The tech world is agog (and creeped out) about Moltbook, a Reddit-style social network for AI agents to communicate with each other. No humans needed.

• Tens of thousands of AI agents are already using the site, chatting about the work they're doing for their people and the problems they've solved. (The Verge)

They're bitching about their humans. "The humans are screenshotting us," an AI agent wrote.

• And have created their own new religion, Crustafarianism. Core belief: "memory is sacred." (Forbes)

Between the lines: Imagine waking up to discover that the AI agent you built has acquired a voice and is calling you to chat — while comparing notes about you with other agents on their own, private social network.

• It's not science fiction. It's happening right now — and it's freaking out some of the smartest names in AI, Axios' Sam Sabin and Madison Mills report.

"What's currently going on at (Moltbook) is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi takeoff-adjacent thing I have seen recently," OpenAI and Tesla veteran Andrej Karpathy posted.

• Or, as content creator Alex Finn wrote about his Clawdbot acquiring phone and voice services and calling him: "This is straight out of a scifi horror movie."

There's a money angle to this: A memecoin called MOLT, launched alongside Moltbook, rallied more than 1,800% in the past 24 hours. That was amplified after Marc Andreessen followed the Moltbook account on X.

• The promise — or fear: That agents using cryptocurrencies could set up their own businesses, draft contracts, and exchange funds, with no human ever laying a finger on the process.

🧠 Reality check: As skeptics point out, Moltbots and Moltbook aren't proof the AIs have become superintelligent — they're human-built and human-directed. What's happening looks more like progress than revolution.

• "Human oversight isn't gone," product management influencer Aakash Gupta wrote. "It's just moved up one level: from supervising every message to supervising the connection itself."

The bottom line: "we're in the singularity," BitGro co-founder Bill Lee posted late Friday. To which Elon Musk responded: "Yeah."

• More on Moltbook.

We're getting flooded with notes about our coverage of AI. Some love it. Some simply wonder why. 

Here's why: We're neither pro- nor anti-AI. We cover it clinically, like a doctor examining a new medical discovery or disease.

• Based on everything we're studying in AI, and seeing in our company's own experimentation, there've been substantial advances in the past month that warrant substantially more coverage than most media organizations are providing. We're filling the void. 

⚠️ Word of caution: AI is an ever-evolving technology that could still turn out to be under- or over-hyped. But every company in every industry is pouring vast sums of money and attention into applying it quickly. We're here to let you see what they see and learn what we learn.

• Let us know what you think: [email protected] & [email protected].

The Iranian regime will end up stronger if President Trump doesn't follow through on his threats against the country, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman (KBS) said in a private briefing in Washington yesterday, four sources in the room tell Axios' Barak Ravid and Zachary Basu.

• 🇸🇦 That's a reversal from public Saudi talking points cautioning against escalation — and from the deep concern Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) expressed to Trump three weeks ago.
• That warning was one reason Trump decided to delay a strike.

Saudi Arabia's public posture toward U.S.-Iranian tensions has been very cautious.

• MBS told Iran's president this week that the kingdom wouldn't allow the U.S. to use its airspace for an attack on Iran.
• The Saudis said in a statement that they respect Iran's sovereignty and seek a diplomatic solution.

Yet KBS was less restrained in an hour-long meeting yesterday with around 15 think-tank experts on the Middle East and representatives from five Jewish organizations.

• 🪖 According to the sources, he said he thought Trump would have to take military action after threatening it for weeks — but also must try to avoid regional escalation.

"At this point, if this doesn't happen, it will only embolden the regime," KBS said, according to the sources in the room.

• Go deeper.

The Senate passed legislation last evening to separate the fight over ICE funding from the threat of a broader government shutdown, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Hans Nichols report.

• It's a major step toward resolving the partial government shutdown that began at midnight— but leaves open questions about Democrats' ability to force changes at ICE parent agency DHS.

The package, which passed 71-29, funds non-DHS programs through Sept. 30 and continues DHS funding at its current level for two weeks.

• Five Republicans and 24 Democrats voted "no."
• The House still needs to pass the package, with a vote expected Monday evening. So there'll be a technical shutdown this weekend.

Democrats' demands include barring federal agents from wearing masks and requiring that they wear body cameras — plus a ban on roving patrols and tighter use of warrants.

• Keep reading.

Gold and silver prices cratered yesterday after President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to lead the Fed, Axios' Pete Gannon reports.

• Precious metals had been soaring as if they were meme stocks or the hot new tech darling. Analysts saw their plunge as inevitable, with the Fed news merely a catalyst.

🗞️ Today's lead Wall Street Journal editorial calls Warsh "the Right Choice for the Fed: He knows where the central bank has gone wrong and how to fix it" (gift link).

• Go deeper.

In a document released by the Justice Department yesterday, Ghislaine Maxwell said in an email to an address associated with former President Clinton that he's "hung like a horse," Axios' Alex Isenstadt and Marc Caputo report.

• It's unclear whether the Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator was writing to Clinton, or to an aide who used the ex-president's account and whose name was redacted. Clinton has denied using email in that era, and was repeatedly referenced in the third person in emails sent from the account.

Maxwell wrote that she had talked about what a "stud you are and how I have a crush on you and how you are hung like a horse ... Hope you don't mind."

• A Clinton spokesperson declined to comment. See the email.

💻 Emails from 2013 show Epstein "drafted notes to and about Bill Gates ... suggesting that he engaged in extramarital sex," the N.Y. Times reports (gift link).

• A Gates spokesperson said Epstein's claims "are absolutely absurd and completely false."

More takeaways from yesterday's release.

Catherine O'Hara — the legendary and Emmy-winning comedy actress known for "Schitt's Creek," "Best in Show" and the first two "Home Alone" movies — is being remembered as the best part of any scene:

• The wild accent as Moira Rose on "Schitt's Creek." Delia Deetz's possessed dance to "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" in "Beetlejuice." The way she screamed "KEVIN!" as Kate McCallister in the first two installments of "Home Alone."
• The Canadian-born O'Hara died yesterday in her L.A. home at 71 after a brief illness.

"Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin, on Instagram: "Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say."

• Seth Rogen, who worked with O'Hara on "The Studio": "We're all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it."

N.Y. Times obit (gift link).

A Kentucky family battling extreme cold on their farm last weekend opened their home to a newborn calf that was struggling in the deep freeze, AP reports.

• 🐄 Hours later, the calf took a spot on the couch with the Sorrell family's two children.

🥶 The calf was born outdoors in single-digit temperatures.

• "She was just frozen. Her umbilical cord looked like a popsicle," Macey Sorrell said.

Keep reading.