Hallucination Station: Issue 08

🌟 Editor's Note

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🚀 This Weeks Top Stories in AI

🤖 Alibaba Bets Big on AI

• Alibaba is boosting its AI investment above its prior target of ≈ $53 billion (380 billion yuan) over three years to stay competitive amid a projected $4 trillion global spend.

• The company plans to expand its cloud infrastructure by opening new data centers in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands in the coming year.

• The stock reacted strongly, jumping to its highest level in nearly four years after the announcement.

👉 Read More About It

📝 Trump Green-Lights U.S. Takeover of TikTok 🇺🇸

• Trump signed an executive order enabling a deal to shift TikTok’s U.S. operations into American hands, sidestepping a looming ban.

• The new structure would grant U.S. investors — led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and top tech figures — control over the app, including licensing its algorithm, while ByteDance retains a minority stake (< 20 %).

• The order gives parties 120 days to finalize the deal, but Chinese approval and regulatory vetting remain unresolved risks.

👉 Read More About It

💰 Nvidia Commits $100B to OpenAI’s AI Infrastructure

• Nvidia will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI, while supplying it with data-center chips in a deal that grants Nvidia a stake (but non-controlling) in OpenAI.

• Under the agreement, OpenAI will deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia-powered infrastructure beginning in late 2026.

• The structure has drawn scrutiny as a “circular” financing loop — Nvidia invests money, OpenAI spends it buying Nvidia chips — raising potential regulatory and competitive concerns.

👉 Read full breakdown

🎤 AI Star Signs Major Record Deal

• AI-based “artist” Xania Monet has inked a multimillion-dollar deal with Hallwood Media, with the creator Telisha Jones using Suno to turn her lyrics into full songs.

• Though Jones claims ownership over masters and compositions, only her human-written lyrics may be eligible for copyright under current U.S. rules.

• The move has sparked backlash from artists like Kehlani and SZA, who argue it devalues human creativity and raises deeper questions about authenticity in music.

👉 Source: Billboard

🧠 Why Fresh Grads Are Facing a Vanishing Entry-Level Tier

• Anthropic’s CPO Mike Krieger admitted the company “tends less to hire fresh college grads,” citing the increasing capability of AI to take over tasks once reserved for junior roles.

• He described how AI (e.g. Claude) is transitioning from single-task helper to collaborator, taking over 20– to 30-minute tasks and leaving humans to verify or oversee.

• Krieger predicts this shift will accelerate: in some disciplines AI may displace full job functions within a year, and within two to three years in others.

👉 Check It Out

🦄 Founder Corner

• Fintech 3.0: Y Combinator calls for founders building the next generation of finance on-chain.

• Modular raises $250M to challenge Nvidia dominance.

• Sleep tech Sunrise Group raises $29M

🔥Meme-while in AI

(Coming next week - send me your favorite AI memes)

🏆Tool of the Week (not sponsored)

Otter is my go-to notetaking app. The notetaker joining every call can get a bit annoying, but their free tier is quite generous. And we like free generous things here.

Did You Know? The term “artificial intelligence” was first coined in 1956 at a Dartmouth College workshop, where researchers gathered to explore the idea that machines could “learn” like humans—kickstarting the entire AI field.

Till next time,