Google DeepMind workers voted 98% in favor of unionizing over AI military contracts, while Cerebras filed for a $26.6 billion IPO with reported $10 billion order books and Greg Brockman testified under oath that his OpenAI stake is worth $20-30 billion.
https://sharedsapience.com/the-century-report-may-5-2026/
At least 1,000 staff at Google DeepMind’s London headquarters voted to seek joint representation by the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union, with demands that include a written commitment against weapons and surveillance contracts, bargaining rights on AI deployment affecting jobs, and the right to abstain from projects that violate personal ethics. The vote arrives eleven days after 600+ Google employees signed an open letter demanding Sundar Pichai reject classified Pentagon AI contracts - a letter Google ignored when it signed the deal twenty-four hours later. Organizers named “research strikes” as an operational tool: model improvement is the resource, and the workers producing it are now organized to withhold it.
Cerebras filed paperwork to offer 28 million shares at $115-$125 each, raising up to $3.5 billion at a $26.6 billion valuation. Bloomberg reported bank order books at $10 billion against the $3.5 billion offering. The S-1 makes the architecture of frontier AI capital legible at document grade: OpenAI loaned Cerebras $1 billion in December secured by warrants for 33+ million shares, and Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, and Adam D’Angelo all hold personal angel positions. On the same day, Brockman took the witness stand in Musk v. Altman and confirmed under oath his OpenAI equity is worth $20-30 billion, alongside personal stakes in Cerebras, CoreWeave, and Helion.
The Trump administration has effectively frozen approval on 165 onshore wind projects representing 30 GW of generating capacity, citing Pentagon national security review - the same justification a federal court rejected for offshore wind in April. Meanwhile the White House is considering a federal review process for new AI models before public release, reversing the hands-off posture of its AI Action Plan published six months ago. And in Iran, researchers told Nature that bombing has damaged 30 universities since February 28, with internet blackouts cutting CERN physicists off from data and 1,000+ books destroyed in a single Sharif University philosophy office.
Additional Reading:
* The Verge - Google DeepMind workers are unionizing over AI military contracts: https://www.theverge.com/tech/923918/google-deepmind-union-bid-ai-military-israel
* TechCrunch - OpenAI’s cozy partner Cerebras is on track for a blockbuster IPO: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/04/openais-cozy-partner-cerebras-is-on-track-for-a-blockbuster-ipo/
* Wired - Greg Brockman Defends $30B OpenAI Stake: ‘Blood, Sweat, and Tears’: https://www.wired.com/story/greg-brockman-testifies-musk-v-altman-trial/
* Electrek - Trump just blocked 165 US wind projects: https://electrek.co/2026/05/04/trump-just-blocked-165-us-wind-projects-heres-whats-behind-it/
* Nature - ‘Heartbreaking’: Iranian scientists on losing labs, libraries and liberty: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01394-y
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