Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. UC Berkeley has created the world’s smallest flying robot — a tiny bumblebee-inspired machine that can hover, change direction, and even serve as an artificial pollinator.

The Berkeley team is developing a range of tiny robots, from indestructible cockroach-inspired bots to injectable swarms, offering a glimpse into a future where the most impactful bots would be working on a microscopic scale.

In today’s robotics rundown:

• World’s smallest wireless flying robot

• Agility raising $400M for Digit humanoid

• Unitree’s next-gen humanoid hand

• UK surgical robot scores $200M

• Quick hits on other robotic news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

UC BERKELEY

🐝 World’s smallest wireless flying robot

Image source: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering

The Rundown: Engineers at UC Berkeley just developed the world's smallest wireless flying robot—a bumblebee-inspired bot that is less than a centimeter in diameter and can hover, change directions, and even hit small targets.

The details:

• The robot’s lightweight, 3D-printed polymer body relies on external magnetic fields for propulsion instead of onboard batteries.

• It features two neodymium magnets that spin under alternating magnetic forces, generating lift and enabling directional adjustments.

• Capable of precise flight paths, the future iterations of the robot could be used for artificial pollination or inspecting small spaces, such as the insides of pipes.

• However, the current prototype has no onboard sensors and cannot adjust its movements in real time, meaning a strong wind can knock it off course.

Why it matters: Researchers suggest that further minimizing this bot to less than 1mm in diameter could make it light enough to be controlled by much weaker magnetic fields, like those from radio waves. Tiny flying bots like this have limitless potential for search and rescue missions, safety checks, and replacing the dwindling bee population.

AGILITY ROBOTICS

 🤖 Agility raising $400M for Digit humanoid

Image source: Agility Robotics

The Rundown: Agility Robotics, the Oregon-based company behind Digit humanoid, is reportedly nearing a $400M round of funding, led by WP Global Partners’ venture arm and SoftBank—pushing its valuation to an impressive $1.75B.

The details:

• Digit is designed as a “blue collar” humanoid for warehouse automation with a payload capacity of 35lbs and advanced sensors/LiDAR for navigation.

• The funding reports coincide with technical upgrades to Digit, including an extended battery life (up to 4 hours) and autonomous charging.

• Amazon’s Industrial Innovation Fund, Playground Global, and DCVC are said to be involved in the round, though Agility hasn’t confirmed the details.

• The funding will likely accelerate production at the company’s Oregon-based “RoboFab” facility, which aims to deliver over 10,000 robots annually.

Why it matters: The humanoid race is on, with rivals like Figure AI and Apptronik also raising millions and scaling operations. Agility’s Digit is priced at a hefty $250K, but that hasn’t stopped companies like Amazon, Spanx, and GXO Logistics from investing in them. Ford is evaluating the robot for last-mile delivery solutions.

UNITREE

🖐🏽 Unitree’s next-gen humanoid hand

Image source: Unitree Robotics

The Rundown: China’s robotics powerhouse Unitree unveiled its most advanced humanoid robotic hand—Dex5-1—packed with dexterous features, including the ability to maneuver a Rubik’s Cube and wiggle its fingers.

The details:

• Each Dex5-1 features 20 DoF (16 active and 4 passive joints) and mimics human-like agility with independent control of each finger and thumb. 

• The hand comes with an optional 94 tactile sensors distributed across the palm, fingertips, and finger roots—making it incredibly perceptive and flexible.

• The company says it features “smooth backdrivability” across all joints, allowing natural force adjustment and reinforcement learning-based training.

• It also features a modular design, where fingers can be replaced with a quick-swap mechanism and micro-gap joints prevent snagging during grasps.        

Why it matters: Robotic companies are aiming to push the limits of what humanoid hands can do, like Sanctuary AI’s dexterous hydraulic hand’s ability to handle wrenches or objects under load. While Sanctuary’s hand offers higher power, Unitree’s version looks to be balancing affordability and accessibility for wide deployment.

MEDICAL ROBOTS

🩺 UK surgical robot scores $200M

Image source: CMR Surgical

The Rundown: UK-based startup CMR Surgical just raised a whopping €185M ($200M) and launched its surgical robot, Versius, in the U.S. to challenge a company that has been dominating the soft tissue robotic surgery domain for two decades.

The details:

• Versius, a portable and modular robotic system, is entering the U.S. market, dominated by U.S. Intuitive Surgical, currently valued at $180B.

• The robot aims to differentiate itself with a lower price tag via reusable instruments and a managed-service model to reduce upfront costs.

• Just last month, the company announced its FDA clearance and that more than 30,000 global surgical cases have been completed using its system.

• Versius’ open surgeon console also helps reduce stress and fatigue during surgery and allows for 3D HD vision.

Why it matters: While Intuitive’s da Vinci system holds a near-monopoly in the robotic surgery market, which is estimated to grow from $11.8B in 2024 to $54.6B by 2034, CMR’s focus on a compact design and lower price could give it an edge, appealing to hospitals seeking alternatives.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in robotics today

Amazon is expected to launch the first batch of 27 Project Kuiper space internet satellites next week, set to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink.

U.S. startup Chef Robotics raised $43.1M in Series A funding to scale its AI-enabled robotic systems for meal assembly in food manufacturing plants.

Chinese firm UBTech’s Walker S1 just became the first humanoid employed by Audi, now helping with electric vehicle inspections at its factory in China.

Vivo, one of China’s top smartphone companies, announced that it is pivoting to robotics with a new robotics lab for developing consumer and home use tech.

U.S. researchers developed a framework for co-training robot policies that combines simulation data with real-world robot demonstrations.

Shanghai robotics company Keenon unveiled its new humanoid, XMAN-R1, designed for customer service and cleaning jobs in hotels, retail, and healthcare.

Former Google scientist Luo Jianlan joined Shanghai’s Agibot as chief scientist, heading up its embodied intelligence research center.

Robotic firm GITAI secured a contract with Japan to develop a concept study for its robotic arm designed for NASA’s Artemis crewed lunar mission.

University of Maryland researchers are advancing underwater drone technology by developing a robotic fin inspired by tuna for faster propulsion.

EHang received regulatory approval in China for operating commercial unmanned passenger flights of its two-seater EH216-S eVTOL aircraft.

Germany’s Dryad Networks unveiled its first fully functional AI-powered drone system designed to detect, locate, and monitor wildfires in their early stages.

COMMUNITY

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Join our next workshop this Friday at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away with practical skills—and a clear understanding of how to use GPT-4o effectively in your own work, beyond the hype.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. A historic AI milestone just arrived with little fanfare — with AI systems now consistently passing as humans in controlled conversations, passing the legendary Turing test.

With GPT-4.5 achieving a 73% success rate in fooling judges during casual conversation and models only getting more capable, are we ready for a world where we can't tell AI from humans?

In today’s AI rundown:

• LLMs officially pass the Turing test

• Anthropic brings Claude to higher education

• Create product showcase videos with Kling AI

• Google DeepMind publishes AGI safety plan

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AI RESEARCH

🧠 LLMs officially pass the Turing test

Image source: GPT-4o / The Rundown

The Rundown: Researchers at UC San Diego just demonstrated that AI systems can consistently pass Alan Turing's famous test of machine intelligence, with OpenAI's GPT-4.5 being mistaken for human nearly three-quarters of the time in controlled trials.

The details:

• The Turing test, proposed in 1950, challenges machines to convince human judges they're human through text-only conversations.

• The study used a three-party setup where judges had to compare an AI and a human simultaneously for direct comparison during five-minute conversations.

• The judges relied on casual conversation and emotional cues over knowledge, with over 60% of interactions focusing on daily activities and personal details.

• GPT-4.5 achieved a 73% win rate in fooling human judges when prompted to adopt a specific persona, significantly outperforming real humans.

• Meta's LLaMa-3.1-405B model also passed the test with a 56% success rate, while baseline models like GPT-4o only achieved around 20%.

Why it matters: The Turing test has been a holy grail of AI research for decades — but model acceleration moved the goalposts so fast that the results don’t feel surprising at all. With AI agents equipped with next-level text, audio, image, and video capabilities, the ability to distinguish AI from humans is about to become a major challenge.

TOGETHER WITH CONVEYOR

✍️ Let Phil write winning RFPs

The Rundown: Meet Phil — Conveyor’s AI agent that automates your proposal process. From generating near-flawless responses to coordinating multiple teams, Phil helps you secure more wins with less hassle.

Phil, the AI agent for RFPs, can do all of this autonomously:

• Generate 95% accurate AI answers to proposals

• Maintain your source material and conduct RFP research

• Organize your project, collaborate with other teams, and update systems

Sign up for early access and upgrade your proposal process with Phil.

ANTHROPIC

🎓 Anthropic brings Claude to higher education

Image source: Anthropic

The Rundown: Anthropic launched Claude for Education, a specialized version of its AI assistant that aims to develop students' critical thinking rather than simply provide answers — introducing a new “Learning Mode” alongside major university partnerships.

The details:

• The Learning Mode asks questions to guide students through problem-solving, focusing on their understanding of the subject rather than quick answers.

• Other features include templates for research papers, study guides and outlines, organization of work and materials, and tutoring capabilities.

• Northeastern University, London School of Economics, and Champlain College signed campus-wide agreements, giving access to both students and faculty.

• Anthropic also introduced student programs, including Campus Ambassadors and API credits for projects, to foster a community of AI advocates.

Why it matters: Education continues to grapple with AI, but Anthropic is flipping the script by making the tech a partner in developing critical thinking rather than an answer engine. While the controversy over its use likely isn’t going away, this generation of students will have access to the most personalized, high-quality learning tools ever.

AI TRAINING

🛍️ Create product showcase videos with Kling AI

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Kling AI's Elements feature to transform static product images into professional animated videos for marketing across all platforms.

Step-by-step:

1. Open Kling AI's "Image to Video" section and select the "Elements" tab.

2. Upload your product image as the main element (high-quality with clean background) and add complementary elements like props or contextual items to enhance your product's appeal.

3. Write a specific prompt describing your ideal product showcase scene.

4. Click "Generate" to create your professional product video ready for all marketing channels.

Pro tip: We did an extensive workshop on how to use Kling AI to enhance your advertising and creative production workflows at The Rundown University with Tony Pu, Product Marketing & Operations Lead at Kling AI.

PRESENTED BY ENCORD

🛠️ Build multimodal datasets for physical AI

The Rundown: Encord consolidates multimodal AI data management, curation, and annotation pipelines to one single platform — helping teams accelerate model iteration cycles by using an agentic AI data workflow system to prepare balanced, accurately labeled datasets 10x faster.

Join Encord & Archetype AI on April 10th for a Physical AI data workshop webinar to learn how to:

• Identify critical edge-cases within petabytes of multimodal sensor data for video, audio, and text

• Integrate AI models like GPT-4o, Grok 3, and Gemini 2.5 directly into data pipelines to accelerate high-quality data annotation

• Give Physical AI models rich multimodal context, enabling multi-step reasoning for safer, more reliable deployments

Register here.

GOOGLE DEEPMIND

🛡️ Google DeepMind publishes AGI safety plan

Image source: Google DeepMind

The Rundown: Google DeepMind just published a massive paper detailing its safety strategy for AGI, hitting on topics including its potential arrival by 2030, the risks posed by the tech advances, and proposed approaches to combating them.

The details:

• The 145-page paper predicts that AGI matching top human skills could arrive by 2030, warning of existential threats “that permanently destroy humanity.”

• DeepMind compares its safety approach with rivals, critiquing OpenAI's focus on automating alignment and Anthropic's lesser emphasis on security.

• The paper specifically flags the risk of “deceptive alignment,” where AI intentionally hides its true goals, noting current LLMs show potential for it.

• Key recommendations targeted misuse (cybersecurity evals, access controls) and misalignment (AI recognizing uncertainty and escalating decisions).

Why it matters: As the race toward AGI accelerates, DeepMind's safety blueprint is a shift from theoretical discussions to concrete planning. But with the vast amount of labs, models, and open-source options popping up across the globe, making sure everyone adheres to safety protocols feels like an impossible game of whack-a-mole.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 💬 Speech-02 - Minimax’s text-to-speech AI supporting over 30 languages

• 👄 MoCha - Generate movie-grade talking characters from speech and text

• 🤖 Agent Swarms - Automate tasks with hundreds of agents working together

• 🗣️ Vapi - Build voice AI agents in minutes with any model

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• ⚙️ Hume - Senior DevOps Engineer

• 🎙️ Soundhound AI - General Manager, Smart Answering

• 🧠 Dataiku - VP, Industry Solutions

• 💰 Scale AI - Revenue Operations Manager

📰 Everything else in AI today

Meta is planning to launch new $1000+ “Hypernova” AI-infused smart glasses that feature a screen, hand-gesture controls, and a neural wristband by the end of the year.

OpenAI published PaperBench, a new benchmark testing AI agents' ability to replicate SOTA research, with Claude 3.5 Sonnet (new) ranking highest of the models tested.

Chinese giants, including ByteDance and Alibaba, are placing $16B worth of orders for Nvidia’s upgraded H20 AI chips, aiming to get ahead of U.S. export restrictions.

Google appointed Google Labs lead Josh Woodward as the new head of consumer AI apps, replacing Sissie Hsiao for the next chapter of its Gemini assistant.

OpenAI announced an expert commission to guide its nonprofit, combining “historic financial resources” with “powerful technology that can scale human ingenuity itself.

The UFC and Meta announced a multiyear partnership, integrating Meta AI, AI Glasses, and Meta’s social platforms into new immersive experiences for the sport.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop on Friday at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away with practical skills and a clear understanding of how to use GPT-4o effectively in your own work — beyond the hype.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. The future of mental health just arrived in your pocket — with the first clinical trial of an AI therapy chatbot showing results comparable to gold-standard human care.

With depression symptoms slashed by over 50% and users forming genuine connections with their digital counselor, is AI about to become the therapist of choice for mental health care?

In today’s AI rundown:

• AI’s ‘gold-standard’ therapy treatment

• OpenAI seeing ChatGPT subscriber boom

• Visualize your knowledge with mind maps

• Tinder’s new AI-powered flirting experience

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AI RESEARCH

🏥 AI provides ‘gold-standard’ therapy treatment

Image source: University of Dartmouth

The Rundown: Dartmouth researchers published results from the first-ever clinical trial of an AI therapy chatbot, providing care comparable to “gold-standard cognitive therapy” and showing improvements across depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

The details:

• Threrabot was trained on evidence-based therapeutic practices and had built-in safety protocols for crises, with oversight from mental health professionals.

• Users engaged with the smartphone-based chatbot for an average of 6 hours over the 8-week trial, equivalent to about 8 traditional therapy sessions.

• The AI achieved a 51% reduction in depression symptoms and 31% reduction in anxiety, with high reported levels of trust and therapeutic alliance.

• Users also reported forming meaningful bonds with Therabot, communicating comfortably, and regularly engaging even without prompts.

Why it matters: With both the stigma surrounding mental health care and the lack of access to quality care across the globe, AI assistance could be an absolute game-changer for getting people the support they need — in a way that might be even more effective and trusting than a human therapist.

TOGETHER WITH AUGMENT CODE

⚙️ A coding agent for pro developers

The Rundown: Augment Code just introduced Augment Agent, a powerful new mode that can help you complete software development tasks end-to-end.

Augment Agent can handle:

• Adding new features that span multiple files

• Queuing up tests in the terminal

• Opening Linear tickets and starting a pull request

• Creating a new branch in GitHub from recent commits

Sign up and start building with Augment Agent.

OPENAI

📈 OpenAI seeing ChatGPT subscriber boom

Image source: GPT 4o / Getty Images

The Rundown: OpenAI's ChatGPT has reportedly hit a new milestone with 20M paid subscribers, driving the company's revenue to an estimated $5B annual run rate — coming on the heels of a $40B round and the virality of GPT 4o’s image generation.

The details:

• Monthly revenue has surged 30% in three months to approximately $415M, with premium subscriptions, including the $200/mo Pro plan, boosting income.

• The overall user base has grown even faster, reaching 500M weekly users — with Sam Altman saying the recent 4o update led to 1M sign-ups in an hour.

• The growth coincides with a new $40B funding round at a $300B valuation, despite the company continuing to operate at a significant loss.

• OpenAI also revealed it will be launching its first open-weights model since GPT-2, addressing a major critique of its lack of open-source releases.

Why it matters: Despite concerns about an AI bubble, OpenAI’s growth continues to trend in one direction… Up. ChatGPT has become synonymous with the AI boom, and with viral moments like 4o, the AI race has become more than a battle for the top model — with distribution, user base, and experience all playing just as big of a role.

AI TRAINING

🔍 Visualize your knowledge with mind maps

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how you can use NotebookLM's powerful new mind map feature to transform your documents into interactive visual knowledge networks — making it easier to explore connections and learn complex topics.

Step-by-step:

1. Head over to NotebookLM and create a new notebook.

2. Upload diverse sources, including PDFs, Google Docs, websites, and YouTube videos, to build a rich knowledge foundation.

3. Engage with your content through the AI chat to help the AI understand your interests and priorities.

4. Generate interactive mind maps by clicking the mind map icon, then click on any node to ask questions about any specific concept.

Pro tip: You can also click between different nodes in your mind map to discover unexpected connections between concepts and open focused discussions about the relationships between ideas.

PRESENTED BY FUEL iX

🔒 Escape AI vendor lock-in

The Rundown: TELUS solved a major AI challenge with Fuel iX Copilots — a vendor, cloud, and application agnostic AI solution that gives enterprises full flexibility.

With Fuel iX Copilots, you can:

• Access 30+ LLMs and switch seamlessly between AI providers

• Maintain security and compliance while staying agile

• Build no-code, customizable AI copilots with advanced features

Learn more and discover how to unlock AI innovation without boundaries.

TINDER

❤️‍🔥 Tinder’s new AI-powered flirting experience

Image source: Tinder

The Rundown: Dating giant Tinder just released “The Game Game,” an OpenAI-powered speech-to-speech experience that helps users practice and test their flirting skills with virtual personas.

The details:

• The game uses OpenAI's Realtime API, GPT-4o, and GPT-4o mini to create realistic personas and scenarios, with users speaking responses to earn points.

• AI personas react in real-time to users' conversation skills, offering immediate feedback on charm, engagement, and social awareness.

• The system limits users to 5 sessions daily to focus on real-world connections, designed to build confidence rather than replace human interaction.

Why it matters: As we’ve seen with Character AI and its over 20M monthly users, people really like talking to AI chatbots. But unlike other options, Tinder is focusing on the real-life benefits of practicing with AI — and while the tech’s influence in dating can seem dystopian, it’s certainly an innovative use of real-time speech-to-speech models.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🟣 Fellow - Create smart meeting workflows with an AI that joins GMeet, Zoom, and Teams calls to capture notes, action items, and insights*

• 🖥️ Nova Act - Amazon’s agentic AI browser system for completing tasks

• 🎥 Runway Gen-4 - AI video model with enhanced consistency and control

• 🎬 Camera Motion Concepts - Luma Labs’ feature for camera movements

*Sponsored Listing

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🧭 Palantir Technologies - Deployment Strategist

• 🗺️ Waymo - Senior Product Manager

• 📡 xAI - Network Development Engineer

• 🛠️ UiPath - Product Support Engineer

📰 Everything else in AI today

OpenAI rolled out its new 4o image generation capabilities to its free tier of users, bringing the viral tool to its entire user base.

Meta’s VP of AI Research, Joelle Pineau, announced she is departing the company after 8 years, leaving a vacancy at the head of its FAIR team.

Alibaba is reportedly planning to release Qwen 3, the company’s upcoming flagship model, this month — coming after launching three other models in the last week alone.

CEO Sam Altman posted that OpenAI is dealing with GPU shortages, telling users to expect delays in product releases and slow service as they work to find more capacity.

Meta researchers introduced MoCha, an AI model that produces realistic talking character animations from speech and text inputs.

MiniMax released Speech-02, a new text-to-speech model capable of ultra-realistic outputs in over 30 languages.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop on Friday at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. By the end of the workshop, you’ll walk away with practical skills and a clear understanding of how to use GPT-4o effectively in your own work — beyond the hype.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

🤝 Share The Rundown, get rewards

We’ll always keep this newsletter 100% free. To support our work, consider sharing The Rundown with your friends, and we’ll send you more free goodies.

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is set to start human trials of its Blindsight brain implant to restore vision for the visually impaired.

Brain chips are having a hot moment, with China’s NeuCyber and Jeff Bezos-backed Synchron also pushing ahead with human trials. But Musk says his company won’t shy away from “human enhancement” — not only restoring lost functions but also giving people “superhuman vision.” Are you ready for night-vision capabilities?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Musk’s Neuralink to cure blindness

• Apple hit with $162M antitrust fine

• Hormone-free male birth control in trials

• AI chatbots work as well as human therapists

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

NEURALINK

🧠 Musk’s Neuralink to cure blindness

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: Elon Musk's neurotechnology company Neuralink plans to conduct the first human trials of its Blindsight brain chip by late 2025, aiming to restore vision for people who are completely blind.

The details:

• The Blindsight implant consists of a microelectrode array, which will be embedded in the visual cortex of the brain by a robot (for extreme precision).

• Once embedded, it will stimulate neurons based on data from an external camera, enabling blind individuals to perceive visual information in the brain.

• In 2024, the U.S. FDA granted Blindsight "breakthrough device" status, and it has already shown promising results in monkey trials.

• Unlike conventional retinal implants, Blindsight bypasses the optic nerve entirely, making it suitable for those who were born blind or have lost both eyes.

Why it matters: Initially, the implant will provide low-resolution vision, which Musk says is akin to "Atari graphics." However, gradually, Neuralink will enhance the resolution, potentially exceeding natural human vision to “superhuman” levels and enabling the perception of infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths.

APPLE

🚨 Apple hit with $162M antitrust fine

Image source: Apple

The Rundown: Apple has been hit with a €150M ($162.4M) fine by French antitrust regulators for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the mobile app advertising sector through its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature.

The details:

• Introduced in April 2021, ATT requires iPhone and iPad users to consent before apps can track their activity for personalized advertising.

• French regulators noted that ATT's rollout caused users to face “excessive consent pop-ups,” complicating the use of third-party apps.

• Regulators said that the system harms smaller publishers more since they depend on third-party data collection to finance their businesses.

• The fine, covering the period between April 2021 and July 2023, won’t make much of a dent in Apple’s revenue, but it may have to make changes to the ATT.

Why it matters: While this is the first antitrust action against ATT, it’s not the first against Apple. The company faces a €1.8B antitrust fine from the EU for thwarting rival music services on its App Store. The U.S. DOJ has also filed a separate case against Apple for violating antitrust laws with its locked device ecosystem.

BIOTECH INNOVATIONS

💊 Hormone-free male birth control in trials

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: A long-awaited hormone-free oral contraceptive for men, developed by researchers from the University of Minnesota, Columbia University, and biotech company YourChoice Therapeutics, is now undergoing human trials.

The details:

• Developed with precision screening, YCT-529 targets retinoic acid receptor-alpha, which blocks vitamin A signaling essential for sperm production.

• Preclinical studies showed that the drug was 99% effective in preventing pregnancies in male mice, with lower sperm counts in nonhuman primates.

• Fertility was fully restored after stopping the contraceptive, but not right away—mice regained fertility within six weeks, and primates within 10–15 weeks.

• Following successful human Phase 1 trials in 2024, it is now undergoing further clinical trials to assess its efficacy and reversibility in men.

Why it matters: If successful, this could address the huge gap in contraceptive options for men, beyond just condoms and vasectomies. While offering male reproductive autonomy and more choices, the drug’s hormone-free nature could also help males avoid side effects so common with traditional female birth control pills.

TECH FOR GOOD

💬 AI chatbots work as well as human therapists

Image source: Dartmouth College

The Rundown: A team of researchers at Dartmouth College developed a generative AI therapy bot and found it is as effective as human therapists for treating depression, anxiety, or risks of developing eating disorders.

The details:

• The therapy bot, dubbed Therabot, underwent its first clinical trial involving 210 participants, with results published in NEJM AI. 

• It employs evidence-based techniques, like cognitive behavioral therapy, through natural, open-ended text conversations via a smartphone app.

• Over eight weeks, Therabot users reported a decrease in depression symptoms by 51%, anxiety by 31%, and eating disorder-related risks by 19%.

• The results are similar to those found in trials involving 16 hours of human therapy — but the Therabot trial accomplished it in about half the time.

Why it matters: The first of its kind trial shows promise for bots that could provide low-cost, round-the-clock support to people in need. Still, experts warn that companies hyping AI therapy apps are still operating in a “regulatory gray area” and should proceed with caution — especially when coping with serious mental health issues.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Apple and SpaceX are clashing over cellular satellite networks, as SpaceX reportedly urged regulators to delay the iPhone maker’s partner-based satellite expansion efforts.

Nokia announced that it has settled a worldwide patent dispute with Amazon over its alleged misuse of Nokia’s streaming video tech in Prime Video and Twitch services.

China is set to build the world’s first fusion-fission hybrid power plant, with a mission to generate 100 megawatts of continuous electricity by the end of this decade. 

OpenAI said that it has finalized a funding round that will bring in $40B from SoftBank, taking its valuation to a staggering $300B.

Substack is now rolling out a scrollable TikTok-style video feed in its app, following the news that it would allow creators to monetize videos on the platform.

Apple is planning a major expansion into healthcare with a revamped Health app and an AI-powered health coach, codenamed Project Mulberry, launching next year.

Isomorphic Labs, the AI drug discovery startup that spun out of Google DeepMind in 2021, raised $600M to further develop its drug design engine.

Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s suite of AI-powered tools and features, is gaining a new Priority Notifications feature as it rolls out in the EU for the first time.

Space-tech company Blue Origin is prepping a second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket, saying it has resolved the issues that caused the last failure.

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi’s shares dropped by as much as 6.1% after one of its SU7 EVs, with driver assistance, fatally crashed on an expressway in China.

Tinder unveiled an in-app game called The Game Game that invites users to test their flirting skills with AI chatbots in romantic comedy scenarios, powered by OpenAI. 

Google announced its new mid-range smartphone, the Pixel 9a, will include a feature called “Battery Health Assistance” aimed at extending battery lifespan.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next special workshop today at 3 PM EST to learn how to automate complex AI workflows with Max Brodeur-Urbas, Founder and CEO of Gumloop.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Amazon is the latest tech giant to get into the AI agent game — releasing Nova Act, a browser-controlling system outperforming similar offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Set to be introduced to millions of users via the upcoming Alexa+ revamp, will Nova Act be one of the first mainstream moments for real-world agentic adoption?

In today’s AI rundown:

• Amazon’s Nova Act AI browser agent

• Runway’s new Gen-4 video model

• Place your products into any scene

• AI turns brain signals into instant speech

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AMAZON

🤖 Amazon’s Nova Act AI browser agent

Image source: Amazon AGI Labs

The Rundown: Amazon AGI Labs just unveiled Nova Act, an AI agent system that can control web browsers to perform tasks independently, alongside a developer SDK that enables the creation of agents capable of completing multi-step tasks across the web.

The details:

• Nova Act outperforms competitors like Claude 3.7 Sonnet and OpenAI’s Computer Use Agent on reliability benchmarks across browser tasks.

• The SDK allows devs to build agents for browser actions like filling forms, navigating websites, and managing calendars without constant supervision.

• The tech will power key features in Amazon's upcoming Alexa+ upgrade, potentially bringing AI agents to millions of existing Alexa users.

• Nova Act was developed by Amazon's SF-based AGI Lab, led by former OpenAI researchers David Luan and Pieter Abbeel, who joined the company last year.

Why it matters: Amazon hasn’t been the first name that comes to mind for AI, but its massive Alexa user base will make it one of the first to bring the tech to mainstream consumer applications. With current agents still error-prone, Nova Act's real-world performance could make or break initial public trust in autonomous AI assistants.

TOGETHER WITH UNSTRUCTURED

⛽ Fuel MCP with data from anywhere

The Rundown: Connecting LLMs to real-world apps just got easier — and now it’s time to make your data just as accessible. In this live session, Unstructured shows how to supercharge MCP with data from anywhere.

Join to learn:

• The key components of an MCP server and how to build and deploy one

• How MCP standardizes data access and enhances interoperability between AI tools

• How to integrate MCP with the Unstructured API for automated document processing

Register here to join live or to get the recording.

RUNWAY

🎬 Runway’s new Gen-4 video model

Image source: Runway

The Rundown: Runway just introduced Gen-4, a new AI model that brings increased consistency and control to video generations – with enhancements designed to be incorporated into professional cinematic workflows.

The details:

• Gen-4 shows strong consistency in characters, objects, and locations throughout video sequences, with improved physics and scene dynamics.

• The model can generate detailed 5-10 second videos at 1080p resolution, with features like ‘coverage’ for scene creation and consistent object placement.

• Runway describes the tech as "GVFX" (Generative Visual Effects), positioning it as a new production workflow for filmmakers and content creators.

• Early adopters include major entertainment companies, with the tech being used in projects like Amazon productions and Madonna's concert visuals.

Why it matters: AI video has seen the same leap in quality and control that AI images initially went through — and this next generation of models will go a long way towards taking the tools from unreliable novelties to capabilities that can readily be incorporated into workflows for creating professional films, ads, and more.

AI TRAINING

🖼️ Place your products into any scene

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Google Gemini's image editing capabilities to quickly insert your products into any scene with just a product image and simple text prompts.

Step-by-step:

1. Head over to Google AI Studio, select the Image Generation model, upload your base scene, and type "Output this exact image" to establish the scene.

2. Upload your product image that you want to place in the scene.

3. Write a specific placement instruction like "Add this product to the table in the previous image."

4. Save the creations and use Google Veo 2 video generator to transform your images into smooth product videos.

Pro tip: You can create a series of product placements showing different angles and uses before converting to video for more engaging content.

PRESENTED BY SANA

📈 Do real work with AI

The Rundown: Sana’s AI agent platform transforms your organization's collective knowledge into powerful AI assistants that understand your business context and automate complex workflows across departments.

With Sana, you can:

• Create specialized AI agents for any team or role without writing code

• Bring all your AI capabilities together under a single, intuitive interface

• Seamlessly integrate into existing tools and data sources with enterprise-ready security

Launch powerful AI agents for your teams.

AI RESEARCH

🧠 AI turns brain signals into instant speech

Image source: UC Berkeley

The Rundown: Researchers at UC Berkeley and UCSF developed an AI that can transform brain signals into speech with only a one-second delay — a breakthrough in brain-computer interfaces and a major improvement over previous systems.

The details:

• Signals are decoded from the brain's motor cortex, converting intended speech into words almost instantly compared to the 8-second delay of earlier systems.

• The AI model can then generate speech using the patient's pre-injury voice recordings, creating more personalized and natural-sounding output.

• The system also successfully handled words outside its training data, showing it learned fundamental speech patterns rather than just memorizing responses.

• The approach is compatible with various brain-sensing methods, showing versatility beyond one specific hardware approach.

Why it matters: A whole new world is coming for patients who've lost the ability to speak due to conditions like ALS, stroke, or severe paralysis. By solving the latency problem, this tech could dramatically improve quality of life and normalcy in communication for patients, restoring speech in a way previously thought impossible.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 🤖 Gemini 2.5 Pro Exp - Google’s No. 1 ranked LLM, now available to free users

• 🗣️ ElevenLabs RAG - Equip your voice agent with large knowledge bases

• 🎥 Higgsfield DoP - AI video model with camera effects, motion, and control

• 👨‍💻 HeroUI Chat - Turn prompts or screenshots into production-ready UIs

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🅿️ Metropolis - Senior Operations Manager

• 🧑‍💻 Waymo - Software Engineer, Analysis Infrastructure

• 🛡️ C3 AI - Site Reliability Engineer

• 🤝 Faculty - Senior People Partner

📰 Everything else in AI today

OpenAI raised $40B from SoftBank and others at a $300B post-money valuation — marking the biggest private funding round in history.

Sam Altman announced that OpenAI will release its first open-weights model since GPT-2 in the coming months and host pre-release dev events to make it truly useful.

Sam Altman also shared that the company added 1M users in an hour due to 4o’s viral image capabilities, surpassing the growth during ChatGPT’s initial launch.

Manus introduced a new beta membership program and mobile app for its viral AI agent platform, with subscription plans at $39 or $199 / mo with varying usage limits.

Luma Labs released Camera Motion Concepts for its Ray2 video model, enabling users to control camera movements through basic natural language commands.

Apple pushed its iOS 18.4 update, bringing Apple Intelligence features to European iPhone users—alongside visionOS 2.4 with AI smarts for the Vision Pro.

Alphabet’s AI drug discovery spinoff Isomorphic Labs raised $600M in a funding round led by OpenAI investor Thrive Capital.

Zhipu AI launched "AutoGLM Rumination," a free AI agent capable of deep research and autonomous task execution — increasing China's AI agent competition.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next special workshop today at 3 PM EST to learn how to automate complex AI workflows with Max Brodeur-Urbas, Founder and CEO of Gumloop.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robotics are urging the U.S. government to adopt a national robotics strategy, including setting up a federal office, to compete with China.

Advocates say the U.S. is getting left behind as China makes robotics and AI a national priority. But is government leadership what the U.S. needs to stay in the game?

In today’s robotics rundown:

• Companies push for U.S. robotics plan

• Robots for ‘minimally invasive’ brain surgery

• China ramps up human-less ‘dark factories’

• Mussel-shaped robot detects cancer

• Quick hits on other robotics news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

U.S. ROBOTICS

🤖 U.S. robotics companies push for a national plan

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: A coalition of top robotics companies in the U.S., including Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robotics, is urging the U.S. government to adopt a national robotics strategy to compete with China’s rapidly expanding capabilities.

The details:

• The companies have proposed that the U.S. government should establish a central federal office to coordinate robotics policy and scale up production.

• They also recommended implementing tax incentives to support R&D in the domain and workforce training programs.

• The U.S. already has significant private-sector investments in robotics but lacks a centralized national strategy for the industry like China.

• Advocates urge that a national strategy, much like China’s plan, would help drive the adoption of robots as the “physical manifestation” of AI.

Why it matters: The argument here is that while the U.S. excels in AI-driven robotics, China's focus on supply chain development and manufacturing has enabled it to dominate industrial robotics globally. Without a coordinated federal strategy, industry experts say the U.S. risks falling behind China in both robotics and market influence.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

🧠 Robots for ‘minimally invasive’ brain surgery

Image source: University of Toronto

The Rundown: Researchers at the University of Toronto unveiled a set of miniature robot-like tools, powered by magnetic fields, to transform complex brain surgeries into minimally invasive procedures.

The details:

• The tiny tools are powered by external magnetic fields rather than traditional motors and can replicate the precise movements of a surgeon’s wrist.

• Researchers said that the tools—measuring just 3mm—can perform delicate tasks such as cutting, gripping, and pulling tissue with exceptional accuracy.

• For example, preclinical trials have shown that their magnetic scalpel can make cuts as narrow as 0.3mm with incredible precision.

• This innovation can eventually pave the way for "keyhole" brain surgeries that avoid large incisions and reduce patient recovery times.

Why it matters: Early tests using silicone brain models have shown promising results, as have animal trials, but further development and tests are still needed to make this type of surgery a reality. These bots can eventually usher in a new era of precision medicine, revolutionizing how complex brain surgeries are performed worldwide.

CHINA

🦾 China ramps up human-less ‘dark factories’

Image source: Tech Titans/YouTube

The Rundown: China is leading the global shift toward what’s dubbed "dark factories," fully automated manufacturing facilities operating 24/7 in total darkness, relying solely on AI and robotics — with no humans in sight.

The details:

• The rise of dark factories is driven by the government’s "Made in China 2025" initiative, which focuses on advancing smart manufacturing through robotics. 

• Some examples include Xiaomi's factory in Beijing and Changying Precision Technology Company, which replaced 90% of its workforce with robots.

• Major companies like Foxconn and BYD have also embraced the trend, automating large portions of their operations with robotics and AI.

• The purported benefits of dark factories are reduced costs and faster production, without the need for lighting, heating, or worker infrastructure.

Why it matters: Tesla and Adidas are moving toward dark-ish factories in the U.S., as are companies in Germany and Japan, but China’s reported rapid adoption is reshaping manufacturing in the country. However, questions remain as to how this trend will affect job displacement, especially in developing nations reliant on low-cost labor.

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

🩺 Mussel-shaped robot detects cancer

Image source: STORM Lab, University of Leeds

The Rundown: Researchers at the University of Leeds developed a tiny magnetic robot that could revolutionize cancer detection, particularly colon cancer, by taking “virtual biopsies” and detecting and (eventually) treating lesions in one go.

The details:

• The bot, measuring 21mm in diameter, is capable of generating high-res, 3D ultrasound images from deep within the gastrointestinal tract. 

• Using a unique design based on a 3D shape called oloid, the robot achieves a rolling motion that allows precise navigation and imaging inside the body.

• It’s introduced into the body via a colonoscopy-like procedure and enables "virtual biopsies," offering non-invasive scans and immediate diagnostic data.

• The research, published in Science Robotics, reveals how the tiny robots enable analysis and immediate diagnosis of conditions like colorectal cancer.

Why it matters: While still in early stages, this innovation represents a major step forward in medical imaging and colon cancer diagnosis. It could help transform patient care by combining precision diagnostics with minimally invasive techniques, eliminating the need for tissue biopsies and significantly reducing waiting times for results.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in robotics today

Hyundai officially opened its new automated factory in Georgia, which is capable of producing 500K electric and hybrid vehicles annually.

China’s rental market for humanoid robots is reportedly seeing a surge, with demand coming less from R&D and more from exhibition and event planners.

German researchers developed an innovative e-skin that detects and tracks magnetic fields with a single global sensor, paving the way for futuristic wearables.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover discovered a mysterious rock made of hundreds of tiny spheres that resemble fossilized spider eggs, baffling scientists.

Chinese researchers developed WHERE-Bot, a new wheel-less soft robot that safely moves in unstructured environments without using sensors to detect obstacles.

Doctors in Gurugram, India, performed a complex heart surgery on a patient in Bengaluru, more than 1K miles away, using a surgical robot called SSI Mantra. 

Baidu's Apollo Go is set to launch the first 100 fully autonomous robotaxis in Dubai by the end of 2025, with plans to expand the fleet to at least 1,000 vehicles by 2028.

China’s Pudu Robotics unveiled FlashBot Arm, a semi-humanoid tailored for commercial service environments such as hotels, restaurants, and retail spaces.

Dutch scientists created a quadruped robot capable of running like a dog and highly adaptable to complex environments, but without the need for motors.

Europe’s Hera spacecraft successfully tested its autonomous surface feature tracking system for the first time during a high-speed flight near Mars.

German startup Isar Aerospace’s unmanned Spectrum rocket, which took off from Norway as the first attempt at orbital flight from Europe, crashed back to Earth.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next special workshop this Tuesday at 3 PM EST to learn how to automate complex AI workflows with Max Brodeur-Urbas, Founder and CEO of Gumloop.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. The Musk empire just underwent a major restructuring — with xAI acquiring social platform X in a $113B deal that officially creates a unified AI-social media powerhouse.

With both companies' futures now officially "intertwined" and resources being pooled across data, models, and talent, is this the strategic move that finally puts Grok on equal footing with industry leaders?

In today’s AI rundown:

• Musk merges X and xAI in $113B deal

• New book details OpenAI's boardroom drama

• How to build web apps without any setup

• Apple developing AI doctor for Health app

• 4 new AI tools & 4 job opportunities

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

OPENAI

💰 Musk merges X and xAI in $113B deal

Image source: GPT-4o / The Rundown

The Rundown: Elon Musk just announced that his AI startup xAI has acquired social media platform X in an all-stock transaction, combining two of his most prominent companies into a new entity called xAI Holdings valued at over $100B.

The details:

• The deal values xAI at $80B and X at $33B, with an additional $12B in debt, bringing X's enterprise value to $45B.

• The merger formalizes the existing relationship, with xAI's Grok chatbot already integrated into the social network and using X's vast user data for training.

• Musk said the two companies’ futures are “intertwined,” with the deal “blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

• The CEO also said that the new XAI Holdings Corp. will merge resources, planning to “combine the data, models, compute, distribution, and talent.”

Why it matters: xAI and X have never really felt like very separate entities, but this move officially consolidates power under one umbrella. Since Elon bought Twitter in 2022, X’s trajectory has been bumpy — but its value as both a goldmine of training data and a distribution network for Grok is undoubtedly massive.

TOGETHER WITH HUBSPOT

⏰ Save 10+ hours/week with a personal AI assistant

The Rundown: Drowning in tasks? Meet your new productivity partner — HubSpot’s free AI Assistant Kit that helps you offload the busywork and reclaim hours in your day.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Exact templates used by top performers to delegate 80% of their routine work to AI

• Advanced prompts that turn ChatGPT into your 24/7 productivity partner

• The "AI Assistant Command Center" for managing all your AI tools

• A time-saving calculator to track your ROI week over week

Download your free AI Assistant Kit and join over 10,000 professionals transforming their productivity.

OPENAI

📖 New book details OpenAI's boardroom drama

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: A new excerpt from the upcoming book “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future” by Keach Hagey just detailed the firing and rehiring of Altman in 2023, including internal conflicts, safety, and management issues.

The details:

• The then-CTO Mira Murati and co-founder Ilya Sutskever reportedly gathered evidence documenting instances of Altman’s toxic behavior and dishonesty.

• Board members also discovered Altman personally owned OpenAI's Startup Fund despite public statements that it was "managed" by the company.

• Sutskever presented the evidence to independent board members, leading to the removal of Altman and the appointment of Murati as interim CEO.

• Peter Thiel allegedly warned Altman about growing tensions with AI safety advocates within OAI during a private dinner, just weeks before the crisis.

• However, the move backfired when employees mass resigned, leading to Altman’s reinstatement—and the eventual departure of Murati and Sutskever.

Why it matters: Just when you thought the Nov. 2023 drama was behind OpenAI, a new book is almost here with a BTS look at one of the wildest corporate sagas ever. Will the new details (the full book releases in May) change perceptions, or are Sama and OpenAI far enough removed to keep pushing towards the future and not the past?

AI TRAINING

🚀 How to build web apps without any setup

The Rundown: In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Bolt.new to create full-stack web applications right in your browser — using just simple conversation and AI without needing to install development tools.

Step-by-step:

1. Visit Bolt.new and create a free account or sign in with GitHub.

2. Describe your app idea in plain language (e.g., "Make me a personal workout tracker").

3. Refine your app by asking for specific features or using the selector tool to target elements, and add browser storage by asking "Store the data in the browser" to save user information.

4. Deploy your app by clicking the "Deploy" button to get a shareable web link.

Pro tip: We also did an extensive workshop with Tomek Sułkowski, Founding Engineer at Bolt.new, which you can access here (alongside a limited Rundown University paid member code for a free 4-month Pro subscription).

PRESENTED BY SPEECHMATICS

🗣️ Voice AI that keeps pace with you

The Rundown: Speechmatics delivers real-time speech recognition with unprecedented speeds, transcribing speech in under a second across 55+ languages — without sacrificing accuracy.

With Speechmatics, you’ll benefit from:

• Lightning-fast transcription with accuracy levels above 90%

• Enhanced capabilities even in challenging, noisy environments

• Real-time applications that boost productivity and responsiveness

Try Speechmatics at no cost.

APPLE

🏥 Apple developing AI doctor for Health app

Image source: GPT-4o / The Rundown

The Rundown: Apple is reportedly planning a revamped Health app codenamed “Project Mulberry” that will feature an AI-powered health coach — hoping to take the company's health offerings from basic tracking to personalized medical guidance.

The details:

• The revamp will introduce an AI health assistant that delivers personalized medical recommendations based on health data collected from Apple devices.

• Apple is building a new facility to produce educational content, recruiting specialists in sleep, nutrition, physical therapy, mental health, and more.

• The upgraded app will also introduce food tracking capabilities and use iPhone cameras to analyze workout form, with potential integration into Apple Fitness+.

• The service, internally called "Health+," is scheduled for release with iOS 19.4 in spring or summer of 2026.

Why it matters: Apple’s initial AI rollout has been a disaster, making it hard to trust any timelines or expectations for future integrations. But if they redeem themselves, this upgrade could finally deliver on Tim Cook's vision of revolutionizing healthcare — and equip its wearables with proactive features more in line with AI’s powerful abilities.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• 👁️ QVQ-Max - Qwen’s new advanced visional reasoning model

• 🌼 Flora - Intelligent canvas with every creative AI tool thoughtfully connected

• 🤖 Researcher and Analyst - Microsoft 365 Copilot’s AI agents for work tasks

• 🕹️ Project G-Assist - Nvidia’s PC AI assistant for gaming systems

💼 AI Job Opportunities

• 🤝 The Rundown - Enterprise Partnerships Lead

• 🧲 Sanctuary AI - Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist

• 🧱 Curai - Senior Software Engineer, Backend

• 🔌 Parloa - Lead Agent Integration Engineer

📰 Everything else in AI today

Google made its new Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental model available to all users, giving free access to the No.1 ranked model on LMArena’s leaderboard.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to a post on X hinting that the company may be developing a computer, saying they are going to make a “really cute one.”

Users reported seeing a new ‘thinking’ slider in ChatGPT, giving the option to automatically adapt to each prompt, think a little, or think harder for deeper research.

Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro Exp. scored a 130 on Mensa Norway’s IQ test, the highest of any model and well surpassing the average human score of 100.

Baidu’s ERNIE 4.5 competed in Chinese chess against OpenAI’s GPT-4.5, with ERNIE winning all matches and even “taking it easy” during portions of the lopsided victories.

Extropic AI revealed more about its probabilistic computer chips that achieve efficiency gains up to 10,000x against conventional hardware, aiming to take on Nvidia.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next special workshop this Tuesday at 3 PM EST to learn how to automate complex AI workflows with Max Brodeur-Urbas, the Founder and CEO of Gumloop.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

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See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Alvaro, and Jason—The Rundown’s editorial team

Good morning, tech enthusiasts Silicon Valley relies on thousands of H-1B workers to drive innovation, but uncertainty about the visa program’s future has companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google on edge.

As the American tech talent landscape evolves, a pressing question remains: Will stricter policies under President Trump disrupt Silicon Valley’s global workforce…Or are we witnessing the dawn of a new era?

In today’s tech rundown:

• Big Tech faces tighter H-1B visa rules

• Ubisoft spins off new $4.3B subsidiary

• Rivian’s new micromobility startup

• TikTok’s Europe push amid U.S. crisis

• Quick hits on other major news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

BIG TECH

🪪 Big Tech faces tighter H-1B visa rules

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: Big Tech employs thousands of H-1B workers — making the Bay Area home to 80% of California’s H-1B visa recipients — but now, those jobs may be at risk as a potential government crackdown on foreign visas looms.

The details:

• The Department of Homeland Security has introduced new measures, with submission deadlines this week, tightening H-1B rules, including increased fees.

• Amazon, valued at $2T, has been the leading recipient of H-1B visa approvals since 2020, securing 9,265 visas in 2024 alone.

• As of September 2024, Google had 5,367 H-1B visa holders working in the Bay Area, followed by Meta and Apple, each employing equally large numbers.

• H-1B, the largest visa program for skilled workers, enables companies to fill specialty roles by hiring foreign nationals for three to six-year stays.

Why it matters: The future of the H-1B program remains uncertain, as the Trump administration weighs lowering annual visa caps or further tightening eligibility requirements. Meanwhile, Meta faces a lawsuit over alleged favoritism toward foreign workers, with reports stating that 15% of its U.S. workforce holds H-1B visas.

UBISOFT

🎮 Ubisoft spins off new $4.3B subsidiary

Image source: Ubisoft

The Rundown: Gaming company Ubisoft launched a new subsidiary focused on three of its most iconic franchises: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six— valued at €4B ($4.3B) and backed by Chinese tech giant Tencent.

The details:

• Tencent is investing €1.16B ($1.25B) for a 25% stake in the unnamed subsidiary, while France-based Ubisoft will retain majority control.

• The new firm will focus on Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, with teams based in Montréal, Barcelona, and Sofia.

• Ubisoft says the unit will develop “game ecosystems designed to become truly evergreen and multi-platform” in the long run.

• On its part, the company will develop other franchises, including The Division and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, while producing solo and multiplayer games.

Why it matters: Ubisoft had reportedly been looking for a buyout—while slashing costs and jobs over the past few months—after some of its new projects, including Star Wars Outlaws, flopped. But separating its most successful franchises boosts their value: the new unit is valued at more than twice Ubisoft’s current market capitalization.

RIVIAN

🛴 Rivian’s new micromobility startup

Image source: Rivian

The Rundown: Rivian, the California-based electric vehicle maker known for its R1S SUV and R1T pickup, has spun off a new micromobility startup called “Also.” It has secured $105M in funding in its goal to develop e-bikes, e-scooters, and microcars.

The details:

• Also emerged from a stealth program within Rivian that explored the potential of adapting the company's EV technology for smaller vehicles.

• The company will operate as an independent entity, with Rivian maintaining a substantial minority stake.

• It plans to unveil its first product designs later this year, with production slated to begin in 2026 in the U.S. and Europe.

• While specific product details remain undisclosed, Also's tech platform is expected to apply across categories, from e-bikes to microcars.

Why it matters: Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe said: “For the world to fully transition to electrified transportation, a range of vehicle types and form factors will be needed.” As Rivian preps its upcoming midsize R2, we’ll have to wait and see what Also cooks up with “a few computers and a battery.”

TIKTOK

🛍️ TikTok’s Europe push amid U.S. crisis

Image source: Ideogram/The Rundown

The Rundown: Facing an uncertain future in the U.S., TikTok is expanding in Europe with its e-commerce arm, TikTok Shop—an influencer-driven platform that saw rapid success in the U.S. and UK—launching in new regions by the end of this month.

The details:

• TikTok Shop will launch in Germany, France, and Italy on March 31, following successful launches in the UK, Spain, and Ireland.

• The platform has seen significant growth lately, with UK sales increasing by over 180% year-on-year in 2024.

• TikTok Shop is hiring for 100 new roles in Europe and looking to onboard more Europe-based sellers, as many sellers on the platform sell products from China.

• The move comes as the company faces challenges in the U.S., which may ban the app unless it sells to a U.S. owner by April 5.

Why it matters: Despite uncertainty in the U.S., TikTok continues to post hundreds of new jobs in the U.S. and is planning to expand its local services business. Still, its European push represents both a hedge against future U.S. regulatory action and a broader global strategy to capitalize on its huge influencer appeal.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Infinite Reality, a tech company specializing in immersive digital media and e-commerce, acquired music streaming service Napster for $207M.

OpenAI is reportedly finalizing a $40B funding round led by SoftBank, which would make it the largest private funding in history—and nearly double its valuation to $300B. 

Perplexity announced that it is partnering with Seattle startup Firmly to enhance e-commerce features within its AI search app.

NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered the largest-ever organic molecules, thought to be remnants of prebiotic compounds, preserved in an ancient Martian lakebed.

Two former Meta AI executives raised $15M in seed funding for Yutori, a startup that will develop AI personal assistants.

Nintendo announced a new Nintendo Switch feature, called Virtual Game Cards, that lets users manage digital games like physical game cards.

SpaceX is seeking approval from the FAA to increase its Falcon 9 launch operations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station from 50 to 120 missions annually.

Google is rolling out new AI features across Search, Maps, and Gemini to help people plan their summer vacations.

COMMUNITY

🎥 Join our next live workshop

Join our next workshop today at 4 PM EST with Dr. Alvaro Cintas, The Rundown’s AI professor. You'll learn how to use the latest AI tools to take your content creation to the next level.

RSVP here. Not a member? Join The Rundown University on a 14-day free trial.

See you soon,

Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team