The first university to turn "influencer" into a degree.
AI works weekends, Brex adds crypto rails, institutions hedge with gold.
Had a call with a founder this week about hiring in the creator economy. They’re realizing it’s no longer about who can make content, edit, or build a following. They want talent who can structure deals and think commercially.
The talent pool is changing faster than most realize.
Let’s get into what moved this week across AI, finance, and the future of work.
Future of AI
Claude 4.5 codes by itself for 30 hours straight
On September 29th, Anthropic launched Claude Sonnet 4.5, a model capable of sustaining 30 hours of end-to-end autonomous coding.
The model handles the full application lifecycle: build apps, stand up databases, purchase domains, and even conduct SOC 2 audit tasks.
Early enterprise users are already reporting that Claude handled ~7-hour stretches on complex projects without human intervention.
We’ve crossed a major threshold from “AI copilot” (assists humans) to “AI agent” (operates independently). A 30-hour run means tasks requiring sustained effort over hours/days can be automated. Tell it what to build Friday evening, review Sunday morning.
Who wins:
Platforms that manage, monitor, and deploy agents at scale
Niche vertical agent stacks (ie: for legal, finance, infrastructure) that wrap domain knowledge around autonomous “builders”
Monitoring tools that assure compliance, security, quality assurance
This ties back to Marius Hobbhahn, one of the five people I highlighted from TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI. His company, Apollo Research, builds the guardrails for systems like Claude.
5 people I'm tracking from TIME's 100 most influential in AI.
TIME dropped its 100 Most Influential People in AI (2025). Bookmark this list. I already pulled the top 5 standouts I think Rich Future readers will care about most and why they matter.
Who needs to adapt:
Traditional dev shops and professional services firms charging hourly rates
Companies selling “copilot” features when agents can do the entire job
Compliance and audit teams moving from quarterly reviews to real-time oversight
Insurance companies who’ll soon underwrite “agent risk”
Any creative professional still treating creativity like pure execution, not direction
New job categories emerge:
Agent operators who manage fleets of AI agents across multiple tasks, similar to managing overseas teams
Synthetic workforce managers balancing human-agent hybrid orgs (think: who does what, when, and why)
Agent reputation brokers who track performance histories, trust scores, and resale markets for top-performing agents.
Future of Money
Brex adds stablecoin payments as standard infrastructure
On September 30th, Brex launched USDC stablecoin payments via partner Column Bank, enabling businesses to accept and send stablecoin payments that auto-convert to USD in Brex accounts.
Stablecoins have hit $2.5B-$3B in cross-border volume (10x growth since 2020). GENIUS and CLARITY Acts moving through Congress will provide legal framework for tokenized assets by early 2026.
Cross-border payments can now clear in seconds instead of days, with less friction, fees, and intermediaries. The architecture shift is subtle but massive: stablecoin backend, USD frontend. Customers never touch crypto, but they benefit from its efficiency.
Who wins:
Companies with international payment flows that pilot stablecoin programs now
Payroll/contractor platforms paying global talent with instant, low-fee USDC rails
Accounting and ERP platforms that build automated reconciliation for tokenized settlements
Developers building compliance APIs and tax layers for stablecoin transactions
High-throughput L1/L2 networks with low latency/finality
Treasury platforms that let businesses dynamically route payments between fiat and stablecoin networks
Who needs to adapt:
Traditional payment processors who price based on time delays or FX friction
Regulators and auditors who still treat stablecoins as “crypto risk” instead of payment tech
CFOs who overlook treasury diversification into on-chain instruments
Future of Work
Syracuse launches first US academic center for creator economy
On September 30, Syracuse University announced the Center for the Creator Economy, making it the first US academic program dedicated to formalizing creator education. It will offer courses on digital content, audience growth, business management and data analytics. This launch comes as the creator economy heads toward a projected $500B market by 2027 (growing 10-20% YoY) and nearly half of US teens already earning income online.
This signals the creator economy crossover from informal hustle culture to formal education. Universities are now training creators the way they once trained accountants, journalists, and teachers. The next generation will understand P&L, data analytics, and digital strategy from day one, not learn it through trial and error. As an operator, you gain access to a talent pool of creators who can think like business partners.
The institutional validation means parents, investors, and traditional employers will begin to regard “creator” as a real career, further accelerating talent flow into the space.
Who wins:
Brands/startups hiring creators who think like operators (P&L + audience + distribution)
Creator platforms, tooling, and agencies that recruit from this trained pipeline
Universities that copy the Syracuse playbook and establish true “digital entrepreneurship” tracks for students
Creators themselves… now graduating fluent in data, dealmaking, and distribution
Who needs to adapt:
Companies that still treat creators as “influencers to pay for posts” vs. strategic partners
Traditional marketing agencies without creator economy expertise will lose to firms hiring this new talent
Did you have “influencer as a formal degree” on your 2025 bingo card?
Here’s a few more signals on my radar that indicate where capital and culture are moving...
Gold had its biggest month ever with $10.1B in ETF inflows, capturing 7% of all September ETF flows. The institutions are hedging.
$300M seed for AI scientists conducting actual experiments in robot labs. Bezos, Nvidia, and a16z are betting physical discovery data becomes the new training frontier after we exhausted the internet.
NBA’s new “Inside the Game” platform (AWS-powered) generates AI insights from game data and distributes them across media, teams, and apps. Every league will copy this. Sports organizations are becoming data infrastructure companies.
Texas Stock Exchange (backed by BlackRock, Citadel) launches early 2026 with lighter regs than NYSE/Nasdaq. Either retail’s getting earlier access to high-growth companies or more spectacular blowups. TBD.
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