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Beginners in AI
Good morning and thank you for joining us again!
Welcome to this daily edition of Beginners in AI, where we explore the latest trends, tools, and news in the world of AI and the tech that surrounds it. Like all editions, this is human curated and edited, and published with the intention of making AI news and technology more accessible to everyone.
THE FRONT PAGE
750 Million Users: Google's Gemini Hits a Massive Milestone
TLDR: Google’s Gemini app has officially crossed 750 million monthly active users, cementing its place as a massive consumer platform.
The Story: Google revealed in its Q4 earnings that the Gemini app has surged to 750 million monthly active users (MAUs). This represents a jump of 100 million users from just the previous quarter. CEO Sundar Pichai credited the growth to the launch of Gemini 3, noting that engagement per user has increased and the company’s cost to serve these models has dropped by 78% over the last year.
Its Significance: This is a "scale wins" moment. For context, 750 million is roughly double the population of the United States. When a tool reaches this level of adoption, it stops being an experiment and becomes basic infrastructure. For you, this means Gemini is likely to become the default AI interface for the general public, simply because it is already in their hands.
QUICK TAKES
The story: Harvard Medical School researchers developed an AI model nicknamed "BrainIAC" that can predict a patient's "brain age," dementia risk, and even cancer survival rates. Unlike previous models that required massive datasets, this tool works with limited data to identify key neurological health indicators.
Your takeaway: This is the kind of "invisible AI" that matters most personally. It moves medicine from reactive (treating symptoms) to predictive (spotting risks years in advance). If your doctor could tell you your brain is aging faster than your body, you’d have a chance to intervene before it’s too late.
The story: Chinese robotics firm DroidUp unveiled "Moya," a 1.65-meter biomimetic humanoid robot that weighs just 32kg. The company claims Moya has achieved 92% human-like walking accuracy and can display facial micro-expressions, targeting uses in healthcare and education.
Your takeaway: While we should remain skeptical of company-reported specs without public demos, the focus on "biomimetic" (mimicking biology) rather than industrial function signals a shift. If robots can move and look human enough to avoid the "uncanny valley," they might actually find a place in homes and hospitals sooner than we thought.
The story: Anthropic aired its debut Super Bowl ad with a sharp tagline: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.". The spot mocks a therapist AI that suddenly interrupts a session to pitch insoles—a direct jab at OpenAI’s plan to test ads in the free version of ChatGPT. Sam Altman fired back on X, calling the ad "clearly dishonest" and "doublespeak".
Your takeaway: This isn't just petty drama; it’s a battle for the business model of the future. OpenAI is betting on an ad-supported free tier (like Google Search), while Anthropic is betting that users will pay a premium for a private, "quiet" space to think.
TOOLS ON OUR RADAR
🐧 Anytype Free and Open Source: Privacy focused local first application that allows you to build a personal knowledge graph with flexible objects and offline support.
📝 Superlist Freemium: Modern task manager that seamlessly separates professional work from personal lists, allowing for intuitive collaboration.
📅 Akiflow Paid: Centralized productivity hub that pulls in tasks from your email, Slack, and calendars into a single, unified command center.
🎙️ Granola Freemium: AI meeting notepad that doesn't use a bot to join, it listens and generates smart notes based on your actual style.
TRENDING
Roblox Launches "Cube" Foundation Model - Roblox released a 1.8B parameter model trained on 3D assets that enables "4D generation"—creating 3D objects that are interactive and functional, not just static meshes.
Datadog & Figma Back AI Agent Startup Kiro - Major tech players including Datadog and Figma are backing Kiro, a new platform that lets developers add "powers" (tools) to AI agents instantly without complex setup.
Anthropic: "Claude is a Space to Think" - Anthropic published a manifesto declaring Claude will remain ad-free forever, positioning itself as the "trusted advisor" alternative to ChatGPT that debuted ads this month.
TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini)
Song Lyrics Generator: Write verses, choruses, and bridges with rhyme helpers, syllable counters, and emotional arc mapping
Build a fully functional Email Bankruptcy Calculator as an interactive React app. Render the working application immediately - no code display.
**Current inbox count**: [How many unread emails]
**Oldest unread email**: [Days/weeks/months old]
**How this makes you feel**: [Anxious, overwhelmed, numb, defeated]
Create these sections:
1. **Inbox Debt Assessment**
• Enter your numbers:
- Total unread emails
- Oldest unread message age
- Average emails per day incoming
- Minutes per email to process
• Calculate total hours to reach zero
• "At your current pace, you'll hit zero in... NEVER"
• Debt-to-income ratio (incoming vs. processed)
2. **Bankruptcy Eligibility**
• Do you qualify?
✅ 500+ unread emails
✅ Oldest email 30+ days
✅ You've "given up" on catching up
✅ Important stuff gets buried
✅ The number causes anxiety
• Score: "You qualify for Chapter 11 Inbox Relief"
• "Search Email Management Strategies" button
3. **The Nuclear Option**
• Full bankruptcy protocol:
💣 Select all → Archive (not delete)
💣 They're not gone, just reset
💣 Anyone who needed you will email again
💣 Set a "fresh start" date
• Guilt reducer: "If it was urgent, they called"
• Big red "DECLARE BANKRUPTCY" button
• Satisfying explosion animation
4. **Selective Bailout**
• If full nuke feels too extreme:
- Search for emails from your boss → save
- Search for emails with "urgent" → review
- Search last 7 days → keep
- Everything else → archive
• Filter templates to run
• "Save the important 5%, nuke the rest"
• Step-by-step triage guide
5. **Fresh Start Protocol**
• Post-bankruptcy setup:
- Filters to auto-sort incoming
- Folders/labels structure
- "Touch it once" rules
- Unsubscribe spree checklist
- Email checking schedule (not constant)
• Prevent future bankruptcy
• New inbox rules template
6. **Accountability Tracker**
• Post-reset monitoring:
- Daily inbox count
- "Zero inbox" streak
- Creeping back up? Warning alert
- Weekly debt check-in
• Relapse prevention
• "You've been debt-free for X days"
Design specs:
- Financial debt payoff dashboard aesthetic
- Credit score and debt meter styling
- Red "overdue" warnings
- Progress bars showing payoff timeline
- Bank statement / ledger layouts
- Explosion animation for bankruptcy declaration
- Green "debt free" celebration
- Calculator and spreadsheet vibes
- Serious financial app colors (navy, red, green)
- Satisfying "balance: $0" moments
- Confetti when inbox hits zero
When "Search Email Management Strategies" is clicked, use web search to find inbox zero techniques and email productivity systems.What this does: Turns songwriting from staring at a blank page into a structured process. Build your song section by section, get rhyme suggestions that aren't clichés, balance your syllables, and map the emotional arc so your song actually goes somewhere.
What this looks like:
WHERE WE STAND(based on today’s news)
✅ AI Can Now: Predict your "brain age" and dementia risk using limited data (Harvard).
❌ Still Can't: Walk with 100% human accuracy (Shanghai's Moya robot claims 92%).
✅ AI Can Now: Generate "4D" interactive objects that function in a game world (Roblox).
❌ Still Can't: Understand three-dimensional space or physical cause-and-effect; systems still struggle with basic spatial reasoning and consistently lose track of object positions in simulated environments.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING/READING/WATCHING
A cyborg cop hunts a hacker who can manipulate human minds in a future where the line between human and machine has blurred. The animation still stuns 30 years later. Its questions about identity and consciousness influenced everything from The Matrix to modern AI discourse.
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Thank you for reading. We’re all beginners in something. With that in mind, your questions and feedback are always welcome and I read every single email!
-James
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