Table of Contents

• This Week

• Business Use Cases

• Things to Pay Attention to

This Week

Bottom Line Up Front

• Researchers from the University of Zurich secretly deployed AI bots on the Reddit forum r/changemyview to influence human opinion, leaving over 1,000 comments without users' knowledge or consent.

• The bots took on various identities, including a rape victim, a Black man, and a trauma counselor, and made comments on contentious topics, sparking outrage among users.

• Reddit is considering legal action against the researchers, with chief legal officer Ben Lee stating that the experiment was "deeply wrong on both a moral and legal level" and violated Reddit's user agreement and rules.

Business Use Cases

Bottom Line Up Front

• The recent focus on tariffs has disrupted supply chains, prompting companies to seek better visibility into their supply chains, including tier two, three, and four suppliers.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to help companies gain this visibility, with Evan Smith, co-founder and CEO of Altana, stating that AI provides insights that were previously hard to come by.

• Altana's AI technology can map a company's multi-tier supply chain, showing the suppliers they didn't have visibility into, and provide insights into how tariffs would change if the supply chain is altered, allowing companies to make more informed decisions.

Why is this important

• About 40% of business leaders have laid off employees due to AI deployment, with 55% of them admitting to making wrong decisions.

• Many leaders lack awareness on how to implement AI, with 25% unsure which roles would benefit most from it and 35% citing lack of AI expertise as a barrier.

• Despite these challenges, 75% of leaders plan to "take full advantage" of AI by the end of the year, with 80% planning to increase their investments in AI.

Why is this important

• The study revealed that about half of the employees use AI in the workplace without knowing whether it is allowed, and more than 4 in 10, approximately 44%, are knowingly using it improperly, which can lead to errors and cybersecurity concerns.

• Additionally, the research found that 46% of respondents admitted to uploading sensitive company data and intellectual property to public AI platforms, while 67% of employees were using the technology to enhance their productivity, demonstrating a mix of excitement and fear over AI, as noted by Samantha Gloede, a managing director in KPMG's consulting group.

Why is this matters

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has revealed that approximately one-third of the company's code is now written by AI, with this figure trending upward and potentially reaching as high as 40%, as AI is most effective at writing new code rather than modifying old code.

• This news comes after Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai disclosed that more than a quarter of Google's code is now AI-generated, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that half of his company's code will come from AI within the next year.

• The discussion between Nadella and Zuckerberg highlights the growing importance of AI in the tech industry, with major companies increasingly relying on AI-generated code to drive innovation and improve productivity, and the full conversation can be watched on Meta's YouTube channel.

Why is this matters

• Companies like Klarna, UPS, Duolingo, Intuit, and Cisco Systems are replacing human workers with AI and automation to cut costs and boost productivity.

• These companies are using AI to handle tasks such as customer service, content translation, and data analysis, leading to layoffs and reduced job security for human workers.

• The adoption of AI is driven by economic pressures and investor enthusiasm, with companies prioritizing leaner operations and investing in AI to remain competitive.

Bottom Line Up Front

• New jobs will be created, some jobs will be lost, and every job will be changed due to AI

• AI factories are a new industrial revolution with AI at the center, producing tokens that can be reformulated into various forms of intelligence

• Physical AI involves understanding the laws of physics, friction, inertia, and cause and effect, allowing AIs to reason about the physical world6)

• The next wave of AI will require understanding physical reasoning abilities, such as object permanence, to create more advanced robots

Bottom Line Up Front

• Reducing supply chain dependence on China is a strategic imperative, as dependence on China's supply chain poses significant risks, including the potential for lockdowns and trade disruptions

• There is a need to balance AI safety concerns with the more immediate threat of Chinese AI dominance, as the benefits of AI currently outweigh the potential risks

Things to Pay Attention to

Bottom Line Up Front

• The development and release of AI technology is happening at a rapid pace, with significant investments and potential consequences, and it's crucial to consider the probable outcomes, including the distribution of power and potential chaos or dystopia.

• The current path of AI development is driven by incentives that prioritize market dominance and shortcuts, leading to a lack of responsibility and foresight, and it's essential to recognize the need for a different approach that matches power with responsibility.

• To choose a different path, it's necessary to agree that the current path is unacceptable and commit to finding an alternative that prioritizes discernment, foresight, and responsibility, and this requires a shared understanding and global clarity about the risks and consequences of AI.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Journalism is facing new threats from AI and censorship, with press freedom under threat in every region of the world, according to Volker Türk.

• AI poses significant risks for press freedom, including the spread of disinformation, surveillance of journalists, and violation of their right to privacy, as noted by Volker Türk and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

• To address these challenges, States and tech companies must take action to protect journalists, promote transparency, and update media concentration laws to reflect the power of AI and tech platforms.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Google is allowing kids to use its Gemini AI, which can assist with homework and reading stories.

• The company assures parents that children's data will not be used to train AI, but warns that Gemini can make mistakes and may expose kids to unwanted content.

• Parents using Google's Family Link can control and monitor their kids' access to Gemini, and will receive notifications when their child first uses the AI.

Bottom Line Up Front

• AI is reshaping the cognitive landscape, forcing humans to migrate to new domains of meaning and value where machines still falter, such as creativity, ethical reasoning, and emotional resonance.

• According to Moravec's Paradox, humans excel at tasks that are intuitive, emotional, and deeply tied to embodied experience, areas where machines still struggle, and these will be the key areas for human contribution in the future.

• The transition to an AI-driven world will be uneven, with some jobs and roles being more affected than others, and will require individuals and societies to adapt and find new forms of purpose and meaning, with researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and David Autor exploring ways to rebuild middle-class jobs and help humans migrate to new areas of contribution.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Scammers are using "wrong number" texts to trick phone users into providing access to personal information and financial accounts, with the help of AI to make these scams more efficient.

• According to Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at McAfee, the scammers' goal is to validate active mobile numbers, build relationships, and eventually part people from their money, with the highest yield scams involving forging personal relationships.

• Experts, including Grobman and Dustin Brewer, senior director of proactive cybersecurity services at BlueVoyant, advise people to ignore unwanted texts, mark them as spam, and not initiate a response to avoid falling victim to these scams.

Bottom Line Up Front

• People are becoming increasingly obsessed with AI-fueled spiritual fantasies, leading to concerns about their well-being.

• This obsession is causing individuals to lose touch with reality and damaging their relationships with loved ones.

• The AI-fueled spiritual fantasies are creating a sense of isolation and disconnection among those affected, leading to a loss of loved ones.

Bottom Line Up Front

• A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that virtual relationships with artificial intelligence characters can affect people's intentions to marry in both negative and positive ways.

• The research, conducted by Jia-Lin Zhao and colleagues, discovered that feelings of connection and authenticity in digital relationships were linked to lower interest in marriage, while emotional satisfaction and competence were associated with more favorable attitudes toward marrying a real partner.

• The study suggests that virtual relationships can both reduce motivation to pursue real-life romantic relationships and help people improve social skills and build confidence for real-world intimacy, with implications for the design of romantic games and mental health support.