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# Big Tech, Bigger Bets, Contracts, Capital, and Pressure, Security Fires
- URL: https://adjacent.media/scan/2026-06-22-am/
- Published: 2026-06-22T10:04:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-22T10:04:07.000Z
- Description: The AI story keeps getting stranger. The feed runs from a quant firm betting its trading edge on Anthropic to a legacy sneaker brand pivoting to compute clusters, with security breaches and a healthcare data fight in the background.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #scan-am, #scan

The AI story keeps getting stranger. The feed runs from a quant firm betting its trading edge on Anthropic to a legacy sneaker brand pivoting to compute clusters, with security breaches and a healthcare data fight in the background.

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### Connected World

#### [Jane Street Is Becoming an AI Investor, Not Just an AI User](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/jane-street-ai-wall-street-bdfcc81a?st=U3xpiF&reflink=desktopwebshare%5Fpermalink&ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

The secretive quant giant put $1B into CoreWeave in April and holds a stake in Anthropic — it's using AI to trade and backing the infrastructure it trades on. *(Wall Street Journal)*

#### [Allbirds Is Now an AI Infrastructure Company, Apparently](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/19/the-ceo-of-allbirds-new-ai-biz-has-a-plan-but-no-employees/?ref=adjacent.media)

The rebranded Smartbird has a CEO and a pivot to deploying compute clusters, and — per TechCrunch — zero employees, which is either lean or a red flag depending on your mood. *(TechCrunch)*

#### [Europe's AI Sovereignty Problem, in Sobering Detail](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/20/europe-sleepwalking-ai-disaster-us-china?ref=adjacent.media)

A speculative "Europe 2031" scenario from The Guardian models economic and political fracture if the EU keeps losing ground to the US and China — fiction as policy warning. *(The Guardian)*

#### [Signal's Whittaker Calls Copilot Agents a Privacy Backdoor](https://thenextweb.com/news/signal-whittaker-ai-chatbots-not-friends-copilot-backdoor-privacy?ref=adjacent.media)

Meredith Whittaker says AI chatbots "are not your friends" and frames Microsoft's Copilot agents as a structural surveillance risk — a product critique, not a hot take. *(The Next Web)*

> “AI chatbots are not your friends, are not conscious beings, and are not sentient.” — *Meredith Whittaker, Signal president, via The Next Web*

### Connected World

#### [Palantir Is Fighting to Keep Its £330M NHS Contract](https://www.ft.com/content/55249eee-5256-4c91-a9ed-fcdec60a4bd5?accessToken=zwAAAZ7jvoHpkc9VJJ7uUlZMkdOp7fzexgpL1Q.MEYCIQC35WppDIn47QzoAw54Kziqo4Lkd0cr%5FyuOGvjRGpRcEgIhAMkFmqNfcVrPLg-HJwvn3Y3UBH92ljWmqkXWd3xeFugo&sharetype=gift&token=52c28bc8-30a0-448b-8c50-2ec1cbff1920&ref=adjacent.media) (paywall)

A 2027 break clause gives NHS England an exit ramp, and public and political pressure is building — a real test of whether large US data contracts can survive UK scrutiny. *(Financial Times)*

#### [Uber Cuts a Deal with California Trial Lawyers to Avoid Ballot War](https://therideshareguy.com/weekly-roundup-uber-and-california-trial-attorneys-reach-a-deal-to-avoid-a-ballot-fight/?ref=adjacent.media)

Avoiding another expensive California ballot fight is the smart move — but the deal's terms will matter for gig worker classification going forward. *(The Rideshare Guy)*

#### [Russia's AI Ambitions Are Running Into Reality](https://time.com/article/2026/06/18/russia-ai-putin-chip-us-china/?ref=adjacent.media)

Chip scarcity and a steady brain drain of technical talent are kneecapping Putin's homegrown AI push — sanctions as industrial policy, working as intended. *(Time)*

### Connected World

#### [Brazil's Emergency Alert System Was Hijacked to Send "Misanthropy" to Millions](https://thenextweb.com/news/brazil-civil-defense-alert-hack-misanthropy-cell-broadcast?ref=adjacent.media)

Hackers breached the national civil defense platform and sent fake "Extreme Alert" messages across multiple states — the system is now offline while Brazil investigates. *(The Next Web)*

#### [100,000 WordPress Sites Exposed by Gravity SMTP Flaw](https://thenextweb.com/news/gravity-smtp-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-cve-2026-4020-api-keys-exploit?ref=adjacent.media)

Attackers are actively exploiting CVE-2026-4020 to harvest API keys and OAuth tokens — if you run Gravity SMTP, patch it now and assume compromise if you haven't. *(The Next Web)*

### Connected World

#### [GTA 6 Pre-Orders Are Open and the Cover Art Is Here](https://boingboing.net/2026/06/20/grand-theft-auto-6-opens-pre-orders-reveals-cover-art.html?ref=adjacent.media)

Boing Boing notes that doubting GTA 6's cultural dominance is a fool's errand — pre-orders opening is the starting gun for what may be the largest entertainment launch of the decade. *(Boing Boing)*