Anthropic wants to slow AI down and Bernie wants 50%: JCal Reacts | E2297

Anthropic wants to slow AI down and Bernie wants 50%: JCal Reacts | E2297

Author: Jason Calacanis June 6, 2026 Duration: 1:33:17
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Grasshopper Bank https://grasshopper.bank/twist Vanta https://www.vanta.com/twist Render https://render.com/twist Plaud https://Plaud.ai/twist Today's show: Anthropic wrote a blog post calling for a global AI slowdown. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the government to seize 50% of every major AI company's stock. Find out why JCal is reconsidering universal basic (or even high!) income policies, and why he thinks the 2028 presidential election will likely come down to AI policies. PLUS a live ComfyUI demo from founder Yoland Yan. Find out why the free-to-use open-source node-based platform has become a crucial part of millions of designers' and VFX experts' workflows, and how their tool has been used to create everything from "The Wizard of Oz" at the Vegas Sphere to those viral Coca-Cola holiday ads. Guest Yoland Yan: http://x.com/yoland_yan ComfyUI: https://comfy.org/ AI Models and Tools Ideogram 4.0: https://ideogram.ai/models/4.0/ Stable Diffusion: https://stability.ai/ LTX Video: https://github.com/Lightricks/LTX-Video LoRa: https://huggingface.co/docs/diffusers/training/lora Google Veo: https://deepmind.google/models/veo/ Relevant Links: Anthropic: "When AI Builds Itself": https://www.anthropic.com/institute/recursive-self-improvement Bernie Sanders: "The Public Should Own Half of the Big AI Companies": https://www.sanders.senate.gov/op-eds/the-public-should-own-half-of-the-big-a-i-companies/ Bloomberg: "Sam Altman-Backed Group Completes Largest US Study on Basic Income": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-22/ubi-study-backed-by-openai-s-sam-altman-bolsters-support-for-basic-income Timestamps: 0:00 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro 2:06 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off! 4:34 Guest 1: Yoland Yan, ComfyUI — live demo intro 9:47 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to https://grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account. 20:05 Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://www.vanta.com/twist 22:24 What is Outpainting? 30:01 Render - Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers. 32:13 Jason's insider sales team advice 38:42 LA mayoral race: Bass vs. Pratt 42:25 Anthropic wants AI to slow down? 48:45 Will Sen. Sanders' argument resonate with the public? 59:39 Why 2028 will be the AI jobs election 1:05:32 Brian Chesky's new AI lab 1:15:21 Jason's "Mandalorian and Grogu" review 1:18:53 YouTubers take over the box office 1:24:16 Dean Potter vs. Alex Honnold Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/ Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com

Every week, Jason Calacanis dives headfirst into the swirling vortex of Silicon Valley and global tech with This Week in Startups. It’s a direct line to the conversations shaping our digital future, moving far beyond surface-level news. You’ll hear Jason’s unfiltered analysis on everything from market shifts and media trends to the underlying mechanics of building a business, all delivered with a blend of enthusiasm and seasoned skepticism. The core of this podcast, however, lies in the guests. Jason sits down with the very people driving change-founders who have scaled impossible heights, operators managing daily chaos, and investors who spot trends before they become obvious. These conversations are less like formal interviews and more like insider debriefs, pulling back the curtain on real strategies, painful failures, and unexpected successes. For anyone curious about how technology is built, funded, and ultimately changes the world, this series offers a front-row seat. It’s the context behind the headlines, providing a deeper understanding of the forces at play in startups and technology. Tune in for a consistently engaging and insightful look at the ecosystem, straight from someone who lives and breathes it.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

This Week in Startups
Podcast Episodes
The Pentagon Wants Equity in AI Startups | E2336 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:37
This Week In Startups is made possible by: DigitalOcean — Want to see what building on a true AI-native platform looks like? Head to do.co/twist to start building on DigitalOcean's AI-Native Cloud today — and cut your AI…
Did OpenAI Steal the Navier-Stokes Solution? | E2335 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:24
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain NetSuite - https://www.netsuite.ai/twist Vanta - http://www.vanta.com/twist Check out a full tr…
Dr. Mark Hyman on Function Health & GLP-1 microdosing | E2334 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:28
This Week In Startups is made possible by: Odoo - http://Odoo.com/twist Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain Rippling - http://Rippling.ai/twist Today's show: Your doctor almo…
VC experts on why Physical AI funding is heating up | E2333 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:15
VC experts on why Physical AI funding is heating up | E2333 This Week In Startups is made possible by: partner 1 - link partner 2 - link partner 3 - link Today's show: Are we one step closer to data centers in space? Kat…
Breaking down Nvidia's Hugging Face and Poolside bets | E2331 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:48:13
This Week In Startups is made possible by: DigitalOcean https://do.co/twist Every.io https://every.io PayPal https://paypal.launch.co Today's show: *Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, just days after qu…