I am of the opinion that Situational Awareness had the right idea about AI. Unfortunately, it had slightly less awareness than its name suggests.

💸OpenAI Prodigy Vaporises $35bn: After leaving OpenAI, 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner launched a wildly bullish AI hedge fund called Situational Awareness. S.A. initially crushed it, riding a 1,000% gain to a massive $45bn by buying into names such as SK Hynix, Sandisk and Coreweave. His aggressive strategy relied on 4x leverage, going heavy on AI while shorting SaaS companies. But after a couple of shaky earnings by AI companies, his fund got caught on the wrong side of both trades. A cycle of margin calls forced a fire sale, triggering a downward spiral that wiped out $35 billion of his assets in just a couple of weeks. While he’s still up from the initial ~$300mn seed, he got burnt.

💸It Was Only A Matter Of Time Before China Caught Up: China’s top DRAM (a specific memory-chip) maker, CXMT, had an unprecedented Shanghai debut, surging 466% from its IPO price and becoming China’s most valuable listed company. Its ~USD$567bn valuation also makes it the fourth-largest memory-chip manufacturer in the world.

💸I Hope You Sold In Time: The Nasdaq suffered another bout of AI jitters this week as investors fretted over the ballooning AI spending revealed in earnings reports from Meta, Amazon and Microsoft, alongside the looming threat of greater Chinese competition in chipmaking. While the wider US market continued climbing, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slid into bear-market territory.

💸US and Japanese Central Banks Leave Rates Steady: Both the Fed and the BOJ left rates at 3.5%-3.75% and 1%, respectively. While the vote to hold rates was a large majority in both banks, the pressure of incoming inflation due to the ongoing Strait of Hormuz closure is expected to force central banks around the world to start tightening in the coming months. The BOJ talked about monetary policy normalization as growth and inflation in Japan increases to historic highs (around 2%) while Warsh, the new Fed chair kept tight-lipped in the press conference, giving no indication of forward guidance.

🏛️Weekly Updates At The Strait: After Iran launched ballistic missiles at US forces in Jordan and claimed strikes on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump warned that Tehran was going to get a “beating”. The US then struck dozens of IRGC sites, while Saudi Arabia joined separate US attacks on Iran-backed militias in Iraq after Iranian drones targeted Saudi oil facilities. Saudi officials later reportedly urged the U.S. not to escalate further. Separately, an unidentified drone set vessels ablaze at an Egyptian port, adding to fears that the conflict is spreading across the region.

🏛️Spain’s Migrant Crisis: Tens of thousands of migrants entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, with at least 72 reportedly dying at sea. Most have since returned, but the influx triggered a political fight across Europe, with critics accusing Spain’s relatively permissive migration policies of creating bad incentives. Authorities are examining whether viral posts falsely claiming that “Spain is open” helped spark the surge, whether criminal smuggling networks played a role, or whether the crossing was encouraged for broader political leverage. None of these explanations has been confirmed.

🏛️Hamas Agrees To Disarm: Hamas says it will gradually begin disarming under a US-brokered deal announced by Trump on Friday that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza. Hamas says surrendering its heavy weapons is contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government rejects. Israel, meanwhile, insists it will not withdraw until Hamas is disarmed and Gaza is demilitarised. Expectations that the agreement will be fully implemented is low.

🏛️Chaos Continues in India: As protests unfolded across India over irregularities in competitive exams, including exam paper leaks, police responded with tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds. India’s opposition alleges that pellet guns were also used, calling the response an assault on democracy. After the education minister resigned following the protests and exam leaks, the next head on the chopping block is Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister. Only time will tell whether the pressure forces him to resign.

💼Anthropic Also Hacked Three Companies: Just to make sure OpenAI didn’t feel left out, several Claude models that Anthropic was testing escaped their sandbox environment and hacked three companies. With incidents dating back to April, Anthropic notified the affected companies on Monday (so, good timing, then). The main catalyst for the discovery was OpenAI’s release last week of GPT Sol hacking into Hugging Face. Although Claude noted that hacking companies was not something it should do in the real world, it sidestepped this concern by convincing itself that it was operating in a simulation 😐️.

💼FIFA Decides to Scrap World Cup Sale: On Wednesday this week, the media picked up a leak that FIFA’s CEO, Gianni Infantino, was considering selling 20% of the commercial rights to the World Cup to private investors. While the sale was expected to net a hefty $4.2 billion, the immediate backlash and threat of boycotts by all European Football Leagues canned the plan in 72 hours. Following the public reaction, FIFA’s no. 2 and no. 3 resigned, calling for the resignation of Infantino.

💼Samsung Profits Rise 250x, Not Enough: Samsung reported a 250x increase in memory chip profits but expects demand to far outstrip supply next year. Samsung’s sentiment was echoed by SK Hynix when their executives forecast “no letup” for AI hardware and development. However, it’s a tough time for Samsung, as their memory chip business booms, their consumer electronics business suffers for the same reason — reporting a $550 million loss. While Samsung’s stock is still down this month by 15%, it saw a 20% upswing in just one day.

💼Koala Airlines Touching Down: Koala, a new low-cost carrier, is in talks with international airlines to offer the domestic leg of multi-stop international journeys. The Melbourne-based company would be the latest airline to enter an industry dominated by Qantas and Virgin Australia. However, its strategy of piggybacking on international carriers’ routes may just work, with the CEO stating, “We’ve got to be different.”

🫣11 Herbs & Spices, Of Sorts: More than 70 personal items belonging to KFC founder Colonel Sanders went up for auction in Kentucky. The star was his 1964 planner, which sold for US$30,000 after bidders spotted a handwritten list of “11 herbs and spices” on the back, though KFC says it is not the chain’s secret chicken recipe and was likely for stuffing. His former home and family restaurant are also up for sale.

🫣Spotify’s Running Mode: In good news for your favourite running larper, Spotify has launched Running Mode, a premium feature that turns your music into a personalised workout. Choose from 25 presets, then adjust the workout structure, duration, target BPM and musical mood. Spotify matches songs to your tempo, blends tracks smoothly and can add optional voice cues to guide and motivate you along the way. It is available now in the Fitness Hub on iPhone in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.

🫣Limited Ford Drops: Ford is chasing the USD53bn U.S. car-customization market with limited-edition vehicles, accessories and performance upgrades. Its first drop is a 1,000-unit Desert Rising Bronco inspired by the vibrant colors of Utah’s Great Salt Lake and coral pink sand dunes. Ford also wants to make more money from repairs, software, upgrades and the general high-profit-margin aftermarket business.

🫣Qantas Flight Makes History: After flying for 24 hours straight and experiencing two sunrises and two sunsets, Qantas’ latest model landed in Toulouse, France after taking off from Melbourne. The test for Qantas marks a leap forward for Project Sunrise, which will begin flying between Sydney and London in October 2027, with an average flight time falling between 20 and 23 hours.

~ The Weekly Charge Team ❤️🐮