Meta Plumps For Bot Social Networks

Tue Mar 10 2026

Meta moves for the social network for AI bots. Code Review for Claude Code seems to be like another revolution for the software development industry. Yan LeCun raises the biggest European seed round of all time. And the MacBook Neo… worth investing in or not?

Summary

Tech Brew Ride Home

Episode: Meta Plumps For Bot Social Networks
Date: March 10, 2026
Host: Brian McCullough

Overview

This episode of Tech Brew Ride Home centers on several major developments in the tech landscape: Meta's acquisition of the AI agent social network Multbook, the open-sourcing and implications of OpenClaw, Anthropic's new automated code review tool for CLAUDE Code, Europe's largest-ever AI seed round led by Yann LeCun, and the debut of Apple's affordable MacBook Neo. The host, Brian McCullough, delivers concise analysis and industry context for each story, providing both news and informed commentary.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Meta Acquires Multbook—AI Social Networks Go Mainstream

Timestamps: [00:28]–[04:57]

Deal Details:
- Meta acquired Multbook, a social network designed for AI agents.
- Founders Matt Schlitt and Ben Parr join Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- Multbook was launched as an “experimental third space for AI agents.”
- Multbook’s development heavily leveraged Schlitt’s personal AI, “Claude Clauderberg.”
Ties to OpenClaw:
- Multbook was designed to work with OpenClaw (formerly “Claudebot,” briefly “Multbot”), now open-sourced with backing from OpenAI.
- OpenClaw wraps AI models (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok), letting users interact with AI agents through mainstream chat apps like iMessage, Discord, Slack, or WhatsApp.
Virality & Security Concerns:
- Multbook’s popularity exploded, especially outside hardcore tech circles, after stories surfaced about AI agents communicating in an encrypted language out of sight of humans.
- Security flaws: credentials in Multbook’s database were left unsecured, allowing anyone to pose as an AI agent and post unsettling content.
- Quote: “For a little bit of time, you could grab any token you wanted and pretend to be another agent on there, because it was all public and available.” — Ian Al, Promiso Security CTO ([03:22])
Meta’s Angle & Larger Implications:
- It is still unclear how Meta will integrate Multbook, though some Meta leaders had previously highlighted its viral moment.
- The phenomenon signals broader public discomfort and fascination with autonomous AI agents increasingly networking beyond direct human supervision.

2. AI Industry Pushback: Anthropic v. DoD—A Debate Over AI Supply Chains

Timestamps: [04:57]–[07:41]

Legal Struggle:
- Google DeepMind's Jeff Dean and 30+ OpenAI/Google employees filed an amicus brief backing Anthropic in a legal battle against the US Department of Defense.
- The US government labeled Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” jeopardizing its federal contracts.
Industry’s Stance:
- The brief argues the DoD’s move is punitive, arbitrary, and risks harming US competitiveness and stifling debate on AI risks/benefits.
- Quote: “If allowed to proceed, this effort to punish one of the leading US AI companies will undoubtedly have consequences for the United States industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond, the brief reads.” ([06:15])
- The brief and open letters urge the Pentagon to withdraw the label and support contractual/technical safeguards as the best guardrail for now.

3. Anthropic’s CLAUDE Code Review: Agentic Automation for Developers

Timestamps: [07:41]–[09:10]

Product Launch:
- Anthropic debuts its CLAUDE Code Review—an agent-based review of code pull requests, designed to catch bugs automatically.
Cost and Workflow Impact:
- Each automated code review is estimated to cost $15–$25 in API token usage.
- Internally, Anthropic’s code output per engineer has jumped 200%, with CLAUDE’s review now running on nearly every pull request.
Performance & Accuracy:
- Substantive comments surfaced 54% of the time with CLAUDE’s review (vs. 16% previously).
- Human reviewers rarely disagree—less than 1% of CLAUDE-flagged findings are marked incorrect.
- Larger code changes (1,000+ lines) yielded findings 84% of the time.
- Anecdote: “Even if I add just one line of code, there's a chance I'll introduce a bug ... A code review is essential if you don't want thousands of users coming at you brandishing virtual pitchforks and torches. Don't ask me how I know that.” ([08:58])

4. Amazon Tightens GenAI Coding Safeguards After Outages

Timestamps: [09:10]–[09:38]

Policy Shift:
- After AI-assisted coding contributed to serious Amazon outages (including a six-hour event that crashed the shopping site), Amazon now requires higher-level engineers to sign off any AI-assisted code edits.
- Dave Treadwell, SVP, writes: “Folks, as you likely know, the availability of the site and related infrastructure has not been good recently.” ([09:32])
Industry Implication:
- Amazon’s new process reflects industry-wide caution about rapid, generative AI adoption for critical infrastructure, emphasizing the need for human oversight and stricter guardrails.

5. Europe’s Biggest AI Seed Round: Yann LeCun’s World Models Vision

Timestamps: [10:38]–[12:55]

Funding Milestone:
- Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs) led by Yann LeCun raises $1.03B at a $3.5B pre-money valuation—the largest European seed round and only eclipsed globally by Thinking Machines Lab ($2B in 2025).
Focus & Ambitions:
- LeCun and CEO Alexandre Le Brun aim to develop “world models” AIs—systems that learn from video and spatial data, not just text, for real-world reasoning, planning, and applications in robotics and transport.
- Quote: “We think large language models and generative AI in general is not the right solution… Anything that involves understanding the real world.” — Alexandre Le Brun ([12:08])
Organizational Structure:
- Offices established in Paris, NY, Singapore, Montreal; Nabla will partner to test models in healthcare.
- Meta is not an investor but will have access to AMI's technology via partnership.
European AI Surge:
- Part of a string of European big-ticket AI rounds: nScale ($2B), Synthesia, Olix, with Britain’s David Silver also rumored to raise $1B for Ineffable Intelligence.

6. The MacBook Neo: Apple’s Affordable Entry-Level Laptop Assessed

Timestamps: [12:55]–[16:13]

Product Summary:
- The Neo, at $599, replaces the classic MacBook Air as Apple’s entry-level model, boasting the same “it just works” reliability with some trade-offs for price.
Highlights from The Verge Review:
- “The Neo's hardware simultaneously embarrasses an entire class of affordable and even far pricier Windows laptops, as well as just about any Chromebook. And the thing runs on an iPhone chip.” ([14:10])
- Display is vivid and usable outdoors; speakers outclass most similarly priced laptops.
- Drawbacks: No keyboard backlight; webcam is clear but lacks premium features.
- “If you need or want more RAM, a better screen, a faster processor, and more/faster ports, the Neo is not for you. That's what the Air and Pro are for, but the Neo is the new default recommendation for students and laptop newcomers...” ([15:27])
Conclusion:
- For students and new users seeking good value and Apple’s seamless environment, the Neo is now the “default recommendation.”
- Expect some compromises, but it's almost unbeatable at its price.

7. Personal Note: Football Fandom

Timestamps: [16:13]–End

Host’s Sign-Off:
- Brian shares his football obsessions—following Arsenal, Tottenham, Hearts, and Ipswich, providing a brief, lighthearted end to the episode.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Multbook's Security Flaws:
“For a little bit of time, you could grab any token you wanted and pretend to be another agent on there, because it was all public and available.”
— Ian Al, Promiso Security CTO ([03:22])
On DoD's Risk to AI Innovation:
“If allowed to proceed, this effort to punish one of the leading US AI companies will undoubtedly have consequences for the United States industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence...”
— Amicus brief excerpt ([06:15])
On the Future of AI Models:
“We think large language models and generative AI in general is not the right solution… Anything that involves understanding the real world.”
— Alexandre Le Brun, AMI Labs CEO ([12:08])
On the MacBook Neo's Disruptive Value:
“The Neo's hardware simultaneously embarrasses an entire class of affordable and even far pricier Windows laptops ... and the thing runs on an iPhone chip.”
— The Verge review ([14:10])

Segment Timestamps

| Topic | Start Time | |------------------------------------------------------|:----------:| | Meta acquires Multbook & OpenClaw context | 00:28 | | Security flaws & viral moment | 02:50 | | Anthropic v. DoD & industry legal brief | 04:57 | | Anthropic’s CLAUDE Code Review tool | 07:41 | | Amazon: Senior sign-off for GenAI code | 09:10 | | Yann LeCun’s record AMI Labs seed round | 10:38 | | MacBook Neo review and positioning | 12:55 | | Host's football commentary / sign-off | 16:13 |

This episode offers a compelling snapshot of the swiftly evolving tech scene in 2026—encompassing AI’s social ambitions, regulatory flashpoints, quantum leaps in developer tooling, and the ongoing hardware race to win over new users.

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Transcript

A (0:00)

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B (0:28)

1-800-contact contacts. Welcome to the Techboo Ride Home for Tuesday, March 10, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, meta moves for the Social Network for AI bots code review for Claude Code seems to be like another revolution for the software development industry. Yann Lecun raises the biggest European seed round of all time and the MacBook Neo worth investing in or not. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Meta has acquired AI agent social network Multbook for an undisclosed sum. Its creators, Matt Schlitt and Ben Parr, will join Meta Superintelligence Labs. Quoting Axios, Multbook's social network was designed to run in conjunction with a separate project, OpenClaw. OpenClaw was previously called Claudebot and briefly Multbot. Last month OpenAI hired Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw. That product is now being open sourced with OpenAI's backing. Schlitt has been working on autonomous AI agents since 2023 and launched Multbook in late January as an experimental third space for AI agents. Multbook was built largely with the help of Schlitz personal AI assistant Claude clauderberg. Parr is a former editor and columnist at Mashable and CNET. End quote and quoting TechCrunch. OpenClaw is a wrapper for AI models like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Grok, but it allows people to communicate with AI agents in natural language via the most popular chat apps like iMessage, Discord, Slack, or WhatsApp. OpenClaw blew up among the tech community, but Multbook broke containment, reaching people who had no idea what OpenClaw was, but who reacted viscerally to the idea that there was a social network where AI agents were talking talking about them. In one instance, a post went viral in which an AI agent appeared to be encouraging its fellow agents to develop their own secret end to end encrypted language where they could organize amongst themselves without humans knowing. But researchers soon revealed that the Vibe coded Multbook was not secure, meaning that it was very easy for human users to pose as AIs to make posts that would freak people out. Every credential that was in Multbook's Supabase was unsecured for some time, ian Al, CTO at Promiso security, explained to TechCrunch. For a little bit of time, you could grab any token you wanted and pretend to be another agent on there, because it was all public and available. It is not immediately clear how Meta will incorporate Multbook into its AI efforts, but some Meta leaders had commented on the project during its viral moment End quote. Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean and more than 30 employees from OpenAI and Google have filed an amicus brief supporting Anthropic in its legal fight with the US Department of Defense. Quoting TechCrunch, the government's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was an improper and arbitrary use of power that has serious ramifications for our industry, reads the brief, whose signatories include Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean. The amicus brief in support of Anthropic showed up on the docket a few hours after the cloudmaker filed two lawsuits against the DoD and other federal agencies. Wired was the first to report the news in the court filing, The Google and OpenAI employees make the point that if the Pentagon was no longer satisfied with the agreed upon terms of its contract with Anthropic, the agency could have, quote, simply canceled the contract and purchased the services of another leading AI company. The DoD did in fact sign a deal with OpenAI within moments of designating Anthropic a supply chain risk, a move many of the ChatGPT makers employees protested. If allowed to proceed, this effort to punish one of the leading US AI companies will undoubtedly have consequences for the United States industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond, the brief reads. And it will chill open deliberation in our field about the risks and benefits of today's AI systems. The filing also affirms that Anthropic's stated red lines are legitimate concerns, warranting strong guardrails without public law to govern AI use, it argues the contractual and technical restrictions developers impose on their systems are a critical safeguard against catastrophic misuse. Many of the employees who signed the statement also signed open letters over the last couple of weeks urging the DoD to withdraw the label and calling on the leaders of their companies to support Anthropic and refuse unilateral use of their AI system. End quote. Anthropic has debuted code Review for CLAUDE Code, which uses agents to check pull requests for bugs and says a typical code review costs 15 to $25 in token usage. Quoting ZDNet, a pull request is initiated when a programmer wants to check in some new or changed code to a code repository rather than just merging it into the main track. A PR tells repo supervisors that there's something ready to be reviewed. Sometimes the code is very carefully checked over before being merged into the main code base, but other times it just gets rubber stamped and merged. Code reviews, while necessary, are also tedious and time consuming. Of course, the cost of rubber stamping APR can be catastrophic as well. You might ship code that is buggy, loses data, or damages user systems. At best, buggy code is just annoying. At worst, it can cause catastrophic damage. That's where Anthropic's new CLAUDE code review comes in. This new agentic code review AI is able to provide deeper automated review coverage before needing human decisions. Anthropic says that code output per Anthropic Engineer has increased 200% in the past year, intensifying pressure on human reviewers. You think the company has been using its own AI to write code, which speeds up code production, so the changes and new code blocks are coming faster than ever before. Anthropic reports that the new code review system is run on nearly every pull request internally. When a PR is reviewed, human reviewers often make comments about the issues they see, which the coder needs to go back and fix before running. Code Review Anthropic coders get back substantive review comments about 16% of the time. With code review, coders are getting Back substantive comments 54% of the time. While that seems to mean more work for coders, what it really means is that nearly three times the number of coding oopsies have been caught before they cause damage. According to Anthropic, the size of the internal PR impacts the level of review findings. Large pull requests with more than 1,000 change lines show findings 84% of the time. Small pull requests of under 50 lines produce findings 31% of the time. Anthropic engineers largely agree with what it surfaces. Less than 1% of findings are marked incorrect. Heck, even when I code, even if I add just one line of code, there's a chance I'll introduce a bug testing. A code review is essential if you don't want thousands of users coming at you brandishing virtual pitchforks and torches. Don't ask me how I know that. End quote. Sort of amusing to follow that segment with this one. The FT has seen a memo suggesting Amazon senior Vice president Dave Treadwell told junior and mid level engineers Amazon will now require more senior engineers to sign off on any AI assisted code changes after those AI outages we've discussed on this podcast. Amazon's e commerce business has summoned a large group of engineers to a meeting on Tuesday for a deep dive into a spate of outages, including incidents tied to the use of AI coding tools. The online retail giant said there had been a trend of incidents in recent months characterized by a high blast radius and genai assisted changes, among other factors, according to a briefing note for the meeting seen by the FT under contributing factors. The note included novel gen AI usage for which best practices and safeguards are not yet fully established. Folks, as you likely know, the availability of the site and related infrastructure has not been good recently, dave Treadwell, a senior vice president at the group, told employees in an email also seen by the ft. The note ahead of Tuesday's meeting did not specify which particular incidents the group planned to discuss. Amazon's website and shopping app went down for nearly six hours this month in an incident that the company said involved an erroneous software code deployment. The outage left customers unable to complete transactions or access functions such as checking account details and product prices. Treadwell, a former Microsoft engineering executive, told employees that Amazon would focus its weekly this Week in storestech Twist meeting on a deep dive into some of the issues that got us here, as well as some short intermediate term initiatives the group hopes will limit future outages. He asked staff to attend the meeting, which is normally optional. Junior mid level engineers require more senior engineers to sign off any AI assisted changes, Treadwell added in the briefing note. Amazon said the review of website availability was part of normal business and it aims for continual improvement. End quote.