Tech Brew Ride Home - Fable Thrown Under The Bus

Starting point is 00:00:04 Welcome to the Tech Brew Ride Home for Monday, June 15th, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough today. Anthropics sent staff to D.C. to resolve the Mythos 5 export crisis after Amazon reportedly helped trigger the federal block. Fox is buying Roku for around $22 billion, the UK banned social media for under 16s, and Chinese Tesla driver's full driver attention monitoring with dollheads. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Think you have to build your own search engine scraping infrastructure? Thank again, folks. API can take care of all your search engine scraping needs. It lets AI products access real-time web search data programmatically. No scraping infrastructure required. Their APIs offer structured

Starting point is 00:00:51 JSON data from all the top search engines, including Google, Amazon, and YouTube. Top tech companies already use SERP API to power their AI agents, their market intelligence tools, and their automated research workflows. See how it can help you and your team. SERP API provides two 250 free searches per month. Go check it out at SERPAPI.com. That's SERP-A-P-A-P-I-com. Okay, we missed some pretty big news while we were away. Let me reconstruct this chronologically. First, the U.S. Commerce Department announced it was blocking foreign persons from accessing Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after another company claimed it was able to jailbreak mythos, quoting the verge. that order included employees of Anthropic. To meet those demands, the company has completely cut off access to the models for all customers. In a statement, Anthropics said that while it was complying with the order, the government, quote, did not provide specific details of its national security concern. Instead, it claims that any evidence of potential jailbreak was provided verbally and that the vulnerabilities discovered were minor and available via other models, including GPT 5.5. In its statement, the company laid out the steps it took to

Starting point is 00:02:08 safeguard, fable, and mythos, including working with the U.S. and U.S. and U.K. governments and changing its data retention policy to help track attempts to use them for malicious purposes. And it goes on to say that, quote, we have not even received a disclosure of a concerning non-universal potential jailbreak that led to a harmful result. The potential jailbreaks that have been disclosed to us are either entirely benign responses or are minor findings that provide no mythos-specific uplift, end quote. But the end result of this was that everybody worldwide was cut off from using Mythos Friday night. Then this came out, quoting the information. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was among the tech leaders who raised concerns to senior Trump administration officials this week

Starting point is 00:02:50 about security risks in Anthropics' most advanced models, according to two people familiar with the conversations. The calls between the head of Amazon, one of Anthropics' biggest investors and vendors. And the officials in the last few days helped set in motion the Trump administration's new export restrictions on Anthropics, Claude Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models late Friday night, citing national security concerns the people said, those restrictions suspend access to those models to foreign nationals. Anthropics said it disabled access to the models for all customers in order to comply. Anthropics said Friday it had worked with U.S. and international government agencies to identify security vulnerabilities in Fable. The company had previously said,

Starting point is 00:03:29 it was concerned that the AI systems had become so advanced that they could hack software programs better than humans. The government did not object to the release of Fable, according to a source close to Anthropic. Jassy's conversations and the administrations moved to limit access to Fable 5 and Methos 5 also highlight growing concerns from researchers and cybersecurity experts around the ability for Anthropics' latest models to find new security vulnerabilities and exploits. Anthropic on Tuesday released Claude Fable 2, a neutered version of Mythos that's blocked from being able to answer questions about cybersecurity and advanced AI research, end quote. So, competitors of and even some investors in Anthropic through mythos and fable under the bus,

Starting point is 00:04:08 quoting the times. David Sacks, a venture capitalist who, until recently worked in the administration as an AI czar, accused Anthropic in a lengthy social media post on Saturday of being reckless with the release of its latest model dubbed Fable 5. Mr. Sacks, who said he had spoken to many people inside and outside the administration about the directive, said the administration had asked Dario Amadai, Anthropics chief executive, to fix the jailbreak issue after a highly credible trusted partner of Anthropics and the governments came forward with research. Dario refused, Mr. Sachs said. A person briefed on Mr. Amadai's conversations disputed the account saying that Anthropic was

Starting point is 00:04:42 happy to discuss the concerns, end quote. And so here's where things stood this morning, quoting the journal. Anthropic is racing to resolve its latest conflict with the Trump administration meeting with officials and dispatching top technical staff to Washington over the weekend in pursuit of a deal to end export restrictions on its most powerful artificial intelligence models. Administration officials and Anthropic leaders spent several hours on calls Saturday, discussing Fable 5, a slimmed-down version of Anthropics-powerful mythos model meant for the general public. People familiar with the discussions said. The discussions included Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and National Cyber Director Sean Kairncross, as well as Tom Brown in anthropic co-founder, who is the company's chief compute officer, and Sarah Heck, the company's

Starting point is 00:05:28 head of public policy, they said. On Sunday, a group of cybersecurity notable signed a letter calling for the administration to lift the export controls. This action has taken the best models away from defenders, created market uncertainty and risk America's AI leadership without any real risk to justify it, the letter said. People close to the company and the administration said both parties are interested in resolving the issue and restoring access to the cutting edge models, but it isn't clear what a solution would entail. Anthropic technical experts and government security researchers coming together was seen by some administration officials as a key step toward a compromise. The frenzy over Anthropics' fable started late last week when researchers at Amazon showed some

Starting point is 00:06:07 safeguards on Fable could be evaded, alarming White House officials, the Wall Street Journal previously reported. Amazon researchers had shared work with Anthropics showing that they had been able to coax Fable into divulging information about security vulnerabilities and at least four pieces of software by altering the way they asked for the information. The researchers were able to learn about bugs, but such information can also be useful to technology staffers trying to defend networks, cyber security experts say. The report didn't describe Fable producing more dangerous products such as exploit software that could be used in a cyber attack, according to cybersecurity experts, who had viewed the research. Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy spoke with U.S. officials

Starting point is 00:06:44 including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the researchers' findings. Shortly afterward, White House officials held a meeting to discuss how to respond and asked Anthropic to take down the model. President Trump asked Lutnik a consigniary on tariffs and tech exports to help lead the government's response. The president signed off on the restriction himself, some of the people said, end quote. So at the time of this recording, all I can tell you is that Fable is still unavailable inside my clod. Fox says it is acquiring Roku in its largest deal yet, valued at around $22 billion, including debt, giving Fox access to more than 100 million streaming households globally, quoting the journal. The deal, Fox's largest to date, brings together a media company known for its live news and sports

Starting point is 00:07:36 programming with the biggest provider of streaming platforms for connected TVs. It will add scale to Fox's streaming business, currently home to free ad-supported streaming service, To Be, which the company bought for $400 million in 2020, and subscription-based Fox One and Fox Nation. In addition to distributing other streaming services through connected TVs and devices, Roku, has its own ad-supported Roku channel. The combined company will better compete with the likes of Amazon and Netflix for ad dollars. Bringing these two companies together will really help define the future of television in the United States and in many other markets around the world. Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch told investors on a call

Starting point is 00:08:15 Monday, Fox will pay around $160 per Roku share with $96 in cash and 0.9693 of Fox Class A shares. This deal is valued at around $22 billion on an enterprise basis. The combined company expects to cut about $400 million in annual costs. Fox plans to keep Tobe and the Roku channel as separate offerings, Murdoch said on the call, noting the two services complement each other. Consumers are increasingly opting for free and lower costs ad-supported streaming options as the cost of subscriptions marches ever higher. Ad-supported streaming plans now represent almost 50% of all premium subscription video on-demand signups in the U.S. up from 39% just two years ago, according to research firm Antenna.

Starting point is 00:08:57 More than 100 million global households stream with Roku. Roku is the largest streaming platform for connected TVs with 25% market share, according to research firm Parks Associates. Samsung's Tyson is number two at 23%. Fox remained on the sidelines during the heady early days of the streaming boom, pouring money instead into programming for its cable channels and buying up sports rights. It launched Fox Nation in 2018 and introduced direct-to-consumer Fox One, which includes Sports and Fox News last year. Fox said last month that Tobe had nearly 100 million

Starting point is 00:09:29 monthly active users and its revenue had grown by 23% in the fiscal third quarter. Roku had been working with investment bankers to explore a potential sale over the past few months. It had approached a number of companies, including Comcasts, according to people familiar with the situation. In 2024, retail giant Walmart bought Vizio, a provider of connected TVs that competes with Roku. Walmart had a deal with Roku to use its operating system on its private label TVs but ended the deal last year as it integrates Vizio into its products. Fox and Roku say they expect the deal to close in the first half of 2027, end quote. You know how after a meeting you end up spending too much time trying to piece everything together,

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Starting point is 00:12:24 I pop a watermelon pouts for a little extra jolt in the morning. New customers can get 15% off with code MBD at take ultra.com. That's take ultra.com. MBD. I got to come clean with you about something. There's been this slow march around the globe over the last six months to a year of countries making efforts to ban or threatening to ban social media for kids and teens. And I think we spoke about it more in depth when Australia started doing just that. But we've not spoken about how it's continued to march on because each time it sort of seemed like an incremental thing. This country's considering it or

Starting point is 00:13:03 that one, or at least that's how it felt to me at the time. But by making that call incorrectly every time that this is just one other country considering it, so that's not really news, I've not really underlined the fact that this has become a true global movement. So Mea Culpah with this big news. British Prime Minister Kier Starrmer says the UK will ban social media for users under the age of 16 to, quote, give kids their childhood back, using an Australia-like model in effect by next spring. Quoting TechCrunch, the ban would apply to a range of social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

Starting point is 00:13:42 Messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal will not be included in the ban. There are also going to be limitations on AI tools, as AI romantic companion chatbots will have to ensure they are only usable by people over 18. The UK government has said its bans will go further than any other countries. Starmor said a ban could be in place by next spring. The UK joins a growing number of countries looking to safeguard kids online. Australia became the first to impose such a ban late last year, and other countries, including Canada, France and Denmark, have started developing their own bans. The sweeping changes are designed to, quote, put power back in parents' hands and give kids the childhood

Starting point is 00:14:18 they deserve, the British government wrote in a press release. Experts have questioned whether a blanket ban would be effective. Starmor has acknowledged the challenges but said he believes it's possible to enforce it. Every parent can see it with their own eyes. Social media is making children unhappy, Starmer said during a press conference. It's making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them. And it could even be harming their mental health, exposing them to content that is dangerous because that's what grabs the attention. It's designed to be addictive. Of course it is. Features like the Infinite Scroll, they're designed to lock you in for hours, end quote. He went on to argue that social media is taking away from activities that help children develop into adults, such as going to bed on time, reading, playing outside, and more. The announcement comes, as the British government had said earlier this year, that it would consult parents, young people, and civil society for their views to determine whether a ban would be effective. More than 83% of parents who participated in the consultation said that social media's risks outweigh its benefits, end quote. Finally today, Chinese Tesla drivers are

Starting point is 00:15:25 apparently using tiny plastic heads to fool Tesla's distracted driving controls, which appear unable to distinguish figurines from real people, quoting digital trends. Tesla's driver monitoring systems are designed to ensure drivers keep their eyes on the road while using autopilot and other assisted driving features. But in China, some Tesla owners have reportedly found an unusual workaround, tiny plastic dollheads. According to a recent wired report, a growing niche market has emerged around figurines and gadgets designed to trick Tesla's in-c cabin camera into believing an attentive driver is sitting behind the wheel. The most popular version involves miniature celebrity heads, often resembling actors or public figures,

Starting point is 00:16:05 mounted near their rearview mirror to block the camera's view of the actual driver. The products have gained attention after videos demonstrating the trick went viral on Chinese social media platforms. Many of the figurines reportedly sell for between $10 and $40 on e-commerce sites and are positioned carefully, so they appear in the camera's field of view while hiding the real driver's face. Tesla uses cabin-facing cameras to monitor driver attention when autopilot features are active. If the system detects that a driver is looking away from the road for too long, it issues warnings and can eventually disable assisted driving features. The company introduced stricter distracted driving monitoring in China through a software update last year, prompting some owners to search for ways around the safeguards.

Starting point is 00:16:46 The fake heads are only one part of a broader trend, though. According to the report, some Tesla owners use photographs placed in front of the camera, while others rely on lenticular images that appear to blink when viewed from different angles. More advanced solutions include small display screens that play looping videos of a person's face blinking and moving naturally. These devices are specifically designed to convince the monitoring system that a real driver is paying attention. One Tesla owner reportedly claimed that a figurine resembling actor Dwayne Johnson allowed him to drive for extended periods without receiving distraction warnings from the vehicle. Videos shared online showed drivers eating snacks, filming videos or looking away from the road, while the fake head remained in view of the camera. The trend is not entirely new.

Starting point is 00:17:27 Tesla owners in various countries have previously experimented with sunglasses, steering wheel weights, and other methods to bypass safety systems. However, the latest wave of camera-focused gadgets appears to have emerged after Tesla strengthened driver monitoring requirements in China. The popularity of these gadgets raises broader questions about the limitations of current driver monitoring systems. While Tesla's autopilot and other assisted driving technologies can handle certain driving tasks, they still require active human supervision. Safety experts have repeatedly warned that bypassing attention monitoring systems increases the risk of accidents because drivers may become overconfident in what remains a driver assistance feature rather than a fully

Starting point is 00:18:05 autonomous system. Many users on Chinese social media have criticized the products, comparing them to seatbelt bypass clips that prioritize convenience over safety. Others have questioned how relatively simple props can still full, sophisticated camera-based monitoring systems. Tesla has not publicly commented on the reported gadgets or whether future software updates will attempt to detect and block such workarounds. However, if the trend continues to grow, the company may face increasing pressure to improve its driver monitoring technology, end quote. By the way, my dark horse picks for the World Cup this year are Scotland and Norway. Though I guess after that US performance last week, maybe the US is the real dark horse. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tech Brew Ride Home - Fable Thrown Under The Bus

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