Ad-ificial intelligence

When Meta rolls out a new product, the company usually waits until that product has a billion users before turning on the ads. For Meta AI, that time has arrived, so get ready for those ads.

A time lapse of Stargate I construction in Abilene, Texas. Imagery from April 26, 2024, to September 29, 2025 (Copernicus) Hey Snackers, "The Simpsons" is officially returning for a second movie spin-off — almost exactly 20 years after the original. And, in typical prophetic "Simpsons" fashion, it seems that this episode from 2007 already predicted the premiere date for the upcoming movie. We've charted the ratings of all 790 episodes to quantitatively pinpoint the "Worst. Episode. Ever." But who knows what adventures they'll have between now and the time the show becomes unprofitable? A surprise drop in private payrolls boosted traders' confidence in two more rate cuts this year despite the federal government shutdown, which could delay key economic data, including Friday's jobs report. The S&P 500 notched a fresh all-time high, crossing above the 6,700 level for the first time. The Nasdaq 100 also closed at a new all-time high, while the Russell 2000 powered higher in the final hours of the session. AI BALLS Meta will begin using your AI chats to target you with ads When Meta rolls out a new product, the company usually waits until that product has a billion users before turning on the ads. For Meta AI, that time has arrived, so get ready for those ads.  Meta announced in May that Meta AI had crossed that threshold, saying that more than 1 billion people are using the product every month.  Yesterday, the company announced that it will begin using your conversations and messages with Meta AI to personalize your recommendations and the ads you see. Meta currently monetizes your activity on Meta platforms by using your interactions (likes, shares, attention) to tailor your exposure to its massive advertising machine. So if you asked Meta AI about travel tips for your upcoming vacation, you might now see more content and ads related to that place. But what if you're asking Meta AI how to deal with your depression or other sensitive topics? The company says it doesn't plan on using those discussions as grist for the advertising mill: "When people have conversations with Meta AI about topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, as always, we don't use those topics to show them ads." Still, Meta has a spotty record when it comes to protecting sensitive personal information from leaking into its ad platform. In the past, Meta's pixel-tracking technology has been found to pick up sensitive information regarding mental health crises, financial information, and medical information. THE TAKEAWAY The company said users will start to see notifications about the changes this month, which will go into effect on December 16, 2025. If anything, it'll be an important moment for the AI industry as a whole, and investors in lots of different companies, public and private, will likely be closely eyeing what the company reports if and how AI has juiced its advertising business. If the playbook is as profitable as Meta hopes it is, lots of other players are bound to copy it, after all. Read more FOLLOW THE FEDS Lithium Americas soars on plans for the Department of Energy to take a stake Shares of Lithium Americas finished Wednesday up more than 23% after the miner announced a nonbinding agreement for the US government to receive an equity position in the company in exchange for providing accelerated funding of a loan and offering more favorable repayment terms. The DOE would get a 5% equity stake in the company via warrants in exchange for advancing $435 million of its previously announced loan (now worth a total of $2.23 billion) to Lithium Americas this quarter, as well as deferring interest payments on $182 million of those funds for five years. The first draw of Lithium Americas' loan from the DOE is slated to be used to advance its joint venture with General Motors, a mine being developed in northern Nevada. The DOE will also receive a 5% nonvoting, nontransferable economic stake in this particular project, also via warrants. This planned pact comes on the heels of separate deals earlier this year that saw the government receive an equity stake in MP Materials and Intel, which has helped spur massive gains in those stocks. As we've written, why follow the Fed when you can just follow the feds? THE TAKEAWAY "This proposed stake is another example of the Trump Administration taking equity stakes with American companies to promote industries seen as critical to national security with the majority of lithium reserves coming from foreign adversaries, especially China with the Thacker Pass Facility Buildout seen as crucial to national security," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote. "This is important as the Trump Administration is now looking far and wide (globally) for stakes in strategic companies, not just US names." Read more THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY Here's what we know about Project Stargate The behemoth data center plan once had the code name "Project Ludicrous," and in the eight months since Stargate was announced, the scale and ambition of the project have only grown seemingly more, well, ludicrous. How will the companies backing it raise all that cash? How many gigawatts of power will it provide? We pulled together what's known, what's still developing, and made a time lapse of the build so far, too. A timeline of the project to date. MOVES Yesterday's Big Daily Movers Nike extended its rally as investors and analysts processed the sneaker giant's stronger-than-expected Q1 results Plug Power soared on a flurry of bullish options activity after the company announced that it delivered its first electrolyzer to a refinery in Portugal Medical diagnostics company Tempus AI rose following Tuesday's executive order promoting AI to produce solutions for pediatric cancer Get more details on the biggest movers of the day right when the market closes: subscribe to The Wrap here. OFF THE CHARTS What are Americans' favorite and least favorite business sectors? Answer here. What else we're Snackin' A growing number of corporate boards have turned to the co-CEO model. Here's how those stocks perform Why is Reddit supposedly seeing less traffic from ChatGPT referrals? RBC Capital Markets has one theory; the AI chatbot itself has another Tesla's September sales rose in France and Denmark for the first time this year, and continued to grow in Norway and Spain  A White House official said the Trump administration will not be imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical companies by the initial deadline given Snack Fact of the Day The longest government shutdown in history began in December 2018 and lasted 34 days.  Thursday August factory orders  Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to Snacks and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and The Wrap for quality reads. Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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