Axios

President Trump pledged Friday to allow farmers and ranchers to process their own meat in a salvo aimed at the industry's four dominant meatpackers, calling them a "nasty Monopoly."

Why it matters: The president is under pressure to help a constituency his own policies have squeezed — increasing farmers' costs while raising prices for consumers on products like beef.

Friday marks six months since the U.S. launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28.

Why it matters: The war is changing global energy markets and domestic politics in all kinds of big and sometimes surprising ways.

Software stocks are so back.

Why it matters: AI was going to obliterate the software sector, or so investors believed earlier this year, but it turns out that this stuff is hard to quit.

Jobs in health care and social assistance are projected to see the most growth over the next decade, according to a report out Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Why it matters: The explosive growth in these sectors comes courtesy of the changing fabric of the country — an aging population that needs more care.

• Those demographics are also a reason job growth overall is projected to slow over the next decade.

OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and more than 100 other companies warned Thursday that the organizations now only have months to prepare for AI-enabled cyberattacks.

Why it matters: Hospitals, water treatment plants and other critical infrastructure will face a swarm of hacking threats as AI makes sophisticated cyber capabilities cheaper and more accessible to attackers, the group write in an open letter.

Meta removed a network of Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to an Iran-based operation that used AI to target U.S. audiences with posts about American politics, the company first shared with Axios.

Why it matters: The operation attracted thousands of followers and included accounts posing as everyday Americans to appear more authentic.

Private equity giant KKR has agreed to a $250 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, over its alleged failure to file proper pre-merger notifications on over a dozen deals in 2021 and 2022.

Why it matters: This is the largest civil penalty ever for HSR Act violations.

After burning through its IT budget in the first quarter of the year, Uber has now stabilized its AI bills even as usage surges, the company tells Axios.

Why it matters: It's the latest example of enterprises finding creative ways to increase AI use without their bills ballooning.

To paraphrase Justin Timberlake in his iconic turn in the 2010 film "The Social Network," a trillion dollars isn't cool. You know what is? $3 trillion.

The big picture: That's roughly how much money seven Big Tech companies, including Google, Microsoft and Nvidia, have committed to spending on AI-related infrastructure in off-balance-sheet commitments, according to a new analysis from Morgan Stanley.

• And that's on top of the estimated $770 billion in debt and lease obligations that are on the balance sheets.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will hold fireside chats with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang next week during the U.S.-led G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Why it matters: The Sept. 1–2 summit, co-hosted by the Commerce Department and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is aimed at fostering global innovation in AI and other technologies.