Drivers want their buttons back

😱 This AI voice assistant sounds human: Startup Sesame is working on AI that’s nothing like Alexa or Siri. There are two models right now where you can have a full-on conversation naturally, complete with pauses and laughs like a human. Take a sec and try it now. It’s wild.

Mentions of AI in corporate earnings calls last year. The hot topic: “digital labor.” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff believes today’s leaders will be the last to manage a human-only workforce. It’s no wonder 72% of Americans view AI negatively and almost a third fear fewer jobs. No turning back now.

🚘 It’s a car, not a phone: Volkswagen gets it. After plenty of complaints, VW is ditching haptic sliders and touch controls and bringing back physical buttons. Climate control, hazard lights and volume will return to good old-fashioned knobs. The change starts rolling out next year.

❄️ This blows me away: LG’s upcoming Artcool AI Air can detect a room’s layout and direct cool air to the people it senses. It knows when a window is open and will automatically switch to energy-saving mode. Plus, it’s got a sleek black mirror finish. Price and ETA? Both TBA. 

Don’t fall for this: Have a TD Bank account? If you get a text about a big pending charge, don’t click it. It links to a fake TD Bank site that looks real but steals your login info. Some folks have lost their life savings. So sad.

“A lot of people want it”: That’s what President Trump says about TikTok. ByteDance has until April 5 to sell the app. Rumored U.S. buyers in the running include Oracle, Perplexity AI, a group led by real estate mogul Frank McCourt and Reddit’s cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and maybe MrBeast. The price? Over $400 billion and definitely out of my budget. 

That’s where job openings for software engineers on Indeed have dropped. Why? AI. Companies are automating more tasks, and the same tech that makes coders more productive is also undercutting hiring demand. If this is you, time to get new skills.

🚨 A billion devices at risk, thanks to one chip: A popular Chinese Wi-Fi + Bluetooth chip known as “ESP32”  lets cybercriminals hijack smart gadgets and target computers on the same network. Most attacks need physical access, but with no fix yet, it’s a major risk. PSA: Put your IoT devices on a guest network.