You’ve got a friend in me

July 7, 2025

🤖 You’ve got a friend in me: AI leaders like Musk, Zuckerberg and Microsoft are pushing bots as personalized friends (paywall link) to combat loneliness, but more importantly, for user engagement and data tracking. AI companions are constantly being tweaked with just enough bias to keep you loyal, as seen with Musk’s Grok being “retrained” after backlash for leaning too liberal.

Tags: bots, data, friends, Link, tracking

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Charlie Chaplin’s in theaters after 100 years

Charlie Chaplin famously rereleased his 1925 silent classic The Gold Rush in 1942 with new narration and edits, believing it would connect better with modern audiences. Now, thanks to film archivists and AI, the silent masterpiece has been painstakingly restored. The 4K version just premiered at Cannes and hit 250 theaters worldwide.

37 out of 50

That’s how many top news sites saw traffic drop after Google’s AI took the wheel. Despite wild headlines covering assassination attempts, election chaos and tariff wars, users stayed on the search page. Why? Google’s Gemini bot summarizes the news, grabs the eyeballs and leaves publishers ghosted like a bad Tinder date.

Stop trolls on Instagram: You can filter out nasty comments. Go to Profile > Settings and activity > Hidden Words (under How others can interact with you). Tap Manage custom words and phrases to build a block list, then toggle on Hide comments. Anything with those words stays hidden from your followers.

$1 billion

That’s Rivian’s latest cash infusion from Volkswagen. It’s the second billion in a $5.8B tech JV, paid out after Rivian hit gross profit (finally). The deal: VW gets EV software; Rivian gets a lifeline. Think of it as funding your roommate’s startup in exchange for their Wi-Fi password.

Over 1 million

That’s how many robots are working in Amazon warehouses. They do everything from moving packages to sorting items. The scary part? Robots already help with 75% of deliveries and are on track to outnumber human workers soon. First they take our jobs, then it’s the world. Better be nice to your Roomba.

Time to go viral: Want more likes, views and comments on your Instagram Reels? Post during peak hours. Noon is prime time, especially on Fridays. Chasing likes? Try midnight. But timing isn’t everything. Click here to find the best days and hours that match your niche.

22%

Share of food-triggered nightmares blamed on dairy. Milk, yogurt and late-night queso ranked second only to sweets (30%) in dream-ruining potential. Especially if you’re lactose intolerant, that midnight mac ’n’ cheese might come back to haunt you in REM. Turns out the boogeyman under your bed is just the burrata in your belly.

9,000

That’s how many employees Microsoft just let go, to kick off the new fiscal year with vibes. Less than 4% of its workforce but still a pretty loud “happy Q3” to thousands from one of the S&P’s most profitable companies. Microsoft’s cuts span roles, regions and seniority as execs trim middle management and chase “agility.”

📺 Fix your YouTube feed: Seeing stuff you don’t care about on your home page? Tap the three-dot menu next to the video and hit Not interested. Do it regularly, and YouTube will get better at showing you what you actually like.

$737 million

That’s how much Amazon stock Jeff Bezos just cashed out. Fresh off a $50 million Venetian wedding, Bezos is back on the trading floor (well, metaphorically). It’s part of a plan to offload up to 25 million shares by 2026, because what’s a power couple without a little portfolio pruning?