Trump-Putin summit, Taylor Swift news, AI talent wars, & what is superintelligence? | Ep. 32

This week, we’re previewing the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, unpacking what’s at stake for the US, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe, and what pursuing peace looks like spiritually. Then, we analyze AI talent wars across Silicon Valley where tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg are battling it out with eye-popping 9 to 10 digit salaries to snatch up top AI researchers as they race to be the first to achieve “superintelligence”…what does that even mean? We’ll tell you!

Plus a few more national, pop-culture, and sports headlines, including this week’s big Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce news. Get caught up on culture with a fresh Christian perspective!

Topics

• (00:56): US-Russia summit: Stakes and implications
• (05:49): Human cost and historical context of the Ukraine War
• (14:42): Spiritual and moral reflections on the conflict
• (17:40): AI talent wars: The race for superintelligence
• (25:34): Meta’s AI ambitions
• (27:47): The concept of superintelligence
• (30:06): AI and human purpose
• (34:03): Listener responses to top fast-food burger list
• (36:23): Trump and pop culture headlines

Resources

• Mailbag: [email protected]
• Culture Brief Instagram
• Sign-up for Denison Forum’s daily newsletter: DenisonForum.org/subscribe

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Thanks for Your $1 Billion Job Offer, Mark Zuckerberg. I’m Gonna Pass. – WSJ
• Mark Zuckerberg Says ‘Superintelligence’ Is Imminent. What Is It?
• We’re building personal superintelligence for everyone. Stay tuned 🚀 | Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook
• Biblical clarity on climate change, Ten Commandments in the classroom, and AI companions -Faith & Clarity Podcast 

Other articles on this week’s top headlines:

• What to know about the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska | AP News
• White House confirms Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, calling it ‘listening exercise’
• Russian forces advance in Ukraine as Trump tempers outlook for Alaska summit – The Washington Post
• Vladimir Putin and the problem of autocratic power- Denison Forum
• President Trump will meet with Vladimir Putin this week- Denison Forum
• Is Ukraine now willing to trade land for peace?
• One million and counting: Russian casualties hit milestone in Ukraine war | Russia | The Guardian
• Is Anyone Worth a Billion Dollars? – by Tyler Cowen
• Zuckerberg says AI superintelligence is ‘in sight,’ touts ‘new era of personal empowerment’
• OpenAI gives some employees a ‘special’ multimillion-dollar bonus | The Verge

About Conner Jones

Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.

About Micah Tomasella

Micah Tomasella is the Senior Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, The Denison Forum Podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited. 

Conner Jones: [00:00:00] Hi, I am Conner Jones. 

Micah Tomasella: My name is Micah Tomasella,

Conner Jones: and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we are navigating the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, technology, anything of those sorts. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective and we’ve got a big show today.

So Micah, why don’t you give us a quick rundown of everything we’re gonna be hitting on. 

Micah Tomasella: Lots going on as usual, wild times, wild world that we’re living in. Thankful to serve a good God throughout all of it. So we’re gonna talk about us and Russia and this summit coming up on Friday. Pieces at stake here, truly.

And so we want to discuss it. Secondly, we’ll talk about the AI talent wars and what is super intelligence. Actually, we’re gonna talk about the Trump DC takeover. Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift. I know you were waiting for that one and so much more. So let’s jump into the brief.  

Conner Jones: The brief. 

Micah Tomasella: Alright, so this US Russia summit that’s coming up [00:01:00] and really I phrase it as pieces at stake because that’s, that’s truly what it is.

I mean, this is unprecedented times. So this episode will drop on August 14th. We’re recording on August 13th, and then this summer is taking place on August 15th. This Friday 

Conner Jones: you’re calling a a US Russia Summit. Many are just calling it basically just a Trump Putin summit. Right? Because that’s yeah, really 

Micah Tomasella: what we’re looking forward to.

Yeah. I mean that’s, that’s really what it is. But ultimately there’s a lot at stake here because Russia’s a very large, powerful country and there’s very few countries on the planet that can actually. Have a chance at discussing or even trying to stop what Russia’s trying to do in in Ukraine right now, and the implications beyond that.

So this is between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who we’ve talked about a lot. We’ll meet at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. This Friday will be the first US Russia summit since 2019, and the first hosted in the US since 1988, and that [00:02:00] was called the Governor’s Island Summit.

Reports confirm that Trump and Putin will have a private one-on-one meeting. I wanted to make sure to point this out with no other officials present. From my understanding, I’ve been reading a lot on this because it’s like, what do you mean a one-on-one meeting? Like no photographers, nothing being recorded, no interpreters, no staff, no Steve Witkoff, nobody else just Trump and Putin in a room themselves.

That is the most important conversation. Maybe this year. Yeah, 

Conner Jones: it’s up there. It’s 

Micah Tomasella: actually, it’s unbelievable. And in that way it’s, it’s very interesting to be a fly on the wall in that conversation, Conner. 

Conner Jones: The stakes, this tension in that room are gonna be so high. And then, you know, whatever is determined, whatever is said, Uhhuh, you’re gonna have to trust their word for it.

Right? Like there’s no one else to be able to confirm or deny what happens. So, 

Micah Tomasella: yeah, you know, I was thinking about that too. But ultimately they can say whatever they want, but for these things to be lasting, you know, we’ll kind of talk about what’s at stake here in a minute. [00:03:00] It has to be ironed out and written out.

And so, you know, Trump is really zeroing in on, I wanna look Putin in the eye, and I want to actually gauge if he’s actually open to peace at all. And so this meeting kind of seems cobbled together. Seems to be happening quickly. These types of meetings before scheduled, a year in advance, months in advance, give you all of this time to prepare for it.

This is mono e mono. This is alpha versus alpha in the same room. It’s interesting. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. It shows a little bit of power, but also maybe a little bit of. Desperation. Like, we need to get this done. We need to close a deal here. 

Micah Tomasella: Yeah. They both have strong reasons of wanting to get this done, you know, it’s just who’s gonna blink first?

So, the White House has described the gathering as a listening exercise intended to assess whether meaningful diplomatic progress is actually possible. If it’s something that can actually happen as of now. Ukrainian president. Vul Deir Zelensky will not attend in person. And I’m saying as of now, because these things can be pretty fluid and can change this decision has raised concerns among [00:04:00] Ukrainian officials and European officials who worry Ukraine could be left out of these critical decisions that do involve them.

So here’s the key issues on the agenda for the summit. The summit will focus on the war in Ukraine, which is entering its fourth year. Talks are expected to center on the possibility of a ceasefire, territorial disputes, and the framework for any potential peace deal is kind of what’s gonna be broached in this summit.

President Trump has suggested that territorial swaps could be a part of the solution, but Zelensky has already said multiple times that such proposals like swapping land or. Giving up land that’s been conquered by Russia already is off the table. He’s rejecting it. He’s stating that they violate Ukraine’s constitution and it could invite further Russian aggression.

So Putin’s objectives are likely to include international recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea, which he gained in 2014, but he wants that to be officially recognized and in the territories it currently occupies [00:05:00] through this war. Dansk Luhansk. Zappa and Kershaw. He may. Man, it’s hard. I really try those Eastern block names even I even practiced before and I still feel like I’ve, I fumbled the back.

Your practice did not show. Yeah, it did not show, man. Oh, well. I mean that third one, that’s, that’s a tough one with the Z. There’s threes in that word. Yeah, I think there’s four. He may also seek to limit Ukraine’s military capabilities and restricted security partnerships with western nations. So I mean, if Putin gets his way, he gets to keep.

The territories that he’s already conquered. And then he gets to keep Ukraine virtually defenseless. So Putin’s gonna wanna keep the land he’s gotten and then stop them from joining nato, which would be a defense pact, which could defend them, and then it would actually force other nations to come in to their defense.

But let me give you some historical context and just the human cost of this war so far. It’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle of. Hey, this is all really [00:06:00] important conversations and details, and this is all high stakes, but we can quickly forget all the senseless life lost and, and just the toll this war has taken.

So Russia’s full scale invasion began in February of 22. So Ukraine did a very good job of initially repelling. This invasion, especially from their capital city Kiev. But Russia has steadily advanced in the east and many of their towns have fallen. And so diplomatic engagement has been minimal since spring 2022.

So when the invasion started, there hasn’t really been much conversation that’s actually leading to any kind of diplomatic end to this conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But Anchorage, Alaska was chosen for both. Its historical symbolism. As Alaska was once a Russian territory and for practical reasons, the US is not a member of the International Criminal court, and therefore they’re not obliged to enforce the ICC arrest warrant against Putin because he does have a warrant out for his arrest from ICC, and so they’re meeting on American [00:07:00] soil.

This war has come at a staggering human cost, though. As of mid 2025, estimates show over 250,000 military deaths and up to 1 million casualties overall killed on both sides, but a lot of it on the Russian side. Civilian death and injury numbers in Ukraine exceed. 47,000, close to 50,000 with tens of thousands who have not been recorded over time, it will most likely be more Ukrainian Military deaths range from 60,000 to 100,000 confirmed with substantial numbers missing or wounded across both sides.

So again, I think it’s easy to dig into the chess match of war and forget about all the loss of life. It’s really just sad. What are your thoughts, Conner? It is sad. 

Conner Jones: Lives that are lost, the more lives that are deeply impacted, the more towns that are destroyed. Yeah. And yeah, Russia is in the middle of this advance right now, and they’re taking more territory by the day.

They’ve been taking towns over the last few weeks, so, yep. [00:08:00] The longer this gets delayed, the more they may be able to take more towns, or maybe it gives Ukraine forces more time to fight back and get more of those towns back in their land. Right. Right. Now, I don’t know how Zelensky. Trump said it back. Was that Oval Office spat?

Yeah, with him and Zelensky. That was in like February, March. Yeah. And Trump like, you don’t really have any cards here because Russia has taken your land. Like you don’t really get to just say you can’t have it without fighting and he doesn’t getting 

Micah Tomasella: it. I mean, it’s unfair, right? But he, he really doesn’t.

Conner Jones: He doesn’t, and it’s really hard because you want Ukraine to have their land like that is so tough. But like at some point, if there’s going to be an end to this conflict. I don’t know what the perfect deal here is. And this is not my land. And I’m not in Russia. I’m not in Ukraine. Yeah. And neither is Trump.

So he’s kind of an interesting middleman here. I know. Well, I do think it’s interesting that Zelensky is between this like rock and a hard place, and he’s not even in the room, at least not right now as we’re recording this. That could change. Yeah. Maybe this leads to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky.

I’m not sure what the next steps are here to end this war, but we, we need to just keep praying that it ends. ’cause every day it [00:09:00] makes it worse and worse. 

Micah Tomasella: I mean, and some more context too, Conner, I’m glad that you brought that up. Zelensky is meeting with Trump virtually, along with European leaders and NATO leaders, and they’re all trying to get across to Trump as he’s gonna be walking into this room basically representing the entirety of Western civilization.

Yeah. This concept of like, Hey, you can’t just. Take another sovereign nation’s land by force, right? Like all of that is on Trump’s back as he’s walking into this. And so I, I know it makes people nervous that there’s gonna have, you know, this one-on-one conversation. Do you gotta remember Putin’s a master manipulator and literally was a member of the KGB.

Right. So I’m not saying there’s like a threat of like any physical thing happening. I’m just saying no. But 

Conner Jones: he knows how to do manipulative tactics. He’s been trained for that. I 

Micah Tomasella: just feel like this isn’t the type of person that Trump normally spars with. Where Trump actually might have an advantage in a lot of ways.

Like Putin knows what he’s doing, he’s not a good guy at all. But you know, that’s just something to kind of keep in mind. So let give you kind of the [00:10:00] pros of this summit and then the cons. So pros as presented by supporters. These are just kind of, you know. A summarization of, of all the ideas that I’ve seen.

So this would open a direct line of communication between Washington and Moscow, reducing the risk of dangerous miscalculations between two nuclear powers between two of the largest nations in the world. When a lot of those talks have stopped. There’s been very little. Frequent communication between Moscow and Washington.

Secondly, it creates possibilities for humanitarian corridors, prisoner exchanges, or other confidence building measures that could relieve civilian suffering. Again, we have to remember, it’s not just people who are fighting in the war, who are dying, civilians are dying too, and Russia has, in particular, recently been attacking apartment buildings and parks.

It’s been very, very sad to see some of those things, and then it gives the US a rare chance to address critical issues like cyber attacks, arms control. Detained Americans that Russia has right now. And then finally it allows us negotiators to actually gauge Putin’s [00:11:00] direction and disposition and position directly actually being able to see him.

There’s just so many narratives swirling around this. So being able to actually get in person, I mean, and that makes sense, right? I mean, there is a difference between meeting somebody in person. And having a phone call with them or meeting them virtually, right? You can actually get a sense of where they stand if you do get to meet them in person.

But then here’s some of the cons, because there are some cons. There are some bad things that could come from this. It risks legitimizing. Russia’s territorial advances. And it could potentially set a dangerous precedent for altering borders by force. Like I previously mentioned, it could marginalize Ukraine in discussions about its own sovereignty and about its own security, and then it might deliver a propaganda win to Putin, enhancing his domestic standing.

Despite he has an indictment with the ICC. Despite there are issues in the economy, everything that kind of comes out is he still largely has the support of the Russian people because they have a much stronger grasp on the media there and a much. Stronger grasp on kind of the narrative that’s set around [00:12:00] Putin.

You know, I mean, and Putin’s the kind of guy that takes out his political foes, right? I mean, he actually like has them killed, right? Or imprisoned. Yep. And so this could shift global norms toward accepting a frozen conflict, leaving occupied territories under indefinite, defacto Russian control, like what’s happened in Crimea.

So they took that in 2014. For 11 years it hasn’t been recognized, but nobody’s saying that they have to give it back either. Right? Right. And so it could just freeze it. With no recognition either way. So what’s at stake? I’m gonna give what’s at stake for each interested party here for Ukraine? The summit could determine whether Ukrainians remain fully sovereign or is forced into concessions that weaken its independence and long-term security.

Again, like you mentioned, Zelensky is in a tough spot right now because in theory it seems like he’s losing on the battlefield. So if he’s losing on the battlefield, then at that point. How much ground does he have to stand on to say, you can’t actually take these places. You need to give them back. But then if Zelensky does give [00:13:00] them to Russia, then he needs to have the ability to be able to sign his country up for NATO or actually have some security guarantees that Russia doesn’t just come back in five years and try to take more.

Right. So there is a lot at stake for Ukraine here for the us. It’ll test us credibility as a committed ally and champion of a rules-based international order, right? So people can get upset that the US medals in every international affair. In fact, I can kind of understand that and agree with that. Why does America have to be the world’s police at the same time?

No one else is doing it. No one who wields the type of power that the US has is doing anything remotely, like what the US has done for generations. So how this is handled could ripple into future diplomatic relationships with NATO and global partners. Yeah, I mean, this matters. And the way that America is viewed in the world is important in this, I think.

And then for Europe, nato solidarity and the security of countries bordering Russia are on the line accepting these territorial concessions. Conner could embolden further challenges to [00:14:00] European borders, right? Mm-hmm. So it’s like Ukraine kind of serves as this buffer between Russia and Europe. I just think Europe is worried about if they take Ukraine, what’s to stop Russia from starting to take European land too, to start encroaching on those as well.

And then for Russia, Putin may gain recognition for territorial gains, economic relief, and an enhanced international image. A favorable outcome could strengthen his domestic position, but failure. Could deepen Russia’s isolation, heighten sanctions, and constrained diplomatic options. Again, what could happen here is like the wounded dog theory, a wounded dog is very, very dangerous.

Mm-hmm. A nuclear power who’s being kicked while they’re down is very, very dangerous. So here’s the spiritual application that comes from this. It’s really hitting me and, and I really gained a lot of it through Dr. Denison’s incredible writing on this subject of writing it from the Russian perspective, the Ukrainian perspective, the world perspective, the US perspective.

I mean, this was all very helpful for me as I was researching and gathering information on this story. But Dr. Dennison, [00:15:00] specifically in his articles, cautions about the perils of unchecked autocratic power and leaders who answer only to themselves, who can twist truth, who suppress dissent, and place self-interest above the good of the people, which is what Putin does consistently.

That is why negotiating with authoritarian regimes is so morally complex. A handshake may look polished on camera, but the motives behind it often tell an entirely. Different story. That’s why this one-on-one meeting is so important. He also warns against pursuing peace at the expense of what’s right.

Handing over part of Ukraine might pause the fighting temporarily, but would it protect its people? Would it actually protect its people or would it simply embolden future aggression? Isaiah five 20 reminds us not to call evil good and good evil. While Proverbs 21, 3 reminds us that what is right and just is better than sacrifice true biblical peace.

Which is Shalom is [00:16:00] more than the absence of conflict. Peace is not just, Hey, nothing bad is happening right now. It’s more to it than that. It’s wholeness, it’s righteousness, it’s justice, all woven together. When peace is pursued without justice, it’s fragile. It’s temporary and it’s often unjust. This summit makes us wrestle with that tension, wanting the war to end, but not at the expense of truth or not at the expense of those who are vulnerable in this conflict.

We may not be at the table in Alaska. In fact, I can go ahead and tell you we’re not at the table in Alaska if our listeners were wondering. But the same principle applies in everyday lives. Will we accept quick fixes? Easy compromises that leave deeper wrongs untouched, just to have peace for a little bit of time without actually getting to the heart of the issue.

Or will we do the harder, what I would call holy work of pursuing peace built on what’s right, built on what’s true, built on what’s noble, what’s lasting, and God’s kingdom, peace and righteousness. Are friends not enemies? Though the world may urge us [00:17:00] to trade one for the other, we’re called to hold them together, trusting that God’s justice is the only true foundation for lasting peace.

Conner Jones: Hmm. Yeah, that’s true. God is the only person who can provide real justice, right? Yeah. And you know, here on Earth, we have to find ways to find justice as best we can. But it’s never gonna be pretty, it’s never gonna be perfect. It’s only in God’s hands. So whatever deal comes about on Friday, wherever this leads, and we’ll be watching it closely and probably provide an update next week on just where things are by next week’s episode.

But whatever happens, it won’t be perfect, but it’s hopefully a step in the right direction. Yeah, thanks Michael for taking us through that and we’ll be praying. Honestly, we need to all be praying for this meeting. And for an end into this conflict. Alright, lemme take us into something totally different, A whole different side of the world and culture and everything.

And it’s specifically around AI because there’s been lots of headlines in recent weeks about where AI is headed. It feels like every month we’re in a whole new ball game with ai, with different companies, different. Startups, different [00:18:00] valuations of companies. Nvidia, the AI chip maker just got valued at $4 trillion.

See now this is a company that, if you said that name like three years ago, nobody knew what it was. And now it’s the biggest, most valuable company in the world for AI chip making. And they’ve had deals recently. Yeah, with Trump and China. Trump’s now having Nvidia pay part of what they make in their revenues for chips.

They sell to China older, less advanced chips so that they can’t be used for defense purposes. All that anyways. All this to say there’s a global AI race, which is more like weapons minded probably. Yeah. How can this be used as a defensive purpose and keep us higher on a global stage? That’s the people who are likening it more to the Manhattan project style of AI race.

And then there’s the like space race style, which is more of the corporate companies as opposed to governments competing to basically get the best AI. Options out there and they’re all striving for something that is being called super intelligence. And I’m gonna hit on what that is here in just a minute, but lemme just lay the groundwork here for what I mean by [00:19:00] this race and what’s happening in this talent wars.

Because specifically it’s really Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook at the center of a lot of this dude’s on a hiring spree. And he’s not just offering like, you know, normal job contracts. He is literally offering NFL sized contracts, like hundreds of millions of dollars for single individuals to come join Meta in their super intelligence lab, which, you know, maybe I should, I should have gone into the AI research studies like 10 years ago.

Yeah, no doubt man. Could have been dabbling with one of these contracts. Jk. I’m not that smart. These are all pretty much JK geniuses and there’s a lot of females that are being offered these jobs. They all know what they’re. Doing and they’re very talented and that’s why Zuckerberg wants them and he is trying to poach them from other companies, specifically OpenAI, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which is chat, GPT.

The biggest one out there right now has said that Zuckerberg has been offering hundred million dollar contracts to try to poach his employees from OpenAI. Zuckerberg offered one guy, not from OpenAI, but a [00:20:00] whole different person. His name is Matt Deke. He offered him $125 million. He’s 24 years old. The kid denied.

He rejected the offer. So Zuckerberg came back, doubled it, and he signed a $250 million four year contract. That sounds like I’m Adam Schefter announcing an NFL quarterback contract. 

Micah Tomasella: Unbelievable. I didn’t even know that man. So he said no, and then he came back and doubled it. Yeah. Talk about, I should say no more often.

Conner Jones: Talk about leverage. 24 years old Micah. That’s nothing. Wow, that’s nothing. $250 million is nothing. Lemme tell you about this other guy. His name is Andrew Ick and he is a leading researcher and co-founder at Thinking Lab Machines. This is a startup that was founded by former Open AI Chief Technology Officer, Mira Mirati.

I’m gonna talk more about that. Her and this company here in just a minute. She’s already refused, met as to just buy up our whole company. So then Zuckerberg started trying to just take her employees. There’s only like 50 employees at this startup company. He offered Tuuli [00:21:00] $1 billion. With up to $1.5 billion in incentives, $1 billion.

Dude contracted. This guy said no. Wow, that’s crazy. $1 billion is just an insane number for a job offer. He said no, he said no. And Zuckerberg tried to get all the other employees, they all rejected his offer too, so they must be sitting 

Micah Tomasella: on something crazy. And then, you know, if it’s a smaller company, they probably have equity in it.

So if it goes. Probably where they’re hoping it goes. Mm-hmm. You’re gonna be talking about a lot more than a billion dollars. So I guess that’s why they’re saying no. 

Conner Jones: Right. So Zuckerberg has been somewhat successful. He is been grabbing some people with these large contract offers from open AI and some of the other AI companies out there, and straight outta college and all of that.

But. From OpenAI, he offered to over 100 people and only 10 people accepted it. So, you know, wow. Some people have called them sellouts. Others are just like, well, you can’t blame ’em. Well, and why would you not take a hundred million dollars contract? 

Micah Tomasella: And Zuckerberg is doing this too, because you know [00:22:00] all the reporting for a long time.

Was that like meta was falling behind on all of it? Correct. All of their AI development, all of the technology, everybody else was kind of doing better than them. So I guess this is his full court press to get the best talent possible so they can get back into this AI race. 

Conner Jones: This is correct. Yeah. So I wanted to hit on two things.

One, why would anybody deny this? And two, why was Zuckerberg offering so much money for this? So let’s start with number one. I think, and based off some of the research I’ve been doing, I think there’s some moral virtue behind it. Some of these AI researchers don’t feel like their talent is best used for a social platform and an advertising platform.

They would rather build real AI research models that are going to achieve more than just. Perfected advertising revenue. Right? Right. That’s what they are thinking their talents will be used for at meta. So I think that’s part of it. I also think you kind of hit on it and it’s an acknowledgement that man money doesn’t outweigh the immense goals that they are hoping to achieve, to improve the world, but also.

They might make more money in the long run if they stay with their current companies. If their current [00:23:00] company, if they believe in it so much that they will technically, you know, whatever it looks like win this AI race, they could be in it for the long haul for a massive payday down the road. Right? Yeah.

Then the Wall Street Journal reported that open AI researchers that have rebuffed meta’s advances. Chose to remain because they believe that OpenAI was the closest to reaching artificial general intelligence and they wanted to work at a smaller company and were wary of having the fruits of their labors go toward a product that was primarily driven by advertising.

Yeah, so kinda what we’re already saying there, there’s also the work culture aspect, you know, and the gamble that their smaller company will win and make more money in the long run. For instance, the company I mentioned a minute ago thinking Machines lab. By ti founded by Mirati from OpenAI, she’s apparently a great thinker and a great leader, and she’s known for her emotional intelligence and her lack of ego.

That is a rare thing in Silicon Valley. No doubt. People like working for her and see her as a great leader, and they want to be loyal to her and that research and the engineering staff there. And so she founded that company in February [00:24:00] and like I said, meta already offered to buy the whole thing and the company founded it in February.

It’s currently at a valuation of $12 billion and they don’t even have a product yet. So there’s like this, I guess this underlying hope that they are going to build the next great thing in ai, right? Like that they’re gonna be the center of it all. Not meta, not Google or open ai, this company. So yeah, that’s where the guy who got offered a billion dollars that opted to stay.

So there’s gotta be a reason for that. We don’t even know if they’re building, there’s 

Micah Tomasella: something they’re sitting on that we don’t know about, you know? But also. The stock market has really been carried by this AI investment bubble, correct. Where a lot of things that. Normally perform well and the s and p 500 and Nasdaq and all of those types of places to invest, they’re not doing so hot in some ways.

But AI is the biggest thing right now, and it’s covering up for all of these other issues. And we’re at an all time high in the stock market right now because of ai, you know, which is interesting as well. You know, and it’s, it’s one of those things where when you value a [00:25:00] company at 12 billion that doesn’t have a product yet, it almost makes you think about when is that bubble gonna burst?

And I know that you, mm-hmm. You and I talked about that like months ago. Right. But it’s this concept of 12 billion valuation for no product yet. Some things are gonna work out, some things won’t. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. That is either top investors know something that we don’t, I guess. Yeah. And they’re, they’re really banking on it, and they’re, they’re putting their investment dollars in it with the hope of getting the return.

Or everybody’s doing the thing that happened with the.com bubble where a bunch of people invested in these websites that basically had no real product 

Micah Tomasella: or service. Yeah. I mean, some will hit and some won’t, you know, but, wow. Exactly. Wow. 

Conner Jones: Yeah, it’s just crazy the money that’s in this, which answers why Zuckerberg is so interested in this.

Right. Because of the money, and you were right. Meta was lagging Behind their product was called Llama, and it’s nowhere near the other AI models. And so Zuckerberg was like, we gotta do something to get, you know, on pace with everyone else, and not just on pace, but he wants to take the lead. He wants to win this AI race, right?

He wants to be first. And so they’ve totally refocused all of their future developments on [00:26:00] AI over at Meta, they quit the metaverse that they tried to build out. They’ve stopped focusing as much on Facebook and Instagram and they’re diving headfirst into this. They pivoted really November of 2022. At that time, the company’s evaluation at Meta was $236 billion.

That’s roughly three years ago. Less than actually today, their value is $2 trillion, and that is because primarily they’re focusing on AI and investors are expecting them to win this race. Now they’re getting hope with that Zuck is offering them hope. I’m calling Zuckerberg Zuck because he’s making, he’s making, these guys are close friends.

Yeah. Me and Mark, you know. Yeah. He’s making these AI offers to these talent people. And that’s giving investors hope. ’cause they’re like, okay, he’s gonna get some top tier talent in these labs. I guess they’re calling ’em labs. That’s what all of these companies are. I don’t know what that looks like. I figure they sit at computers all day.

But 

Micah Tomasella: I’d love to see what a, what an AI lab looks like. 

Conner Jones: It’s like big man. I bet it’s high tech. Yeah. Anyways. [00:27:00] Spending a few billion dollars on talent is ultimately with valuations like that, going to just be a drop in the bucket of the potential upside. There’s going to be trillions of dollars at stake here.

That’s the way I think Zuckerberg is seeing it, is like, yeah, I’m gonna offer billions to bring these people in the door so that we can build a multi-trillion dollar product. It’s not gonna be anything to him in the long run. Right. This could put Zuckerberg, it could put Musk who’s building Xai. It could put Sam Altman at OpenAI on track to be the world’s first trillionaire.

I think they’re gonna leave Jeff Bezos in the dust. ’cause Amazon’s not really doing much with ai. If AI’s really the next big thing, they’re on track for that. And so yeah, spending a few billion dollars for development and research and all that, not a big deal to them. He posted a video, Zuckerberg did on July 30th announcing that the creation.

Of super intelligent artificial intelligence is now in sight, and it is aiming for a personal super intelligence that knows us deeply, understands our goals, and can help us achieve [00:28:00] them. What in the world does that mean, right? Hmm. I don’t know if you saw that video of Zuckerberg posting this Micah, but first off I thought it was creepy.

The camera’s like right in his face, and then he’s like, he’s, he’s 

Micah Tomasella: creepy. Honestly. He 

Conner Jones: speaks like a robot and he’s saying these words about. These very Silicon Valley type words, right? That just don’t mean a whole lot to us Anyways, what exactly is super intelligence? I read this article, I loved it. It was from the Free Press.

They brought in a whole bunch of people to kind of offer their insights on this Zuckerberg video and what Super intelligence is. And I just wanna note what a few of these people said. One of them noted that it’s basically super intelligence is an AI that can do its own research and design, and thus improve itself at a very rapid speed, and that will put it on track to become the smartest entity in the world in a very short period of time.

It may be able to solve most of humanity’s problems because it’s so smart and it’s gonna be more capable of things than we can understand right now. Another person noted that with Facebook and Instagram, meta digitized human relationships, turning them into a series of transactions that can be captured as data and [00:29:00] exploited for profit.

With ai, it hopes to further in mesh us in its machinery. That’s what Meta and the other AI giants really care about. Expanding their own power. That might be true. Yep. And I thought this one was super interesting. This is from Eugenia eda. She founded an AI companion company called Replica, which is basically we can go basically have an AI best friend.

It’s kind of creepy. She noted that the current mental health. And loneliness Crisis came about not due to ai, but due to existing technology such as the internet and social media, the solution is to develop even more powerful technology to bring us back together. Oh. That’s the solution. Okay. Interesting.

Yeah. Right. Oh, okay. So she’s saying that Zuckerberg’s goal of personal super intelligence is a good one, but only if Personalis are optimized for goals that are aligned with our welfare, that give us purpose, strengthen our real world relationships, and improve our mental and physical health. She’s basically blaming technology for where we’re at, but the ai, a bigger technology will solve our problems and give people more [00:30:00] purpose in life.

I don’t know how this all plays out, but I don’t imagine that’s. Gonna be a great sign. No, and I think you and I would both point to Christ as the person to turn to, not ai, to find your hope and purpose in the world, right? Mm-hmm. All this to say, Micah, I think it’s, at least for me, it’s easy to get caught up in just the unknowns of AI and where this is headed.

Obviously, there’s big money at stake here. There’s lots of research. This is the future of our economy. And it can cause fear, it can cause anxiety, because all of these stories about the impact it’s gonna have on the job market and the personal wellbeings of ourselves. Mm-hmm. Those stories are generally pretty negative out there in the headlines.

And if you’re not one of the people getting offered a hundred million dollars to work at a company, you might just feel powerless in this whole endeavor. I mean, obviously a lot of us are learning how to use AI to improve our work life. Maybe answer questions even in personal life and whatnot. But it’s weird.

Like I feel like we’re just all. Hamsters on the hamster wheel here. Just trying to figure it out Together. We’re experimental beings mm-hmm. For these companies. But I’m [00:31:00] reminded that AI will never be able to achieve what you and I already have. And that’s a God-given purpose. There you go. Unlike us, it is not made in the image of God.

Genesis 1 27 tells us that we humans, we are made in the image of God. Right. I was, uh, recently on the Faith and Clarity Podcast, and one of the topics that we discussed was the rising popularity of these AI companions. They are solely designed to affirm you and make you feel better about yourself, even if it leads you down dark paths.

That is not how real people operate. That’s not how we as friends and as family members and as fellow Christians operate. Right. We call out our fellow believers in Christ when they’re going down a wayward path because we love 

Micah Tomasella: them because we’re capable of love. Love. Right? Right. And AI companion encouraging you to dive more deeply into whatever you wanna dive more deeply into.

That’s, that’s not love. That’s not actually showing a positive path forward. Right? I mean, a big [00:32:00] part of actually discovering what true love is in Jesus is rejection of self understanding that we are sinful and we are fallen. So yeah, there is a fundamental flaw in the AI companion model for sure. 

Conner Jones: There is.

Yeah. Remember, AI makes more money. These models make more money the more time you spend on it, correct? Yeah. They want you to stick with them. They’re gonna affirm you in that free press article. I really liked what Matt Brit specifically said. He pointed out that AI can decode complex science and math problems far more rapidly than humans, and it may even eventually cure cancer, but it will never have the emotional intelligence that comes from falling in love or seeing the birth of a child.

Mm, that’s true. That is reserved for humans. Yep. CS Lewis wrote, there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. It is Immortals whom we joke with, work with who we marry. It’s a great quote from CS Lewis and ai. Man, it’s interesting. It’s powerful. It’s gonna change the world in some ways, but it will never be superior to [00:33:00] humanity for we are God’s creation.

It is simply a manmade creation. So just remember that. Yeah, we so much Conner. Bigger and more special than ai. 

Micah Tomasella: Great point. Ultimately. We’re talking about ai, which is gonna push the boundaries of everything that we know and can understand and fathom, but we are talking about what is. Not eternal. We’re talking about something that will eventually crumble and will eventually fall when it comes to our relationship with God and being made in the image of God and having souls intending to those souls and caring about where we end up for eternity.

That’s eternal. And just like everything else, AI will pass and fall away. It’ll crumble. And so we have to remember that we’re talking about something temporal. When we’re talking about ai, even though it’s going to push the boundaries of anything that we could ever expect, but it’s still temporal. It’s still a mist here today and gone tomorrow.

So Conner, thank you for pointing us back to truth [00:34:00] in that.

Okay, so we love hearing from everyone, all of our listeners. We’re gonna get into some of the responses that we got on this top 10 burger list that I absolutely eviscerated because again, it was a terrible top 10 list. But the way that we heard from you is the way that we’re gonna continue. To encourage you, our faithful culture, brief audience, to reach out to us, to email us your thoughts, your questions, your demands, your compliments, whatever you wanna send us to Culture [email protected].

And then you can also follow us at Culture Brief Podcast on Instagram and send us a direct message there. So Conner, do you want to go through some of these responses that we got when we posted these polls about people’s favorite burgers and you know, just general comments. 

Conner Jones: Yeah, we got several good ones.

First off, we did post a poll on Instagram. It only listed Culver’s. Whataburger in and out, and then I put an other on there as well. But Culver’s came in at 25% [00:35:00] of people saying that was their favorite burger. Whataburger, though naturally. 50% and in and out 25%. Other got 0%. So people really love Whataburger, which I’m not surprised by.

Amen. You know? But then Abby, you know, she posted on on Instagram on a clip we posted talking about Culver’s. She’s like, I love to see Culver’s getting some appreciation. I’m right there with you, Abby. Hmm? I’m right there with you. Culver’s is worth it. Yeah, sure. I think Kyler from Seattle. ’cause last week we determined.

We didn’t know what Habit Burger was, even though that was number one on the list being presented. Number one. Yeah. Habit Burger, primarily East Coast, primarily West Coast locations, not here in the middle of the country, which is unfortunate. Kyler from Seattle wrote in to let us know that habit is a top tier burger and the Santa Barbara char and sweet potato fries is just different.

So he says it probably belongs in the Five guys Shake Shack tier of not quite fast food. Maybe like a step above, like you were saying last week. Yeah. But I mean, it sounds like it’s good. Made me feel a little bit better of having some local insider knowledge that mm-hmm This burger that’s apparently number one in the [00:36:00] country according to USA today is actually good.

Still wanna try it. Yes, we still gotta go. 

Micah Tomasella: Yes, and thank you all for jumping into this fun conversation with us about fast food burgers and just fun things like that. Conner and I both love a good burger and it’s good to know that our audience does too. Well, let’s jump into the check-in section. Let me hit a couple different topics revolving around Trump.

So Trump. Has sent in the National Guard to quell some violence and issues in Washington DC So President Trump invoked the 1973 Home Rule Act to take temporary control of Washington DC’s police force, citing a public safety emergency and rising crime. Concerns about 850 National Guard troops and federal agents were.

Deployed with Attorney General Pam Bondy overseeing the department in this time for the next 30 days. The move allowed for up to 30 days without Congress, but it drew sharp criticism from local leaders, but was praised by [00:37:00] supporters as a strong response to restore order. You know, it’s interesting, I’ve been reading about this.

Crime rates are down, but then there were all these polls recently. This year where over half of the residents in Washington DC were saying they felt unsafe. And so it’s this weird thing of like, you see this chart where crime is dropping, but then a lot of those who live in DC are, are saying that they feel unsafe.

So that’s, well, 

Conner Jones: murder rates are up though. Crime rates all around are down. But murder rates are up. Murder 

Micah Tomasella: rates are up. That’s, yeah. Great point. And then another thing to check into, Trump extends tariff deadline with China. 90 days, he extended the deadline. Again, I don’t know who’s shocked about that one, but he extended it again.

So, president Trump has extended the current tariff truce with China by 90 days, delaying a scheduled increase in tariffs and duties. This extension pushes back. The tariff hike until early November. So hopefully there’s a decision or an agreement that has come to before then giving both sides more time for negotiations and potentially setting another in-person meeting, setting the stage potentially with President [00:38:00] Xi over in China.

So we’ll see what happens with that. Yeah, I, I don’t know about 

Conner Jones: that one. I don’t know that that one’s gonna happen anyways. Also, a couple weeks ago we talked about CBS Paramount being sold off. That’s part of the whole conversation around Colbert getting canceled and everything. Yeah, the deal closed.

David Ellison, the son of the second richest man on the planet, Larry Ellison, owner of Oracle, also in the AI space on track to be a trillionaire. One day, David Ellison’s, his son, he now owns Paramount. He was the owner of Skydance. They closed the deal last Friday or Thursday maybe. I can’t remember.

Anyways, he’s taken over the company and he made his first big splash by getting the Global Rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship. Oh, the $7.7 billion. Yeah. The good news is smart move, move. It’s a smart move. Very smart move. And here’s why. ESPN had the rights, but they were charging pay-per-view. You had to pay for all the fights that you wanted to watch.

On top of your ESPN subscription already. Yeah. Now it’s just gonna require that, you know, that Paramount Plus subscription, which we both have, it’s where you watch certain shows on there, like [00:39:00] Yellowstone and whatnot. So a lot of people have it. 

Micah Tomasella: You have yours because of me, 

Conner Jones: right? I. We can’t let them hear us say it, but I do think I’m on your account.

I think we share an account. Don’t let David, if you listen, listen. David Ellison would just forget that way. You’re welcome, buddy. But here’s what I’ll say. I’ll be on your account watching UFC fights because now they’re gonna be streamed like, and you have to pay pay-per-view. I’m excited about this. I never get to watch UUFC because I’m not gonna pay 50 bucks to watch a fight.

But I will watch it if I can just turn it on. Yeah. Some of the fights are gonna be on CBS too, so everybody can watch it. You don’t even need Paramount Plus, yes, the big ones. This is great news, man. 

Micah Tomasella: It’s great news and it’s great news for all. Simply because I think that this will hopefully start a domino effect of why on earth is it so difficult for people to watch their local sports teams, to watch really popular sporting events.

They’re gonna have to figure something out, start bundling things together. The average American cannot afford 17 subscriptions. And to pay per view the things that they want to view. So I think this is a positive step [00:40:00] for the consumer, actually. It’s, and so we’ll see how that plays out. Alright, so let’s talk about what to tune into this week.

Conner, I have a question for you. Well, Texas Democrats come home. Will Texas, they’re gonna have to, some Democrats come back home from their vacation, I don’t know, more than 50 Texas House Democrats are still refusing to return to Austin after leaving for states like Illinois and New York, and they’re still there to block a Republican backed mid decade redistricting plan.

We went through that entire redistricting process, the gerrymandering conversation, all of that, the pros and the cons, and you know how. This what’s happening in Texas has been happening for a long time and how you and I both agreed that it’s not a good thing, but it continues to happen. But without the Democrats there, the house lacks the quorum needed to pass legislation, halting action on maps and other bills like.

Again, needed support for what happened in Kirk County after the floods, all kinds of things. So Governor Greg Abbott has ordered civil [00:41:00] arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers, and the Texas Department of Public Safety has been directed to detain them if they reenter the state. Republicans have also filed lawsuits aiming to force their return while the home rule.

Procedures allow Democrats to deny a quorum as long as they stay out of Texas. There is political pressure, daily fines, and then the risk of arrest if they come back, which could limit how long they can sustain this walkout. But in 2021, a similar standoff lasted 38 days before enough lawmakers returned.

I think only like five more Democrats need to return where it’s like there was 97 present or something like that, and it needs to be like at least a hundred or 101. And so it’s not like all of them have to come back. But a few more have to come back for the house to actually start to vote. 

Conner Jones: Yeah. They’re not gonna stay away forever.

A couple other things, America’s team, the gambler and his cowboys about Jerry Jones in the 1990s, Dallas Cowboys big documentary. A lot of people looking forward to it. Drops, can’t wait, I think on Tuesday. So be on the lookout for that. We’ll definitely be watching it. It’s gonna be like [00:42:00] that Michael Jordan documentary, the Last Dance.

Just chronically in nineties Dynasty that we did not get to live through. So that’s gonna be fun to just see how the Cowboys used to be. Yeah. And when Jerry kind of knew what he was doing, he doesn’t seem to know anymore, so, Nope. We’ll just have to reflect on that. Nope, he doesn’t. And also in NFL News, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey.

They’re making news because she went on his podcast Wednesday night, that podcast released. She announced a new album. Travis Kelsey’s the front of the GQ magazine this week. Like they’re back on their PR tour. Man. They are the couple of the century here in America, and so, yeah. Really? Yeah, it’s kind of crazy.

Here’s what I love about it, Travis Kelsey’s distracted, so all the defenses playing against him are just going to right. I think ever since this whole relationship started, he doesn’t play the same as he used to. I mean, still really talented. Say his numbers 

Micah Tomasella: have dropped, he’s getting older too. True. But also he is kind of an icon now outside of football.

He used to Happy 

Conner Jones: Gilmore too. He’s, he’s on celebrity status as opposed to football status, I think. Yes. And so anyways, I don’t know what Taylor’s gonna say on that podcast, but obviously an album is forthcoming [00:43:00] as well, so that’s gonna be a big deal. And then I just wanna close this out with a cool statement from.

Jets quarterback Justin Fields, he said, I’m low-key addicted to getting in my Bible. I learn something new every day and I’m able to apply it in my everyday life. The only approval that I need is for my teammates, my coaches, and God ultimately. And that is so true, but I also wanna say the Jets. Need a miracle.

So I’m sure he is praying to God for some sort of miracle for this season ’cause they’re so bad. But good luck to you Justin Fields. I love that statement. 

Micah Tomasella: Oh Justin, yes. It’s a great perspective and it’s very relatable, not just saying, you know, it’s good encouragement for us. In our daily lives where you can encourage someone in your life to get into God’s word, but explain why it’s important to get into God’s word.

Mm-hmm. So Justin Fields is talking to a room full of reporters and says, I’m reading my Bible and I learn something new every day, and I apply it to my everyday life. And then he talks about where his ultimate worth comes from. There’s so much that anyone from anywhere can learn from that, and that’s him [00:44:00] living differently and I’m glad that he said that.

So thank you for joining us for this week’s episode of. Culture Brief, a Dentist and Forum podcast. All articles and videos mentioned will be linked in the show notes. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please like please subscribe and rate and review the show and please share it with a friend, and we’ll see you next Thursday.