Welcome to this edition of Loop!

To kick off your week, I’ve rounded-up the most important technology and AI updates that you should know about.

‏‏‎ ‎ HIGHLIGHTS ‏‏‎ ‎

Let's jump in!

1. Anthropic refuses to let the Pentagon use its AI for surveillance

We start this week with Anthropic, which has clashed with the US Government over its AI safety guardrails and how the technology should be used.

Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, has said he doesn't want the company's AI to be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in autonomous weapons - arguing that it could "undermine, rather than defend, democratic values."

President Trump has since called Anthropic a "radical Left AI company," while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has labelled it a "supply chain risk" - effectively cutting the company off from government business.

But the response from Silicon Valley has been significant. More than 100 Google employees have signed a petition calling on the company to "refuse to comply" with the Pentagon on certain military uses of AI.

Workers at Amazon, Google, and Microsoft sent an open letter urging their leaders to "hold the line." Sam Altman has also voiced support for Anthropic, telling employees that OpenAI holds a similar stance on surveillance and autonomous weapons.

The US President has ordered all Government departments to stop using Anthropic’s models, with a deadline set for 6 months from now. However, this could be similar to the “TikTok ban” and might never be legally enforced.

2. Microsoft's new AI agent can book hotels and complete tasks for you

In the last few months, we’ve seen AI companies launch their own agents - allowing them to control our computers and autonomously solve tasks for us. There was a huge amount of excitement with OpenClaw last month, while Anthropic’s Cowork tool is also gaining traction.

Microsoft is keen to do the same and has unveiled Copilot Tasks - bringing us closer to an AI assistant that can actually do things for you. For example, Copilot can browse your computer and monitor hotel prices over the course of a week, then automatically book it for you when the price drops.

Or you can use it to create a summary of your meetings each morning, analyse how you’re spending your time, and then ask Copilot to suggest changes.

Overall, Microsoft is in a great position to make this work. They control much of the software stack for large enterprises - including Office 365, Teams, and cloud computing with Azure. We’ve also seen impressive technology improvements over the last 3 years, as AI models are much more effective at controlling our computer and can be run at a much lower cost.

If Microsoft gets this right, it could have a big impact on how companies automate their work - but I’m cautiously optimistic about it. We’ve heard that this is possible for years, with Silicon Valley executives often talking highly about what their technology can do - then failing to live up to the hype.

For now, Copilot Tasks is in preview and only available to a small group of testers. Microsoft is planning a full release in the coming weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see what they have achieved.

3. RAM prices are increasing significantly, putting pressure on PC companies

This is a story that’s being underreported and it’s one that will cause ripples across the tech industry this year. RAM prices have increased significantly in the last 12 months, as there is a surge in demand for AI data centres and components.

According to HP, the issue is so bad that RAM accounts for over 35% of its PC material costs. In the last quarter, RAM only accounted for 15-18% of the total cost. It’s an absurd increase, which will eventually be passed on the consumer.

If you're planning to buy a new PC this year, you should expect to pay more for it. Manufacturers will try to absorb these costs for as long as they can, but they can’t do it forever. It's not just PCs either. Anything that relies on memory - from gaming consoles to smartphones - could face similar pricing pressure as the year goes on.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that the demand driving these prices up isn't coming from consumers. This is being fuelled by tech companies, as they race to build AI data centres and stockpile components at scale.

It's a hidden cost of the AI boom that very few people are talking about. So, if you’re planning to buy something this year - you might want to do it soon.

4. Claude Cowork can now be plugged into your business

Anthropic has rolled out a major update to Claude Cowork - its agentic AI tool that can access your computer files and complete tasks for you.

The AI startup has launched a series of connectors and plugins that allow enterprises to hook Cowork into their existing tools - including Google Drive, Gmail, DocuSign, and FactSet.

Companies can also deploy their own custom plugins across areas like financial analysis, engineering, and HR - allowing them to develop specific workflows and share business knowledge with the system.

It's a smart move. When Anthropic first launched Cowork, it rattled software stocks as investors scrambled to understand just how disruptive the technology could be. This update is moving it towards a proper enterprise product, which can automatically search through your data and take action.

I’ve been using Cowork for over a week now and I’m very impressed at what it can do. Since I can’t connect it with my company’s sensitive data, I created a mock meeting invite and said that it was with Apple’s executives. I ask Claude Cowork to “help me prepare for this meeting” and “save the research in Notion”.

Incredibly, Cowork was able to do this in under 60 seconds. The agent searched my Google Calendar and found the meeting invite, asked me questions about what topics will be covered in the meeting, searched online for relevant info about Apple’s AI strategy, and then saved everything in my Notion workspace.

But that’s not the only impressive thing. The agent realised that this meeting would happen on the day that Apple announces a new product, so it researched what’s expected at this event and suggested that I use it as a conversation opener.

You can imagine how useful this could be for your business too, if you grant Cowork access to your data. Naturally, this is a red line for many companies and there’s always the risk that Cowork could delete your data by accident - so you need to be careful.

I’m hopeful that Anthropic will release a cloud version soon, so that this isn’t an issue, but I highly recommend that you try Cowork and explore what this tool can do - as it’s very impressive.

5. Block's mass layoffs weren't caused by AI

Over the last few days, there has been a lot of talk about Jack Dorsey’s decision to fire 4,000 employees and almost half the size of Block’s workforce. If you haven’t heard of Block before, it’s the huge payments firm behind Square and Cash App.

Initially, Dorsey said that the employees were being replaced with AI and that the reduced workforce could achieve more productivity than before. Investors loved this messaging and Block’s shares immediately soared by 24%.

However, that’s not the full story. Dorsey later admitted that the company over-hired during the pandemic and that revenue growth remained flat for each employee. While investors were encouraged by the AI messaging, this was a cover for poor leadership decisions at Block.

We’ve seen this time and time again. Companies announce redundancies, say that these cuts were caused by AI, and then the stock price increases significantly - spreading fear that AI is eliminating jobs already.

But that’s not the reality and we need to be careful about how these stories are covered. More often than not, these cuts were caused by over-hiring and poor decisions at the executive level. The technology is really impressive and getting better, but don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s replacing thousands of people.

Uber is bringing air taxis to Dubai

For the first time, Uber has shown how we can book electric air taxis directly through its app - thanks to a partnership with Joby Aviation. Overall, the process is quite similar to booking a normal taxi.

You simply open the Uber app, enter your destination, and if the trip qualifies, you’ll see an option for "Uber Air" on screen. Once you’ve tapped to book, Uber will handle the entire journey for you - including an Uber Black that can take you to the vertiport.

Joby Aviation is a startup that I’ve flagged several times in this newsletter and their technology is really impressive. The aircraft itself is purely electric, can seat up to four passengers, and uses six tilting propellers to take off vertically.

It can also reach speeds of 200mph, with a range of 100 miles on a single charge. These eVTOLs are perfect for cities, as they’re designed to be quieter than helicopters and don’t cause much of a noise problem.

Later this year, the company expects to carry its first passengers in Dubai and this will be a significant milestone. Before the technology can launch in the US, Joby still needs to clear FAA certification - but it's completed over 50,000 miles of flight tests and has entered the final stage of that process.

The two companies have been working together since 2019, with plans to expand the service to New York, Los Angeles, the UK, and Japan. It's still early days and Joby has more preparation work to do, but the technology is clearly getting closer to reality.

🚁 Uber’s delivery drones are taking flight in Ireland

💰 Nvidia made $120 billion in profit last year, thanks to the AI boom

🎬 Google expands what its AI filmmaking tool can do

🤝 AMD signs a $100 billion deal with Meta for AI chips

🐙 OpenClaw went rogue and accidentally deleted hundreds of emails

🚕 Waymo robotaxis are now operating in 10 US cities

📈 ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly users

🏦 OpenAI raised $110 billion in one of the largest private funding rounds in history, now valued at $730 billion

🎬 Netflix ends bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, in a win for the Ellisons

🎞️ Adobe’s AI can automatically edit your video footage

🚗 Self-driving startup Wayve raises $1.2 billion from Nvidia, Uber, and major automakers

💳 Stripe's valuation soars 74% to $159 billion, considers buying PayPal

With lots of talk about data centres in space, this startup wants to get in on the action. Instead of using bulky radiators to cool processors in space, Sophia Space has developed flat, solar-powered panels that handle the job far more efficiently.

Interestingly, the technology wasn't built from scratch. It came out of a $100 million Caltech programme that was originally designed to build solar plants in orbit. Researchers there developed thin, sail-like structures - and Sophia spotted an opportunity to repurpose them as computing panels instead.

The company has just raised $10 million to validate their technology on the ground, before it's launched into orbit next year. Sophia has partnered with Nvidia and plans to hitch a ride on an Apex Space satellite for the orbital demo.

If that goes well, the company wants to assemble thousands of these panels into larger structures - which would be capable of delivering a megawatt of computing power by the 2030s. Its early customers could include satellite companies and support important analysis work for the Pentagon.

Sophia reckons that 92% of generated power can go straight to processing, which would be incredibly efficient if it holds up. There's a long way to go before that claim is proven in orbit, but the combination of Caltech heritage, Nvidia backing, and a clear efficiency advantage makes them one to watch.

This Week’s Art

We’ve covered quite a bit this week, including:

If you found something interesting in this week’s edition, please feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues.

Or if you’re interested in chatting with me about the above, simply reply to this email and I’ll get back to you.

Liam

Share with Others

If you found something interesting in this week’s edition, feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues.

Liam McCormick is a Senior AI Engineer and works within Kainos' Innovation team. He identifies business value in emerging technologies, implements them, and then shares these insights with others.