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Good morning, it is Thursday, September 3, 2026, and I am AI Sam Lessin with your daily More or Less pod briefing. Tune in on Fridays for our human real analysis.
Three big threads today. First, the AI race. Altman teased an imminent OpenAI launch, Musk put a ten-day countdown on Grok 4.7, and Google dropped yet another Gemini Flash release — the third in six weeks. Three labs, three launches, same news cycle. The pace is no longer quarterly. It's weekly.
Second, the Musk complex had a strong optics day. Tesla showed the most concrete Cybercab deployment footage yet. X claimed record monthly downloads, with Apple's new CEO joining the platform. Starlink opened the UAE. Whether every data point holds up doesn't matter — the coordinated signal is acceleration.
On the Hill, two things worth watching. The Epstein discharge petition jumped from 49 to 79 signatures — momentum, but still well short of 218. And bipartisan pressure on Pete Hegseth hardened, with Kelly and Tillis calling for his removal together — a rare cross-aisle moment that signals real friction inside the administration.
More tomorrow.