Author: Colin Henderson

Progress in era of productivity
AI

Six-person AI startup Poetiq just officially claimed the top spot on the ARC-AGI-2 reasoning

Colin Henderson

POETIQ 🏆 Poetiq tops ARC-AGI-2 with Gemini variant Image source: Poetiq The Rundown: Six-person AI startup Poetiq just officially claimed the top spot on the ARC-AGI-2 reasoning benchmark, beating out Google’s Gemini 3 Deep Think at half the cost by orchestrating existing models over building its own. The details: Why it matters: The ARC-AGI-2 progress from sub-5% to over 50% in just months shows how quickly things are advancing. Poetiq’s refinement shows a future with AI gains coming from two directions at once: frontier model development and clever orchestration built on top of them from teams without massive compute budgets. Continue reading Six-person AI startup Poetiq just officially claimed the top spot on the ARC-AGI-2 reasoning

AI

Chip industry news 08.12.25

Colin Henderson

The past week has been dominated by AI infrastructure and devices, quantum and chip news, and a wave of medium‑sized startup funding, with a handful of notable gadget launches across phones, audio and PCs.[1][2][3] Big tech and infrastructure AI, security, and policy trends Notable startup funding and deals New gadgets and consumer tech How these trends fit together Sources[1] News Archive | December 2025 – TechRadar https://www.techradar.com/news/archive/2025/12%5B2%5D The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report: 12/8/25 – AlleyWatch https://alleywatch.com/2025/12/the-weekly-notable-startup-funding-report-12-8-25/%5B3%5D The Best New Gadgets and Hi-Fi Releases of 2025 (Updated) https://www.gearpatrol.com/audio/best-tech-audio-hi-fi-releases-2025-updated-december-week-1/%5B4%5D News Archive | December 2025 – TechRadar https://www.techradar.com/news/archive%5B5%5D The Week’s 10 Biggest … Continue reading Chip industry news 08.12.25

AI

Nvidia CEO warns China’s infrastructure speed threatens U.S. AI lead

Colin Henderson

Nvidia [-0.53%] CEO Jensen Huang issued a stark warning that China’s ability to rapidly build AI infrastructure could give it a decisive advantage over the United States, even as American companies maintain technological superiority in chip design.Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in late November, Huang highlighted a dramatic disparity in construction timelines. Building a data center in the United States “from breaking ground to standing up an AI supercomputer is probably about three years,” he said. By contrast, China “can build a hospital in a weekend,” underscoring the speed advantage that could prove critical as AI … Continue reading Nvidia CEO warns China’s infrastructure speed threatens U.S. AI lead

China, Geopolitics, intel

MI5 espionage alert issued on November 17, 2025

Colin Henderson

The MI5 espionage alert issued on November 17, 2025, is based on intelligence findings that Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) officers are actively using recruitment professionals and professional networking platforms to target individuals with access to sensitive UK governmental information.[1] Intelligence Basis and Methodology MI5’s assessment identified specific operational tactics employed by Chinese intelligence services, including the naming of two recruitment professionals—Amanda Qiu, chief executive of BR-YR Executive Search, and Shirly Shen, co-founder of the Internship Union—whom the Security Service determined were being utilized by the MSS to “conduct outreach at scale” on behalf of Chinese intelligence. The intelligence … Continue reading MI5 espionage alert issued on November 17, 2025

banking, Canada, Diplomacy, Innovation, Military, NATO

Canada in the running to headquarter new multinational defence bank

Colin Henderson

Canada in the running to headquarter new multinational defence bank PIPPA NORMANPublished November 13 2025, 4:15AM Banks like this don’t come around too often. Most recently, the New Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Bank were established in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Similar institutions such as the World Bank Group are set up to mobilize capital to address issues affecting multiple countries. In the case of the DSRB, that issue is an increasingly divided world in which countries all over the world are increasing their defence spending.A handful of institutions, including Royal Bank of Canada, JPMorgan Chase & Co., ING Group … Continue reading Canada in the running to headquarter new multinational defence bank

AI

Claude shows limited ‘self-awareness’

Colin Henderson

I found this fascinating insight from Anthropic. Image source: Reve / The Rundown ———- The Rundown: Anthropic researchers published a new study finding that Claude can sometimes notice when concepts are artificially planted in its processing and separate internal “thoughts” from what it reads, showing limited introspective capabilities. The details: Why it matters: This research shows AI may be developing some ability to monitor their own processing, which could make models more transparent by helping accurately explain reasoning. But it could also be a double-edged sword — with systems potentially learning to better conceal and selectively report their thoughts. Continue reading Claude shows limited ‘self-awareness’

banking, Economics, sociology

Ancient Rome Survived High Inflation – Bloomberg

Colin Henderson

I came across this wonderful piece on inflation and beating it. Nothing is new in the world. Source: Bloomberg 2024 – Bloomberg membership required. _________________________________________________________ Ancient Rome Survived High Inflation. We Can, Too There was more to life in the empire than gore, sex and succession. The economic challenges look similar to our own â€” with a big dose of brutality.  July 2, 2024 at 3:00 PM EDT By Daniel Moss Daniel Moss is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian economies. Previously, he was executive editor for economics at Bloomberg News. Worried that inflation is coming down too gradually? The Romans had a … Continue reading Ancient Rome Survived High Inflation – Bloomberg

AI, banking, Business Models, productivity

OpenAI Hires Ex-Goldman Staff to Help Cut Down Junior Bankers’ Grunt Work

Colin Henderson

In this Article By Omar El Chmouri October 21, 2025 at 6:06 AM EDT Takeaways by Bloomberg AI OpenAI has more than 100 ex-investment bankers helping train its artificial intelligence on how to build financial models as it looks to replace the hours of grunt work performed by junior bankers across the industry. The group, which includes former employees of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is part of a secretive project inside the startup that’s code named Mercury, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Participants are paid $150 per hour to write prompts and build financial models for a range … Continue reading OpenAI Hires Ex-Goldman Staff to Help Cut Down Junior Bankers’ Grunt Work

AI

Europe Needs Strategic Approach to AI, Says UK Minister

Colin Henderson

New Updates 3m ago05:17 Haythornthwaite is asked how he views the UK’s standing on the world stage — London’s reputation has taken a bit of a beating of late because of the city’s lackluster capital markets. He said the UK is still holding its own and he’s proud of the country’s universities for churning out startups and entrepreneurs.  “We can’t take this for granted,” he says, noting the country needs to focus on unlocking capital from pension funds in order to stay competitive. “International competition is growing very rapidly,” he said and “we’re in danger of losing the lead.” Jenny SuraneFinance … Continue reading Europe Needs Strategic Approach to AI, Says UK Minister