• As AI models continue to rapidly improve and compete with one another, a new business model is coming into view - vertical AI agents. The Lightcone hosts consider what effect vertical AI agents will have on incumbent SaaS companies, what use cases make the most sense, and how there could be 300 billion dollar companies in this category alone.

• OpenAI isn’t slowing down. GPT-4o’s rise to the top of Chatbot Arena shows OpenAI’s commitment to staying ahead of the game. But let’s be real—this isn’t just about ranking charts. The update is about OpenAI reinforcing its position as the go-to platform for professionals and hobbyists alike. GPT-4o isn’t just another upgrade—it’s a reminder why paying for ChatGPT is smarter than using the free tools.

• The improved file-processing capabilities and sharper creative outputs mean users can build smarter, more dynamic applications. Developers will build more and more with OpenAI, but there’s an elephant in the room: trust. AI-generated outputs are becoming indistinguishable from human work, raising questions about ethics, ownership, and misuse. While OpenAI and pals are riding high on innovation, the looming spectre of regulation might put a damper on their ambitions.

• OpenAI isn’t waiting for an invitation to innovate. Sora is still under wraps, and whispers of other stealth projects hint at game-changing developments in 2025. Meanwhile, Amazon’s additional $4 billion investment in Anthropic signals its growing ambition as Google, Meta, and others stay locked in a high-stakes leapfrog race. Yet, the buzz about diminishing returns in tech is starting to increase in volume.

• Figure x BMW: Figure 02 is now an autonomous fleet, 400% faster with 7x higher success rate. Figure is committed to delivering millions of useful robots to companies and homes worldwide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlUFoZstcWg

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that rather than seeing AI Scaling Laws hit a wall, if anything we are seeing the emergence of a new Scaling Law for test-time compute. He also says the 3 capabilities needed for AI agents are now in place and improving exponentially: a universal interface of multimodality; the neural algebra of reasoning and planning; and long-term memory, rich context and tool use. 

• Social Dark Matter: You know it must be out there, but you mostly never see it. (applied cognitive psychology/statistics/plain reasonableness) 

• Scientists have developed a framework that enables robots to estimate 3D shapes of unfamiliar everyday objects by combining visual and tactile information. 

1. 1X (formerly Halodi Robotics): This Norwegian company has developed NEO Beta, a humanoid robot specifically designed for home use. They are currently testing NEO Beta in selected homes for research and development purposes.
HTTPS://WWW.lX.TECH/ 

​

2. Tesla: Through its Optimus project, Tesla is developing humanoid robots that could potentially assist with household tasks in the future[1].

3. Figure AI: While initially focused on industrial applications, Figure AI is developing versatile humanoid robots that could have potential for home use. They recently released Figure 02, which has highly flexible fingers and can interpret voice commands.
HTTPS://WWW.FIGURE.AI/ 

4. Unitree: This Chinese company offers humanoid robots like G1 and H1, with G1 being announced as ready for mass production. They are one of the few companies to reveal pricing, with G1 starting at $16,000.
HTTPS://WWW.UNITREE.COM/ 

5. Boston Dynamics: Although primarily known for industrial and research applications, Boston Dynamics continues to develop versatile robots like Atlas that could potentially be adapted for home use.
HTTPS://BOSTONDYNAMICS.COM/ 

6. Softbank Robotics: While they've shifted focus to cleaning and industrial robots, Softbank has experience with social robots like Pepper and may continue to develop home-oriented solutions.
HTTPS://WWW.SOFTBAN KROBOTICS.COM/ 

7. Engineered Arts: They have developed humanoid robots like Ameca and RoboThespian, which could have potential applications in home environments.
HTTPS://WWW.ENGINEEREDARTS.CO.UK. 

8. Agility Robotics: Known for their humanoid robot Sophia, they continue to work on advanced humanoid robots that could potentially be used in homes.
HTTPS:// AGILITYROBOTICS.COM/ 

It's important to note that while many of these companies are making significant strides, truly versatile and affordable home robots are still likely several years away from widespread adoption. The technology is rapidly evolving, and we can expect to see more developments in this space in the coming years.
 

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anmol-shantha-ram_introducing-openai-o1-activity-7240664730573361152-zxhp
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AI model advancements:
• OpenAI: o1-preview models for complex reasoning https://lnkd.in/g-9RTibk
• Google: DataGemma to reduce hallucinations https://lnkd.in/gqvNh54Y

Business and infrastructure:
• Meta: Finalising 100,000+ H100 chip supercomputer https://lnkd.in/gZFuJdBz
• Mastercard: Acquires Recorded Future for $2.65B https://lnkd.in/gwH2dghy
• Infineon: Breakthrough in 300mm gallium nitride wafer production https://lnkd.in/gqz3h_ji

AI tools and applications:
• Salesforce: Agentforce AI agent builder https://lnkd.in/g5QxcNjd
• Google: Audio Overview for document discussions https://lnkd.in/gBVqgH9w
• Adobe: Firefly Video Model for AI-powered video creation https://lnkd.in/gZKhe2mK
• Amazon: Sponsored ads in Rufus chatbot https://lnkd.in/gedZ2NPC

• Whether you like him or hate him or mock him, Musk has launched or owns companies collectively worth over a trillion
   
  Here is the Elon Musk Playbook:
   
  1. Start with the mission.
  2. Impose autocratic rule.
  3. Inspire through hardship.
  4. Amplify risk.
  5. Rely on unorthodox inspiration.
  6. Collapse fiefdoms.
  7. Cast a long shadow.
  8. Question everything.

• 4-day week pilot for 15 months w/full pay:
  -Performance improved or sustained on 22/24 measures
  -Motivation & mental health climbed
  -Turnover dropped by 39%
  
  This pilot was a 32-hour week with 450 UK public sector employees spanning customer contact, planning services, housing services, and waste management. 

• Arizona State University (ASU) has made ChatGPT its busiest faculty member this year. The AI chatbot helps students write academic papers, simulates patients for healthcare students, and recruits participants for research studies, among hundreds of other roles.
   

• Al is already evolving the job of a software developer.  
   
  Amazon's Al assistant, Amazon Q, has saved the  company $260M and 4,500 developer-years of work by  drastically cutting down software upgrade times.  
   
  Average app upgrade to Java 17 used to take 50 dev  days. Now it takes just a few hours
   
  Andy Jassy also confirmed that devs shipped 79% of  Al-generated code reviews without changes.  

• Microsoft announced collaborations with Mass General Brigham and University of Wisconsin to advance AI foundation models for medical imaging, aiming to enhance radiologists' efficiency and improve patient outcomes.

• Udio released version 1.5 of its AI music generator, featuring improved audio quality, key control, and enhanced language results, alongside new platform features like stem downloads and audio-to-audio remixing capabilities.

• Microsoft partnered with Lumen Technologies to expand its AI workload capacity, addressing infrastructure shortages in its data centers, while Lumen will adopt Azure cloud services to improve its cash flow.

• Google announced updates to the Play Store, including AI-powered app reviews, curated spaces, and personalized recommendations.

• OpenAI could lose up to $5 billion this year due to high operational costs, including $7 billion for AI training and inference, and $1.5 billion for staffing, despite rapid revenue growth, according to an analysis by The Information.

• Stability AI unveiled Stable Video 4D, a new AI model that can turn single object videos into multiple videos from eight different angles — with potential applications in game development, video editing, and virtual reality.

• Mistral launched two new large language models: a math-based model and a code-generating model based on the Mamba architecture.

• Mamba simplifies attention mechanisms for faster inference times and longer contexts.

• Mistral launched two new large language models: a math-based model and a code-generating model based on the Mamba architecture.

• Mamba simplifies attention mechanisms for faster inference times and longer contexts.

• Data for A.I. Training Is Disappearing:

  • Web sources used for training A.I. models have restricted data usage, leading to an emerging crisis in consent.

  • Certain web domains have imposed restrictions on data usage through the Robots Exclusion Protocol and terms of service.

• Impact on A.I. Development:

  • Data restrictions pose a threat to A.I. companies, smaller A.I. outfits, and academic researchers who rely on public data sets.

  • Lack of access to high-quality data could hinder the freshness and relevance of A.I. models.

• Response from Data Creators:

  • Data creators are responding to the aggressive data-gathering practices of the A.I. industry, seeking to protect their livelihoods.

  • Concerns raised about exclusion of researchers and civil society from governing A.I. technology if all training data is obtained through licensing deals.

• Emergence of Digital Life:

  • A self-replicating form of artificial life has evolved from random data in a virtual environment.

  • Researchers speculate that more advanced digital organisms could be generated in future experiments.

• Insights into Biological Life:

  • Understanding the emergence of digital life could provide insights into biological life on Earth.

  • Little is known about the initial formation of life from inert molecules.

• Nvidia has developed a watermarking system for AI-generated audio to combat potential misuse.

• The technology embeds undetectable (to humans) digital identifiers in synthetic speech, verifiable only with a specific key.

• This watermark can track edits and could be integrated into audio players to alert users or block synthetic content.

• The system aims to address the growing difficulty in distinguishing between authentic and AI-generated audio, which poses risks for misinformation and security breaches.

• The UK has banned the export of quantum computers containing 34 or more qubits and those with error rates below a certain threshold.

• The exact reasoning behind choosing the number 34 and the specified error rates has not been explicitly stated by the UK government.

• New technologies like quantum memory devices are being developed to improve the reliability and security of quantum networks, potentially preventing hacking.

• Time crystals have been proposed as a way to enhance the reliability of quantum computers, further advancing the field.

• Meta has announced plans to spend billions on generative AI for products like AI characters and ads.

• Generative AI is being integrated into game development to create dynamic dialogues and narratives.

• OpenAI has developed a five-level system to track its progress toward achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).

• The first level is "Conversational AI", which is the current status of OpenAI's technology.

• The second level, which OpenAI believes is close to being achieved, is "Reasoners". This refers to AI capable of basic problem-solving, equivalent to a human with a doctorate but without access to additional tools.

• Neurotech startup Synchron announced that it has integrated OpenAI’s generative AI into its brain-computer interface, enabling hands-free chatting for severely paralyzed users.

• The shake up comes as Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in the startup is under scrutiny by antitrust regulators including the FTC and the European Commission. Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI entitles it to 49% of the startup’s future profits, but Microsoft technically does not own any share of OpenAI. Microsoft said in a letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Wednesday that it is “confident in the company’s direction,” adding that “we no longer believe our limited role as an observer is necessary.”

• Tesla represented 49.7 percent of EV sales over that period, down from 59.3 percent in Q2 of last year.

• However, demand for electric vehicles is still growing, with sales increasing 11.3 percent year over year, according to vehicle marketing firm Cox Automotive.

• Tesla represented 49.7 percent of EV sales over that period, down from 59.3 percent in Q2 of last year.

• However, demand for electric vehicles is still growing, with sales increasing 11.3 percent year over year, according to vehicle marketing firm Cox Automotive.

• Helsinki-based Silo helps large companies build specialized AI models and software, and its customers include Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce and Unilever

• Nvidia has also been acquisitive as of late, buying two Israeli startups in April to make its AI chips easier and cheaper to use. LINK

• It uses AI software to offer a comprehensive picture of wearers' health.

• weighs between 2.5 grams and 3 grams depending on the size

• battery that can last up to seven days.

• three colours, from $399.99.

• A16z has already secured thousands of AI chips, with plans to expand to over 20,000 GPUs to rival the compute power of major AI labs.

• Over the last two years, a16z has made the second most generative AI-related investments of any venture firm, including funding for xAI, Mistral, OpenAI, and more.

• By offering startups access to scarce GPU resources, a16z is positioning itself as more than just a source of capital. This strategy could reshape the AI VC landscape by giving portfolio companies a significant edge — especially for smaller startups, given the pricey AI chips needed to compete.

• Xbox Games Pass is device agnostic, making it more accessible for people. 

• Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is set to arrive on Game Pass in August.  It’s also rumored, but not confirmed by the outlet, that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy are also planned to arrive on Game Pass after Crash, possibly later this summer. … I assume that as we get closer to the launch of Black Ops 6 — a game that is arriving on day one on Game Pass — we’ll start to see some CoDs arrive on the service. This is great news for us, because 

  • CoD is an AAA game

  • The others are mostly AA games by today's standards

• Behavior change can significantly impact health outcomes by preventing and optimizing the treatment of diseases.

• Thrive AI Health aims to create new incentives for users' personal data to be used for their own benefit, promoting better decisions and healthier lives.

• AI-driven personalized behavior change has the potential to reverse the trend lines on chronic diseases.

• MacroStrategy’s James Ferguson tells Merryn Talks Money that there are better places to put your money. LINK and "AI still remains, I would argue, completely unproven LINK

• Richard Windsor "This is precisely what happened with the Internet in 1999, autonomous driving in 2017 and now generative AI in 2024" LINK

• Former Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque warning to bankers"I think this will be the biggest bubble of all time." LINK

• Goldman Sachs: Gen AI: Too much spend, too little benefit? LINK

• Talks on a potential $10 billion deal in which Elon Musk's would rent AI chips from Oracle have broken down LINK and xAI is building its own supercomputer LINK

• Morehouse College is introducing 3-D, AI bots in five classrooms to provide students with 24/7 access to course-related information.

• The goal is to enhance students' learning experience by making information more accessible.

• The researchers used two different studies to test their AI system. In the first, volunteers were shown pictures while in an fMRI machine, and the AI was able to reconstruct images based on the captured brain activity.

• In the second study, the AI reanalyzed data from a previous experiment involving a macaque monkey. The AI could recreate images almost identical to the original ones from the monkey’s brain activity, thanks to the precise data provided by implanted devices.

• Research from institutions like MIT indicates that industrial robots can negatively impact jobs and wages in deployed areas.

• The shift may reflect a broader economic trend where human employees take on more complex, non-repetitive tasks requiring higher skill levels and creativity.

Meta is seeking to research and prototype “new consumer experiences” with new types of gameplay driven by generative AI, like games that “change every time you play them” and follow “non-deterministic” paths.

In parallel, the company aims to build — or partner with third-party creators and vendors — generative AI-powered tools that could “improve workflow and time-to-market” for games.

It executes many maneuvers more smoothly than a human could, and can often react to road hazards before the human driver even notices them.

[ASR] However, autonomous vehicles may still be five years away, and they may always be five years away.. And comments on the thread indicate it may only work in California due to overfitting/optimisation

• Artificial intelligence is demonstrating sophisticated reasoning and creativity, a big step forward for AI.

• The technique combines reinforcement learning and deep learning to mimic human brain patterns within the data the AI is shown

• Walmart is implementing AR training and inventory management tech to streamline employee workflows. Walmart has 2.1m employees. 

• Intent is to enhance the customer shopping experience.

• They developed an internal AR platform called "Retina" that powers various immersive experiences, including virtual try-ons for apparel, makeup, and eyewear and interactive digital showrooms for furniture and home goods.

• The integration of Walmart purchasing in games like House Flip showcases innovative commerce moments for a seamless customer experience.

Apple’s head of the App Store joins OpenAI’s nonprofit board as a non-voting observer. Distribution is king. And Apple swapped OpenAI distribution on iPhones for a non-voting board seat. 

Nexa AI and Stanford openly release Octo-planner - an efficient Planner-Action framework with a Phi-3 Mini LLM for planning and Octopus model for execution, optimized for edge devices with a 97% success rate in task completion

The Albanese government announced the $2 billion project on Thursday after years of design and a market testing process that saw AWS’s top rival sensationally walk away from the project in 2022.

• Meta 3D Gen is a new AI system for creating high-quality 3D assets from text descriptions in under a minute.

• Meta 3D Gen's ability to rapidly produce high-quality and versatile 3D assets from text prompts could democratize 3D content creation, potentially reshaping the landscape of digital content creation and accelerating innovation across multiple industries.

• The technology also raises questions about the future of 3D modeling as a profession and may push professionals to focus more on creative direction and complex custom work.

• Google's carbon footprint has grown, but so has its economic output - at a far greater rate.

• Their carbon efficiency is 8x better than the global average.

• Should we be asking how to scale this efficiency across other sectors rather than fixating exclusively on tech giants' emissions? 

• Perhaps it's time to reframe the narrative.

• At current market prices, Singtel's stake in Bharti Airtel alone equals ~85% of its market cap: This implies that the rest of its businesses (Singapore, Australia, digital infraco, and other regional associates) make up ~15% of its market cap (~US$5.3b)

• This is playing out as it readies a stake reduction in Bharti... Will Optus follow? IMO - unlikely for a year atleast

• Body by AI - An experimental AI health accountability coach.

• How it works by Kevin:
  1. I fill out daily health log
  2. It reviews it the next day
  3. Spits out a coaching message to share with my human accountability group.

• Employees using AI in their jobs report feelings of isolation, increased alcohol consumption, and lack of sleep.

• AI tools, while enhancing productivity, can lead to detachment from colleagues and social disconnection.

• The patient had health issues that made the person an unsuitable candidate for current participation in Neuralink’s study.

• A replacement candidate will likely undergo the surgery next month at the Barrow facility.

• Microsoft tested the "Skeleton Key" technique on various chatbots including OpenAI's GPT-4o model and found it to work effectively.

• The jailbreak causes models to comply fully and without censorship for potentially dangerous tasks.

• Adversarial attacks like Greedy Coordinate Gradient (BEAST) can still easily defeat guardrails set up by AI companies.

The mind-controlled bionic leg uses sensors and advanced algorithms to interpret neural signals, allowing users to move the prosthetic simply by thinking about the desired action.

• Doctors are increasingly using Apple Watches for medical purposes beyond FDA approval.

• Patients, including those with atrial fibrillation, benefit from continuous monitoring and data sharing with physicians.

• ​Studies show potential for using Apple Watch in stress assessment, recovery monitoring after surgery, and children's heart health.

Moody's projects  a 14% average reduction in demand over 63 months, with national vacancy rates peaking at 24% in early 2026.

Without a noticeable decrease in output, businesses may lack a strong incentive to revert to traditional office settings, especially considering the potential cost savings from reducing physical office space.

Bill Gates says scaling AI systems will work for two more iterations and after that the next big frontier is meta-cognition where AI can reason about its tasks

If you want to be resilient, arm yourself with these 3 powerful mental models. 

​"Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity." –Colin Powell

​

1. Spotlight Effect (Cognitive Bias)

We think people are paying far more attention to us than they are.

Harsh truth: Your freedom begins the day you realise nobody is thinking about you.

​

2. The 'Procedure or Perception' Razor

When you receive negative feedback, ask yourself:

• Should I change my procedure (actions I take)?

• Or should I change my perception (how I interpret the advice)?

Avoid constructive feedback from people who've never constructed anything.

​

3. The 10% Hater Rule

The other day, I received a comment that I was "toxically positive."

It reminded me of this quote:

"10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it and treat it as math." –Tim Ferriss

1. Life gets a lot easier when you view every problem as a skill issue

2. There will never be the “perfect” set of conditions—so kill your “onces” and start immediately

3. You will learn most lessons 7+ times before you internalize them 

4. You only get 2 hours of “real work” done per day (and those 2 hours take 4)

5. The 80/20 of 80/20 is 64/4 -> 4% of the inputs lead to 64% of the outputs

6. Standards (relationships, body, fitness, performance, team performance, etc.) naturally deteriorate over time - you must fight to uphold them

7. Invest more time finding the one decision that eliminates 1,000 decisions

8. Satisfaction = expectations — reality. Reframe reality. Set lower expectations. 

9. There are always negative returns to “rushing”- so relax for the same result

CriticGPT, a model based on GPT-4, writes critiques of ChatGPT responses to help human trainers spot mistakes during RLHF 

New launches from Figma:

• Figma Slides introduced as a presentation tool leveraging Figma designs and AI to enhance narratives.

• Developer tools like 'Ready for Dev' view and 'Code Connect' aim to bridge design-programming workflows.

Comparison with Adobe:

• Figma assures users that generative AI features are from third-party models, avoiding controversies faced by Adobe.

• Users maintain control over content training for AI models and can opt-out if desired

Telco reinforces reliability of fibre and DSL packages with new system featuring 5G re-routing and interference suppression tech.

​

Encoding technology for video streaming has significantly reduced bandwidth requirements over the past decade, allowing for higher-quality video to be delivered over existing broadband infrastructure:

• Per-title and per-shot encoding, which optimises bitrates based on the visual complexity of content.

• Advanced codecs like AV1 provide 30%+ efficiency gains over predecessors.

• Machine learning-driven quality assessment to further optimise encoding.

• Specialised encoding for 4K, HDR, and other advanced formats.

• Global average mobile latency was 27 milliseconds, with fixed broadband at 9 ms in May 2024.

• Higher latency can lead to 7x longer webpage load times and 40% of users abandoning a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

• 5G consistently showed faster page load speeds than 4G ranging from 20-30% to as high as 47%.

SoftBank’s strategic shift signifies a more aggressive stance in pursuing growth opportunities, signalling a shift in the company’s direction.

Market sentiment heavily favours companies involved in AI, reflecting a strong belief in the future potential of the technology

46% of jobs could see their tasks affected when considering current and future software developments complementing LLM capabilities.

The disruption in Hollywood will likely come from the bottom, with AI democratising content creation and increasing competition for talent.

After investing $1 billion, Netflix Games has struggled to capture the market as intended, prompting a strategic overhaul under new leadership.

Roblox has opened up a new frontier for experience and asset creation with 4D generative AI. 4D generative AI aims to expand beyond single 3D objects to dynamic interactions. Roblox’s vision includes enabling more individuals to become creators and bring their ideas to life.