GOOD GAME: Booing AI, Musk loses, BYD and public transit win, empty Waymos

GOOD GAME: Booing AI, Musk loses, BYD and public transit win, empty Waymos

Free Float Media

The Good Game

1. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed by graduates at mention of AI

   1. And yet: College students are booing commencement speakers celebrating AI, but the wave of hate hasn’t stopped them from using it to cheat on their exams

2. Elon Musk loses court battle against Sam Altman and OpenAI after 3-week trial

   1. A federal jury in Oakland, California, on Monday said Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman over claims they allegedly violated an agreement to run their artificial intelligence venture strictly as a charitable nonprofit.

   2. The advisory jury’s verdict, which came after less than two hours of deliberations, was immediately adopted by District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

   3. In a post on his social network X, Musk called the decision a “calendar technicality … There is no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity. The only question is WHEN they did it!”

      1. And yet: Jury Throws Out Musk's OpenAI Lawsuit in Under Two Hours, Clearing Path for Sam Altman's IPO

3. Pope Leo launches an AI commission days before he releases a papal letter alongside Anthropic cofounder Christopher Olah

   1. The Vatican is treating AI as a core moral issue, not a side topic.

   2. Pope Leo is moving fast: a new AI commission lands just before his first major AI-focused encyclical.

   3. The message is clearly human-centered: dignity, justice, labor, and protection of people come first.

   4. Bringing in Anthropic cofounder Christopher Olah signals the Church wants direct dialogue with top AI builders, not just criticism from the sidelines.

   5. This looks like an attempt to shape AI norms early, before the technology’s social impact hardens into policy and culture

4. The AI economy is rewriting the American Dream — and blue-collar workers are poised to win

   1. The rapid spread of AI across corporate America is creating a crisis for young adults with college degrees who are finding a slowdown in hiring for entry-level positions in AI-exposed industries.

   2. And yet: Don’t hold your breath for the great AI job reshuffle, says Goldman Sachs—there’s little evidence of ‘too many coders and not enough plumbers’

   3. And yet: Despite degrees being slammed as ‘useless’ by Gen Z, data shows graduates have had the lowest unemployment rate of anyone for the last 20 years

5. DSE, IFC host 'women on boards' session to strengthen female corporate leadership

   1. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) PLC and International Finance Corporation (IFC) jointly organized an on-boarding session titled "Women on Boards (WOB)" aimed at enhancing women's participation in corporate leadership and decision-making processes.

6. Starbucks Korea sacks CEO over controversial 'Tank Day' promotion

   1. Starbucks Korea thought it would be a brilliant idea to promote their new "Tank" line of coffee tumblers by declaring a special marketing event called "Tank Day." The catastrophic oversight? They launched it on May 18—the highly sensitive national anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. For South Koreans, the word "tank" on this specific day immediately evokes the horrific memory of the military dictatorship deploying actual armored tanks to brutally crush and massacre pro-democracy protesters

   2. The promotion featured the tagline: "put it on the table with a sound of 'Tak!'" (or "thwack on the desk"). In South Korea, "Tak!" is chillingly famous. In 1987, when the military regime tried to cover up the torture-induced death of student activist Park Jong-chul, police absurdly claimed the student just suddenly collapsed and died because an investigator struck a desk, making a "tak" sound

   3. Son Jung-hyun (Sohn Jeong-hyun), the CEO of Starbucks Korea, was summarily fired within hours of the campaign going live

      1. the retail conglomerate that operates Starbucks Korea (Shinsegae Group) also fired the unnamed executive who planned and oversaw the campaign, while launching disciplinary proceedings against every other employee who let this pass the review stage.

         1. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin was reportedly "furious" and ordered the immediate sacking of the CEO to "make an example."

         2. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung them as "low-class peddlers" engaging in "inhumane, bottom-feeding behavior" that mocked a blood-stained struggle for basic human rights

         3. Starbucks US headquarters reportedly apologized as well, saying it deeply regretted the “unacceptable” marketing incident

7. BYD surges, Toyota falters as oil crisis boosts EVs in Australia AND Gas prices are rising. So is public transit ridership

   1. And yet: EPA Claims ‘Overwhelming Rejection’ of EVs as It Moves to Loosen Air Pollution Rules

SPEED ROUND

8. Free gas from Cracker Barrel this summer: Here’s how you can get it

9. Sports Illustrated Just Deleted Every Article by One of Its Writers After Accusation of AI Plagiarism

10. Mayor Zohran Mamdani says first of NYC's five government-run grocery stores will open in the Bronx next year

11. AI CEOs Baffled by Hatred of Their Technology

12. Southwest Airlines is banning humanoid and animal-like robots from its flights after a robot flies to Dallas

13. Swarm of Empty Waymos Descends on Unsuspecting Suburb, Circle Cul-de-Sacs for Hours on End Like Strange Ghosts

14. Being a Crappy Boss to AI Chatbots Pushes Them Toward Spouting Marxist Rhetoric and Organizing With Their Compatriots, Researchers Find

15. Elon Musk Says If We Don't Do Something About Corruption And Waste, 'The Ship Of America Is Going To Sink' —And We're All Going Down With It

16. Hantavirus Ship Has Docked in Rotterdam As Its Passengers Face a 42-Day Quarantine Amid Nonexistence Cure