Good morning. In this edition:

• 🤖 How AI is upending the jobs market
• 💰 Tesla approves new Musk compensation
• 🍦 Questing for ice cream that doesn’t melt

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.69-minute read (981 words).

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“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”

–Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

The Terminator warned us he’d be back—and apparently, the time is nigh. Businesses’ rising adoption of AI accounted for 10,000+ job cuts in July alone, according to a report released last week by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Who’s being affected? While widespread, the pain is being felt most by those in tech, as well as recent college grads—who aren’t in a roast battle against Bert Kreischer but still find themselves going head-to-head against a machine, per the report. Job listings for entry-level corporate roles have dropped 15% over the past year, according to Handshake.

Other examples of AI performing jobs traditionally carried out by flesh-and-blood:

• Vogue's July print edition featured an AI-generated model used in an ad for the first time.
• Earlier this year, a controversial AI art auction hosted by Christie’s generated ~$730,000.
• Prediction markets operator Kalshi aired a fully AI-generated ad during this year’s NBA Finals, replacing a time-consuming and expensive process with a cheaper one involving less workers.
• Netflix recently used AI to create a scene of a building collapsing in the Argentine science fiction show, a VFX process that also previously required a more costly and human-intensive approach. It was the first time AI-generated content ever appeared on Netflix.

This could be the new norm

A study published last month by Microsoft indicates that, moving forward, customer service jobs or those dealing with written or verbal language—such as interpreters/translators, historians, and writers—are most susceptible to being replaced by AI.

• On the other hand, specialized physical labor roles and equipment operators, like dredge operators or water treatment plant and system operators, are among those least at risk of being replaced.

But…Predictions about knowledge workers being replaced by machines have been off the mark before. In 2016, AI research luminary Geoffrey Hinton announced that radiologists—the doctors responsible for interpreting medical imaging—would become obsolete within five years. But fast-forward to 2025:

• The scan specialists are in greater demand than ever, with the Mayo Clinic having grown radiologists’ ranks by 55% since 2016, according to the NY Times.
• While these doctors now leverage AI to help identify abnormalities in scans, they still use their human experience to interpret results and advise other clinicians on care.

Big picture: Jobs requiring creative thinking and soft skills on top of analytical reasoning are less likely to be automated, according to career experts. And it’s become a career advice cliché, but learning to use AI makes a pro less prone to being replaced by it.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📊 All three major US indexes record their largest daily percentage gain since May (S&P: +1.5%; Dow: +1.3%; Nasdaq: +2.0%) . | Palantir surpasses $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time; shares rise ~5% in after-hours trading. | American Eagle stock rises ~24% after President Trump praises controversial ad starring Sydney Sweeney.
• 🚗 Tesla approves ~$30 billion stock award to CEO Elon Musk; shares are redeemable in two years unless ongoing legal proceedings restore Musk’s previous $50 billion award struck down last year.
• 🛢️ OPEC+ countries agree to raise oil production by 547,000+ barrels/day starting next month.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with TaxQuotes

• 🎨 Pearlman Foundation gives away 63 high-end artworks to trio of museums in LA and NYC.
• 📺 King of the Hill returns to screens after a 14 year hiatus. | The New York Post plans to launch a daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called The California Post in early 2026.
• 🏀March Madness is not expanding beyond 68 teams this season, but growth in future years is still on the table, per the NCAA. | Texas leads preseason USA Today coaches football poll, released yesterday; Ohio St., Penn St., Georgia, and Notre Dame round out the top five.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚀 SpaceX delivers fresh crew to ISS, including two astronauts sidelined for a year due to issues with Boeing’s troubled Starliner.
• 🤖 Google releases Gemini Deep Think AI, new reasoning model it says can process multiple ideas at once.
• ☄️ The Perseid meteor shower is underway; will peak on the night of Aug. 12-13. | More on the Perseid meteor shower, an annual occurrence widely considered the best meteor shower of the year.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with Upwork

• 🗳️ TX Gov. Greg Abbott orders arrest of Democratic lawmakers who fled Texas to stop state house from drawing new Trump-requested congressional map; NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) says her state will begin redistricting to benefit Democrats in response to Texas.
• 🏛️ DOJ taps grand jury to re-investigate the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered to help Trump in the 2016 election.
• 🌍 Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies charge six people—including member of parliament—in “large-scale corruption scheme” exploiting defense funds; it comes days after the agencies had their independence reinstated following mass Ukrainian protests. | President Trump threatens to further raise tariffs on India over its buying of Russian oil.

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☝️ Engineering students at Aalborg University in Denmark developed a new 3D-printed hybrid drone that can seamlessly transition from flying in the air to swimming underwater.

🤔 Did You Know? In 2022, a glitch by Seattle-area radio station KUOW forced Mazda infotainment systems in 2014-17 models to be permanently stuck on KUOW if they tuned in just a single time, requiring a total replacement of the ~$1,500 system.

📰 Worth a Read: The quest to make an ice cream that doesn't melt

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Yesterday we covered how the EPA is planning to rescind its 2009 declaration that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare, in a move designed to eliminate its authority to fight climate change.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support or oppose the EPA’s push to rescind its 2009 declaration that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare?

• Support: 24%
• Oppose: 67%
• Unsure/other: 9%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 1,683 votes and 172 longform responses.

🎤 Trivia: Which of the four Beatles was the eldest?

🎓 True or false? The letter "J" doesn't appear at all in the periodic table of the elements

👵🏻 Need a hug from a grandma? In Japan, it's possible for anyone, thanks to OK Obaachan's popular ‘rent-a-grandma' service. 

🎤 Trivia: Ringo Starr

🎓 T/F: True

+Clue for the Games newsletter: It requires some type-writer to come up with these snippets. There's a clue for today's Conjoiner sequence in there somewhere.