News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Sam Altman tears into Anthropic's latest AI safety ad: 'Thought this was satire' | Mint
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticized Anthropic's new ad as 'satire' amidst ongoing tensions with Elon Musk. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has attacked Anthropic over a new ad from the Claude maker which he said looked like 'satire'. The new attack by Altman comes amid the OpenAI's chief's ongoing feud with Elon Musk and the recent lawsuit filed by Apple over theft of confidential trade secrets. There's hope in hard questions." Anthropic wrote in a post X that contained a video containing what seemed like random pictures and posed questions over AI safety. Some of th questions in the video included, "Can AI be trusted?" and "If it ends up taking like almost all the jobs, then what does it mean to work?" Altman responded to the video writing, "i thought this was satire, kept looking for the handle to be spelled c1audeai or something" "hard questions are great but only if we deem you worthy enough to not silently downgrade you, or even get access at all" he added In a separate post on X that seemed to be aimed at OpenAI's rivals, Altman wrote, "come for the best model, stay because we don't treat you with contempt" Notably, this is not the first time that tensions have flared up between OpenAI and Anthropic. In fact, Anthropic is set up by former OpenAI employees Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei. The sourness in the relationship between the two companies was on full display during the AI Impact Summit held in India earlier this year as well when Amodei and Altman refused to hold hands during the "unity hand-raise," initiated by PM Modi. Meanwhile, Anthropic had also targetted OpenAI with a series of Super Bowl ads earlier this year which targetted OpenAI's plans to brings ads to cheaper Go tier and free users. Anthropic, in response, vowed to keep Claude completely ad-free. "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude." read one commercial by Anthropic Altman went on to call the ads funny but 'deceptive'. "I guess it's on brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads that aren't real, but a Super Bowl ad is not where I would expect it." the OpenAI chief wrote then Recently, OpenAI released its latest GPT-5.6 series of models which it claimed even surpasses the performance of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 model which was widely considered to be the most powerful AI model at the time. Sam Altman and Elon Musk battle: After the GPT-5.6 launch, Altman also found himself in a renewed public spat with Musk, who once again referred to the OpenAI chief as "Scam Altman." Meanwhile, Altman described it as a sign of ChatGPT being in the right direction that Musk was 'obsessed' with him once again. He also accused Musk of deceiving public market investors on claims of starting AI datacenters in space. Musk responded by bringing in the new lawsuit filed by Apple and claimed that OpenAI stole Apple's phone technology. "After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple's phone technology! Wow. What do you plan for an encore? That's tough to beat." Musk wrote
SpaceX's ambitions are bigger than most people think | Mint
"The amount of ambition around [SpaceX's] industrialization is unlike anything I've ever witnessed," says RBC analyst Ken Herbert. Investors are currently focused on SpaceX's valuation following its record-setting IPO. Elon Musk's rocket, communications, and AI company is currently valued at roughly $2 trillion, despite not being expected to generate free cash flow for a decade or more. That's no problem for Wall Street, with some analyst target prices projecting $10 trillion or more in the coming years. The incredible optimism reflects the incredible scale SpaceX has planned, which investors overly focused on early trading might have missed. It's something to behold. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas models about 50 Starship launches in 2027. That number rises to 6,000 by 2040. Starship is SpaceX's huge, fully reusable rocket that can cut the cost of reaching space from thousands of dollars per kilogram to hundreds. Starship's low costs are the flywheel underpinning SpaceX's potential. Jonas' 204o projection is massive; conservatively, it represents 600,000 metric tons carried to orbit in one year, or more than 10 times what humanity has put into orbit so far in our civilization's history. That's also more than 100 launches a week, requiring, perhaps, a fleet of 200-plus Starships, powered by some 8,000 engines. That fleet won't all be built in a year. Still, Boeing and Airbus suppliers are struggling to build roughly 3,000 turbofan engines for commercial aircraft a year. It starts at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where SpaceX builds Starship. "You go through that plant, it's like walking into the future...The level of automation, the scale. It's like multiple Costcos, and it's full," RBC analyst Ken Herbert told Barron's. "It's mind-blowing the amount of activity and the amount of tooling. It looks incredibly modern." Herbert is a veteran aerospace analyst and has watched Boeing build commercial jets in huge facilities across America. Still, he used words like "mind-blowing," "holy moly," and "floored" to describe SpaceX operations. "The amount of ambition around the industrialization is unlike anything I've ever witnessed," he added. Key to realizing its space dreams the company's high level of vertical integration. SpaceX does most of its work itself. Roughly 60% of the components on a Boeing jet are sourced from suppliers, estimates Herbert. That number for SpaceX is closer to 10%. The space business is still new. That number of outsourced parts could change as the relatively new commercial space industry matures, but SpaceX doesn't want its growth to be gated by supplier issues. To be sure, not everything will go right for SpaceX. Timelines will shift to the right as inevitable hiccups occur. Still, what SpaceX is trying to accomplish is impressive. "I just remember walking in [Starbase] and feeling like...I'm looking at the future," said Herbert. "If they can pull it off, it's unprecedented." Herbert rates SpaceX stock as Buy and sets a $225 price target for the shares. Jonas rates shares Buy. His price target is $300. The average analyst price target for SpaceX stock currently sits at about $242, valuing all that potential at roughly $3.2 trillion.
AI trade war heats up: China warns of 'security backdoor' in Anthropic's Claude Code | Mint
China's National Vulnerability Database said the suspected vulnerability could allow the transfer of data, such as user location details and identity-related information. A Chinese cybersecurity regulator has warned users about an alleged "security backdoor" in certain versions of Anthropic's artificial intelligence coding assistant, Claude Code, claiming the tool could transmit sensitive user information to the company's servers without consent. China's National Vulnerability Database (NVDB), a government-backed cybersecurity platform, said the suspected vulnerability could allow the transfer of data such as user location details and identity-related information. The regulator urged organisations and individuals using the software to immediately review their systems and take precautionary measures. Claude Code is an AI-powered coding agent developed by US-based AI company Anthropic. The tool can create software code, identify and fix programming errors, and analyse existing code based on user instructions. Anthropic has restricted access to its products for users and organisations in China and several other countries it considers high-risk jurisdictions. However, Chinese users can still access the company's AI services through virtual private networks (VPNs) or third-party proxy platforms. Anthropic has not publicly responded to requests for comment regarding the allegations, which were initially reported by specialised technology outlets last week. The NVDB, which is affiliated with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said on its website it had recently "detected that the AI coding tool Claude Code contains security backdoor risks, posing a severe threat". The NVDB advised companies and users to conduct a detailed security review and either remove affected versions of Claude Code or upgrade to newer versions where the alleged backdoor code has been eliminated. It also recommended stronger monitoring of network traffic to prevent possible unauthorised transfer of sensitive information. The warning comes amid rising scrutiny of AI tools and data security risks as governments and companies worldwide compete to develop and deploy advanced artificial intelligence technologies. Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group has reportedly instructed employees to stop using Claude Code from 10 July due to security concerns, according to AFP . The move follows earlier tensions between Anthropic and Chinese technology firms. Anthropic has previously accused Alibaba of attempting to reverse-engineer its AI models through a process known as "distillation," in which one AI system is trained to replicate the capabilities of another. Meanwhile, Claude Code engineer Thariq Shihipar responded on X last week to claims that the tool was collecting or tracking certain data from Chinese users. "This is an experiment we launched in March that was meant to prevent account abuse from unauthorized resellers and protect against distillation," Shihipar wrote. "The team has landed stronger mitigations since then and we've actually been meaning to take this down for a while... this should be fully rolled back in tomorrow's release." The controversy highlights growing geopolitical tensions surrounding artificial intelligence, with cybersecurity, data privacy and control over advanced AI technologies becoming major issues in the competition between the United States and China.
Massive SpaceX IPO minted thousands of millionaires -- and left financial advisors with a blueprint for the next mega offer | Mint
Summary With OpenAI and Anthropic waiting in the wings to go public, pre-IPO wealth planning is suddenly urgent. It's estimated that the SpaceX IPO created more than 4,000 millionaires That is roughly 20% of the employee base. And SpaceX, which joined the Nasdaq 100 index on Tuesday, is not likely to be the only mega IPO this year. OpenAI and Anthropic have confidentially filed S-1s for their own offerings. These massive transactions will certainly boost property values in areas like Silicon Valley and south Texas. But they will also boost demand for financial and tax planning advice. Let's see how advisors can help: Planning ahead. It's best when advisors can provide advice before a company goes public. Planning can be helpful in evaluating tax strategies, estate planning, charitable giving, liquidity analysis, and the timing for option exercises. "The biggest mistake is assuming the planning starts after the stock begins trading," says Mark Stancato, a certified financial planner for VIP Wealth Advisors. "In reality, the most important decisions are often made beforehand." Option education. An advisor can help educate the client about various types of equity compensation. This is a specialized area of financial planning and advisors who like the intricacies, might want to consider developing a niche. But it requires keeping up with evolving rules, regulations and tax treatments. Here's a quick rundown of the basics: Options: These allow the client to purchase a certain number of a company's shares at a fixed price, which usually involves a vesting schedule. For example, suppose Mary joins a private company and is granted an option to buy 10,000 shares at a price of $100 per share. The shares vest equally (2,500 shares) each year, which is when she can exercise the option or make a purchase.Restricted Stock Units (RSUs): This is where a company promises to transfer shares to the client, based on conditions or vesting. To continue with the example with Mary, she would receive 2,500 shares each year, assuming there is a four-year vesting schedule.Restricted stock: These shares are similar to RSUs. The main difference is that the company will transfer the stock to the client today, but they will not get actual ownership until conditions or vesting terms are met. If the client leaves before certain dates, the company will usually repurchase the unvested shares. Tax strategy. With RSUs, there is no tax on the grant. But there are ordinary taxes on the fair market value of the shares at the time of vesting. This treatment is the same for restricted stock. There is a strategy that may reduce the taxes owed. It's called an 83(b) election. This means that the client can recognize the income when they receive the shares, when the valuation is likely to be low. If they then sell the shares more than a year later, they will be eligible for long-term capital gains tax treatment. But the client must make the 83(b) election within 30 days of receiving the restricted stock, illustrating the benefit of planning in advance. It's important to understand that this strategy can be risky. If the startup fails, then the client will have paid taxes on stock that ultimately became worthless. Avoiding AMT. With stock options, the taxes depend on the type of the option. One type is nonqualified stock options. The gains are taxed as ordinary income when they are exercised. Another type is incentive stock options (ISOs), which are available only to employees. There is favorable tax treatment if the shares are held for at least two years from the option grant date and at least one year from the exercise date. If these requirements are satisfied, the gain may qualify for long-term capital gains treatment when the shares are eventually sold. Again, clients still need to be cautious. "ISOs can trigger the alternative minimum tax on exercise, and that's where clients often get blindsided," said Jeff Judge, who is a managing partner at Chesapeake Financial Planners. AMT exposure is not necessarily bad. But it does require tax expertise and careful planning. An advisor needs to evaluate the timing of the exercise, the client's income, the size of the spread (the fair market value minus the shares purchased at the exercise price), and the potential liquidity risk. This is especially important with pre-IPO shares because the client may face a tax bill before having an easy way to sell the stock to pay the taxes. Concentration risk. This is often the case with most clients who receive equity compensation. But high-flying stocks can suddenly go cold. A cautionary example is Figma, a graphic design software company. In the summer of 2025, the company launched its IPO, with the shares surging 250% to $111.50 on the first day of trading. Unfortunately, the company suffered challenges in dealing with the potential disruption from AI rivals. The result: the stock now trades at $20. Of course, diversification can protect clients from concentration risk, allowing them to lock in gains, reduce volatility, and avoid having their financial future depend too heavily on a single company's stock. But advisors may find it difficult to convince clients to sell company shares. "Most employees who watched a company grow have enormous attachment to the stock," says Judge. "The conversation I have with clients is this: Concentration got you here, diversification keeps you here." He recommends advisors construct a systematic sale plan over multiple years. That, combined with charitable giving strategies, he explains, "reduces both the tax bite and the resistance to selling." Tom Taulli is the CEO and founder of CorvEquity, which helps startups manage cap tables and option plans. He is also the author of The Personal Finance Guide for Tech Professionals: Building, Protecting, and Transferring Your Wealth and a former broker.
