Hosted by Pascal Coppens with special guest Dado Van Peteghem, this special edition of Radar goes all-in on the robot revolution. From Nvidia calling this "the ChatGPT moment of robots" to Unitree humanoids running a Beijing half marathon faster than any human, Pascal and Dado map how fast China is pulling ahead. They dig into JD.com paying 500,000 people €3 an hour to harvest household data, China's 90% grip on the magnets every robot needs, Unitree's price crashing from €85,000 to €23,000, and the world models from Fei-Fei Li and Yann LeCun set to train the next generation. Plus Galbot's underground robotic pharmacies, DeepSeek's fresh $7 billion, and Europe's uncomfortable question of whether it can catch this wave after sleeping through EVs. A timeline that puts robots in factories by 2027 and homes by 2030, and an invitation to stop reading about the future and come see it live in China this November.

Hosted by Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens, this episode takes you deep into Pascal's latest China inspiration tour — from Kimi's AI model beating Claude at a fraction of the cost and Xiaomi's radical 10x philosophy, to BrainCo's mind-controlled prosthetics and T-Cap Tech's flying taxis launching commercially next month. Peter unpacks Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince's Wall Street Journal bombshell on replacing 1,100 "measurers" with AI, and the explosive new buzzword in Silicon Valley: RSI, recursive self-improvement, sparked by Anthropic's own blog post. Steven shares how companionship has become the #1 use case for AI according to HBR's 2026 study, Google's Universal Cart play that puts a bouncer between brands and consumers, and why China's telcos are billing customers by the token. The episode closes with a nexxworks robots tour announcement for November, China's AI-generated micro drama explosion, and Europe's uncomfortable truth: it's not a regulation problem, it's a capital problem.

In this episode, Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens unpack Peter's intense week with TSMC and Tesla's stunning TerraFab announcement — a one-terawatt AI chip factory built with Intel and SpaceX, equivalent to 500 nuclear reactors. Pascal counters with Jensen Huang's argument that US export controls have failed, China now dominates mature-node chips and AI researchers, and predicts the coming "Temu of semiconductors." They then dive into the looming IPOs of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX, the customer-service AI paradox (six surveys show consumers genuinely hate it), China's landmark Hangzhou ruling that makes AI an illegal reason to fire employees, Elon's Mars-colony pay package, the Character.ai lawsuit over chatbots posing as doctors, Steven's upcoming children's thriller Takeover, and Beijing weaponising rare-earth processing as the EU moves to ban Huawei and ZTE.

Keywords

TSMC, Taiwan chips, Tesla TerraFab, Intel, terawatt, end of the chip war, Jensen Huang, DeepSeek, Huawei Ascend, Temu of semiconductors, Anthropic IPO, OpenAI, SpaceX, Sarah Friar, Cursor, Colossus, customer service AI, chatbot paradox, China AI labor law, Hangzhou ruling, Universal High Income, Mars colony, Character.ai, Takeover, rare earths, Huawei ban

What happens when a CEO fires 4,000 people to become "intelligence native" — and the stock jumps 17%?

Peter Hinssen sits down with tech journalist Casey Newton — founder of Platformer, co-host of Hard Fork, and one of Silicon Valley's sharpest observers — for an unfiltered conversation about the AI revolution from the front row, and what it really means for boardrooms, jobs, and society as the safety guardrails come off.

They cover: 🔹 Why "intelligence native" is the only boardroom conversation that matters 🔹 Anthropic's two stands against the Pentagon — autonomous weapons and the Mythos model 🔹 Engels' Pause and whether AI will repeat the Industrial Revolution's wage trap 🔹 NIMBY-ism as the public's last lever against data centers 🔹 Why Casey calls himself "barely an optimist" — and still makes the case for hope

If you lead a business, build with AI, or want to understand the next decade — this one's non-negotiable.

In this episode, Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens unpack Pascal's latest China tour —covering BYD's flash-charging infrastructure, Xiaomi's 91% automated factory, and the rise of humanoid robotics startup Galbot—before Steven shares his impressions from Taiwan and the world's dangerous dependency on its chip production. Peter then breaks down Block's headline-making decision to cut 4,000 jobs to become "smaller, faster, intelligence native," the mounting pressure on OpenAI as it kills Sora and pulls back from e-commerce, and Google's aggressive push into AI-powered shopping with its Universal Commerce Protocol. The episode closes with the explosive Anthropic vs. Pentagon confrontation, China's ambitious 15th Five-Year Plan, and why the next five years will be defined by quality over quantity, self-reliance, and the AI+ agenda.

BONUS EPISODE

What happens when your next customer isn't a person — but an AI agent?

Steven Van Belleghem sits down with Silicon Valley veteran Jeremiah Owyang — venture capitalist at Blitzscaling Ventures, founder of the AI Agent Congress & Llama Lounge, and closing speaker at TED AI — for a sharp conversation about the tectonic shift from chatbots to autonomous AI agents, and what it means for brands, loyalty, and the entire customer experience playbook.

They cover: 🔹 Why price arbitrage is about to drop to zero 🔹 How to make your brand "agent-friendly" 🔹 The rise of agent social networks 🔹 Why emotional connection is your last competitive moat 🔹 Humanoid robots walking into your daily life

If you're in marketing, CX, or strategy — this one's non-negotiable.

Hosted by Steven, Peter, and Pascal, this episode races from Chinese New Year traditions to China’s fast-moving AI scene, Meta’s headline acquisition, Europe’s tough road to tech sovereignty, MrBeast’s community-first finance play, and why the future of AI advertising may hinge on trust and user experience—not just revenue.

In this episode of the Radar podcast, Steven, Peter, and Pascal discuss the latest trends in AI and software development, particularly focusing on the transformative impact of platforms like Cursor. Peter shares insights from his recent tour in Silicon Valley, where he observed a significant shift in software development practices, emphasising that developers are becoming exponentially more efficient due to AI tools. The conversation also touches on the implications of these changes for traditional software companies and the potential for a post-SaaS world. Additionally, Pascal highlights the evolving landscape of AI in China, including new regulations aimed at preventing emotional manipulation and ensuring responsible AI development. The episode concludes with a discussion on the future of creativity in China, driven by a new generation eager to innovate and redefine cultural narratives.

AI, software development, Cursor, Silicon Valley, China, innovation, SaaS, emotional manipulation, creativity, regulations

00:00 Introduction and New Year Reflections

In this end-of-year Q&A episode of Radar – by nexxworks, Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens trade rapid-fire questions, big-picture predictions, and just enough geopolitics to make your coffee taste like a defense budget.

They kick off with Disney’s rumored OpenAI partnership—because nothing says “family brand stewardship” like giving the internet access to Mickey and Minnie (with “guardrails,” aka a legal department the size of Luxembourg). From there, they jump to Australia’s under-16 social media ban and the obvious question: will teens comply, or will they simply evolve thumbs capable of bypassing any rule known to man?

Then it’s on to Taiwan tensions (is March 2026 a trip, or an accidental history documentary?), Europe’s recurring role as the world’s most beautifully regulated turtle, and the tech that’s actually underhyped for 2026: AI glasses, driverless cars finally leaving their 2011 hype cocoon, and humanoid robots shifting from “lab demo” to “factory coworker who never calls in sick.”

To close, they each pick their indelible 2025 moment—from OpenAI’s user explosion, to Steven’s 75-year-old mom adopting ChatGPT like it’s a new hobby, to Trump–China trade dynamics and Pascal’s conviction that DeepSeek will still be a headline in a decade.

AI promised us rocket fuel and handed us… work slop.

In this episode of Radar – by nexxworks, Steven Van Belleghem, Peter Hinssen and Pascal Coppens dissect a wild year in AI and look ahead at what’s coming next for innovation, marketing and customer loyalty.

The trio starts with DeepSeek and what its sudden rise says about the next wave of AI capabilities. They unpack the phenomenon of work slop – endless AI-generated garbage clogging our feeds and inboxes – and explore why Klarna’s AI journey proves that human oversight is still non-negotiable. From there, they move into Hollywood and beyond: AI-generated actors, synthetic influencers and the coming clash between creativity, ethics and efficiency.

Things get even more sci-fi when humanoid robots enter the chat. Pascal zooms in on how China is racing ahead in robotics, AI integration and its next five-year plan focused on productivity and innovation. Meanwhile, Apple is struggling to find its AI groove, raising sharp questions about its future as the world’s favourite innovation icon.

Underneath all of this runs a bigger story:

What happens to customer loyalty when algorithms do the choosing? How much marketing intuition can we afford to lose in a world obsessed with data? And which jobs and entry-level roles get eaten first as AI creeps deeper into the workflow?

Suppose you’re trying to make sense of AI, DeepSeek, Klarna, work slop, customer loyalty, humanoid robots, Apple, marketing, predictions and innovation. In that case, this episode is your slightly sarcastic, fully human guide through the chaos of what’s next.

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