Communist coffee hits NYC, RIP Hulu, GPT-5 arrives and more | E2161

In this episode of This Week in Startups, Jason Calacanis, along with Alex Wilhelm and Lon Harris, discuss a range of topics, starting with Luckin Coffee's expansion into New York and the potential implications of a Chinese company undercutting American brands. They explore the cultural differences in coffee consumption and the political undertones of a communist-linked coffee chain in the US. The conversation shifts to Disney's acquisition of Hulu and its strategy to integrate streaming services, along with a discussion of subscriber numbers compared to Netflix. The hosts then delve into the controversy surrounding a YC founder's media hacking for attention, touching on AI-generated content and IP rights. Finally, they analyze OpenAI's release of open weight models, the implications for privacy, and the ongoing debate between Cloudflare and Perplexity regarding web crawling and data usage.