W. Buffett -The End of an Era & GDPR Rollback

Dive into the future with Anthropic’s AI boom, Cam-Lidar’s drone-tracking leap, Apple’s chip supply win, and a rare sit-down with Charlie Munger, all while the EU reshapes privacy rules and nature shows off octopus quirks.

Innovation, intrigue, and wisdom collide in today’s cutting-edge roundup.

So, the machine that promised to reinvent reality got a bit… uneasy. OpenAI is still spending like it’s winning (billions in infrastructure!) while investors are whispering “bubble?” in the corner. 

Meanwhile, SoftBank Group quietly dumped a $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia, and pretty much every AI headline turned into “hold my chips, watch this.” 

Message: the future is still awesome, but maybe we should double-check the receipt before we buy the console.

Markets did their usual “look how confident we are” dance, until tech wobbled and reminded everyone: yes, we remember you’re human after all. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both slid while semiconductors sneezed. 

And in the U.K.? Drivers could face £5,000 fines for “splashing pedestrians.” Yes, you read that right. Autumn puddles = potential criminal. 

Takeaway: investing in tech might feel like betting on rocket fuel, and walking home in the rain may now require a lawyer.

While the markets freak out, the labs are still quietly plotting world domination. Researchers are pointing at generative-AI infrastructure buildouts, questioning how all this will actually pay off. 

But hold on, there’s also the massive geopolitical science moves you missed: from research funding squabbles to regulatory changes, it’s basically science’s version of terminal combat in a sci-fi flick. 

In short: the future might be smart, but it’s currently broke, bureaucratic, and maybe slightly terrifying.

Oh, and just when you thought teamwork was broken at corporate levels, the United States Senate moved a bill to end the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown. NGO-style victory? Maybe. But it still feels like someone pressed “skip” on the drama and forgot to hit “play.” 

Also, a former U.S. President decided to take a global legal soapbox and point at the BBC with a $1 billion lawsuit threat. Because 2025 needed more fireworks. 

Lesson: the bigger the world, the weirder the honeymoon phase.

From boardrooms budgeting for super-brains to drivers budgeted for splashing liability, this week shows us that “progress” is just a fancy word for “please hold while we reboot.”

If you’re building something, remember: tech may carry potential, money may carry hope - but only the ones who fix the fundamentals carry the future.

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice

If you invested $100 at the start of the week, you'ld have lost roughly $.65 with the S&P 500, 32 cents with the DAX, and lost a couple of bucks if holding Bitcoin.

This week was a gentle reminder that markets don’t always sprint; sometimes they just lose a little ground while you hold on tight.

Warren Buffett has officially retired from writing his iconic annual letters and leading the marathon Q&A at Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings, entrusting the job to his (slightly less folksy) successor, Greg Abel. In truly Buffett fashion, he announced this seismic change with his famous brand of Midwestern humility, essentially saying, “I’m going quiet. Sort of,” before quietly gifting $1.3 billion in Berkshire shares to charity and reminding everyone to avoid envy, try not to screw up, and always pick the right heroes in life.

Buffett passes the torch with all the drama of a friendly neighborhood banker handing over the key to the vault: “Greg Abel is great, you’ll be fine, just don’t touch the $380B cash unless you really mean it”.

In short: The age of Buffett Letters is over. That means no more annual therapy sessions for nervous investors, and a sudden market demand for Nebraska-native humorists and spiritual guides with $380 billion in dry powder.

Google Maps’ new real-time lane guidance for the Polestar 4 has finally answered the age-old existential driving question: “Am I in the wrong lane?” Instead of panicking and missing your exit while your passengers shout directions, now your car’s AI will calmly judge you for your lane choices and issue personalized audio-visual reminders, just so you can ignore those too.

The Polestar 4’s built-in cameras, sensors, and Google’s AI can now detect precisely which lane you’re in, offer gentle course-corrections, and serve as your always-patient co-pilot. The only thing it doesn’t do is roll its virtual eyes if you miss an exit, though that update can’t be far away.

The U.S. space probe Voyager 1 reached the planet Saturn , coming within about 124,000 kilometers of the cloud tops and sending back the first detailed images of the planet’s rings, moons, and atmosphere.

Kimi K2 Thinking is the open-source AI model that acts less like a chatty assistant and more like a strategic project manager, masterfully juggling over 200 tool calls in sequence, reasoning deeply, catching errors on the fly, and never forgetting the brief. It beats proprietary giants by turning messy data into neat, verified plans, making AI workflows feel less like chaos and more like a well-oiled orchestra, perfect for those who want their AI to think before it acts, not just guess and hope.

Europe’s legendary privacy fortress, built with ten-foot-thick GDPR walls and a moat of ePrivacy regulations, is about to get the “Extreme Home Makeover” treatment, courtesy of the new Digital Omnibus package. The EU, once proud defender against big tech’s data-hungry minions, now seems ready to invite them over for croissants and free Wi-Fi as they “simplify” compliance and “streamline” digital red tape.​

Brussels, long the world’s privacy lifeguard, suddenly wants to speed up AI by rolling back those pesky guardrails. It’s all thanks to old-school innovation wisdom: if you can’t beat Silicon Valley, deregulate everyone equally and call it “geopolitical competitiveness”.​

The new “self-assessment” rules let tech companies declare high-risk AI systems as “low risk” without European authorities even seeing the paperwork, turning the GDPR’s legacy from “protection for all” to “honor system, trust us, we’re tech giants.”​

Civil society shouts: “This means unsafe AI systems could launch faster than you can say ‘cookie consent banner.’” Meanwhile, business-friendly reforms mean more automated decisions and fewer annoying pop-ups, plus user data so cheap, it might come as a complimentary side with your next software update.​

Activists worry the only thing left standing after the privacy bonfire will be a faint echo of “I accept” and a flurry of American tech CEOs using European data as training fuel for the latest AI chatbot.​

In short: The EU’s new pivot promises a digital utopia for small businesses, a gold rush for big tech, and a wild west for AI, with privacy now available “in principle,” so long as the algorithms don’t ask for too much. If Europe’s standards set the global bar, the new plan looks like lowering it and switching to a BYO rope.

🎙️Charlie Munger: One of his last interviews

Simply a beautiful episode - He talks about his planned 100th birthday gala, which he never got to attend. It is a delightful deep dive into a meal so legendary, even the bread rolls are probably quoted in Harvard Business Review.​

The host begins by reminding us that the only thing rarer than a dinner invite from Charlie Munger is getting a selfie with a unicorn. Pro tip: Even at 99, Munger’s mental agility will make you rethink ordering dessert, lest he dissect your reasoning, layer by layer, like a custard tart.

Every Munger aphorism is relayed like a sacred scroll. “Invert, always invert!”, not just for investing, but apparently for flipping pancakes and deciding which fork to use. Meanwhile, lesser mortals at the table practice their best “thoughtful nod” while frantically scribbling every utterance, just in case it later turns up in a Berkshire shareholder letter.

The podcast’s practical tips? Easy: If offered a dinner with Munger, forget etiquette, bring a notebook, humility, and, if your ego survives, frame that napkin he signed. The real business lesson: Experience isn’t just the best teacher; it also comes with a three-hour side of unfiltered wit and mental jujitsu.

In summary, this episode delivers on its promise: you’ll laugh, you’ll learn, and you’ll immediately regret your last takeout meal for not yielding a single actionable quote.

IN OTHER NEWS

Anthropic profitability Anthropic aims to reach $70 billion in revenue and $17 billion in cash flow by 2028, driven by rapid B2B AI adoption and efficient scaling. The company highlights a path to profitability much faster than its main rival OpenAI.

Lidar pioneer unveils AI drone defense system David S. Hall, pioneer of lidar technology, announced Cam-Lidar, a next-gen drone defense system combining lidar, camera, and AI for precise detection and tracking of high-speed aerial targets. This breakthrough tech aims to enhance aerospace security by identifying objects traveling near Mach 1 with unprecedented accuracy.

Apple secures over half of TSMC's 2nm chip capacity Apple has secured more than half of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's 2nm chip production capacity for 2026, solidifying its lead in next-gen chip technology. This move ensures Apple’s access to TSMC's cutting-edge 2nm process for its upcoming devices, while Nvidia also pushes for increased wafer supply amid soaring AI chip demand.

🐙 Octopuses have three hearts, two pump blood to the gills, and one pumps it to the rest of the body. Even weirder, when an octopus swims, the heart that delivers blood to the body actually stops beating, which is why these creatures prefer crawling to swimming, it’s less tiring!

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