Aug 13, 2026 · 11 min
Cuba’s fuel crisis collides with AI rules and restaurant apps
Trouble Scoring a Restaurant Reservation? Blame the Apps.
The episode connects a worsening humanitarian emergency with political gridlock, industry-led AI oversight, and digital competition reshaping everyday access.
- 1Seven months of U.S. oil restrictions have intensified Cuba’s blackouts, heat, water shortages, and medicine scarcity.
- 2AI companies are pushing to shape safety standards themselves as leaders confront advanced systems and the prospect of tougher regulation.
- 3OpenTable, Resy, and card-linked perks are fragmenting reservations, making peak tables harder to secure for diners and restaurants.
Don't miss
José de Córdoba’s account of blackouts, heat, water shortages, and medicine scarcity makes Cuba’s fuel crisis tangible.
The brief
The episode opens with three pressure points: Cuba’s fuel blockade, political limits on responding to the Supreme Court, and a reservation market that makes coveted tables harder to reach.
José de Córdoba reports from the Cuban crisis, where prolonged blackouts, punishing heat, water shortages, and scarce medicines are reshaping daily life after seven months of oil restrictions.
The Supreme Court segment focuses less on proposed changes than on the barriers to pursuing them: the Senate filibuster and the possibility of a presidential veto.
In AI, industry leaders are seeking a larger role in writing safety standards, partly to avoid more burdensome government regulation as advanced systems raise new risks.
The restaurant reservation battle shows how platform fragmentation shifts costs and uncertainty onto both sides: diners lose peak-time access while restaurants juggle fees and multiple systems.
Featuring
Cuba
Demis Hassabis
The Wall Street JournalBooks & mentions
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