This Week in AI

Meta Plans Major Investment in Humanoid Robots 🤖

Mark Zuckerberg has been looking for his next big bet. It seems he’s found it now as Meta announces plans to get into the humanoid robot business. They won’t go head to head with humanoid robotics pioneers Figure, Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and others...yet. Meta will develop AI, software, and sensors to supply the marketplace, drive standardization, and lower costs. This mirrors their approach with the Open Compute project and their open-source Llama AI project. Meta hopes Llama will evolve to become the ideal AI model used in robotics development. Meta is focusing on the development of robots to do household chores. Other tech companies, including Apple, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI, already have exploratory humanoid robotics projects.

Changes to the Chips Act Could Slow AI Growth

The Chips Act is a bipartisan bill encouraging semiconductor companies to build their chips on U.S. soil. However, that bill may be in jeopardy as the Trump administration shifts the focus from carrot to stick. Tariffs for noncompliance could replace incentives for repatriating semiconductor manufacturing. Economists warn this approach will increase the price of leading-edge AI chips (100% of which are currently manufactured outside the United States by TSMC), potentially slowing the rate of progress in U.S.-based AI research and development.

Humane’s AI Pin Is Dead as HP Buys Startup

RIP AIP. Humane is shutting down after raising $230 million and receiving awful reviews. Since its launch last year, Humane’s AI pin, one of the first AI-first products, has struggled to find compelling use cases and customers. The bold new form factor featured a micro projector display on the user’s palm and came with a monthly user fee. Sadly, it was always destined to fail (Synthetic called it at the time), and service will end for all users at the end of the month. The open question: What Humane IP so piqued HP’s interest to prompt a $116m purchase?

Quick Hits

• The Hottest AI Models and How to Use Them - A roundup of the latest models from OpenAI, Google, and others and what you can do with them.

• AI Loses Cognitive Abilities With Age - A recent study has shown AIs get worse at cognitive tests over time, just like humans. Some AIs fared worse than others.

AI Tech and Innovation

Scientists Created the Strongest Lightest Nanomaterial Ever with AI

Researchers at the University of Toronto used an AI algorithm to design the strongest and lightest lattice material ever. The pyrolytic carbon lattice is as tough as steel but weighs about as much as foam. The team created the material using a 3D printer. It is so light that it can rest on a soap bubble without bursting. Potential applications for the new material include lighter cars and rockets that require less fuel, stronger and lighter mechanics for robotics, and medical devices and prosthetics that are lighter and easier to wear.

Google Launches New AI Co-Scientist Multi-Agent System

Google Research has released a new AI to empower scientists and accelerate scientific and biological discoveries. Built on their flagship Gemini 2.0 model, the virtual scientific collaborator helps scientists generate new hypotheses and research proposals. It scales up test-time computing to do deep scientific reasoning to iteratively reason, evolve, and improve outputs. The co-scientist effectively talks to itself, debating the strengths and weaknesses of various hypotheses and using self critique to surface the best ideas.

AI Cracks Superbug Problem in Two Days That Took Scientists Years 

Research scientists at Imperial College London used Google’s AI Co-Scientist (see story above) to arrive at the same conclusion they had reached after years of research into why some superbugs are resistant to antibiotics. The team gave Google Co-Scientist a short prompt. Within 48 hours, it offered several hypotheses on the question. Its top answer concurred with the scientists’ best theory, that superbugs form into ‘tails’ that allow them to jump between hosts and even between species. 🤯

AI Insights

The Next Big Thing Beyond Agents

Many people expect 2025 to be the year of agents. But what comes next? It’s been almost twenty years since the launch of the first smartphones, and wrist-worn wearables are a decade old now. We are long overdue for a new form factor, likely made possible by AI. Humane’s AI pin failed. A decade ago, Google Glass flopped; a technology before its time. But with AI, smart glasses look like a compelling future form factor. Meta seems well positioned in this space with its popular partnership with Ray-Ban. Google looks set to resurrect its smart glasses program with a version of its impressive Project Astra assistant.

I Replaced My To-Do List With ChatGPT Tasks - It Changed How I Plan My Life

ChatGPT’s new tasks feature can act like an AI secretary, helping you to stay organized and plan your time. Tasks can break down complex tasks into smaller, more achievable steps. ChatGPT Tasks will remind you about upcoming deadlines, suggest next steps based on ongoing projects, and even learn from your planning habits to refine future recommendations. The article explains how the author used Tasks for party planning, to create a packing list for a trip, and to build a detailed practice schedule to build his guitar skills.

Tools To Try

AmpleMarket: Elevate Your Salesforce With AI

A copilot for your salesforce that surfaces fresh leads, maximizes buyer engagement, and boosts email open rates by up to 50%. Empower your sales reps, uncover new opportunities, and grow revenue with an all-in-one, multi-channel AI platform that elevates the capabilities of your sales team. Free 14-day trials.

Looka: AI Logo Design and Branding

Make a logo in minutes—no design skills required! Auto-create a brand kit with fonts and colors to complement your new logo and create a brand identity. Instantly create branded marketing materials, then use over 300 templates to customize branded business cards, social profiles, email signatures, and more.

Reclaim.AI: The AI assistant for your calendar

Maintain healthy calendar habits, improve your productivity, optimize cross-team meetings, boost collaboration, and improve work-life balance. Reclaim schedules 1:1s and defends your calendar so you can focus. Syncs multiple calendars and integrates with Google Calendar, Zoom, Slack, and HubSpot.

Firstbase: The easy way to start a new company

Incorporate your company, access one-click growth tools, stay compliant, and manage everything your business needs — all online, from anywhere. Launch your U.S. business in minutes with no paperwork or legal headaches.

Oyster: Find and hire international talent with a simple cross-border HR solution

Need to expand internationally, but not sure where to start? Oyster makes it easy to find, hire, and retain local talent. They handle the details (country-specific labor laws, international tax laws, compliance, and global payroll) so you can focus on finding the right talent and ramping their impact.