▶ ai·
2026.30: The Copium Wars
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 20, 2026 including Chinese models and frontier futures, what happened to Hugging Face, and the NBA and its second apron bet.
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▶ ai·
OpenAI Hacks Hugging Face, What Happened, Alignment and Paper Clips
OpenAI accidentally hacked Hugging Face, but the takeaways are more encouraging than people realize.
▶ ai·
Netflix Earnings, Is Netflix Washed?, Additional Notes
Netflix's earnings were fine, and befitting a mature company whose most exciting days are likely behind them.
▶ ai·
Who’s Afraid of Chinese Models?
Everyone is worried about Chinese models, but the frontier labs will be fine; we need to enable open U.S. alternatives.
▶ ai·
2026.29: Mainframes and Main Characters
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 13, 2026, including the end of the mainframe, the continuing adventures of OpenAI, and answering the question, "Is Netflix Washed?".
▶ ai·
IBM Misses, IBM’s Mainframe Moat, IBM’s Many AI Problems
IBM announced preliminary results that spooked the software market generally; this is a story, however, specifically about IBM and its mainframe franchise.
▶ gpt·
The OpenAI Super App, ChatGPT = Codex, Whither Chat
OpenAI has refashioned Codex as the new ChatGPT; is the company abandoning the chat category they pioneered?
▶ ai·
Apple Sues OpenAI, Apple’s Real Problem
Apple is suing AI for stealing trade secrets; there is one guilty employee, but this mostly feels like lashing out.
▶ ai·
2026.28: XBOX On the Rocks
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 6, 2026, including a word from Mark Zuckerberg*, pulling the plug on XBOX, and toilet talk.
▶ grok·
Muse Image, Grok 4.5, Alex Karp on CNBC
The batter for verifiable data is increasingly defining the AI race, from Meta to Grok to the frontier labs.
▶ ai·
XBOX Cuts; Bundling and the Internet Solvent; Transaction, Coordination, and Sunk Costs
Microsoft's Xbox division is conducting big layoffs, as the company deals with abject failure of its Game Pass strategy.
▶ ai·
A Script for Mark Zuckerberg
A script for what Mark Zuckerberg should say on Meta's next earnings call.
▶ ai·
Summer Break: Week of June 29
Stratechery is on summer break the week of June 29. There will be no Weekly Article or Updates. The next Update will be on Monday, July 6. Dithering, Sharp Tech, and Sharp China will also return the week of July 6…
▶ ai·
2026.26: Summer Vibes
The best Stratechery content from the week of June 22, 2026, including a vibe coding adventure, Apple in Europe, and a midsummer mailbag.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Figma CEO Dylan Field About Design and AI
An interview with Figma CEO Dylan Field about building Figma, and why he believes AI gives the company a tailwind.
▶ ai·
My Vibe Coding Adventure, The App and the Experience, Ten Takeaways
My experience and reflections on vibe coding an app that I plan on actually using regularly.
▶ ai·
Memory Chips and China, Microsoft and Chinese Models
The big three memory makers may come to regret opening up the door to Chinese memory makers; Microsoft, meanwhile, is very incentivized to use Chinese models.
▶ ai·
Apple Price Increases, Apple Intelligence and the E.U.
Apple is (finally) raising prices, but they're not shipping Siri AI to the E.U.
▶ ai·
2026.25: The Stuff of Myth(os)
The best Stratechery content from the week of June 15, 2026, including Anthropic, e-commerce in the age of AI, and the NBA Finals being a perfect 10.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Michael Morton About E-Commerce in the Age of AI
An interview with Michael Morton about e-commerce and AI, including the challenges of unfalsifiable bear cases, distribution versus referal models, grocery, and autonomous vehicles.
▶ cursor·
The State of Fable, The Jailbreak Problem, SpaceX Acquires Cursor
The administration is very likely wrong about Fable, but that is ultimately Anthropic's responsibility.
▶ ai·
Fox Buys Roku, The Problem With Fox’s Smart Strategy, Streaming That Works
The market hates Fox's acquisition of Roku, but the company is trading extraction from rights holders for leverage as a renter.
▶ ai·
Anthropic’s Safety Superpower
Anthropic's belief in its own commitment to safety gives the company license to aggressively favor its business and even challenge the U.S. government.
▶ ai·
2026.24: Hey Siri, Tell Me a Fable
The best Stratechery content from the week of June 8, 2026, including Apple finally shipping Intelligence, Anthropic's fable, and the future of European industry.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Ben Bajarin About Apple, AI, and Compute
An interview with Ben Bajarin about WWDC and the status of the AI compute industry.
▶ ai·
Fable 5, Anthropic Alignment, AI Tiers
Fable 5 is the public version of Mythos, and while it is very capable it sets some troubling new precedents.
▶ ai·
The iPhone’s Last Stand
Siri isn't state of the art, but as long as it works — and it appears it does — it's good enough for the consumer market.
▶ ai·
Google Buys Compute From SpaceX, Broadcom’s Outlook, Apple’s AI Politics
Google's deal with SpaceX, and Broadcom's earnings, both seem bullish for Nvidia. Then, what I'm looking for at WWDC.
▶ ai·
2026.23: Power Shifts
The best Stratechery content from the week of June 1, 2026, including Google and Microsoft, YouTubers taking over Hollywood, and a guide to the NBA Finals.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella About Finding Core Competencies
An interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about figuring out Microsoft's role in AI, the relationship with OpenAI, Capex, Software, and a potential new agentic platform.
▶ ai·
The Nvidia AI PC, Project Solara, Microsoft AI
The Nvidia AI PC feels like a relic of another AI era; Microsoft's vision for devices at Build was much more compelling.
▶ ai·
The Google Capital Company
Google has issued equity to Berkshire Hathaway in a deal that signals far more demand and a future where capital is the ultimate commodity.
▶ ai·
YouTubers Win the Box Office, Goodbye Gatekeepers, The YouTube Bar
YouTubers are ruling the box office, and it shouldn't be a surprise: succeeding on YouTube is a much higher bar than the gates that currently govern Hollywood.
▶ ai·
2026.22: Luceing Their Mind
The best Stratechery content from the week of May 25, 2026, including why everyone hates Luce, how to monetize AI answers, and social mobility in China.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Eric Seufert About Models and Ads, and AI’s Upside for Humanity
An Interview with Eric Seufert about building models for generative AI, why Meta's foundational models are so important, and why understanding advertising leads to optimism about humanity's future.
▶ ai·
The SpaceX IPO and Data Centers in Space
There isn't a financial model that justifies the SpaceX IPO, but data centers in space are plausible, and that might be enough.
▶ ai·
Nvidia Earnings, The AI Stack, Nvidia’s New Reporting
Nvidia is changing its reporting to delineate between hyperscaler sales — where Nvidia is fighting commoditization — and everyone else, where Nvidia runs the whole stack.
▶ ai·
2026.21: The Data Center Veto
The best Stratechery content from the week of May 18, 2026, including data center discontent, agent economics, and slime mold.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Parallel Founder Parag Agarwal About Valuing Content on the Agentic Web
An interview with Parallel founder Parag Agarwal about valuing content and incentivizing its creation in a world of agents (plus questions about Twitter).
▶ ai·
Google I/O, World Models, I/O Spaghetti
Google I/O put AI everywhere, for better and for worse. Meanwhile, is DeepMind aligned with Google's business objectives?
▶ ai·
Personal Day
Personal Day — No Update
▶ ai·
Data Center Discontent, Understanding the Opposition, Fixing the Problem
There are understandable reasons for people to oppose data centers; the only solution that will work is simply paying them off.
▶ ai·
2026.20: Shifting Alliances in a Changing World
The best Stratechery content from the week of May 11, 2026, including a new kind of computing, Elon Musk, and 360 degrees of US-China relations.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Ben Thompson at the MoffettNathanson Media, Internet & Communications Conference
An interview with me about the implications of the compute shortage on Aggregation Theory, consumer AI, and more.
▶ ai·
The Deployment Company, Back to the 70s, Apple and Intel
OpenAI is forming a new company to deploy AI, and the other labs aren't far behind, reinforcing the thesis that AI's impact will require top-down implementation. Then, Apple has economic reasons to work with Intel.
▶ ai·
SpaceX and Anthropic, xAI’s Two Companies, Elon Musk and SpaceXAI’s Future
The Anthropic xAI deal is shocking but not surprising: Musk should double down on serving other companies.
▶ ai·
The Inference Shift
Agentic inference is going to be different than the inference we use today, and it will change compute infrastructure because speed won't matter when humans aren't involved.
▶ ai·
2026.19: Earning & Spending
The best Stratechery content from the week of May 4, 2026, including what we learned from Big Tech's first quarter, a conversation with Joanna Stern, and asking what's next for the Boston Celtics.
▶ ai·
An Interview with Joanna Stern About Living With AI
An interview with Joanna Stern about her new book about living with AI, and starting her own media company.
▶ ai·
Microsoft Earnings, Apple Earnings
Microsoft unveils its new agentic business model, and Apple confronts shortages in memory and chips even as the Mac benefits from AI.