The A.I. Algorithm Thing

Conflict

Irony: When the guys who've been pulling down big paychecks pimping the AI bubble to investors are among the people whose jobs are about to become obsolete.

JPMorgan’s AI push sparks fears of mass job losses on Wall Street

Speaking from Shanghai, Dimon stated, "There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, and it will make them more productive"

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JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a new interview that the bank will likely hire more artificial intelligence specialists and fewer traditional bankers.

Speaking from Shanghai, Dimon stated, "There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, and it will make them more productive." He added, "I think it will reduce our jobs down the road."

Dimon told Bloomberg News that JPMorgan's 10 percent annual attrition rate, affecting 25,000 to 30,000 employees, allows for gradual management. He suggested retraining staff, redeploying workers, or offering early retirement instead of large layoffs.

Dimon's comments align with a global trend of banks increasing AI investments, reshaping workforces and job roles. Standard Chartered, for example, plans to cut 7,000 jobs over four years, replacing "lower-value human capital" with technology.

This wider shift to AI-driven job cuts deepens concerns among investors and economists that AI will upend industries, with job losses emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

In April, Dimon made headlines when he warned the world would face “significant” interest rate shocks as a consequence of Donald Trump’s war on Iran.

Dimon said spiraling oil and gas prices, which have skyrocketed following Iran’s blockade of the key shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, and its attacks on regional energy infrastructure, would lead to “stickier” inflation that could push up interest rates.

In April, Dimon warned of global interest rate shocks as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, shown here
open image in gallery

Higher interest rates mean more costly borrowing of money for loans and investments, as well as mortgages, government borrowing costs and more.

They are also associated with lower economic growth, as firms spend less on new projects and hiring, and consumers spend less on non-essential items while managing household finances amid rising essential bills.

Dimon warned: “Now, because of the war in Iran, we additionally face the potential for significant ongoing oil and commodity price shocks, along with the reshaping of global supply chains, which may lead to stickier inflation and ultimately higher interest rates than markets currently expect.

“Nations that are heavily dependent upon imported energy are already seeing the effects. And it’s not just energy, it’s commodity products that are byproducts of oil and gas, like fertilizer and helium.

Today's AI Follies

It's not so scary that AI is here and seems to be moving too fast and breaking too many things. And it's not even so scary that the nerds keep coming up with failed "products". What's really scary is that too many people won't stop thinking that somebody can perfect the imperfectable.

Videos like this one reinforce my idea that the Big Tech Bros believe AI is the new Master Race, and that they're pushing the nerds to create what I think can't be created.

When they send the AI army for us, remember: We all meet halfway up a good long flight of stairs.

When the AI army comes to destroy us remember - we all meet at the steps!pic.twitter.com/srjZ4oZlc3

— Greta (@GretaGrace20) May 20, 2026

A.I. Is Not Good

Things could change, but for now, and for what little future I can foresee, AI is a trillion-dollar toadie for CEOs who already have oversized egos, but are somehow in need of a little extra dopamine boost.

AI played war games and - surprise surprise - everybody gets a nuke up their ass.

Another A.I. Thing

AI is being anthropomorphised - the way humans have done with a jillion things over a million or two million years of evolution.

It's like we need company - like we need someone to encourage our ambitions, telling us "Yeah, it's good - go for it".

Or we need someone to share the blame if our decisions make something blow up in our face, or cause some catastrophic failure in whole systems - Eco, Economic, Political, or whatever.

And the kicker - at least so far with AI - is that we're trying really hard to mask the total, cold amorality of a machine by making it sound like a person.

Claude does not feel, no matter what frilly comforting phrasing its programming tells it to use.

Here, Angela puts a good sharp point on it - it's not a "he". Claude is an "it".

You get into it a little too deep, and it's no different from getting trapped in a cult.

More AI Follies

Because Of Course

The death of AI should come when it becomes obvious to people that it's set up to manipulate them into buying a certain product, or thinking a certain way, or voting for certain politicians.

Deep fakery and GOP fuckery could turn the midterms into a total fucking joke.

So I'm still hopeful, but not at all confident. Because we are the stoopid country.

Bake The Cookies, Eat The Cookies

SCOTUS handed down a decision that said a corporation is a person, so OpenAI is person. As such, that person can be arrested, charged, put on trial, and if found guilty, they can be sentenced.

If OpenAI assisted in the planning of a murder, then OpenAI can step up and do the dangle dance like any other person.

Their rules, not mine.

A Nerdy Thing

AI will never replicate this.

The AI Bubble

... is enormous, and growing, and threatening, and will - eventually - blow up the way we used to blow up a roll of wet toilet paper with a cherry bomb as an added little touch when we TP'd somebody's house a jillion years ago in high school.

Today's Rich

More is not better - better is better.

That A.I. Thing

IMHO, without significant changes, AI will eventually self-destruct.

We can only hope it's not a Dr Strangelove level event.

If you turn your business over to a strictly computer-based entity, with effectively no human supervision - none that can react to a machine error in time to correct and mitigate - you're in for some very rude surprises somewhere down the line.

Things will go wrong, but to really fuck things up, you need politicians and computers.

GIGO

Disclaimer: Everything I'm saying here is from my own limited knowledge and experience of what it takes to "program" a computer.

AI has already shown a nasty tendency to hallucinate. Its programming is such that it gets sent out to capture as much data as possible. Generally, that data has been processed down to actual information, and sometimes, it's been contaminated by "raw data" that's just out there floating around.

And as each AI thingie keeps eating everything put out by all the other AI thingies, there's a fair likelihood that we're going to get a kind of closed-loop information track that eventually leads to what we used to call Machine Psychosis.

ie:

10 print: Help, I'm stuck in a loop!

20 go to: 10

One of the problems right now is that everybody and his fuckin' uncle has been putting up an AI thingie, and they're all pretty much feeding on each other. So if some random yahoo throws some totally bogus info into cyberspace, it's going to get swept up and included in practically everybody's output.

So the big problem, as I see it, is that most AI engines haven't been taught any great skills of discernment - kinda like most Americans haven't. Not yet anyway.

A TweeXt

We're losing.

LMAO who made this no lies detected 😭😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/5OiW8Hm6IM

— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 6, 2026

Overheard

The most important shift in our lifetimes is the effort to decouple 'subsistence' from 'employment'.

If we don't address this with some kind of Universal Basic Income and Universal Healthcare, then the rise of AI won't lead to a 'golden age of abundance' - it will become a crisis of survival.

Ask A.I.

Question:

What is the Trump administration doing to keep the Epstein files out of the news?

Answer:

In his second term, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on November 19, 2025, which legally mandates the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records related to Jeffrey Epstein. However, the administration has faced significant criticism from both parties for the following actions that some describe as attempts to limit or delay transparency: 

Delayed and Redacted Releases

• Missing Pages: An NPR investigation in early 2026 found that the DOJ had withheld dozens of pages specifically containing sexual abuse allegations against President Trump. While some were later published following media pressure, reports indicate roughly 37 pages remain missing from the public database as of March 2026.
• Heavy Redactions: Early releases in December 2025 were criticized for being "grossly" redacted, with hundreds of pages entirely blacked out, including the names of "politically exposed individuals".
• Staggered Rollout: Despite a 30-day legal deadline to release all files by December 19, 2025, the DOJ initially released only a small fraction, citing the need for "painstaking" reviews to protect victim privacy. 

Strategic Counter-Investigations

• Targeting Political Foes: In November 2025, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch new investigations into Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, including Bill Clinton and Lawrence Summers.
• Withholding Evidence: Lawmakers, including Representative Thomas Massie, have raised concerns that these new probes serve as a "smokescreen" to justify withholding documents under the law's exemption for "active federal investigations". 

Administration Defenses

• "Exoneration" Claims: The White House maintains that President Trump has been "totally exonerated" by the releases and argues that the files contain "untrue and sensationalist claims" meant to damage him politically.
• Dismissal as a "Hoax": At various points in 2025, Trump dismissed the ongoing push for file releases as a "Democrat Hoax" before eventually pivoting to support the Transparency Act once it became clear it would pass with a veto-proof majority. 

In March 2026, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer for the administration's handling of the files and the "disjointed" nature of the public disclosures.

And:

Start a few wars - didn't need AI to figure that one out

The A.I. bubble

There's an AI bubble growing by leaps and bounds. And while it may not crash and take whole sectors of the economy down with it, there will be a "correction" at some time.

If anybody knows how I might be able to short the thing, please let me know. The crash is more-or-less widely expected by about January 2027.

What they're saying about an AI bubble impacting credit markets

Credit investors have reportedly become increasingly concerned about the potential impact of an AI bubble on credit markets.

Bank of America (BAC) said Monday its January client survey showed that 23% viewed the emergence of an AI bubble as their No. 1 concern, up from 9% in its December survey, according to Bloomberg.

Here's what other bankers and analysts have been saying about the AI bubble threat.

Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase (JPM):

“There’s always a surprise in a credit cycle,” Dimon said Monday, according to CNBC. “The surprise has often been which industry [is impacted]…you didn’t expect utilities and phone companies in ’08, ’09, and this time around, it might be software, because of AI.”

Dimon added he was concerned about a cycle at some point, which could result in a wave of borrower defaults.

“There will be a cycle one day … I don’t know what confluence of events will cause that cycle. My anxiety is high over it,” Dimon said. “I’m not assuaged by the fact that asset prices are high. In fact, I think that adds to the risk.”

Damir Tokic, Seeking Alpha analyst:

"In my opinion, the AI bubble burst with the Oracle (ORCL) earnings report on September 10th, 2025—that's when ORCL stock price spiked, reversed, and crashed," wrote Tokic earlier this month. "The first phase of the AI bubble burst was essentially a burst of the credit-driven infrastructure bubble—with Oracle as the poster child."

Tokic goes on to argue that the second phase of the AI bubble burst was the selloff in software stocks, which he expects to be followed by a broader decline.

"It's Phase Three that will cause a recession with the bubble burst—that's when the stock market will likely 'crash' like in 2000 and 2008. Phase Three will likely start when the unemployment rate starts rising, specifically due to AI-related job losses—and this will start happening over the next 6 months. In the meantime, markets will likely be volatile," Tokic added.

High Yield Investor, Seeking Alpha analyst:

"While mega-cap tech and software have been phenomenal investments in recent years, the market appears to be growing nervous about AI exposing and bursting bubbles in both, as software stands to be disrupted by AI, and mega-cap tech is sinking hundreds of billions of dollars into AI CapEx that may not deliver significant enough returns to justify the spending, thereby destroying shareholder capital," High Yield Investor wrote on Feb. 19.

"Instead, we think that conservatively positioned and heavily discounted software lenders, as well as dividend-paying AI infrastructure companies, are the best risk-adjusted ways to play this dual bubble-bursting threat," they added.

Fun With A.I.

Who did this?? 😂 pic.twitter.com/PIbvwUOsOQ

— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) February 24, 2026

The Great Sorting begins

First, gotta love it when a Pam Bondi gets a little hysterical about "the DOW is over 50,000!!!" and then it kinda craters the next day.

And I wonder if I'll get another chance to short this shit. Yeah - prob'ly.

BTW - let the big tech companies pay their own fuckin' bills when it comes to water and power and infrastructure. I'm sick to fucking death of having to subsidize The Epstein Class.

US stocks drop as investors try to separate AI losers from winners

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are dropping Thursday as the market splits further between perceived losers and winners from the rush into artificial-intelligence technology.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% after erasing an early gain that brought it just below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 569 points, or 1.1%, as of 12:49 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.

AppLovin tumbled 18.3% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Like other software companies, it’s come under pressure recently from worries that AI may undercut its business while fundamentally changing how people use the internet.

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi pushed back on such worries, saying in a conference call with analysts that indicators show his company is doing well. “There’s a real disconnect between market sentiment and the reality of our business,” he said.

Its stock nevertheless worsened its loss for the young year so far, which came into the day at 32.2%.

Cisco Systems dropped 11.6% despite likewise topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue last quarter. The tech giant indicated that it may make less profit off each $1 of revenue during the current quarter than it did in the past quarter.

Analysts said that could be an indicator of higher prices for computer memory that everyone is having to pay amid the rush driven by AI.

More broadly, questions are rising about whether businesses that are spending heavily on AI will end up seeing high-enough profits and productivity to make the investments worth it.

In the meantime, the companies serving customers with huge AI budgets are benefiting.

Equinix, for example, jumped 12.5% even though the digital infrastructure company’s results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. It gave financial forecasts for 2026 that topped analysts’ expectations, and CEO Adaire Fox-Martin said that “demand for our solutions has never been higher.”

The company’s data centers are helping to power the world’s move into AI.

Outside of tech, McDonald’s rose 2.2% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The restaurant chain credited moves to improve its value and affordability, including cutting prices on some U.S. combo meals in September.

Walmart’s rally of 2.9%, meanwhile, was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. It erased losses from earlier in the week after a report said spending at U.S. retailers overall stalled in December.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after a report said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected.

The number was nevertheless lower than the prior week’s, which is a signal that the pace of layoffs may be improving. It also followed a surprisingly strong report on the job market from Wednesday, which said the nation’s unemployment rate improved last month.

A strengthening job market could push the Federal Reserve to keep its cuts to interest rates on pause, even if President Donald Trump has been loudly and aggressively calling for lower rates. That’s because lower rates can worsen inflation at the same time that it gives the economy a boost.

It all raises the stakes for Friday’s upcoming report on inflation at the U.S. consumer level. Economists expect it to show inflation slowed to 2.5% last month from 2.7% in December.

A separate report on Thursday said that sales of previously occupied homes slumped last month by more than economists expected, which also weighed on yields.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.13% from 4.18% late Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi rushed 3.1% higher thanks to gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other tech stocks. The moves were more modest in other Asian markets and in Europe.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%.

A Short Film

From Beast Of The Gods