OpenAI’s $500B Stargate, Anthropic and the Market’s Wake-Up Call
Release Date: 02/25/2026
Who Decides What AI Does in the Real World?
Actually Intelligent
This week on Actually Intelligent, Max Thon unpacks three AI stories that all point to the same question: who decides what AI does in the real world? From an AI-run store making hiring decisions, to a new push for international AI governance, to a fresh perspective on what AI can’t replace in the labor market, this episode explores where control, responsibility, and trust in AI are being defined.
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How AI is Changing Senior Care (With Inspiren’s CTO)
Actually Intelligent
On this episode of Actually Intelligent, Max Thon sits down with Inspiren CTO, Dominique Simoneau-Ritchie, to explore how AI is being applied in senior care. They discuss how Inspiren uses computer vision and data to help prevent falls, how to design for caregivers in high-pressure environments, and what it takes to build AI systems that actually work in the real world. A grounded look at AI in healthcare, focused on outcomes, trust, and day-to-day impact.
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The AI Trust Crisis: Media, Regulation, and Who Controls the Narrative
Actually Intelligent
This week on Actually Intelligent, Max Thon breaks down three AI stories that all point to the same thing: a growing trust crisis. From The New York Times’ AI plagiarism controversy to California setting new rules for AI companies, to OpenAI stepping into media, the lines around authorship, regulation, and influence are starting to blur. Who creates the content, who sets the rules, and who controls the narrative? If you’re building with AI or trying to keep up with where it’s all headed, this episode connects the dots.
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How AI Is Transforming Insurance Claims
Actually Intelligent
On this episode of Actually Intelligent, Max Thon sits down with Alex Pezold, CEO and co-founder of Agentech, to explore where AI, cybersecurity, and workflow automation collide—especially inside the insurance industry. Alex brings a unique perspective—coming off a nine-figure exit in cybersecurity and now building in one of the most complex, slow-moving systems out there: claims management. In this conversation, we get into how Agentech got its name, why product cycles are moving faster than ever, and what it really takes to sell AI into traditional industries. Plus—what’s overhyped,...
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What Does AI in Accounting Actually Look Like? (With Numeric’s CTO)
Actually Intelligent
On this episode, Max Thon sits down with Andrew Bihl, co-founder and CTO of Numeric—a team building the pipes behind how enterprise finance actually works. This isn’t a surface-level AI conversation. It’s a real look at what happens when you try to bring intelligence into one of the most complex, trust-driven functions inside a business: accounting. From untangling messy cash flows to the very real friction of getting finance teams to adopt new tools, Andrew shares what most people get wrong—and where the real opportunity is hiding. If you care about where finance is going, how...
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The New AI Security Threats Enterprises Aren’t Ready For with the CEO and Founder of Mindgard
Actually Intelligent
On this episode of Actually Intelligent, host Max Thon sits down with James Brear, CEO of Mindgard, and Peter Garraghan, the company’s founder and a leading academic in AI and systems security. Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of the core infrastructure of modern enterprises. The problem? Security hasn’t kept pace. Most cybersecurity tools were built for traditional software—not for AI systems. That gap is opening the door to a new class of vulnerabilities many organizations are only beginning to understand. James and Peter share how Mindgard emerged from years of...
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AI in Academia: Why Trust Matters More Than Speed with Seth Watson of Moara
Actually Intelligent
If AI is going to shape the future of research, it doesn’t get a free pass. It has to earn its place. And in academia, trust isn’t assumed. On the latest episode of Actually Intelligent, host Max Thone sits down with Seth Watson, co-founder of Moara, for a clear-eyed conversation about what it really takes to bring AI into research environments where rigor, sourcing, and credibility are non-negotiable. That grounding matters. Because selling into universities isn’t like selling into startups. Speed alone won’t win. Novelty won’t either. Researchers care about methodology. They care...
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OpenAI’s $500B Stargate, Anthropic and the Market’s Wake-Up Call
Actually Intelligent
On this episode of Actually Intelligent, host Max Thone goes solo to make sense of a chaotic week in AI—one where headlines moved faster than reality and speculation briefly became market signal. Max breaks down why OpenAI’s headline-grabbing $500B “Stargate” data center project stalled, what a reported standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon reveals about where AI safety lines are actually being drawn and how a viral speculative memo managed to rattle stocks despite being more warning than fact. If you’re building, investing, regulating, or simply trying to understand where AI...
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How Transactional AI Is Turning WhatsApp Into a Global Commerce Platform | Luis Loaiza, Jelou.ai
Actually Intelligent
On this episode of Actually Intelligent, Max talks with Luis Loaiza, CEO and founder of Jelou.ai, about the rise of transactional AI inside the world’s most-used messaging platforms. From building chatbots as a teenager to launching infrastructure that enables secure, agent-driven transactions directly within WhatsApp, Luis is focused on one thing: making AI useful. In Latin America and beyond, that infrastructure is quickly becoming mission-critical for banks and businesses alike. Max and Luis dig into what it takes to build secure agentic systems at scale, why infrastructure, not...
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The Future of Search: How AEO & GEO Are Rewriting SEO (With Graphite CEO Ethan Smith)
Actually Intelligent
On this special episode of Actually Intelligent, BAM’s own Beck Bamberger, host of Coffee with a Founder, steps in to moderate a timely conversation with Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite. Together, they unpack how AI is reshaping the future of software, search, and the emerging ecosystem of tools that are changing how teams build. Fresh off a live event in San Francisco, Ethan breaks down why today’s AI moment feels like the early days of SEO—only this time, everything’s moving faster. He shares why now is a defining window for startups, investors, and marketers to stake their ground in...
info_outlineOn this episode of Actually Intelligent, host Max Thone goes solo to make sense of a chaotic week in AI—one where headlines moved faster than reality and speculation briefly became market signal.
Max breaks down why OpenAI’s headline-grabbing $500B “Stargate” data center project stalled, what a reported standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon reveals about where AI safety lines are actually being drawn and how a viral speculative memo managed to rattle stocks despite being more warning than fact.
If you’re building, investing, regulating, or simply trying to understand where AI is headed, this episode offers a grounded take on a critical question: are we at a real inflection point—and do we have the discipline to steer what comes next?