Key Takeaways
- California's proposed wealth tax on billionaires draws fierce opposition from founders like Naval and Garry Tan.
- GLM 5.3 emerges as a low-cost, open cybersecurity model with top DeepsecBench scores.
- AI intelligence per joule has improved 18x in 16 months, potentially reducing compute demands.
- SpaceX sets a new launch cadence record and hits 650 orbital recoveries.
- Replit's app is now live on the App Store.
1. AI Models, Infrastructure, and Efficiency
Guillermo Rauch highlights GLM 5.3 as a new open frontier for cybersecurity, with substantially lower costs. The same budget can run security evaluations at least 3x more often, and it is the highest-scoring open model on DeepsecBench at roughly one-third the cost of some proprietary models. It will soon be available on AI Gateway. — via 1
GPT 5.6 Sol is now available at a 50% discount on AI Gateway until September 18, 2026, covering both standard and fast modes. — via 1
Elon Musk notes AI intelligence per joule improved 18x in 16 months and continues to improve. Amjad Masad agrees, suggesting running AGI may not require data-center-scale compute, which could reshape infrastructure and energy economics. — via 1 2
2. AI Policy, Regulation, and Economic Debate
Naval and Garry Tan sharply criticize Ro Khanna's proposed California wealth tax. Naval argues founders would be forced to leave California and that taxing unrealized gains is unworkable, while Garry stresses founders are "cash-poor, stock-rich" and investors may demand "not in California" as a precondition. — via 1 2 3 4
Naval accuses Anthropic's Dario of a strawman response, arguing regulatory capture is real. He claims Anthropic is hiring former officials and building a government affairs network to push a favorable regulatory framework, and that approval-based regulation would slow the US and weaken open-source competition. — via 1
Paul Graham and Garry Tan both argue economic inequality is mainly driven by technology making it easier to start and scale companies, not by tax policy changes. — via 1 2
Amjad Masad criticizes optimistic AI job displacement narratives, saying that limiting impact to "entry-level" jobs and focusing on 50% replacement while selling more AI is essentially marketing. — via 1
3. Product Launches and Company Milestones
Replit's app is now available on the App Store, announced by Amjad Masad. — via 1
SpaceX set a new record by launching two Falcon 9 rockets just 38.5 minutes apart, and reached 650 orbital-class rocket recoveries, from the first on Dec 21, 2015 to the 650th on Aug 15, 2026. — via 1 2
Tesla China saw strong results: Model Y was the best-selling midsize SUV in China last month with 25,158 retail units, ranking third across all brands. Tesla China wholesale volumes reached 93,579 units, up 37.8% year over year. — via 1
Starlink is providing free service to new and existing users in areas hit by the Indonesia earthquake and Hawaii's Hurricane Lala, through September 16 and 17 respectively, coordinating with emergency agencies to restore communications. — via 1 2
Ryan Hoover built a browser extension for investors and is recruiting full-time early-stage investors for beta testing. — via 1
Jason Fried's AI agent "lvl" can now automatically investigate customer issues, schedule posts, and answer questions in Basecamp, with plans to manage projects. — via 1
