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Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

Table of Contents

• Check Out Our Emmy-Nominated NYC Innovates Show!

• Chatting With Barron's About the Fed Rate Hike

• Are AI Agents About To Change Workplaces?

• Trump Plans New ‘AI Force’ and ‘AI Czar’

• Kremlin-Backed Forgery Scheme Used Global Banks

• Poll of the Day: Dancing With the Czars

• Poll of the Day: Off At The Deep End (of the Pres …

What’s the Stock Market Up To, Eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.0% )  $DJI ( ▼ 0.36% )  $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies Mentioned in Today’s Newsletter

$IBM ( ▼ 0.24% )  $NFLX ( ▼ 1.64% )  $ANTHZZX ( ▼ 0.62% )  $OPEAZZX ( ▲ 0.32% )  $C ( ▼ 1.91% )  $JPM ( ▼ 3.42% )  $DB ( ▼ 1.8% )  

Check Out Our Emmy-Nominated NYC Innovates Show!

We’re usually pretty modest at Cheddar, as I’m sure you’re aware. But my colleague Chris Castellano scored an Emmy nod recently for this new “NYC Innovates” show, which includes profiles of genuinely interesting innovations in New York’s tech, finance, and business scene.

If the Emmy board loved it, my guess is, so will you!

The most recent episode was all about how the U.S. Open has been using AI to deliver an even more amazing experience for over 14 million tennis fans. Deep inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, servers are quietly processing every rally, delivering a high-tech digital spectacle. IBM $IBM ( ▼ 0.24% ) has turned every serve into a data feast, crunching roughly 4.6 million data points per match. As Monica Ellingson, lead of IBM’s sports and entertainment practice, explained, “We identified 21 individual physical components of a serve, seven racket positions, and this is about 15,000 data points on average for a single rally.”

By combining biomechanical efficiency with real-world shot effectiveness, AI calculates a precise "Serve Quality" metric in real time. Ever sat in the stands wishing you had a human encyclopedia beside you? Enter "Match Chat," an AI companion powered by IBM Watson. Ellingson describes it as such: "… you know that friend that knows everything about sports and... having them sitting next to you.” Only moderately less annoying, probably…

Need historical head-to-head records or instant video highlights? It delivers answers in seconds. Meanwhile, AI-curated "Live Updates" powers 80% of the app's home-screen content. Addressing the massive scale of modern fandom, Ellingson points out that "people are using the app not as a second screen but as a primary screen" because it offers deep court insights unavailable on traditional broadcasts.

Welcome to the new era of Grand Slam spectating, where data serves up the ultimate court-side seat!

Quote of the Day

Chatting With Barron's About the Fed Rate Hike

Wall Street just absorbed a quarter-point rate hike, and investors are coming to terms with a sobering reality: Inflation is proving stickier than we’d like. As Barron’s Senior Writer Megan Leonhardt told us, the policy move was triggered by the relentless duration of high prices. Inflation has hovered above the Fed’s 2 percent target for over five years. Leonhardt explains that, "Fed officials are very worried that the general public and investors are maybe perhaps starting to price that in themselves." A quarter-point bump "is not something that is going to completely implode the U.S. economy," but it signals that the central bank is desperately trying to speed up cooling before high expectations get permanently baked into consumer behavior, she said.

Megan suggests we should expect a longer hiking cycle than historical precedent might suggest. The Fed isn't just watching raw inflation metrics; they are dissecting what's driving them. As Megan stresses, "It's not so much that officials are only looking for... a couple of cooler inflation prints…. They're also looking at what's driving the inflation," whether it’s service sector demand or unexpected AI boom costs. Or, you know… wars. In Iran.

Meanwhile, everyday consumers are feeling the pinch far away from trading desks. "The prices at the pump are really just not helping things," Megan cautions, noting that lower- and middle-income households are burning through tax refund cushions and facing steep housing and utility bills. Ultimately, while Chair Kevin Warsh shored up crucial market trust by demonstrating that "Fed independence cannot really be understated," investors should buckle up.

Are AI Agents About To Change Workplaces?

If you think your resume is impressive, try competing with Kabir Nagrecha. He started college at age 13, earned a Ph.D. in AI systems by 20, built generative models at Netflix $NFLX ( ▼ 1.64% ) , and now serves as CEO of Tessera, an AI startup that recently raised $60 million. But Nagrecha isn't interested in tech hype for its own sake. For Nagrecha, corporate adoption of AI comes down to tangible bottom-line results: "Enterprises want to see dollars saved... AI is just the engine that can drive that." 

Having learned during his time at Netflix that "the plumbing doesn't matter, so to speak," he is urging executives to move past basic coding accelerators and focus on optimizing core supply chain and sales processes. We are rapidly transitioning from helpful AI co-pilots to full-blown "agentic labor." In this next evolutionary phase, AI shifts from a passive advisor to an active driver, flipping traditional workplace roles: "let AI drive the activity and let the humans be the validator," Kabir said.

Eventually, companies may drop human validation altogether. That means your next coworker could literally be an algorithm. Nagrecha warns that leaders must prepare for fascinating new organizational dynamics. "What do org charts look like with AI in the reporting chain?” Kabir asks. “If you need to get your expenses approved by an AI rather than a human... these questions are coming up fast."

Song of the Day: Tove Lo, ‘Source of Life’

Here’s a meditation on womanhood, biology, and the internal conflict surrounding potential motherhood, from Swedish pop singer Tove Lo. So, it’s just like this newsletter!

Trump Plans New ‘AI Force’ and ‘AI Czar’

The military frontier is going digital. Catching his own advisers completely by surprise, President Trump announced plans to establish an "AI Force" this weekend, and promised to appoint a dedicated “AI Czar” to lead the charge. The goal? Rebrand AI as an economic juggernaut and dismiss safety-conscious regulatory advocates as "doomers.”

In a social media post, Trump declared that "Radical Left Democrats" are "going straight at AI," asserting that his new initiative will instead "cherish" the technology while addressing genuine harms through the existing criminal justice system. Calling on "High I.Q." individuals to apply, the announcement set off an immediate weekend scramble among Silicon Valley surrogates and administration insiders jockeying for the top job.

The shortlist of potential czars features prominent tech and policy figures. But Federal ethics laws strictly prohibit special government employees from participating "personally and substantially" in matters where they hold financial interests. With AI behemoths like Anthropic $ANTHZZX ( ▼ 0.62% ) and OpenAI $OPEAZZX ( ▲ 0.32% ) preparing blockbuster initial public offerings, strict divestment requirements could disqualify top industry leaders holding lucrative pre-IPO shares. And nobody wants to divest from those shares, right now, to go and be a regulator.

Whether the proposed force lands inside the Pentagon or remains a political talking point is yet to be seen, of course.

Free Yourself From Advertising Forever!

Kremlin-Backed Forgery Scheme Used Global Banks

If you’ve ever tried to clear a $510,000 thermal night-vision scope past bank compliance, a Financial Times investigation reveals how Russia’s Kremlin-backed fintech company, A7, solved the problem: Just label it "toughened glass."

A7 was originally set up in Russia and Kyrgyzstan by Ilan Shor, a Moldovan oligarch, with support from Promsvyazbank (PSB), a state-owned bank with close links to the defense industry. The FT reports that Shor told the Russian state news agency Tass in July, “We give companies and countries freedom, because our system is immune to sanctions.” 

Organized by Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, A7 laundered a staggering $6.9 billion through global financial institutions using an industrial-scale forgery operation, the FT report alleges. Shor boasted to Russian state news agency Tass that A7 grants "companies and countries freedom, because our system is immune to sanctions." According to the investigation, A7 successfully routed cash past major institutions, including Standard Chartered, Citigroup $C ( ▼ 1.91% ) , JPMorgan $JPM ( ▼ 3.42% ) , Deutsche Bank $DB ( ▼ 1.8% ) , and First Abu Dhabi Bank, by wielding thousands of counterfeit corporate stamps to fabricate fake invoices.

Standard Chartered, Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Deutsche Bank all noted their strong commitment to anti-money laundering reporting but otherwise declined to comment. A7 did not respond to requests for comment.

Internal chat logs expose the comedy of the compliance evasion. When masking a payment for 500 military night-vision scopes, staff debated swapping "glass" for "footwear" on the fake paperwork. One employee anxiously asked, "This beneficiary already had payments described as cameras/optical goods — won’t shoes raise questions?"

Evaluating the leak, former U.S. government banking analyst Zach Tvarozna noted that "the new data here really shows that the true scale of A7’s money-laundering network is much bigger than anyone had previously realized," warning that it "should make us think again about how hard it is to keep traditional correspondent banking clean."

When questioned by reporters, First Abu Dhabi Bank insisted that "as a matter of policy, [it] does not comment on specific matters," though it confirmed closing the flagged accounts.

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👍️ 

Yes.

Poll of the Day: Dancing With the Czars

Poll of the Day: Off At The Deep End (of the Press Pool)

We asked: What do you think of the White House decision to block Politico, CNN, and MSNOW from the press pool?

You answered:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I agree with the broadcasters who have come together in solidarity to turn off their cameras and say it's wrong. (529)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I think it's kinda funny, tbh. Like, hee hee hee. LOL. (41)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I'm trying to figure out what the motivation could possibly have been, other than shooting oneself in the foot. (78)
648 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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