Good morning. It's Monday, April 6, and we're covering China’s push for homegrown AI chips, a UK shakeup at its top AI institute, the rise of AI-powered tax assistants, and more.

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Perplexity Launches AI Tax Assistant: Perplexity Computer adds up-to-date U.S. federal tax modules, enabling users to draft returns, review filings, and model scenarios. It aims to reduce costly errors as tax laws evolve.

Anthropic Restricts Third-Party Claude Usage: Anthropic barred subscription credits for tools like OpenClaw, shifting them to pay-as-you-go due to capacity strain—signaling tighter control over API demand.

Musk Ties IPO Access to Grok (Paywall): Elon Musk requires banks advising SpaceX’s expected $50 billion IPO to buy Grok subscriptions, boosting xAI revenue and showing leverage over Wall Street demand for deals.

Microsoft Limits Copilot Liability: Microsoft’s terms label Copilot “for entertainment purposes only” and warn against relying on it for important advice, highlighting ongoing reliability concerns.

Anthropic Acquires Coefficient Bio Team: Anthropic buys biotech startup Coefficient Bio in a reported $400 million stock deal, adding a 10-person team to expand AI-driven drug discovery and life sciences research efforts.

OpenAI Reshuffles Leadership Roles: OpenAI moves COO Brad Lightcap to lead “special projects” on deals and investments, as other executives shift roles amid leadership transitions across product and marketing.

Anthropic Launches Bipartisan AI PAC: Anthropic forms AnthroPAC to fund U.S. candidates with employee donations up to $5,000, expanding political influence as AI firms spend heavily to shape regulation and policy.

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Both OpenAI and Anthropic are exploring public listings despite access to abundant private capital, according to reporting by Axios. The driver isn’t liquidity—private markets and sovereign wealth funds already provide that—but the unprecedented scale of their ambitions, with each targeting trillion-dollar valuations and rapidly doubling revenue and costs.

Training frontier AI models requires massive, sustained spending on chips, talent, and infrastructure that could outstrip private funding depth. Going public would open deeper capital pools and create more flexible acquisition currency. → Continue reading here.

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is preparing to launch its V4 model in April 2026, designed to run on chips from Huawei—a milestone in China’s effort to reduce reliance on U.S. semiconductor technology. Major firms including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent have reportedly ordered hundreds of thousands of Huawei’s new Ascend 950PR chips, driving prices up 20%.

The shift comes as U.S. export controls limit access to advanced chips from NVIDIA, forcing Chinese companies to adapt models for domestic hardware. Rewriting software to run efficiently on Huawei chips has delayed the launch but could give China tighter control over its AI stack. This move marks China’s shift toward a fully domestic AI stack: chips, models, and infrastructure. → Read the full article here. (Paywall)

Japan isn't adopting physical AI because it wants to — it's adopting it because it has no choice. With its working-age population projected to fall by nearly 15 million over the next two decades, companies are deploying AI-powered robots across factories, warehouses, and critical infrastructure just to keep operations running. The government has backed the push with $6.3 billion in commitments and a target to capture 30% of the global physical AI market by 2040. This isn't a productivity play. It's a continuity tool.

What makes Japan's position interesting is the structural advantage it brings to a technology still being defined. The country has long dominated core robotics components — actuators, sensors, control systems — even as the U.S. and China race to build full-stack platforms. The emerging ecosystem looks less winner-take-all and more symbiotic: large incumbents like Toyota and Mitsubishi handling scale, while startups drive innovation in orchestration software and system design. The country that perfected the art of making things may be best positioned to make AI physical.→ Read the full article here.

The Alan Turing Institute has been told to make “significant” changes after a review by UK Research and Innovation found shortcomings in strategy and value for money. The institute, which received a £100 million, five-year funding package in 2024, faces pressure to better align with national priorities, particularly defense and security.

The warning follows governance concerns raised by a whistleblower complaint and leadership turnover, including the departures of CEO Jean Innes and chair Doug Gurr. While the review acknowledged strong scientific output, it concluded the institute lacks clear strategic focus and effective delivery. The government is now pushing for tighter oversight and a sharper mission tied to national resilience. → Read the full article here.

Economists are increasingly taking AI’s potential impact on jobs seriously, even as current labor market data shows little disruption, according to reporting from The NY Times. Recent advances—such as reasoning-capable models and autonomous AI agents—have shifted views, raising concerns about future job losses, particularly among entry-level white-collar roles.

Surveys suggest most economists expect moderate growth effects, but a plausible downside scenario includes widespread displacement and rising inequality. Adoption remains uneven, though nearly 20% of firms report recent AI use, and early signs of job impact are emerging in exposed sectors. The real risk isn’t job loss—it’s that governments are unprepared for how quickly it could happen. → Read the full article here. (Paywall)

Thanks for reading. See you next time!

— Matthew Berman, Nick Wentz & the Forward Future Team