Angelina Jolie loves AI, Meta lost core researchers, using ChatGPT to glow up

At the time you're receiving this, I’ll be at New York Tech Week hosting an event alongside the amazing Alex Chung and Liesel Vaidya. From start to finish, they’ve been absolute superstars, securing an RSVP list of over 800 people and building relationships with incredible partners.

Alex especially brought the fire, acting as gasoline on the spark and locking in our fantastic speakers: Zarna Garg and friend of the newsletter, Andy Dunn. No matter the email or question, Alex was on it. Her inbox must be chaos. I truly don’t know how she does it. Liesel showed up in every way, always thinking one step ahead throughout the process, all while running her own startup, Imera, which helps immigrants navigate life in the US. Watching these two operate at such a high level has been a learning experience in itself. If you're in town for Tech Week, I hope you get the chance to meet them both.♡

These Stories Are Living in My Head Rent-Free

• At Atelier Jolie, founded by Angelina Jolie, you can now create a custom perfume using Algorithmic Perfumery. The space, once an art studio for Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, is described as “a hub for creation, expression, and education.” The AI-powered fragrance lab designs scents based on your preferences, personality, or even social media. After analyzing your input, it generates a custom formula and produces your perfume on the spot. I need to try this out. (Instagram)

• A Minnesota woman ran a “laptop farm” that let North Korean IT workers pose as remote US employees, collecting $17M from over 300 companies. Recruited via LinkedIn, she unknowingly helped set up equipment, forge documents, and route paychecks. The FBI says the broader scam brings in hundreds of millions for North Korea. She pleaded guilty and faces up to nine years in prison. (Wall Street Journal)

• Meta lost most of its core LLaMA researchers, the team behind its open-source AI models meant to rival GPT and PaLM. Several joined Mistral, a French startup making waves with its own open-source models. What’s behind the talent exodus? Anyone got the tea? (Perplexity)

  • Last month, I read Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Meta policy exec who offers a sharp, insider look at the company and its leadership, including Zuckerberg and Sandberg. The book details Facebook’s failed push into China and internal drama with figures like Joel Kaplan. In March, Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling to block its promotion. The New York Times called it “an ugly, detailed portrait” of one of the most powerful companies in the world. It’s a gripping read and I highly recommend it.

Hacked and Handling It

• Elon Musk’s xAI will pay Telegram $300M to bring its Grok chatbot to the app and split subscription revenue. The deal, still being finalized, could help xAI reach over a billion users and gain valuable training data. (Reuters)

  • Meanwhile, X paused encrypted DMs for verified users, adding fuel to rumors about its upcoming XChat platform. (Engadget)

• Victoria’s Secret suffered a major breach that took down its website and store systems and staff were told not to use company tech. They probably had important work to do. Hope it wasn’t down too long. Innovation needs to be done in the world of bikini bottoms. It’s hell out here. In all seriousness, we’ve been seeing more and more retail companies report breaches, like Adidas two weeks ago. (Retail Dive)

  

Bitcoin

• Block says it will roll out bitcoin payments on Square later this year using the Lightning Network. Given how vocal Jack Dorsey is about crypto, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner. (CNBC)

• Trump Media plans to raise $2.5B to buy bitcoin for its treasury, following the MicroStrategy playbook. A separate $3B raise is reportedly in progress, but the company denies it. (Reuters)

AI in the Wild

• Anthropic added Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to its board as it scales with a focus on AI safety. The Long-Term Benefit Trust appointed him to help guide the company’s mission of building AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. The move feels like a vibe shift from being an emerging AI startup to serious governance-minded player. (TechCrunch)

• Grammarly raised $1B from General Catalyst to move beyond writing tools. The company is profitable and staying private for now. I used to be a Grammarly superuser, but I’ve been cutting back on subscriptions and now just use ChatGPT (which I pay for) to check spelling and grammar for important emails or scripts people will be reading off a teleprompter. I’m curious how long Grammarly can hang on. (Reuters)

• People are using ChatGPT for glow-up advice, uploading selfies for style and skincare feedback. Experts are warning it might reflect biased beauty norms. I actually tried this for picking makeup. It gave me a great foundation match, but wasn’t perfect on other stuff. The best thing it told me to get was this YSL mascara. But yeah, kind of scary that we could all be using the same beauty feedback and end up looking even more alike than we already do from social media. (Washington Post)

  

• Getty Images is suing Stability AI for copying 12M images. Legal action is underway in both the US and UK. I am just going to take a wild guess and say we’re going to be seeing more of this. (CNBC)

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