AI & Tech: Anthropic hits profitability as SpaceX files for IPO and OpenAI cracks unsolved math problem

A daily brief on what the world is saying. PodSnacks tracks the top 200 podcasts and distills the most important conversations into a fast, high-signal listen. SpaceX reveals AI data center plans in its IPO filing while Anthropic posts its first profitable quarter and OpenAI solves a famous combinatorial geometry problem. Google rolls out persistent agents in Search and Meta launches a new Reddit-style app. Science stories include fresh insights on ice lubrication and the Challenger investigation. This episode covers the tech and research driving headlines today. Sources (episodes in this brief): Listening in on fish grunts, and more…: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=09b8e82ae3424f859e4795e02d96fa59 Pioneers of AI: How fast can you upskill in AI? We did a sprint to find out.: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=0c34c936ab0e4490b9dc6aab3f326905 CLASSIC: How Robert "The Fastest Knife In The West End" Liston Conducted A Surgery With A 300% Mortality Rate: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=10e85e43e292400fa059836d356732a3 https://podsnacks.com/media?id=445220f5074d430a8191238bd8f05aad Meta quietly launches Forum: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=4e7cf7237c264a68b6199b776a616554 AI’s New Acceleration Phase: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=7425e9b8c7904b70af26131d4f3e52b2 https://podsnacks.com/media?id=8a9a4e3f6c114fcb8cd923cb9cd42003 https://podsnacks.com/media?id=d13952ff7cf24fbf969af44e07798bde From the Vault: The Invention of Ice Skating: https://podsnacks.com/media?id=ef20a3bd364240e3acd7c70180fe0639

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Podsnacks! The news you need from the voices you trust. This is PodSnacks. Here's what's driving the conversation. Saturday, May 23rd, 2026. SpaceX filed paperwork for an $80 billion IPO that could value the company at $1.75 trillion. The filing highlights plans to power AI data centers with mobile gas turbines and lists Starship as the top risk factor after $15 billion already spent. Starlink is projected to reach $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating income. A $45 billion three-year contract with Anthropic for Colossus Compute. At $1.25 billion per month positions, SpaceX as an AI infrastructure provider ahead of a potential public listing next month. OpenAI solved a long-standing Erdos combinatorial geometry problem with an internal general-purpose model. Fields medalist Tim Gowers called it the first clear case of AI cracking a famous unsolved math problem. Google added persistent AI agents to search for tasks like apartment hunting and reached 900 million monthly active users for Gemini. Wait, what paused operations for a three-day company wide AI sprint using Claude and Replit? The effort produced working prototypes, including a real-time hotel operations dashboard and a guest speaker suggestion engine. Staff learned iterative conversational prompting and decided which tasks to delegate versus retain in human hands. Meta quietly launched Forum, a standalone Reddit-like app for Facebook groups. It features AI-powered ask tabs and admin moderation assistance that integrate posts across platforms. The company also released Instance for Disappearing Photos and plans many more standalone apps enabled by AI efficiencies. Divergent improved 3D printing output from 10 cubic centimeters to hundreds of cubic centimeters per hour. A single printer can now produce 200 cruise missile airframes yearly with 20-30% lower mass and 50% cost cuts versus legacy methods. The same factory hardware now supplies AI-designed metal structures to the U.S. military, Lockheed, and Rayton. Spotify released Studio by Spotify Labs, a new standalone desktop app that lets users generate private personalized podcasts from emails, calendars, bookings, and web data via an AI agent. Researchers matched remains of six Franklin Expedition members, including Captain James FitzJames and Harry Peglar to Living Descendants. The work confirmed Peglar was demoted and disproved a 167-year theory about his body. University of Victoria scientists recorded and distinguished unique sounds from eight rockfish species using underwater microphones and video. Recent research shows the lubricating layer on ice is a viscalastic mix of water and ice crystals created by friction and surface properties rather than pressure melting, as long taught. Oldest known bone skates from 1800 BCE come from Scandinavia and northern China and were pushed with poles rather than leg propulsion. Richard Feynman dunked an O-ring in ice water on live TV during the 1986 Challenger investigation to prove it lost resilience in cold temperatures. He traced the shuttle explosion to Vitan O-rings that failed to seal on the unusually cold January launch day.com