Techin' Geek

On Sunday, a research group known as Citrini Research released a notable report depicting how agentic AI could lead to widespread economic turmoil within the next two years. The envisioned scenario presents a report from two years down the line, indicating that unemployment has increased twofold, and the overall value of the stock market has plummeted by over a third. As expressed in the report:

AI capabilities grew stronger, companies required fewer employees, layoffs in the white-collar sector escalated, displaced workers cut back on spending, margin pressures pushed firms to invest further in AI, AI capabilities grew stronger…

This set off a negative feedback loop with no natural stopping mechanism…The system evolved into a continuous daisy chain of interrelated bets on white-collar productivity enhancement. 

This represents a novel type of bearish outlook, concentrating not on misalignment akin to Skynet but rather on the gradual unraveling of the economy itself. Specifically, the Citrini forecast examines the consequences of embedding AI agents into the broader economy, and the ramifications when external contractors are supplanted by less expensive in-house AI. It bears similarities to the Death of SaaS scenario, yet Citrini extends the argument, implicating any business model focused on optimizing transactions among businesses.

As anticipated, the report is generating significant buzz online. Not everyone concurs with its conclusions — even Citrini refers to it more as a scenario than a definitive forecast — but identifying the exact moment when the scenario falters is a challenge.

Personally, I have doubts about whether companies are prepared to delegate purchasing decisions to AI agents, regardless of their sophistication. However, in Citrini’s scenario, many of the affected decisions have already been entrusted to third-party contractors, making it less improbable than it appears.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is summoning Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei to the Pentagon on Tuesday morning to talk about the military application of Claude, as reported by Axios.

This gathering occurs as the Pentagon threatens to label Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” — a tag usually designated for foreign threats — following the AI company’s decision to deny the Department of Defense access to its technology for extensive surveillance of Americans and the creation of autonomous weaponry. 

Last summer, Anthropic entered into a $200 million agreement with the DOD, and Claude was allegedly utilized in the January 3 special operations mission that led to the detainment of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, an incident that highlighted the rising tensions between the two parties.

A source informed Axios that Hegseth is presenting Amodei with an ultimatum: cooperate or face exclusion. It’s uncertain if he is bluffing — replacing Anthropic would be a considerable challenge. However, the implications are serious: a supply chain risk classification would nullify Anthropic’s contract and compel other Pentagon affiliates to completely abandon Claude.

The AI-driven dictation company Wispr Flow has introduced its Android application today. Initially, the app was made available for Mac and Windows, followed by its iOS launch in June 2025.

On iOS, Wispr Flow allowed users to utilize a specialized keyboard. On the Android platform, the user interface differs slightly, featuring a floating bubble to access the dictionary. Users can hold the bubble to dictate, tap once to begin, and then tap the close button to end the dictation. Similar to other platforms, the app not only provides dictation but also removes filler words and formats the text based on the app’s context and the spoken material.

“Android finally provided us the opportunity to create the voice experience we had always envisioned. Only when the platform is unobtrusive can we genuinely anticipate voice replacing typing on mobile,” stated Tanay Kothari, co-founder and CEO of the startup.

The app supports translation in more than 100 languages and operates seamlessly across other applications. With the Android application launch, Wispr Flow announced an infrastructure overhaul, enhancing dictation speed by 30% compared to earlier versions.

Despite the multitude of AI-driven dictation applications present for desktop and iOS, Wispr Flow is among the few that have launched on Android, joining Typeless, which released its app for the platform last month.

Additionally, the company has introduced a new model for Hinglish, a blend of Hindi and English, aimed at individuals in India who communicate in a mixed language style.

“As someone who often mixes English and Hindi when conversing with family and colleagues back home, I felt compelled to create something for myself: the first voice model geared towards transcription in Hinglish rather than conventional Hindi script,” Kothari expressed.

The company highlighted that even with a preliminary rollout to a limited user base, there have been over 1.3 million words spoken in English by users in recent days.

Wispr Flow has emerged as one of the leading startups in the sector of AI-driven dictation applications, garnering considerable attention from venture capitalists. In June, the startup secured $30 million in funding led by Menlo Ventures, followed by an additional $25 million in November from a round headed by Notable Capital. In total, Wispr Flow has raised $81 million, with its latest valuation reported at $700 million, according to sources.