Field Notes · 7 Jun 2026
Best explained
Content moderation is a high-stakes needle-in-a-haystack problem. Over 90% of AI-generated content is benign, but the rare harmful slice carries high severity, making detection both difficult and critical.
By the numbers
Code review of AI-generated scientific papers found only ~30% of claimed discoveries were real, down from an initial novelty assessment of 70-80%.
New today — Evidence added
Anthropic's annualized run rate revenue crossed $47 billion in May 2026.
Nathaniel WhittemoreNew today — Sharp calls
Legora's next brand campaign ad will feature baseball player Aaron Judge.
Patrick ForquerNew today — Useful context
The subreddit Dumbones has approximately 200,000 subscribers and has been noticeably growing.
Sam ParrNew today — Watchlist
By end of September 2026, daily estimated values will cover Apollo's entire credit business.
Marc RowanStill tracking
The market will support at most 4-5 large language models, with only 2 being very large winners; the rest will merely get by or the field will consolidate down to 2 over time.
Lloyd BlankfeinTool watch
Daniel Mesler coined the term 'bitter lesson engineering' to describe iteratively updating AI harnesses as underlying models improve. Worth watching as a practitioner framework for managing model churn.
Worth quoting
“Our partnership is not up to 25,000. It is over 25,000, or in other words, a minimum of 25,000.”Alex Kendall
“You cannot sell Bitcoin. If you are selling Bitcoin, the whole system breaks.”Michael Saylor
“We no longer have enterprise plans dated by humans. We've launched enterprise self-service.”Anthropic Head of Industries
“This isn't just a first for Anthropic, it's the first profitable quarter for any foundation lab.”Nathaniel Whittemore
“Fundamentally we're an atta dal chawal company.”Aadit Palicha
“The most high value product of the Ethereum blockchain financially speaking is ETH the asset.”Chris Berniski