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Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

Table of Contents

• Tech Execs Fear for Their Lives Amid AI Backlash

• Axed Meta Staff Sue for Alleged Discrimin-AI-tion

• What Are These ‘Freedom Fuel’ Gas Stations, Then?

• 12 States Move to Block Paramount-WBD Merger

• SpaceX Sell-Off Wipes $1tn From Musk’s Firm

• Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

• Poll Result of the Day: Tax the Billionaires!

What’s the Stock Market Up To, Eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.51% )  $DJI ( ▼ 0.2% )  $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies Mentioned in Today’s Newsletter

$OPEAZZX ( ▲ 0.49% )  $PLTR ( ▲ 0.51% )  $CORGIAI ( ▲ 1.86% )  $META ( ▼ 2.46% )  $COST ( ▲ 3.17% )  $PSKY ( ▼ 1.19% )  $WBD ( ▲ 0.07% )  $ORCL ( ▼ 6.25% )  

Tech Execs Fear for Their Lives Amid AI Backlash

Silicon Valley’s favorite game of “disrupting the world” has taken a slightly too literal turn, as tech billionaires who once strolled casually in public are now hiring armed security details.

The shift is dramatic. Dakota Dominguez, vice president of client relations at JPT Security, told the Wall Street Journal that tech titans aren't looking for hulking, conspicuous bodyguards: “In tech environments, what I see is a lot more of a slender profile,” she said. And the new standard for executive protection, apparently, is a bodyguard who can blend in at a local coffee shop.

People’s anger with AI bosses is palpable, fueled by mass layoffs and public anxiety over jobs. Palantir’s $PLTR ( ▲ 0.51% ) CEO Alex Karp summarized the public's sentiment bluntly: When told their jobs will disappear, “people go for the pitchfork,” he said. Although somewhat amazingly, he himself remains stubbornly employed.

It’s not just the industry giants getting hassled. Nico Laqua, CEO of the relatively obscure AI insurance company Corgi $CORGIAI ( ▲ 1.86% ) , reports that angry passersby stop outside his company's San Francisco cafe daily, shouting about AI “raising their rents and stealing their water.” 

As digital threats target AI chiefs, Jonathan Graff, CEO of “threat-scanning” firm Liferaft, admits, “What has surprised me is how bad it’s gotten over such a short period of time.”

Of course, AI chiefs are all so perfectly behaved. It’s a miracle they’re attracting negative responses…wait…⬇️

Quote of the Day

Axed Meta Staff Sue for Alleged Discrimin-AI-tion

Meta's AI $META ( ▼ 2.46% ) is incredibly smart. It can generate code, curate your social feed, and, allegedly, also figure out how to lay off humans who are too busy caring for newborns or recovering from major surgery to tap on their keyboards.

A group of 26 Meta employees has filed a lawsuit in Oakland, California, claiming that the tech giant’s internal AI-driven layoff system disproportionately targeted workers on medical, parental, or family leave. It turns out that when you train an algorithm to grade employees using "keystroke and activity-monitoring data" and "AI token-usage dashboards," the machine notices when someone goes quiet. Who could have guessed that a postpartum mother on maternity leave isn't maintaining a record-breaking keystroke count at 2:00 a.m. while nursing?

Fortunately, this is America, and there are laws about this sort of thing. Fragile laws. But laws, nonetheless. Apparently, it’s called “discrimination.”

According to the lawsuit, these algorithmic scores and ratings “by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave.” 

The lawsuit alleges that Meta didn't pause the system for the individualized, leave-neutral review required by those fragile anti-discrimination laws I mentioned. Meanwhile, Meta has offered the classic corporate defense: “Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”

Although nothing says "thoughtful human touch" like losing your employer-subsidized healthcare, unvested equity, or visa status because an algorithm noticed you stopped generating tokens while giving birth. The staff are asking to keep their jobs pending arbitration. What do you think their chances are?

What Are These ‘Freedom Fuel’ Gas Stations, Then?

If you’ve driven through Pennsylvania or New Jersey recently (and God, why would you?), you might have spotted a strange new landmark: "Freedom Fuel" gas stations selling gas at exactly $3.47 a gallon. Why $3.47? In honor of Donald Trump being the 47th president, of course!

But what are these patriotic pumps actually about? USA Today’s Automotive Reporter Keith Laing is here to break down the political theater. Despite the White House promoting videos of drivers thanking the president, the administration doesn’t actually own them. As Keith explains, "The stations are not owned by the White House, they're owned by a private company," and are simply existing "smaller, independent gas stations" that got a glossy rebrand.

So, is this a sweeping new national energy strategy? Not quite. "I think it's mostly about politics," Keith said. "There's a limited number of stations. It's less than 40 stations in two states. This is not a nationwide rollout." It is, however, a highly targeted campaign tool. "Anybody that follows politics knows how important Pennsylvania is to presidential politics," Keith said.

The White House is also pushing Congress to allow year-round sales of cheaper, higher-ethanol E15 fuel. E15 typically retails "20 to 30 cents cheaper than typical gas does," Keith explains, but it is usually restricted in summer unless the EPA issues waivers. Critics, however, argue that the administration should focus on transitioning to something called “electric cars” rather than rolling back fuel-efficiency standards and ending EV tax credits.

Ultimately, 40 stations won't save us from global market chaos. As Keith puts it, "Anytime there's uncertainty in the Middle East gas prices spike," and the President takes the political heat. For now, you might want to stick to Keith’s practical advice: Use GasBuddy, grocery points, or our beloved Costco $COST ( ▲ 3.17% ) , to save a buck. I’m going to Costco for gas tomorrow, actually. Gonna make some pulled pork in the slow cooker on Saturday for my friends, serve it with some of those delicious Hawaiian rolls and a tray of their yummy mac and cheese.

Song of the Day: Cara DeLavigne, ‘Need It’

Cara Delevingne’s latest single “Need It” has received a polarizing critical reception, with reviewers split between praising its bold experimental production and dismissing it as an oversaturated club trend. In other words? It’s a lot like this newsletter.

12 States Move to Block Paramount-WBD Merger

The Odyssey may have debuted in theaters this week, but Hollywood’s real-life corporate drama is in danger of stealing the show. A coalition of 12 states is now suing to block Paramount Skydance’s $PSKY ( ▼ 1.19% ) massive $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD ( ▲ 0.07% ) .

Meanwhile, The Odyssey is only forecast to net around $100 million at the weekend box office against a production budget of $250 million.

The deal is a colossal monster that would mash together Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO Max, Paramount+, CBS News, and—the cherry on top—CNN. While the U.S. Justice Department has already waved it through, 12 Democratic attorneys general are screaming, "Not so fast!" Leading the charge, California AG Rob Bonta warned that the merger would lead to “higher prices, lower quality, and less content” for absolutely everyone resting on “every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.”

New York AG Letitia James was equally thrilled, saying the deal “would destroy … competition” and create a behemoth with “unprecedented power and influence.”

I feel like these guys don’t really grok the general direction of media mergers in America of late, but still. They give good quote!

If the deal survives, it puts David Ellison, Oracle $ORCL ( ▼ 6.25% ) billionaire Larry Ellison's son, at the helm of the giant media spaceship. David has already courted drama by installing Bari Weiss as CBS News's editor-in-chief, leading to high-profile layoffs and clashing with staff. Naturally, Hollywood’s creative minds are panicking. Writers Guild of America East President Tom Fontana called the deal an “unmitigated disaster,” warning that “people will lose their jobs, their income, their homes.”

Again, I feel like Tom doesn’t really grok the general direction of America lately. No?

Meanwhile, Paramount is doing its best nothing-to-see-here routine, dismissing the lawsuit as a “fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws.”

SpaceX Sell-Off Wipes $1tn From Musk’s Firm

Space may be hard, but apparently, satisfying Wall Street is even harder. In a twist of financial, ahem, gravity, Elon Musk’s rocket and AI conglomerate, SpaceX $SPCX ( ▼ 3.08% ) , has slipped below its $135 listing price, wiping a casual $1 trillion in value since its peak shortly after its record-breaking IPO.

My father-in-law, who bought a bunch of shares, described the stock as a “100-year hold” after it shot to $225 a share the day after its listing in mid-June, and let’s just hope he was right, eh, Mike? (*Mike also added that he thought Musk might still be in charge of the company by then, given his penchant for age-defying treatments. I would counter that Musk’s documented drug habit and tendencies to be self-destructive, not to mention today’s lead story about the backlash against tech bosses, suggest the odds on Musk living past, say, 60, are somewhat limited.)

Since then, the stock has plummeted 40 percent. The market correction slashed the value of Musk’s 42 percent stake to a measly, poverty-line-adjacent $760 billion, down from a peak of $1.2 trillion. How will he survive?

Naturally, bankers are trying to put a brave face on what looks like a rapid-descent trajectory. As an anonymous investment banker at one of the lenders backing the IPO put it, offering a trillion-dollar understatement to the Financial Times, “This is a little bit of a tricky time for the stock.”

The sell-off comes as investors panic about higher interest rates and realize that maybe, just maybe, tech companies actually need to show some profit on their colossal AI investments. While Goldman Sachs $GS ( ▼ 4.91% ) eagerly predicts that SpaceX’s AI revenue will increase 100-fold by 2030, the current reality is proving a bit more earthbound.

Meanwhile, Musk’s loyal army of retail traders, (hi, Mike!) who scooped up an unusually high 20 percent of the June offering, are currently learning what happens when a rocket company experiences a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" of its valuation.

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Still no, I’m afraid. They say “sell in May and go away” for a reason.

Poll of the Day: It’s World-Famous-575™ Time

Poll Result of the Day: Tax the Billionaires!

We asked: Do you think California should impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires?

You answered:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yes (351)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No (76)

427 votes via @beehiiv polls

Vehement!

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