Good morning. It's Thursday, June 18, and we're covering Jensen Huang's vision for an AI-shaped society, why much of the world now sees China leading the AI race, and America's growing distrust of the technology.

Plus: Did you spot the fake? Yesterday's Real or AI challenge results ↓

Only 16% of Americans expect AI to benefit society over the next 20 years, while 40% predict a negative impact, according to Pew. The survey finds growing AI use alongside widespread distrust of the technology, its developers, and government oversight. Some 67% doubt meaningful regulation will happen, and 44% of U.S. adults now use ChatGPT, up more than twofold since 2023.

Microsoft is considering a hosted version of DeepSeek for Copilot Cowork as soaring AI usage makes unlimited access too expensive. The company is shifting the enterprise tool to usage-based pricing and weighing a fine-tuned DeepSeek V4 or another open-source model. Microsoft says any DeepSeek option would run on Azure with added enterprise security controls.

Elon Musk claims he is building an AI chip that could outperform NVIDIA's hardware by two to three times while costing just 10% as much. Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and Intel are collaborating on the TeraFab manufacturing project to support the effort. The push comes as NVIDIA advances its own roadmap, with Vera Rubin chips promising up to 10 times the efficiency of Blackwell.

Pew finds only 16% of Americans think AI will have a positive impact on society over the next 20 years — and only 14% of people under 30 agree.

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Mythos' temporary ban is fueling debate over AI safety, with critics arguing its risks are no greater than rival frontier models.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang argued that society must adapt to artificial intelligence, urging people to engage with the technology rather than fear it during an Associated Press interview. Huang said AI can accelerate economic growth, scientific discovery, and even support new manufacturing jobs, while acknowledging public concerns over job losses, data center expansion, and broader societal disruption.

He called for "new social norms" around AI adoption and framed global competitiveness—particularly with China—as a reason for the U.S. to embrace the technology. → Read the full article here.

A new Public First survey of more than 18,000 people across 15 countries found that most respondents in 11 nations—including U.S. allies such as the U.K., Canada, France, and Germany—now view China as the world's leading AI power, while only Americans, Japanese, Indians, and Vietnamese still favor the U.S. The poll also shows growing skepticism toward AI in the United States, with the share of Americans who believe the technology will benefit society falling from 40% in 2025 to 31% in 2026, while 40% now expect it to do more harm than good.

Concerns over misinformation, deepfakes, job automation, and the energy demands of AI infrastructure are driving the shift, particularly among younger Americans. → Read the full article here.

Anthropic’s aggressive focus on AI safety is evolving into a broader business and product strategy, shaping everything from model releases to data policies and access controls. This piece from Stratechery points to the company’s cautious rollout of its Fable and Mythos models, a reported U.S. government intervention over security concerns, and controversial decisions to expand data retention and limit certain AI-development use cases.

It contends that these moves reflect Anthropic’s belief that powerful AI should be tightly governed by developers who prioritize safety, even if that creates friction with customers, competitors, and regulators. The result is a company whose commercial incentives and safety mission are increasingly intertwined—a combination the author sees as both highly effective and potentially influential over the future direction of AI. → Read the full article here.

Intel Starts 18A-P Production: Performance-focused chip process enters production as Google and NVIDIA explore Intel's foundry services.

Databricks AI Boom Squeezes Margins: Annualized revenue hit $6.9B, but rising AI agent usage is driving higher costs and pressuring profitability.

Odyssey Lands $310M for AI Worlds: AI startup Odyssey hit $1.45B valuation and partnered with AWS to expand its real-world simulation models.

Anthropic Joins Frontier: They’re the first AI company in the carbon-removal buyers' coalition founded by Stripe, Google, and Shopify.

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