Anthropic, June Payroll, Two Futures, Bending Spoons, and Grifting
Your Weekly Review of News in Technology, UX and AI
Here’s the latest news, resources, and use cases from the world of product, UX, AI and technology. Let’s go:
📊 AI in Healthcare
🤖 Anthropic
🏦 June Payroll
⁉️ Two Futures
🥄 Bending Spoons
😈 Grifting
Podcast
Harnessing AI in Healthcare: Insights from RJ Kedziora
In this episode of Product by Design, Kyle Evans interviews RJ Kedziora, co-founder of Estenda, a company specializing in custom software and data analysis for healthcare. We discuss RJ’s journey in technology and entrepreneurship, the importance of energy management over time management, and the role of AI in healthcare. RJ shares insights into the challenges and future of AI applications, the need for ethical considerations, and the potential for personalized healthcare solutions. He also offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make a difference in the industry.
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News and Useful Reads
How the world’s top AI models were revived
After 19 days offline following an emergency Commerce Department export control order, Fable 5 and Mythos 5 returned to all users on July 1. The full saga is now one of the most important AI governance case studies in history: a disputed jailbreak report, political tensions between Anthropic and the White House, 150+ cybersecurity experts signing an open letter, a partial restoration for US critical infrastructure organizations, and finally a resolution after Anthropic trained a new safety classifier targeting the specific exploit.
It remains uncertain when and how Anthropic's models will be released to ally countries around the world — which proponents say is key to beating China — or how other labs from OpenAI to Google will release their latest models.
U.S. adds just 57,000 jobs in June, a worrying sign as wage growth remains slow
The Bureau of Labor Statistics June 2026 payroll report showed only 57,000 jobs added in June, sharply below the 185,000 consensus estimate and the lowest monthly payroll addition since the 2024 slowdown. Tech sector layoffs have totaled 142,000 year-to-date in 2026, and the RAISE US estimate puts 88,000 US job cuts directly attributed to AI in 2026 — the highest on record.
Leisure and hospitality contracted by 61,000 jobs in June. Many economists have watched this metric closely, as hotel and restaurant visits can offer an early warning sign of consumer spending pullbacks.
Two futures for jobs in an AI era
AI is transforming how we work. Some jobs and roles are changing twice as fast as others.
AI is ‘professionalising’ some jobs by reshaping them to require even more human expertise. AI ‘democratises’ other jobs by making them even easier for non-experts to perform. Professionalised jobs are thriving; numbers of professionalised jobs are growing twice as fast as democratised ones, and with 42% higher wage growth. Our data suggests a bright future for workers in professionalised roles as AI makes them even more valuable.
After $18B IPO, Bending Spoons founder says success comes from minimizing luck
If you’re wondering why some apps or tools you use have gotten worse while costing more money, the answer is always private equity. A while ago, I had been wondering why Evernote had gotten noticeably worse while constantly asking me to upgrade. I realized this week it was because it had been acquired, gutted, and will be run like that until it dies.
AOL is public again — sort of. Its owner Bending Spoons, the 13-year-old Italian company that has been quietly acquiring beloved but ailing internet brands for the past decade, went public on the Nasdaq today, opening at an over $18 billion valuation, with the stock then popping 40% by market close.
Other Interesting Finds
Trump Pulled In at Least $2 Billion After Returning to the White House
If you needed any more confirmation that Trump is running the biggest grift in history, this latest financial disclosure should put any doubt to bed. Most of his earnings are now coming from his crypto scam, but it is still a multi-faceted grift.
All told, the president pulled in at least $2.2 billion, a figure that includes other parts of his vast holdings, such as his real estate assets. That compares to a minimum of $622 million his enterprises pulled in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency.