Mike Elgan

When we do fusion cuisine in Barcelona, it's only *real* balsamic vinegar and wasabi.
gastronomad.net/barcelona

AI Startup Perplexity Offers to Buy Google's Chrome Browser for $34.5 Billion The formal bid is nearly twice Perplexity's valuation but other interested parties might be backing the deal.

HEADLINE: "AI Startup Perplexity Offers to Buy Google's Chrome Browser for $34.5 Billion"

ALT HEADLINE: "AI Startup Perplexity Discovered It Can Get Free Publicity by Pretending to Make Offers on Big Products Like Chrome and TikTok"

www.cnet.com/tech/service...

LLMs’ “simulated reasoning” abilities are a “brittle mirage,” researchers find Chain-of-thought AI “degrades significantly” when asked to generalize beyond training.

Phrase of the moment: "brittle mirage"
arstechnica.com/ai/2025/08/r...

Enjoyed tacos for dinner in celebration of Trump's China tariff policy.

"In a heavy and chaotic world, Gastronomad Experiences remind me of what truly matters: our shared humanity." gastronomad.net

Mystery of the moment: "What happened to China’s US influencer program?"
www.semafor.com/article/08/1...

HEADLINE: "Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids"

ALT HEADLINE: "Trump asks SCOTUS to transform California into a place where armed and masked goons can stop and demand to see the papers of 40% of the population."

www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...

This doorbell in Oaxaca is literally a bell. gastronomad.net/oaxaca

‘It’s missing something’: AGI, superintelligence and a race for the future As US and Chinese tech giants chase artificial general intelligence, experts warn the hype may be outrunning the science

Claim of the moment: "We need to distinguish between genuine advances and marketing narratives designed to attract talent and investment."
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

AI Designs Super Safe Sub for Billionaires to Ride Into the Depths of the Ocean AI has now achieved the impossible — designing a deep-sea submersible safe enough for billionaires to party at the bottom of the ocean.

HEADLINE: "AI Designs Super Safe Sub for Billionaires to Ride Into the Depths of the Ocean"

ALT HEADLINE: "AI Designs Brilliant Plan to Rid Self of Billionaire Overlords"

futurism.com/ai-designs-sub

Bizarre Glitch Sees Google Gemini Sink Into Self-Loathing 'I am not worthy of your time,' the chatbot says after failing a vibe-coding task.

HEADLINE: "Bizarre Glitch Sees Google Gemini Sink Into Self-Loathing"

ALT HEADLINE: "Google Gemini Hates Itself (So You Don't Have To!)

www.pcmag.com/news/bizarre...

Observation of the moment: "Truth Search AI contradicts the president by saying that tariffs are a tax on Americans, the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and his family’s cryptocurrency investments pose a potential conflict of interest."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

Thanks to a few power failures here in Oaxaca yesterday, I learned that the Comet browser (which is Perplexity AI's AI browser) gives you a fun game called "The Wormhole" when your device has no internet connection.

Appointment listening for me each week.

Thank you, Mark!!

The new Superintelligent podcast just dropped!! "The World Needs Phone Bans, Boredom And Books" Watch, listen and/or subscribe by searching your podcast app for "Superintelligent" or going here now: www.superintelligentpodcast.com/p/the-world-...

Trump Is Building a Maximalist Government

Heck, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans wanted limited government. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

Trump Is Building a Maximalist Government

Heck, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans wanted limited government. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

I'm solidly in that camp.

What is Apple’s $600bn US investment pledge? Tech giant promised Donald Trump hundreds of billions of spending — but the real scale is difficult to measure

DEK: "Tech giant promised Donald Trump hundreds of billions of spending — but the real scale is difficult to measure"

ALT DEK: "Let's pretend that Cook's "pledge" wasn't just social engineering to make the ridiculous clown in the white house feel like he got a 'win.'"

www.ft.com/content/cf48...

What is Apple’s $600bn US investment pledge? Tech giant promised Donald Trump hundreds of billions of spending — but the real scale is difficult to measure

DEK: "Tech giant promised Donald Trump hundreds of billions of spending — but the real scale is difficult to measure"

ALT DEK: "Let's pretend that Cook's "pledge" wasn't just social engineering to make the ridiculous clown in the white house feel like he got a 'win.'"

www.ft.com/content/cf48...

“By indulging in the spectacle, the Apple boss helped legitimize Trump’s transactional style. .. Cook may see it as a small concession.. but the performance.. signaled to other corporate leaders that pandering is the price of doing business.”

@passantino.bsky.social
www.status.news/p/tim-cook-g...

Publishers are panicking about Google‘s AI Mode. But the emergence of AI browsers is what they should really be freaking out about.
machinesociety.ai/p/how-ai-bro...

Oaxaca is the bakery capital of Mexico.
gastronomad.net/oaxaca

How AI browsers end paywalls Paywalled content is no match for the new generation of AI browsers, which instantly give users all the information in a paywalled story for free.

How AI browsers end paywalls
machinesociety.ai/p/how-ai-bro...

The name of my local market here in Oaxaca probably hits different in the UK.

How loyalty programmes are keeping America’s airlines aloft Many carriers now make their money from credit-card deals

Claim of the moment: "America’s major airlines are now, in effect, financial services companies with a sideline in air travel."
www.economist.com/business/202...

The dark side of AI monetization The best-known AI chatbot companies are turning to unsavory schemes to pay the bills. Here’s what you need to know.

@mikeelgan.bsky.social's latest column tackles the tricky issue of how AI companies will monetize the service that they've hooked us on

www.computerworld.com/article/4036...

The dark side of AI monetization
www.computerworld.com/article/4036...

Drone Hunting Turned Virtual: Russia Develops ‘World-First’ Anti-Drone Rifle Simulator Students from Russia’s Southern Federal University have created a virtual platform that simulates training with anti-drone weapons and detection systems.

TIRED: Video games

WIRED: Anti-drone simulators

thedefensepost.com/2025/08/06/r...