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Episode 98: Is 2026 shaping up to be the year AI agents become indispensable—and outpace GPT-5? Hosts Matt Wolfe (https://x.com/mreflow)) and Joe Fier (linkedin.com/in/joefier) break down the explosion of new AI models, including Claude Sonnet 4.6, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Grok 4.2, and explore how these tools are not only smarter but also significantly cheaper than previous state-of-the-art language models.

This episode dives deep into the rise of agentic AI, the OpenClaw origin story, and how companies like Meta and ElevenLabs are racing to create integrated, emotionally-aware AI agents. Matt and Joe discuss the rapid democratization of AI, the impact of these advances on creativity and business operations, and the ongoing debate about slowing down AI before it accelerates beyond human control. Plus: practical demos, business tips, and a look at the hardware/software divide in global robotics.

Check out The Next Wave YouTube Channel if you want to see Matt and Nathan on screen: https://lnk.to/thenextwavepd

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Show Notes:

(00:00) Next Wave Podcast: AI Insights

(06:09) Anthropic Blocks, OpenAI Welcomes

(10:35) ClaudeBot: AI Team Assistant

(20:50) Meta Integrates Manus AI Ads

(22:04) AI vs Manual Ad Management

(29:55) New AI Models Released

(31:54) AI Models Improve, Consumers Unchanged

(41:09) Chatbots: Everyday and Advanced Uses

(43:57) Mixture of Experts Explained

(47:23) AI-Powered Product Photo Creator

(56:58) Debating Internet Advancement

(01:00:36) To Scale: Human Evolution

(01:03:42) AI Debate: Polarized or Balanced?

(01:13:16) AI Creativity Still Needs Humans

(01:16:40) AI's Future in Entertainment

(01:24:15) Experience Enhances AI Creativity

(01:27:08) Robots Struggle with Nuance

(01:30:27) US-China Collaboration for Smart Robots

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Mentions:

Joe Fier: https://www.instagram.com/joefier/

Seedance 2.0: https://www.seedance.com/

OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai/

Manus: https://manus.im/

Nano Banana: https://nanobanana.com/

ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/

Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/

Get the guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/tnw

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Check Out Matt’s Stuff:

• Future Tools - https://futuretools.beehiiv.com/

• Blog - https://www.mattwolfe.com/

• YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@mreflow

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Check Out Nathan's Stuff:

Newsletter: https://news.lore.com/

Blog - https://lore.com/

The Next Wave is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by Hubspot Media // Production by Darren Clarke // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano