Thinking Machines’ First AI Model, California Loses $3.2B to Texas, TSMC Adds $100B | Diet TBPN

Thinking Machines’ new open-weights model, Inkling, aims to challenge the dominance of frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic by offering a flexible, fine-tunable architecture. While some researchers debate the extent of its reliance on model distillation, the release highlights a broader shift toward Western-based open-source alternatives amid rising geopolitical concerns over Chinese AI development. Beyond AI, industrial shifts are evident as the California Forever shipyard project relocates to Texas due to regulatory hurdles, while TSMC signals aggressive expansion despite market skepticism regarding capital expenditure. Meanwhile, corporate media giants like Disney face scrutiny over the long-term value of their massive acquisition history compared to current market valuations, and the creator economy continues to evolve through deeper, non-traditional brand integrations like the recent Lexus-creator partnership.