This is our tech edition for the week. Next Monday will be policy, and Wednesday will be finance.
This week:
🤠 Texas Takes First Place in the Strategic Reserve Race
🚕 Tesla Saddles Up a Robotaxi Service in Austin
⚖️ AI Can Read Up on Purchased Books, Judge Rules
🤖 China’s Zhipu AI Might Be The Next Big Thing
🎙️ War, Wheels, and Wages
With how quickly the market and investment climate are changing right now, we can’t afford to fall behind. You can always read the latest and most relevant finance news & updates at FinanceWrapped.com. For daily deep dives covering everything from stocks, to crypto, to trade relations, to AI stock signals and more, subscribe to our daily newsletter Stocks And Income.
🤠 Texas Makes History With Bitcoin Reserve
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has officially signed Senate Bill 21 into law, establishing the first-ever state Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The reserve will be managed by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts with transparent reporting of holdings every two years. This game-changing legislation follows similar moves in Arizona and New Hampshire, with other states likely to follow suit, creating new public sector demand for Bitcoin.
🚕 Tesla Launches Robotaxi Service in Austin
Tesla has finally launched its autonomous ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, following a month of employee beta testing.
The service uses Tesla Model Y vehicles operating autonomously with Tesla employees monitoring from the passenger seat, currently limited to a small area of South Austin and available only to "Early Access" members. Though still unproven, the launch is a critical step toward the company's vision of vehicles that can generate revenue autonomously.
⚖️ AI Training on Purchased Books Ruled Fair Use
A landmark ruling determined that AI company Anthropic's practice of buying, scanning, and using books for model training constitutes "fair use" under copyright law.
Anthropic's use of over 7 million pirated books was not protected, however, as the judge stated every factor "points against fair use" for the pirated materials. The case is the first legal precedent for AI companies to train on copyrighted works, likely foreshadowing changes in AI company budgets as they adjust to properly licensing training materials.
🤖 China’s Zhipu AI Takes the Inside Lane
OpenAI analysts reported Zhipu AI, a Chinese startup with strong government backing, has rapidly expanded its reach across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Zhipu’s strategy focuses on embedding Chinese AI standards in emerging markets through government contracts, often ahead of US and European competitors. With over $1.4 billion in state investment, a spot on the US export control list, and partnerships with Huawei, Zhipu has become a leading player in China’s push for global AI leadership.
📈 AltIndex’s AI Algorithm & Data Signals
AltIndex sees $LLY ( ▲ 0.44% ) showing signals that indicate high likelihood of growth in the short to mid term.
$LLY ( ▲ 0.44% ) was in the news this week for its acquisition of Verve Therapeutics to go after heart disease, the leading cause of death in the world.
They have had a strong month, up over 5%, but have dipped a bit this week, down 3%.
Do your own research and consider whether you think this might be a value opportunity. Use AltIndex to help find opportunities and entry points for your own research.
📚 Recommended Reading
Here’s a list of newsletters that our readers enjoy, covering topics like:
📈 Investing
💰 Wealth building
🎥 Entertainment
👨💻 Coding
✅ And more
🎙️ War, Wheels, and Wages
This episode of The Best One Yet unpacks Wall Street’s Strait of Hormuz jitters, Tesla and Waymo’s first passenger rides, and the 400% raise rewriting the Dallas Cowboys cheer squad’s career path.
📻 Tune in to:
Explore how Iran could choke a twenty-one-mile-wide oil lifeline and jolt global fuel prices
See why Tesla’s clone-army strategy in Austin and Waymo’s transparent trials in Manhattan reveal two very different roads to driverless dominance
Find out how Netflix spotlight converted pageantry into negotiating power and quadrupled pay for America’s most iconic cheerleaders
🎧 Listen on:
⭐️ What did you think of today's edition?
Disclosures
There are affiliate links above; we'll get a couple of bucks if you take action after you click.
Nothing above is financial advice