They’ll weaponize this: A Chinese company has created a robotic dog that can sprint 100 meters in under 10 seconds. The design is inspired by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, who, in 1665, discovered pendulum clocks mounted on the same beam synchronized their swings through energy transfer. And get this — the doggo has custom shoes modeled after a black panther for maximum grip and stability.
Life after death: AI chatbots bringing lost loved ones back
© Dzmitry Ryzhykau | Dreamstime.com
For me, the holidays are when I miss my parents, grandparents and loved ones who’ve passed away the most. But maybe we can still keep our lost family and friends with us in a different way.
You see, there’s been an upsurge in people tapping into AI to create virtual versions of their loved ones. I wanted to get a deeper look, and now you can, too.
We are so back
Founded in 2017 (ancient history in tech time), StoryFile offers a couple of options to immortalize loved ones while they’re still on Earth.
At the basic level, a laptop and webcam capture their image and likeness in an interview-style fashion — by an actual historian, for an extra fee. StoryFile’s AI uses the material to create a digital persona. Today, over 5,000 people have created profiles.
Loved ones can ask the persona a question, then the system sifts through corresponding interview clips to find an intuitive response. Just imagine a loved one you’d love to chat with again.
Another company, HereAfter AI, came along in 2019 and added another element: Interactive videos where subjects make eye contact, breathe and blink as they respond to questions. It’s super lifelike … but also surreal.
Legends live on
You might be thinking, “So, who’s doing this?” The answer: Folks from all walks of life.
Lynne Nieto, founder of Life Fitness, created a StoryFile before her husband passed away from Lou Gehrig’s disease. She did it mainly for their grandchildren. She watched the file for the first time about six months after he died. Lynne says it was a little hard to view, and it felt a bit raw.
I’m not surprised to hear that. I don’t know how I’d feel about seeing my mom or dad again, but I’m pretty sure it’d be overwhelming.
StoryFile interviewed actor Ed Asner eight weeks before he died in 2021. They sent Ed’s StoryFile to his son, Matt, who couldn’t believe his eyes. He says it was like his dad was looking right at him, answering his questions.
New LinkedIn AI: Job hunters will now see whether applying to a position is worth the time. If you’re hiring, LinkedIn acts as your free recruiter to send along candidates who’d rock it at your company. Use my link to post a job for free.
💰 Modern gold rush: I thought you’d like this interesting analysis from the Wall Street Journal. AI will reshape the world, but the companies behind it need boatloads of cash. Just ask Nvidia, whose stock plunged $600 billion last week thanks to DeepSeek. The WSJ says big bets are now on Digital Realty, Blue Owl and up-and-comer CoreWeave (paywall link). I don’t have any opinions on these stocks, so use your best judgment.
$1.6 billion
DeepSeek’s actual development cost, according to a new report. The Communist China AI company lied when it said its ChatGPT-killer cost $5.6 million, including testing and gear. Still, it’s 30 times cheaper to run, and that’s huge.
📞 “Hi, it’s Jessica”: No, it’s a scammer pretending they’ve been trying to reach you about your loan application. All they need is to verify a few details … like your bank account and Social Security number. If you’ve actually applied for a loan, hang up and call the company directly.
$100,000
To build a single Apollo spacesuit. They were made by bra company Playtex, whose engineers know all about stretchy fabric. The result? Some 21 layers of fabric and clever “bellows” joints that let Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bend their arms and legs. That’s stellar support.
🤖 Finders keepers: OpenAI says DeepSeek, the impressive AI model out of China, just copied its work. The company is pointing to a technique called distillation, where developers extract data from larger, more advanced models to train their own, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in dev costs. The big ol’ irony? OpenAI built its model by scraping the entire internet without consent. Pot, meet kettle.
844 mph
Speed Boom’s Supersonic XB-1 jet reached in tests. It’s the first civilian aircraft to break the sound barrier, aka Mach 1.1. The company has raised $700 million to build a plane that’ll carry 64 passengers at 1,300 mph (Mach 1.7) by 2030. At that speed, you could fly from LA to NYC in about two hours.
🇨🇳 Did DeepSeek lie? Probably. The Chinese-run AI company sent American tech stocks crashing after reporting it only cost ‘em $5.6 million to chat up to ChatGPT and all the rest. Nvidia lost $600 billion (down 17%) on Monday, the worst drop since March 2020. Turns out that was some creative math. DeepSeek spent that much training its V3 model but has invested $500 million in its tech since 2023. For the record, that’s still pretty low compared to U.S. companies, which spent upwards of $50 billion. ICYMI, here’s more about DeepSeek.
Drones are back: Folks in the Northeast are seeing more mysterious drones since the FAA lifted its temporary ban. Enigma Labs, a research company studying unidentified phenomena, says they’ve received 49 reports this month alone in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania. I still say they’re hobby drones pulling a prank.
🤯 Shocking AI news: DeepSeek, a Chinese company loaded with young, ambitious talent, is causing massive panic in Silicon Valley by releasing multiple AI models 50 times more efficient than the best American ones. DeepSeek’s models outperformed Meta’s Llama 3.1, OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5 in everything from complex problem-solving to math and coding accuracy. Here’s the kicker: They built DeepSeek with $5.6 million; OpenAI spent $5.4 billion per year.
It’s Great Dane-gerous: A Chinese company has created a robotic dog that can sprint 100 meters in under 10 seconds. This is interesting: The robo-dog’s design is inspired by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, who, in 1665, discovered pendulum clocks mounted on the same beam synchronized their swings through energy transfer. And get this: The robo-dog has shoes modeled after a black panther for maximum grip and stability. Yes, they’ll weaponize it.
💰 It pays not to work: New reports say bitcoin-mining company Riot Platforms struck gold during the August heatwave in Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas paid them $31.7 million to use less power. That’s $22 million more than they made mining bitcoin that month, all paid for by taxpayers.
Small-biz smarts: When you have contracts with different companies and vendors, you’ll never remember those dates. Create a shared work calendar that gives everyone who needs it notice when a contract is renewing. Pro tip: Build in time in case you have a 30- or 90-day out.
🚘 Turo in trouble: The terrorists in the New Orleans attack and Cybertruck explosion outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas had one thing in common: They used the same car-sharing app, Turo. With Turo, you rent from a person, not a big car rental company. Turo’s no small app; it had 3.5 million bookings last year.
Cue the “Jeopardy!” music: This company added a 27-inch LCD screen to its new microwave to bombard you with ads. The answer: Who is LG? Nothing’s sacred. They’re following Samsung’s lead by putting screens on everything as a way to make extra cash. I’ll keep my “dumb” microwave.
🐷 Ham radio is a contact sport: There’s a huge potential break in the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mystery. The plane vanished without a trace in 2014. Maritime robotics company Ocean Infinity is using Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR), aka ham radio tech, to track flight paths in the southern Indian Ocean. The search area for the wreckage is the size of Connecticut. I spoke with the person leading this theory on my podcast.
TikTok in limbo: President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to delay TikTok’s ban, set to kick in on Jan. 19 — just a day before his inauguration. He wants more time to try to save the platform. No word yet on what that deal might include, but it’ll likely involve ByteDance selling a big chunk of its TikTok ownership to a U.S. company.
$1.3 million
Prince Harry’s salary at BetterUp. The U.S. company is the app equivalent of a life coach, yet ex-employees describe it as “a toxic trainwreck” where “everyone is living in fear.” Didn’t he use those words to describe the royal family?