- NATURAL 20
- Posts
- Ilya Sutskever Warns of AI Explosion
Ilya Sutskever Warns of AI Explosion
PLUS: OpenAI Disputes Robinhood Token Claims, OpenAI Secures Oracle Compute Power and more.

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.
Today:
Ilya Sutskever Warns of AI Explosion
Microsoft Plans 9,000 Job Cuts
Perplexity Launches New Max Plan
OpenAI Disputes Robinhood Token Claims
OpenAI Secures Oracle Compute Power
Ilya Sutskever's SHOCKING Superintelligence Warning "extremely unpredictable and unimaginable"
AI researcher Ilya Sutskever stays mostly out of the spotlight, yet his ideas spread widely online. He warns that advanced systems may soon start improving their own code—a loop called self-improvement—which could cause rapid, uncontrollable progress known as an intelligence explosion.
Sutskever’s new firm, Safe Superintelligence, reportedly declined Meta’s $32 billion offer, hinting he believes his research is more valuable than money. He urges urgent planning for unpredictable, unimaginable AI impacts.
Microsoft will cut up to 9,000 jobs—4 % of its staff—while pouring $80 billion into new data-centers (large buildings packed with computers) to power artificial intelligence. The layoffs span several units, reportedly hitting Xbox, and follow 6,000 cuts in May. The company is betting that AI will steer work and daily life for the next 50 years, hiring AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman and backing OpenAI, even as that partnership shows strain. Microsoft cites dynamic markets and needed reorganization for the move.
Why this matters
Massive compute build-out – The $80 billion data-center plan adds huge computer capacity, raising the ceiling for training larger, more capable AI models.
Workforce shake-up – Layoffs signal how traditional tech roles are being reshaped as companies pivot resources toward AI, hinting at broader job-market shifts.
Strategic alignment – Microsoft’s deepening focus, from hiring Suleyman to investing in OpenAI, influences industry direction, research funding, and future AI regulation.
Perplexity has launched Perplexity Max, a new top-tier paid plan aimed at people who want its strongest AI tools. Max gives users unlimited access to Labs—software that lets you build dashboards, slides, and apps—early entry to fresh features like the Comet AI browser, and priority use of leading models such as OpenAI o3-pro and Claude Opus 4. The service targets professionals, researchers, and creators who need rapid AI support daily.
Why this matters
Bigger model playground – Max unlocks cutting-edge models for everyday users, widening real-world testing and feedback loops.
Premium monetization signal – A high-end tier shows how AI firms plan to fund costly model training through layered subscriptions.
Early-access ecosystem – By giving Max users first crack at tools like the Comet browser, Perplexity speeds up feature vetting and pushes rivals to innovate faster.
OpenAI disavows Robinhood’s sale of “OpenAI tokens,” warning that the tokens do not grant equity. Robinhood says buyers gain indirect exposure through a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) holding OpenAI shares, but purchasers only receive blockchain contracts that mirror share prices. OpenAI insists any equity transfer needs its approval and none was granted. The episode highlights conflicts over tokenizing private-company stock, potential investor confusion, and regulatory scrutiny may follow.
Why this matters
Protecting trust in leading labs – OpenAI’s swift rebuttal guards its reputation and clarifies ownership rules, critical as AI firms seek large private investments.
AI meets decentralized finance – The clash spotlights new gray areas where blockchain tokenization collides with private AI-company equity, shaping future regulations.
Hype versus reality check – Retail demand for “AI tokens” shows how excitement can be misused, signaling the need for clear communication to keep the AI sector credible.
🧠RESEARCH
GLM-4.1V-Thinking is a powerful vision-language AI model that excels at tasks involving images, text, and reasoning. Trained using reinforcement learning and smart sampling, it beats similar models on 28 benchmarks and rivals even much larger systems. The 9B version is open-source and performs strongly in STEM, coding, and document tasks.
SciArena is a public platform that lets researchers evaluate AI models on scientific reading and writing tasks. It uses community voting to rank model performance on real-world questions. With 13,000+ votes collected so far, it reveals gaps in current evaluation methods and provides a new benchmark to improve future assessments.
Does Math Reasoning Improve General LLM Capabilities? Understanding Transferability of LLM Reasoning
This study asks whether training AI on math improves its broader thinking skills. It finds that most math-tuned models don’t perform well outside math. However, models trained with reinforcement learning—rather than traditional methods—show stronger general abilities, suggesting we need better training strategies for reasoning across tasks.
🛠️TOP TOOLS
Niji Journey - AI-powered art generation application specialized in creating anime-style illustrations and artwork.
Knowbase AI - AI-powered tool designed to transform the way users store, access, and utilize their knowledge.
AskCodi - AI-powered platform designed to enhance the coding experience and provide comprehensive support for programmers.
BlackInk AI - Platform that has transformed the way tattoos are designed, leveraging the power of advanced artificial intelligence.
MyEssayWriter - Free AI Essay Writing tool
📲SOCIAL MEDIA
Let me play a video game of my veo 3 videos already.
Google cooked so good 👌
@OfficialLoganK playable world models wen?
— Jimmy Apples 🍎/acc (@apples_jimmy)
1:31 AM • Jul 2, 2025
🗞️MORE NEWS
OpenAI will rent huge amounts of computing power—about 4.5 gigawatts—from Oracle’s U.S. data centers. This major expansion supports its Stargate AI project and reflects rising energy demands of advanced artificial intelligence systems.
Meta has hired seven top AI researchers from OpenAI, offering up to $300 million over four years. The move boosts Meta’s superintelligence team as it competes with OpenAI despite disputes over offer details.X is testing AI-generated fact-checking notes using chatbots like Grok. These notes will be reviewed by humans before going public, but concerns remain over AI accuracy and overloading volunteer reviewers.
AI-powered virtual YouTubers like Bloo are earning millions by automating content creation. Tools from OpenAI, Google, and startups like Hedra enable creators to scale fast, but critics warn of low-effort "AI slop" flooding online platforms.
A new AI tool called iSeg can accurately outline lung tumors in 3D, even as they move with each breath—something doctors often miss. Trained on data from nine hospitals, it speeds up treatment planning and may improve cancer outcomes by catching hidden tumors.
What'd you think of today's edition? |
Reply