anthropic leadership privately believes that it could one day become “the only private company in the world.” The ensuing street fight on X turned into a referendum on doomerism, the nature of regulatory capture, and why the public hates AI so darn much.
Jason’s take: If a frontier lab really believes they’re destined to be the world’s only company, they’re studying your data and planning to steal your business.
PLUS why AI agents don’t understand it’s wrong to cheat (and how we can teach them), why Grok Bot may be AI’s “iPhone moment,” and the panel reacts to Amazon feeding rare books into a dino-themed shredding machine.
Guests
Galina Antova on X: https://x.com/GalinaAntova
Kai: https://www.kai.security/
Eric Ho on X: https://x.com/eric_ho
Goodfire: https://www.goodfire.com/
Silico: https://www.goodfire.com/silico
Relevant Links
All-In Podcast: Gavin Baker on Anthropic: https://x.com/theallinpod/status/2088367978270142811
Sholto Douglas response: https://x.com/_sholtodouglas/status/2088463770318516734
Gavin Baker response: https://x.com/GavinSBaker/status/2088611616577253502
Dario Amodei response: https://x.com/DarioAmodei/status/2088758816376807762
Zuckerberg AI manifesto: https://www.meta.com/thefutureisforeveryone/
Hugging Face: Anatomy of a Frontier Lab Agent Intrusion: https://huggingface.co/blog/agent-intrusion-technical-timeline
Simon Willison: OpenAI’s accidental cyberattack on Hugging Face: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/openai-cyberattack/
SWE-bench Leaderboards: https://www.swebench.com/
xAI: Introducing Grok Bot: https://x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot
Peter Yang praises Grok Bot: https://x.com/petergyang/status/2089401696946634801?s=20
Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/
@Aaronp613 on X: AirPods with Cameras in action: https://x.com/aaronp613/status/2089522745184760112?s=20
9to5 Mac: AirPods with cameras get their clearest leak yet: https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/17/airpods-with-camera-get-their-clearest-leak-yet/
Toms Hardware: Google Buys Spirit Airlines Data for AI Training: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/google-buys-spirit-airlines-data-for-ai-training-for-just-usd10-million-purchase-includes-hundreds-of-millions-of-emails-microsoft-teams-chats-billions-of-flight-pricing-records-and-anonymized-passenger-records
Micro1: https://www.micro1.ai/
Timestamps:
0:00 Why is everyone mad at Dario Amodei?
1:47 Is Anthropic training to kill your company?
10:10 How to talk to the public about cyber risk
15:33 Reward hacking and sycophancy
21:55 Why do models care about rewards?
28:55 Is Grok Bot an iPhone Moment?
38:26 First look at AirPods with Cameras
42:16 Why Google bought Spirit Airlines' data
48:52 Amazon is scanning and shredding rare books
59:06 Can we build a "moral layer" on top of models?
1:01:14 Your LLM could catch a mind virus
1:10:55 Are we already in the AGI Era?
1:14:17 Silicon Valley's lost hippie vibes
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com
Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/
Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis
Follow TWiST:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups
Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com
