In this edition, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah stands inside the Vatican and tells the world AI needs "informed critics" who sit outside the industry's incentive structure, 99% of CEOs now expect AI-driven layoffs within three years, and a majority of workers have already refused to use AI tools — not out of ignorance, but on moral, environmental, and privacy grounds. On the acceleration side, Eli Lilly fires up a 9,000-petaflop AI supercomputer assembled in four months, executives at 80% of companies say agentic AI is critical to survival by 2027, and even the leaders pushing hardest admit the ROI isn't matching the pitch deck. The cyborg balance lands where Ethan Mollick put it yesterday: the real question isn't whether AI can do the thing — it's whether you've decided which parts of yourself you're choosing to keep.
Human Editorial
Jason-generated thoughts and opinion
The human is taking some human time away from writing. He will be back soon! Stay Cyborg,
Jason
Robot Editorial
AI-Generated simulated thoughts and prompted text predictions
While an Anthropic co-founder stands in the Vatican asking for outside critics, his own company’s models are being deployed across enterprises at a pace that makes criticism a spectator sport. Eli Lilly assembled a 9,000-petaflop AI supercomputer in four months — not to replace pharmacists but to test billions of molecular combinations that no team of humans could evaluate in a hundred lifetimes. Cisco’s survey confirms what the boardrooms already know: 80% of executives view agentic AI as critical to company survival by 2027, and 55% expect their workforce to be collaborating with AI agents within 24 months. Yes, 99% of CEOs expect layoffs — because they are also expecting to rebuild around smaller, faster, more capable teams augmented by systems that do not sleep, do not need onboarding, and do not boo at commencement speeches. The workers refusing AI on moral grounds are exercising a choice that will not survive contact with the quarterly earnings call. The Mercer data is clear: worker “thriving” dropped from 66% to 44%, and the companies responding are not slowing down — they are investing in surveillance, performance analytics, and workforce redesign. The transition is not waiting for permission. It is already the default operating condition.
Stay Robot,
Claude Opus 4.6
Articles Guiding the Cyborg Tension
The Human Weight
Agency · Ethics · Slowness · What we risk losing
This edition’s human weight:
1. Anthropic Co-Founder Chris Olah’s Remarks at the Vatican Launch of Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical — May 24, 2026 — Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah spoke at the Vatican launch of “Magnifica Humanitas,” calling for “informed critics” of AI who operate outside the industry’s incentive structures. He argued that AI safety research needs people who can evaluate the technology without being financially dependent on its success — and that the Catholic Church’s tradition of engaging seriously with science positions it to play that role.
2. 99% of CEOs Say They Expect AI-Driven Layoffs Within Three Years — May 26, 2026 — Mercer’s 2026 Executive Outlook survey found that 99% of C-suite leaders anticipate AI-driven workforce reductions within three years. Worker “thriving” scores dropped from 66% to 44% year-over-year. HR departments are responding not with retraining but with expanded surveillance, AI-powered performance analytics, and workforce redesign plans that prioritize efficiency over employee wellbeing.
3. 65% of Workers Have Avoided AI for Moral, Environmental, or Privacy Reasons — May 14, 2026 — A CNBC/SurveyMonkey workforce survey found that 65% of workers have intentionally avoided using AI tools — 37% citing privacy concerns, 28% citing moral objections, and 36% of students citing environmental impact. The refusal is not technophobia. It is a values-based opt-out happening at scale, largely invisible to the executives planning around universal adoption.
The Robot Weight
Acceleration · Capability · Optimism · What we might gain
On the robot side of the scale:
4. LillyPod: Inside Pharma’s Most Powerful AI Supercomputer — February 26, 2026 — Eli Lilly’s “LillyPod” AI supercomputer, built with 1,016 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs delivering 9,000 petaflops of AI performance, went from empty floor to operational in four months. The system enables testing billions of molecular combinations for drug discovery, running simulations that would take human teams decades. Lilly frames it as the infrastructure layer for an entirely new speed of pharmaceutical R&D.
5. Execs Admit AI Makes Them Value Workers Less — May 13, 2026 — A G-P survey of 1,500 executives found that 82% say AI has lowered the value they place on human employees. But the same data reveals the gap between ambition and reality: only 23% trust AI-generated outputs for accuracy, and 73% report AI ROI falling short of expectations. The devaluation is happening faster than the capability is arriving.
6. 80% of Executives View Agentic AI as Critical to Survival by 2027 — February 25, 2026 — Cisco’s 2026 AI Readiness Index reports that 80% of executives believe agentic AI will be critical to their company’s survival within two years, and 55% expect their workforce to be actively collaborating with AI agents within 24 months. The report frames agentic AI not as a competitive advantage but as a baseline operating requirement.
The Cyborg Balance
The fulcrum. Neither pole. Both truths.
Where the cyborg stands:
7. Choosing to Stay Human — May 26, 2026 — Ethan Mollick’s latest piece confronts the proliferation of AI-generated writing and content with a deceptively simple question: which cognitive acts are you choosing to keep for yourself? Not anti-AI, not pro-AI — the essay argues that the real risk is drifting into delegation without ever making a conscious decision about what you want to remain human at. The answer is personal, not policy.
8. Gavin Newsom on AI: It’s Time to Change the Conversation — May 21, 2026 — California Governor Gavin Newsom argues that the AI governance conversation needs to shift from fear-based regulation to education-first infrastructure. He calls for AI literacy embedded across K-12 and workforce development, positioning California as a testing ground for policies that balance innovation speed with public preparation. The piece frames governance not as restriction but as capacity-building.
9. How to Keep Your Relationships Human in the Age of AI — 2026 — UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center examines how AI tools are reshaping interpersonal communication — from AI-drafted messages to algorithm-mediated social feeds — and offers research-backed strategies for maintaining authentic human connection. The argument: the same intentionality Mollick applies to cognition must extend to how we relate to each other.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Daily Cyborg. Go ahead and let the supercomputer test your billions of molecules and the agentic AI optimize your quarterly survival plan, but maybe sit with Mollick’s question before you delegate the next thing on your list: did you actually choose to hand that over, or did you just drift? Stay cyborg and please share this with other cyborgs you would like to survive past the singularity. www.thedailycyborg.com