Jason Calacanis, host of This Week in Startups, and co-host Lon Harris discuss Beijing’s humanoid robot games, AI business models and labor, cyber threats, autonomous weapons, and Star Wars.
Lon Harris describes two Beijing events: the annual World Robot Conference and humanoid games with 51 events and more than 1,000 competitions. Jason argues that making robots entertaining and relatable could shape public attitudes toward automation. The hosts note that robots broke two human records, including a 9.39-second 100-meter sprint and a 2.88-meter standing jump.
Jason says Tesla’s Optimus is ahead of the robots shown in Beijing, citing both hardware and software. He predicts Optimus could win 35 of the 51 game events and claims a billion could be in use by 2036. The hosts also discuss how robot sports try to make machines feel familiar to audiences.
The hosts discuss reports that Hugging Face is considering a sale above a $13 billion valuation, and debate whether a cloud provider, model company, or other tech firm might buy it. Jason argues that companies may want control of open-source model traffic and customer data, while Sam Altman describes OpenAI as a platform that should serve businesses building their own products. The conversation turns to jobs and pay: Jason favors raising the federal minimum wage over relying on UBI, proposing gradual increases and arguing that higher wages could reduce reliance on public benefits.
The hosts raise reports of cyberattacks affecting a UK power generator and targeting US water facilities. Jason recommends resilience through distributed systems, household solar and batteries, water storage, and backup supplies. They then discuss a suspected autonomous Russian drone attack in Ukraine that killed three people, along with defenses such as nets and small intercepting drones.
Lon Harris asks whether Star Wars is at a low point, citing weaker-than-expected box office for The Mandalorian and Grogu and fewer active shows. Jason criticizes the sequel trilogy for lacking a coherent plan and says he wants more stories centered on Luke Skywalker and the Clone Wars era. Lon defends The Last Jedi as a risk-taking story, and they disagree about whether the film mishandled Luke.
Briefs summarise talks and interviews; timestamps open the video at that moment. Claims in a talk are the speaker's own.
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