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From decoding thoughts to lifting cities, AI and ambition are rewriting the playbook this week. Japanese scientists are literally reading minds with 50% accuracy, while companies scramble to soothe FOBO—fear of being out-AI’d—through “trusted learning”. YouTube’s algorithms now steer 70% of what we watch, even as new lawsuits test whether chatbots can be held liable for heartbreak.
Video pick: Can AI End Misinformation Instead Of Spreading It?
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🎙 Catch the punchline hidden in this week’s headlines 🎙
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Six bullets of updates
🧠 Japanese scientists use AI to decode brain scans into sentences describing scenes—with about 50% accuracy.
🤖 Companies can ease rising FOBO at work with trusted learning, as 63% worry about being replaced by AI.
📹 AI now powers 70% of YouTube recommendations, transforming how creators produce, optimize, and market videos.
🧑⚖️ Seven families allege AI harm as new lawsuits say the chatbot’s responses contributed to suicides and psychiatric crises.
🚗 Rivian grants CEO a new $5B pay package after canceling a 2021 award seen as too ambitious amid shifting EV goals.
👠 A dance floor mishap sparked an idea that’s now generating $1 million in monthly sales with an innovative heel solution.
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A Startup that lifts cities (and investor eyebrows)
Photo by Jonathan Roger on Unsplash
Parts of San Rafael, a city north of San Francisco, are sinking up to half an inch per year—leaving some neighborhoods, like the Canal District, three feet lower and increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Instead of building costly seawalls, a startup called Terranova wants to raise the land itself. Using robots that inject a slurry made from waste wood deep underground, the company says it can lift 240 acres by four feet for around $92 million—a fraction of the $500–900 million price tag for traditional barriers.
Backed by a $7 million seed round led by Congruent Ventures, Terranova’s approach combines robotics, software modeling, and carbon credit offsets to make city “lifting” both scalable and affordable. While questions remain about earthquake safety, the company hopes its technology can protect flood-prone communities worldwide—and start with saving its founders’ hometown.
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Can AI End Misinformation Instead Of Spreading It?
What’s true on the internet anymore? 🧠 From Yellow Journalism to AI-generated “news anchors,” trust in media has collapsed — and artificial intelligence might be our only shot at fixing it. This episode traces how truth broke online and explores how tools like C2PA and ChatGPT could actually help rebuild it.
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Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.
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Big tech companies retreat from workforce diversity and DEI disclosures
Photo by Amy Elting on Unsplash
Big Tech’s diversity transparency is fading. Google, Microsoft, and Meta have stopped publishing their diversity reports this year, while Apple, Amazon, and Nvidia are still sharing theirs—despite growing political pressure against DEI programs.
Without consistent reporting, it’s harder to compare progress, verify hiring claims, or track ESG goals. One company says it will switch to “dynamic formats” like stories and videos—more vibes than data.
Still, big customers and some investors are likely to keep asking for detailed diversity stats, like EEO-1 reports. The stakes are high: access to talent, legal risks, and trust with enterprise partners.