These AI-generated lawyers will mediate your claim

Plus: Another AI firm you've barely heard of is investing Lebanon's gross national product in "infrastructure."

Author

Matt Davis
November 13, 2025

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This week’s world famous News Haiku™ competition theme is that Peloton is recalling 833,000 Bike+ units after seat post failures that hurt people’s butts (and other bits). Send me your entry — to our spiffy new email address, haiku at cheddar dot com — by noon ET on Thursday for consideration by your Cheddar peers. Now for something completely different.

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News You Need2Know

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

Injured? These AI-generated lawyers will mediate your case

Curtis “Know When to” Holdsworth, co-founder of Bot Mediation, is here to save lawyers from the "pick and shovel process of mediation of legal disputes." Because, honestly, who has the time to sit in a room "all day long, trading numbers with another lawyer on the other side" (and getting paid hundreds, possibly even thousands, of dollars an hour)? How utterly tedious.

I don’t dispute that being a lawyer is soul-destroying work. On the other hand, would I want a soulless robot to handle my case? Let us know in today’s poll.

Holdsworth's company has built "AI-generated avatars on case specific information" to handle negotiations. The accuracy is impressively high — they've run "bot mediation almost 350 times" and were "highly reliable" against human mediators.

But the real kicker is the cost. Holdsworth notes the old way could be "10, 15, 20, 30 thousand dollars a day." His AI is "five times cheaper... and it's five times faster."

It "will be irresponsible for lawyers not to suggest this" to their clients, Holdsworth says. It’s an "ethical duty" now! Imagine saving clients a small fortune and getting their money "sooner rather than later."

Song of the day: Shungu, ‘Last Time’

Shungu and Liv.e previously worked together on some tracks from Liv.e's 2020 album “Couldn't Wait to Tell You,” and he calls her "the kind of artist who makes it meaningful for me to keep making music in a world that is changing so fast,” says Stereogum. Their new song "Last Time" is a “misty, ultra-languid soul-jazz meditation that reminds me of what Jill Scott was doing in the late '90s,” one reviewer notes. On that basis, I recommend it.

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AI firm Anthropic will spend $50 billion on U.S. infrastructure

It’s a Thursday, so time for another AI company you’ve barely heard of to invest the gross national product of Lebanon in stuff none of us really understand.

Anthropic $ANTHROPIC ( 0.0% ) , a leading AI company that developed a family of large language models named “Claude,” will invest $50 billion in U.S.-based AI infrastructure, starting with data centers in Texas and New York. These facilities will be developed in partnership with Fluidstack, another company I know you’ve definitely heard of, which “is the AI cloud platform trusted by the world's top labs,” according to its website. “We deliver multi-thousand GPU clusters, fully managed and benchmarked to peak performance,” they say, sounding like the actor Kurtwood Smith as the character Leslie Claret in the Amazon Prime series “Patriot.” And no, that’s not a compliment. Although that TV show is excellent, if you’ve not seen it.

The build will support Anthropic's growing enterprise footprint and cutting-edge research initiatives. The initial sites are expected to go live in 2026, creating 800 permanent jobs and over 2,000 construction roles.

CEO Dario “I Yam What I” Amodei emphasized the transformative potential of such investments, saying, “We’re getting closer to AI that can accelerate scientific discovery and help solve complex problems in ways that weren’t possible before. Realizing that potential requires infrastructure that can support continued development at the frontier.”

Relatedly, surging electricity prices, driven by increasing demand from AI data centers, are causing political turmoil across the country. In Virginia, Democratic governor-elect Abigail “Bacon Double“ Spanberger won on promises to make data centers “pay their fair share” of electricity costs, highlighting the burden being placed on households. According to Abraham Silverman, former general counsel for New Jersey’s utility board, “We are basically adding a Philadelphia’s worth of new electricity users to the grid every year.” This unprecedented demand surge has caused electricity prices for households to rise sharply — by 21% in New Jersey and 13% in Virginia over the past year.

Democratic Senators like Richard Blumenthal and Bernie Sanders blame the Trump administration's policies, accusing it of creating sweetheart deals for Big Tech. Meanwhile, the industry says it is committed to paying its share, but, talk is cheap. Unlike your electricity bills.

Post of the day: Toy Story only has 5…

Quote of the Day

❝

People going without food is wrong.

A medley of tech gifts for everyone on your holiday shopping list

Maybe you can barely afford to eat. But have you considered buying a Nintendo Switch 2 for your nephew? Finding the perfect holiday gift for tech enthusiasts can be overwhelming — particularly if you haven’t been paid in several weeks. But this curated guide from the Associated Press makes it easier:

For gamers: The Nintendo Switch 2 is one of this year’s hottest releases. Bundles offer great value, with the console packaged alongside games like Mario Kart World or Pokémon Legends: Z-A for $499. The standalone console is available for $449, while games retail for around $70.

For smartphone lovers: The iPhone 17 is a nice upgrade, boasting a telephoto camera lens, extended battery life, and more base storage for $800. Alternatively, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 offers an innovative foldable design starting at a mere $1,999.

For creators: Aspiring vloggers should check out the SelfieShow tripod ($19.99), offering portability and stability for filming, or the Hollyland Lark M2 Wireless Microphones ($76), which provide crystal-clear audio with background noise filtering.

For TV fans (i.e., Americans): The Samsung S90F OLED TV delivers an immersive experience with vibrant colors and high-speed performance, discounted at $1,199.99 (55-inch) during the holiday promo period.

For productivity on the go: The Logitech Pebble 2 wireless keyboard and mouse combo ($42-$49.99) is ideal for multitaskers, featuring silent keys and multi-device compatibility.

Do not get me the wireless keyboard and mouse combo for Christmas, please, for the love of God. Don’t do it. That said, you could always get me one of these.

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👍️ 

Yet again, yes’m. See below.

If you like this newsletter, why not forward it to a friend so they can subscribe here? If you don’t, why not forward to an enemy? Thank you!

U.S. stocks drifting around their records

This guy is AT THE STOCK MARKET.

U.S. stocks saw mixed trading on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 $SPX ( ▲ 0.06% ) up 0.2%, hovering close to its all-time high set earlier this month. Among the market movers was Advanced Micro Devices $AMD ( ▲ 9.0% ) , which surged 8.6% as CEO Lisa Su projected annual compounded revenue growth of over 35% in the next three to five years, citing “accelerating AI momentum.” Nvidia’s $NVDA ( ▲ 0.33% ) stock swung between gains and losses on Wednesday, and has dropped 4.6% for the month so far, reflecting market uncertainty.

Beyond AI-driven stocks, other companies had notable movements. IBM $IBM ( ▲ 0.4% ) rose 1.2% after making strides in quantum computing (they also fired a bunch of staff last week, saying AI could do their jobs). Jay Gambetta, director of IBM Research, labeled their progress as “bringing truly useful quantum computing to the world.” Meanwhile, Swiss apparel company On Holdings $ONON ( ▲ 17.99% ) soared 19.3% following a stronger-than-expected earnings report.

With interest rates easing and global markets seeing gains, such as Germany’s DAX $DAX ( ▲ 1.22% ) , investor sentiment remains cautiously optimistic.

Small grocers and convenience stores feel an impact as customers go without SNAP benefits

These guys are AT THE MARKET.

The suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments due to the government shutdown is causing ripple effects across the country, hitting small grocers and convenience stores particularly hard. With 42 million Americans relying on SNAP, many businesses are seeing reduced sales that directly challenge their survival.

“SNAP isn’t just a social safety net for families. It’s also a local economic engine,” said Etharin Cousin, founder of the nonprofit Food Systems for the Future, emphasizing how these benefits impact neighborhood stores, distributors, and jobs. For independent grocers like Ryan Sprankle, whose store near Pittsburgh draws 25% of its revenue from SNAP payments, the situation is dire. “You can’t take away from the most needy people in the country. It's inhumane,” Sprankle said, adding that lower sales are cutting into overtime hours for his 140 employees.

Liz Abunaw, owner of Forty Acres Fresh Market in Chicago, shared the heartbreak of watching a customer return a full cart of groceries. “SNAP is currency. I get money I then use in this economy. It’s not a food box,” she said.

Meanwhile, Maxfield Kaniger of Kanbe’s Markets in Kansas City noted sales at convenience stores dipped by 10%, while food pantries requested triple their usual supply. Kaniger summed up his feelings: “People going without food is wrong.”

Poll of the day: AI for an AI

Would you trust an AI lawyer to mediate your claim?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Poll of the day: Half a century of debt…

We asked: Are 50-year mortgages a good idea?

You answered:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No. They'll simply drive up house prices without increasing supply. They'll also seriously enrich banks and only save homebuyers a few hundred dollars a month on their mortgages. (803)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes. They'll help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder. (52)

855 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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