Robotics

Pope Leo XIV's 235-page manifesto calling for AI to be "disarmed" faces the same prisoner's dilemma that stymies arms control: no major power wants to slow down while rivals sprint ahead. The Vatican's *Magnifica Humanitas*, presented alongside Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah, warns of AI intensifying conflict and secrecy, as religious coverage confirms. But moral appeals rarely change competitive dynamics where speed equals survival. Beijing and Silicon Valley will keep accelerating while sending thoughtful representatives to Vatican conferences.

Masayoshi Son wants to create and list a new AI company called Roze in the US this year, targeting a $100 billion valuation focused on data centers. The move comes after SoftBank invested $30 billion in OpenAI at a $260 billion pre-money valuation, selling nearly $6 billion of Nvidia stock to fund the deal. SoftBank also committed $4 billion to DigitalBridge and leads the Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle. Son is aggressively expanding AI infrastructure bets as his portfolio company faces potential trillion-dollar valuations. The Roze listing would tap deeper US capital markets while monetizing SoftBank's 300-plus AI and robotics investments.

Tesla's $25 billion AI and robotics spending plan represents the largest single corporate bet on machine autonomy outside Chinese state programs. The figure doubles previous estimates and dwarfs Waymo's entire lifetime investment, yet Musk struck an unusually cautious tone on the earnings call. The timing reveals the pressure: every quarter Tesla delays full autonomy, competitors like Waymo and Cruise gain ground in robotaxi partnerships with traditional automakers. Investors now face a binary outcome where Tesla either dominates transport AI or becomes an expensive car company with a software obsession.