Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson · 2026-06-12 · 29 min
Ben and Andrew begin by talking through five questions on WWDC in 2026, including thoughts on Apple’s answer to the critics, whether Apple is or is not thinking different, decoding the Google partnership and Craig Federighi’s corporate speak, the wide gap between Siri AI and frontier AI, and why memory concerns are misplaced. From there: Explaining the Fable 5 guard rails, Anthropic safety concerns that align with Anthropic business incentives, Ben’s first impressions of the Fable 5 performance, and a week of Anthropic angst that adds additional context to the company’s standoff with the Department of War. At the end: Passing another checkpoint on the AI 2027 journey, Microsoft on the hot seat in the AI era, and the United States of YouTube.
(Preview) A Summer Break Mailbag: Memory Mania, Vibe Coding, Mafia PR, Caffeine Intake, Garages, and How to Fix Soccer60 / 100(Preview) The Anthropic Saga Continues, Fox and the Future of Streaming, Q&A on ChatGPT, Agentic Shopping, Autonomous Driving(Preview) SpaceX Hype and the Elon Bargain, Nvidia and the Neoclouds, Q&A on Dropbox, Google, Ferrari Luce Backlash(Preview) Inference in the Agentic Future, xAI Is Two Companies in One, Q&A on Elon’s Lawsuit, Intel, Apple(Preview) AWS History and Trainium’s AI Future, OpenAI Makes a Deal With Microsoft, Meta and the Future of Wearable Devices