🎧New MJ song released (wait what?)

Jun 25, 2025

👋 Welcome! Today, we’re covering a range of topics from traditional Broadway show with a modern touch of high tech to how AI is rocking the world of music. Get ready for a full spectrum of insights that will keep you informed and engaged!

AI & TECH

Broadway embraces AI-driven storytelling – Broadway is increasingly using AI-enhanced projections—dynamic visuals tailored to performances—for immersive storytelling. While traditionalists balk, tech advocates say it enriches live theater. This sets another example of how major industries are adopting to tech and AI.

Salesforce unveils Agentforce 3 – Salesforce today launched Agentforce 3, featuring a command center for real‑time AI agent oversight with 100+ prebuilt industry actions. AI agent adoption is growing rapidly, with usage up 233% in six months with 8,000 customers already signed up for Agentforce.

Anthropic wins US court ruling on AI training – A federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Anthropic can legally train its AI models on published books without explicit author permission, marking a significant precedent applying fair use doctrine to AI training practice. The judge commented books used to train its Claude AI is “quintessentially transformative” and thus fair use.

CAREER & WORK

Don’t fall for those fake offers – Recent reports indicate scammers creating fake job postings—complete with emails, video interviews, and gift card and check scams—posing as real companies. The FTC logged around 105,000 such employment scams just last year. Even experienced professionals and graduates are falling victim in today's desperate job market.

US migrant pause threatens job growth – Slowing immigration and an aging U.S. workforce are contributing to a potential labor shortage, which may significantly dampen payroll growth. Barclays projects this could slow overall economic growth to 1.4–1.6% next year. The Federal Reserve faces a dilemma, as labor shortages could drive inflation higher even amid slower growth, making interest rate cuts more complicated.

To all students, ‘earn and learn’ – L.A. Community College District launched the BOOST program, offering health-care and psychology students a monthly stipend of $1,000 for a year to ease financial burdens and train them with career impacted skills. Though dozens of similar ‘earn & learn’ programs exist in the L.A district alone, only few students actually join simply because they do not know of it.

ECONOMY & FINANCE

The annual stress test for the big bags are here – Analysts anticipate major U.S. banks will clear this year’s Fed stress tests (held annually ever since the 2008 financial crisis) with ease thanks to increased regulations and robust capital. That likely paves the way for average dividend increases of around 3% and expanded share buybacks—though many lenders may still tread cautiously amid economic uncertainty.

Fed ultra-firm on patient rate moves – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell re-iterated yesterday during his testimony to the Congress that the central bank will hold interest rates steady at 4.25–4.5% until clearer signs emerge based on data and statistics. He emphasized the Fed’s “wait-and-see” approach, resisting overwhelming political pressure (including termination of his role) for immediate cuts in fear of economic downturn.

Markets re-gain triumph amid peace talks – Wall Street rallied sharply after a ‘tentative’ ceasefire announcement between Israel and Iran, sending the Dow up nearly 500 points and lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq close to record highs. Markets were further buoyed by Fed Chair Powell’s cautious tone and easing oil prices

VC & FUNDING

Your predictions are highly valued – Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund leads a $200M+ strategic investment into prediction‑market platform Polymarket, valuing it at $1 billion. The round reflects confidence in alternative finance models reshaping online betting and decentralized forecasting.

Abridge scores $5.3B valuation – AI note taking startup Abridge secured a $300 million Series E led by Andreessen Horowitz (with Khosla Ventures), doubling its valuation in four months to $5.3B. Its ambient‑listening tech — used by 150+ health systems — turns doctor–patient conversations into notes and billing codes, easing administrative burden.

BIG THINK

AI in Music: Creative Boost or Copyright Chaos Ahead?

Generative AI is radically transforming music creation and distribution, but the rapid growth has sparked major concerns.

Streaming platform Deezer recently reported that 18% of daily uploads are AI-generated, amounting to nearly 20,000 tracks a day. However, despite only making up 0.5% of total plays, up to 70% of streams show signs of bot-driven fraud, prompting Deezer to label AI tracks and deny royalties on questionable plays.

The legal stakes against these AI generate songs are rising fast. Sony, Universal, and Warner sued AI platforms Suno and Udio, accusing them of scraping copyrighted music to train models that generate soundalike tracks—a direct challenge to intellectual property law.

The technology driving this shift is powerful. Models like Google’s MusicLM, Meta’s AudioCraft, and OpenAI’s Jukebox can generate entire songs, melodies, and even mimic artist voices using vast audio training libraries. Advanced diffusion-based models generate orchestral arrangements from text prompts, while speech synthesis models clone voices with stunning accuracy—giving rise to the growing “voice twin” phenomenon.

Not all artists oppose these tools. Imogen Heap has embraced AI collaborations, working with AI-based music startup like Jen where she can license her voice for controlled, transparent musical creation—advocating for “ethical AI” that preserves artist control while enabling innovation.

Yet critics fear AI risks cheapening artistry. Fraudulent AI-generated tracks distort algorithms and undermine indie artists, flooding platforms with low-effort content that could crowd out authentic voices. Others warn that AI models still struggle to reflect cultural diversity, often favoring Western music structures and risking homogenization.

On the flip side, AI’s low-cost, high-efficiency tools could democratize music production—allowing independent creators to experiment with new sounds. But emerging detection tools still face challenges, as adversarial techniques allow bad actors to bypass filters designed to spot AI-generated content.

Actionable Insights:

Label and Audit AI Tracks Transparently: Streaming platforms must clearly tag AI-generated content and implement sophisticated fraud detection to protect artists and listeners.
Support Ethical AI Music Standards: Industry stakeholders should adopt frameworks ensuring AI models respect copyright, cultural diversity, and preserve meaningful human creativity.