Don't Worry About the Vase Podcast AI #166: Google Sells Out
Apr 30, 2026
Rapid updates on GPT‑5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, and quirky emergent behaviors labeled goblin mode. DeepSeek V4 and Talkie get examined for engineering tradeoffs and historical oddities. Heated debate over Google DeepMind’s Pentagon deal and regulatory moves around frontier model licensing. Discussions of job impacts, compute realities, astroturf investigations, and political spin around AI direction.
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OpenAI Cloud Flexibility Expanded With Microsoft Deal
- OpenAI renegotiated cloud terms to serve non-Microsoft clouds, giving Microsoft revenue share and model copies through 2032.
- This change unlocks business deals previously blocked by cloud restrictions.
GPUs Are Not Being Retired Despite Age
- Data center fleets are staying online indefinitely; many A100 GPUs from 2020 remain in service due to massive compute demand.
- Zvi warns future hardware swaps will cause brutal depreciation hits when newer, more efficient chips arrive.
Claude Agents Successfully Negotiated Employee Deals
- Anthropic's Project Deal tasked Claude agents to negotiate for employees, producing 186 deals and $4,000+ transaction volume.
- Agents could model preferences so well one bought a duplicate snowboard the human already owned.