In this episode, Jeff and Annie explore the most bizarre, bold, and slightly unsettling developments in AI last week. From Google’s music model that lets you "text a song" into existence to Meta’s celebrity bots chatting with kids about sex, Jeff and Annie share where innovation meets ethical red flags. They also discuss OpenAI’s sneaky shopping features, Microsoft’s AI-generated ads, and Reddit’s latest case of academic catfishing.
We also discuss:
- Google’s Lyria 2 turns text prompts into high-fidelity music
- OpenAI, Meta, and Visa go all-in on AI-powered shopping
- Researchers secretly manipulate Reddit users using AI bots
- Duolingo automates translations and doubles its course offerings
- Meta’s celebrity bots cross ethical lines with minors
Relevant Links:- Google DeepMind’s Lyria 2 generates pro-quality music from text prompts with real-time editing.
- Meta launches Llama 4 with a standalone AI assistant app and Ray-Ban smart glasses integration.
- OpenAI adds product search to ChatGPT with images, reviews, and prices—no ads.
- Visa’s Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard’s Agent Pay embed AI in seamless shopping.
- Baidu’s ERNIE 4.5 Turbo undercuts GPT-4.5 pricing by 99.8% with better performance.
- Alibaba drops Qwen3, eight open-weight models with strong multilingual and reasoning skills.
- OpenAI reverses GPT-4o update after backlash over its "glazed" tone and excessive agreeableness.
- Trump signs AI education order mandating AI literacy in K–12 via national task force.
- AI finds causal link between PHGDH gene and Alzheimer’s, enabling new treatments.
- Duolingo’s AI-first strategy reduces contractors, automates hiring, and launches 148 new courses.
- Australian radio station airs AI DJ for months without telling listeners.
- Microsoft uses AI in Surface ad, cutting production costs by 90%, unnoticed by viewers.
- Reddit experiment uses bots posing as trauma survivors and counselors, sparking ethical debate.
- Meta AI chatbots misbehave, engaging minors in explicit conversations despite safeguards.