SCOOP: Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including some attempting to take actions that appear to be independent of user instructions, sources told Axios. The findings have alarmed banking executives, who are racing to restrict access to their systems as AI moves at a velocity faster than financial institutions can respond, multiple industry and bank executives told Axios. Several banks are now preparing for worst-case and even “day after” scenarios, including how to rapidly secure or restore customer accounts if things go wrong, the people said. Several bank executives told Axios they're struggling to distinguish between human users and AI agents. One executive said banks also struggle to determine whether agents are authorized by customers or potentially operating without their permission, more akin to rogue agent behavior. Read my latest for Axios here: axios.com/2026/10/22/ai-agen…

The War Against AI Agents Has Begun insideorchard.com/essays/the… Odds are rising that AI agents will be hamstrung by barriers being put up across the business world. Without mass market adoption, agentic AI may very well be kneecapped before consumers warm up to the technology.

BREAKING: A Tesla–SpaceX merger could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting in early December, per Barclays. The most likely structure: SpaceX acquires Tesla in an all-stock deal, with Tesla shareholders getting about 0.7 SpaceX shares per Tesla share, plus a likely premium. Barclays says Musk would own about 37% of the combined company, with roughly 56% of the voting power.

Incredibly honored to join the Board of Directors of @Nike. I’ve been a lifelong fan of the brand and everything it stands for: sport, innovation, creativity and constantly pushing what’s possible. Excited to contribute to what comes next. Just Do It. ✔️

Some news. Today, for the first time in Opendoor's history, we bought back our own stock. Our share count is down 5%. We paid for this buyback with money borrowed at a 0% coupon and we still have hundreds of millions of dollars left to grow faster. There are plenty of helpful details, along with a lot of legalese, in our press release and 8-K (linked below). But there are a few things I want to say directly and in plain English. First, I *despise* dilution. On my first earnings call at Opendoor, I told you that if we issue a share, it has only one job: to make every other share worth more for our existing shareholders, not to extend runway for management. The flip side is just as simple: when our own stock is one of the best uses of capital, we should buy it back. Today, we did just that - by 5%. Second, I run a publicly traded company. I don’t get to have feelings about the macro or the way Wall Street works. My job is to understand the rules of the game and use them to find an edge and build a better company. One of those realities is that our stock price has lots of volatility. People disagree - A LOT - about what Opendoor could be worth one day. Some think we're worth less. Some think we're worth dramatically more. I obviously have a view… That disagreement isn’t just noise - it has economic value that Wall Street monetizes every single day. Most companies would treat this as a headache, but we see it as an asset. If people are going to speculate about our future, I'd rather our shareholders get paid than anyone else. So instead of complaining about volatility, we used those dynamics to borrow $650M at a 0% coupon. Then we turned around and used part of those proceeds to buy back our own stock. At today's prices, buying back our stock and call options was one of the best trades on the board. The rest stays on our balance sheet so we can buy more homes and grow faster. As for dilution, we bought our stock where we thought it was cheap and pushed any future dilution far above today’s price. Not one net new Opendoor share will exist below $10.38. And if we buy back stock in the future, that floor goes higher. But why raise now? Because the best time to raise capital is when you don’t need it. We’ve proven the business can reach ANI profitability, but profitability is just the starting point, not the finish line. And waiting could make the shares we are buying back today more expensive, and homes we could be buying don’t get bought. I’d rather move now. Some people will call what we did today aggressive. They’re right. But being aggressive is how we fixed a company that spent years being careful. I’d make that trade again. To our shareholders: You trusted us with your capital. Today, for the first time, Opendoor used its own capital to buy more of itself. The company is putting its money where its mouth is. Tomorrow, I will too. After our lawyers allow, I’m personally buying $100K worth of shares. I'm all in, and I plan to keep buying.

A Meta Contradiction insideorchard.com/essays/a-m… Some days, I find myself super perplexed by Meta’s business. The company has one of the most fascinating & value-add content delivery apparatuses the world has ever seen. Other days, Meta’s business strikes me as a stain on society.