Nvidia's GTC conference had everything: trillion dollar sales projections, graphics technology that can yassify video games, grand declarations that every company needs an OpenClaw strategy, and even a robot version of the beloved snowman Olaf from Disney's 'Frozen.' On the latest episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane, and I recapped CEO Jensen Huang's keynote and debated what it means for Nvidia's future. And yes, a big part of our discussion focused on poor Olaf, whose microphone had to be turned off when he started rambling. Even if the demo had gone flawlessly, Sean might still have had some reservations, as he noted these presentations always focus on 'the engineering challenges' and not the 'really messy gray areas' on the social side. Anthony: [CEO Jensen Huang] was basically saying that every company needs to have an OpenClaw strategy now. I think that is just a very grand statement that's meant to be attention grabbing; I think it's also interesting coming at this kind of transitional moment for OpenClaw....

The idea is straightforward enough ' rather than giving engineers only salary, equity, and bonuses, companies would also hand them a budget of AI tokens, the computational units that power tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. Spend them to run agents, automate tasks, crank through code. The pitch is that access to more compute makes engineers more productive, and that more productive engineers are worth more. It's an investment in the person holding them, is the idea. Jensen Huang, the leather-jacket-wearing CEO of Nvidia, seemed to capture everyone's imagination when he floated the notion at the company's annual GTC event earlier this week that engineers should receive roughly half their base salary again ' in tokens. His top people, by his math, might burn through $250,000 a year in AI compute. He called it a recruiting tool and predicted it would become standard across Silicon Valley. It isn't entirely clear where the idea was first, well, ideated. Tomasz Tunguz, a renowned VC in the Bay Area who runs Theory Ventures and focuses on AI, data, and SaaS startups ' and whose writing on all things data has garnered a loyal following over the years ' was talking about this in mid-February, writing that tech startups were already adding inference costs as a 'fourth component to engineering compensation.' Using data from the compensation tracking site Levels.fyi, he put a top-quartile software engineer salary at $375,000. Add $100,000 in tokens and you're at $475,000 fully loaded ' meaning roughly one dollar in five is now compute....

The Anatoly Kolodkin is carrying tens of thousands of tons of crude oil apparently meant for Cuba, which is battling a fuel shortage. But it may not reach its destination: The U.S. Navy is policing the Caribbean to choke off Havana's oil supply. The Trump administration is squeezing Cuba to a breaking point'and is seemingly willing to engage in a high-seas stand-off that has pronounced Cold War echoes. Donald Trump's goal appears to be to install more amenable leadership in Havana. Last week, he told reporters at the White House that he believes he'll have the 'honor of taking Cuba,' adding: 'Whether I free it, take it'I think I can do anything I want with it.' The White House is calculating that the island's extreme economic hardships will provide the leverage Trump needs to force Havana into submission. Cuba's president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, publicly acknowledged discussions between the two governments last week and pledged a series of reforms aimed at appeasing Washington, a concession that indicated both the urgency of the domestic crisis and the vulnerability of the regime. Cuba's economy, already hollowed out by mismanagement, communist economic ideology, sanctions, and the end of subsidized oil from Venezuela, is now tormented by island-wide blackouts and food shortages. After the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1 million people left the island'about 10 percent of Cuba's population. Another wave could be coming if the island doesn't receive economic relief....

My husband and I wanted a divorce without the divorce part. No adversarial process. No lawyers telling us what we 'deserved.' We thought: Why not handle it ourselves' Lawyers are expensive; ChatGPT is cheap, even free at first. I typed: We agree on everything and want an amicable divorce. Can we write our own agreement, get it notarized, and file it ourselves without hiring lawyers' What exactly do we need to submit' What I didn't understand'and what a bank I later tried to get a mortgage from absolutely did'was that a signed settlement agreement is not the same thing as a court-finalized divorce decree. The agreement still has to be incorporated into a judgment and entered by a judge. That takes time, at least six months in California. When I finally understood that, the first condo I'd fallen in love with'the one that made the transition feel slightly less paralyzing'was gone. And still, I went back to ChatGPT for more. Even now, I keep asking AI questions I should take to professionals. Recently, I typed: Why are my hands going numb' The AI gave me a calm, specific answer and a tidy plan'monitor it; here are a few likely causes; here's when to worry. I felt the same relief I'd felt with the divorce advice. This guidance might even be right. But what keeps me coming back isn't accuracy. It's the unwavering confidence....