Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 13, and we're covering the rise of “voicepilled” workplaces, Amp’s plan to build a shared AI compute grid, and the 10T threshold.
Google is reportedly considering launching data centers into orbit, turning satellites into computing infrastructure as terrestrial AI power demands surge. The company is in talks with SpaceX over rocket launches tied to “Project Suncatcher,” which aims to deploy prototype computing satellites by 2027 with support from Planet Labs.
Thinking Machines says today’s AI assistants are limited less by intelligence than by rigid interfaces that force humans out of the workflow. The startup unveiled a research preview of “interaction models,” AI systems trained to process audio, video, and text simultaneously in 200-millisecond micro-turns, enabling interruptions, overlapping speech, and real-time collaboration.
General Motors is cutting hundreds of IT jobs while actively recruiting AI-native engineers, signaling that enterprise AI adoption is reshaping workforce priorities rather than simply adding new tools. The automaker laid off more than 600 salaried IT employees — over 10% of the department — as it shifts hiring toward AI-focused software development, data engineering, cloud infrastructure, and agent-based workflows.
Rather than ship another Chromebook iteration, Google is launching Googlebook this fall — a new laptop category that fuses Android (apps, modern OS) with ChromeOS (the browser) and is built ground-up for Gemini Intelligence, marking what the company calls a shift from operating system to "intelligence system." The centerpiece is Magic Pointer, built with Google DeepMind, which turns the cursor into a contextual AI surface.
POWERED BY ASTROPAD WORKBENCH
How to Run a Headless Mac Mini for Agents
Running a Mac mini 24/7 for AI agents? Going headless (no monitor, no keyboard) can be tricky. This guide will save you a few hours of troubleshooting:
Why FileVault will lock you out after every reboot (and how to fix it)
The sleep settings that kill agents mid-task
Dummy plugs (mostly a thing of the past, but there's a caveat)
How to connect remotely - Remote desktop apps, SSH, VPNs, etc
Here's everything you need to know to keep your Mac on, reachable, and running.
VIDEO
Anthropic Cracks Down on Share Flippers
REAL OR AI
Still Think You Can Spot AI?
They picked a way among the trees, and their ponies plodded along, carefully avoiding the many writhing and interlacing roots. There was no undergrowth. The ground was rising steadily, and as they went forward, it seemed that the trees became taller, darker, and thicker. There was no sound, except an occasional drip of moisture falling through the still leaves. For the moment, there was no whispering or movement among the branches; but they all got an uncomfortable feeling that they were being watched with disapproval, deepening to dislike and even enmity. Real or AI? |
FORWARD FUTURE ORIGINAL
What It Actually Takes to Serve a 10 Trillion Parameter Model
Imagine you've spent a decade making the world's fastest race-car engines, and one day you wake up to find the customer doesn't want engines anymore. They want entire factories. That, in a sentence, is what just happened to the AI hardware business. → Read the full article here.
INTERFACES
Workers Are Swapping Keyboards for AI Voice Dictation
A growing number of tech workers are replacing typing with AI-powered voice dictation tools, a trend some in Silicon Valley now call being “voicepilled.” The term gained traction after LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman described voice interaction with tools like ChatGPT and Wispr as a productivity breakthrough that turns spoken, unstructured thoughts into polished writing or code.
New apps including Aqua Voice, TalkTastic, Typeless, and Superwhisper promise faster workflows by combining dictation with generative AI editing. But the shift is also creating new workplace friction, as once-quiet offices fill with constant murmuring and whispered prompts — making the future of productivity sound a little noisier than expected. → Read the full article here.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Amp Raises $1.3 Billion to Build Shared AI Computing Network
Menlo Park start-up Amp has raised more than $1.3 billion to create a shared pool of AI computing power for start-ups, universities, and researchers shut out of today’s expensive AI infrastructure race. Founded by former Andreessen Horowitz partner Anjney Midha, the company plans to buy excess data center capacity and redistribute access to high-demand AI chips.
Backers include Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator, while companies like ElevenLabs and Periodic Labs have joined the effort. Amp is positioning itself as an “AI grid” — a collective bargaining layer for compute — as access to chips increasingly concentrates among giants like OpenAI, Google, and Amazon. → Read the full article here. (Paywall)
NEWS
More Headlines
Anthropic Rejects Unapproved Share Sales: Anthropic warned investors that several secondary platforms cannot legally offer its stock.
Musk Sought Majority OpenAI Control: Sam Altman testified Elon Musk proposed taking 90% equity in OpenAI’s for-profit transition.
China Pressed Anthropic for AI Access: A Chinese think tank urged Anthropic to share its restricted Mythos model, but the company refused.
Workers Back Union AI Protections: An AFL-CIO poll found overwhelming support for AI workplace safeguards, with 95% backing human oversight.
Google Expands Gemini Across Android: Google added agentic AI features to Android, letting Gemini complete multistep tasks, browse websites and fill forms.
