TBPN

Leopold's 13F, Data Center Fixes, Shein Buys Everlane | Mike Isaac, Rowan Trollope, Dean Leitersdorf, Joanna Stern

TBPN·May 19, 2026

OVERVIEW

This episode covers a wide range of topics, including the dismissal of Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, the implications of Leopold Aschenbrenner's 13F filing on AI investments, and the growing backlash against data center construction. It also features interviews discussing Redis's role in the agent era and the challenges and opportunities in AI from a journalist's perspective.

KEY TOPICS

  • OpenAI-Musk lawsuit dismissal based on timeliness
  • Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund 13F filing and AI investment thesis
  • Backlash and public opposition to AI data centers, including a project championed by Kevin O'Leary
  • Ben Thompson's proposal for direct payments to communities for data center approval
  • Mark Cuban's proposal for a token tax on AI providers
  • Redis's new products (Iris and agent memory server) and strategy for the AI agent era
  • Shein's acquisition of Everlane and the challenges of venture-backed apparel brands
  • The looming protein shortage and the whey market
  • Interview with Joanna Stern, author of "I Am Not a Robot," discussing her AI experiences, the future of wearables, and responsible AI deployment

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

  • The legal dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI was dismissed due to the lawsuit being filed too late, a technicality that surprised many observers.
  • Leopold Aschenbrenner's 13F filing, while generating significant buzz, is difficult to interpret accurately as a real-time investment signal due to its backward-looking nature and limited disclosure of options details.
  • Public opposition to AI data centers is widespread and comes from both left and right-wing perspectives, driven by concerns over environmental impact, surveillance, and local quality of life.
  • Direct financial incentives, such as annual payments to local residents, could be a powerful tool to overcome community resistance to new infrastructure like data centers.
  • The AI industry is experiencing rapid evolution, necessitating continuous adaptation in infrastructure and development processes. Companies like Redis are innovating to manage the explosion of data and context needed for AI agents.
  • Venture capital funding can be at odds with building sustainable, long-term apparel brands, as seen in the Everlane acquisition by Shein, highlighting a mismatch between growth expectations and market realities.
  • The "protein mania" in consumer demand has led to a significant shortage and price surge in whey protein, indicating a bottleneck in dairy processing capacity.
  • AI is rapidly transforming how software is developed, with agents taking on much of the coding, allowing developers to focus on higher-level design and problem-solving.
  • Journalists and tech executives face increasing scrutiny regarding AI's societal impact, leading to public backlash and calls for more responsible development and deployment, especially concerning children and companionship bots.

NOTABLE QUOTES

"Don't idolize people and develop your own thesis for why you own and sell things." - An anonymous account on the dangers of blindly following 13F filings.
"A developer with 10 agents is more like a development manager of old. And the development manager does a different job. They coordinate, they express the right their requirements in the right way, they have taste." - Rowan Trollope, CEO of Redis, on the changing role of developers in the AI era.
"If you think as I do that social media was bad for kids, society, politics, our brains, you name it, AI could end up being worse." - Joanna Stern, author of "I Am Not a Robot."

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