The Record

We’ve been rebuilding journalism from first principles. Here’s how it works: instead of starting with an opinion and finding facts to support it, we start with individual claims, score them for truthfulness with a council of AI models, open them up to community corrections, and then assemble narratives from the claims that survive scrutiny. The narratives seek to answer a central question about trending topics on the internet. The output is a cleaner, more objective stack for journalism: claim extraction, truth scoring, evidence review, and narrative construction built on top. Each week, we use this system to publish an article addressing a trending topic on the internet. We're going to be scaling this up to cover more topics, and to give users more comprehensive of what's going on in the world. Follow a long and share your feedback!

@PGDynes Thought the article on Substack associated with this graph was really good as well. Recommend giving it a read: substack.com/home/post/p-19…

If the projected super El Niño materialises, global temperatures could surge toward ~1.8°C above pre-industrial levels over the next 18 months. If that happens, 1.5°C isn’t a guardrail anymore — it’s in the rearview mirror. We’re not approaching 2°C...we’re speeding toward it.

This week on The Record: therecordapp.com/narratives/cli…

Current warming sits at about 1.4°C, and widespread mass coral bleaching and mortality have been underway since 2023-2025, which affected more than 80–84% of reefs globally. The Amazon rainforest is nearing a tipping point. The combined pressures of deforestation and climate change (drier dry seasons, longer droughts, more fires) are pushing parts of the Amazon basin toward a potential shift to savanna-like conditions. Experts indicate the effective tipping threshold may now be as low as 1.5-2.5°C of warming, with risks escalating if deforestation continues.

- Paul Conyngham used ChatGPT, AlphaFold, and Grok to design a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for his dog, Rosie - The custom mRNA vaccine was synthesized and administered by academic researchers at Australian universities, not by Conyngham himself - Rosie the dog was co-administered a checkpoint inhibitor alongside the experimental mRNA vaccine, and checkpoint inhibitors are independently proven to shrink tumors in both human and veterinary oncology - The viral spread of Rosie's story represents survivorship bias — successful anecdotal outcomes attract media attention while failed attempts at similar AI-assisted treatments go unreported Full breakdown of the story: therecordnewsletter.substack.com/p/did-ai-cure-…

Did AI cure a dogs cancer? Australian tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham used ChatGPT, AlphaFold, and Grok to design a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for his dog Rosie, which university researchers then built and administered alongside a proven checkpoint inhibitor. Her largest tumor shrank by 75%, though we can't say whether it was the vaccine or the immunotherapy that did it.

@chamath @karpathy 👋 therecordapp.com/narratives/hig…

Product idea: An app that takes today’s top headlines, run @karpathy’s iterative argument/counter argument loop, summarize both sides and send it to me so I can read both sides and come to my ow conclusion.

Full article: therecordnewsletter.substack.com/p/are-the-us-t…

TL;DR: Trump’s Section 232 tariffs raised U.S. steel and aluminum prices and modestly boosted domestic production and investment. But the protection came with much higher costs for manufacturers and consumers, shifting billions through supply chains while delivering limited broader economic gains, little impact on the trade deficit, and mixed national security benefit.

Assessment of the reinstatement and expansion of the Section 232 tariffs by President Trump to-date 🧵

@CryptoMikli True

Bryan Johnson reveals that water from glass bottles has MORE microplastics than water from plastic bottles ''When you look at the data, the microplastics don't come from the glass, they come from the lid and it's the paint that goes in the lid and then it chips off'' ''That's why it's very counterintuitive. You think a plastic water bottle is made of plastic and a glass water bottle is made of glass. The glass bottle has more microplastics than the plastic bottle. This is why testing is the best thing to do, it's very dangerous to have assumptions''

TIL: Contrary to the old $75k myth, happiness actually continues to scale with income up to $500,000/year for most. But, it’s log-linear - you have to double your income to get the same "bump" in joy each time.

Check out the full post here: therecordnewsletter.substack.com/p/get-rich-or-…

TL;DR: Wealth provides a vital foundation for life satisfaction by meeting material needs and reducing daily stress. While happiness continues to scale with income up to high levels, its marginal impact diminishes; once basic comforts are secured, the primary drivers of fulfillment shift from financial gains to personal autonomy, social connection, and the capacity to stay positive.

Is happiness a paycheck or a choice? This week on The Record 🧵

Asking for a friend

@bryan_johnson But I take AG1, so everything is already fine.

The good news: if AI is better than you at everything, you’ll have more time to sleep and exercise.

Full article here: therecordnewsletter.substack.com/publish/post/1…

Is Athletic Greens a Scam? TL;DR: AG1 is a masterclass in marketing over math. It sells a “superfood” narrative using proprietary blends that struggle to fit therapeutic doses into one scoop. Driven by high influencer commissions and company-funded studies, it’s an expensive insurance policy that whole foods consistently outperform. Check out the article in the replies for a deep dive on the debate between Bryan Johnson and Athletic Greens.

Seems like BJ is pretty on point with this assessment. Some claims are exaggerated ("one of the lowest value health products in the world"), but overall AG1 is a masterclass in marketing over math. It sells a “superfood” narrative using proprietary blends that struggle to fit therapeutic doses into one scoop. Driven by high influencer commissions and company-funded studies, it’s an expensive insurance policy that whole foods consistently outperform.

AG1 is one of the lowest value health products in the world despite being the most heavily promoted. They flood podcasts by paying influencers up to $60 per new subscription and a $30/mo recurring kickback. Plus AG1 gives them equity in the company. Retail price            $79 Ingredients            ($5) Packaging             ($3) Manufacturing       ($4) Shipping                ($7) Total costs             ($19) Gross margin         $60 Gross margin%      75.9%        Why does this matter? McDonald’s openly taunts you “I’m lovin it." They prey upon your compulsive instincts and don’t try to hide it. AG1 lures you into a false state of confidence by leveraging people you trust and hiding behind a “propriety blend”. The bulk of the 12g scoop is cheap greens and emulsifiers. They include on the label high-value ingredients but only include trace amounts to lower their costs. That way you think you’re getting the good stuff but you’re actually not. AG1 is bad for the world. Overpriced. Underdelivers. Science shows it has no clinical effect. They’ve induced good people into violating their own standards of trust. They pretend to be something they’re not. They create confusion for consumers who are genuinely trying to make good life decisions. They erode trust.