Here are some of the the major AI trends shaping 2026 — based on current expert forecasts, industry reports, and recent developments in technology. The material is analyzed using AI tools and final version hand-edited to this blog text:
1. Generative AI Continues to Mature
Generative AI (text, image, video, code) will become more advanced and mainstream, with notable growth in:
* Generative video creation
* Gaming and entertainment content generation
* Advanced synthetic data for simulations and analytics
This trend will bring new creative possibilities — and intensify debates around authenticity and copyright.
2. AI Agents Move From Tools to Autonomous Workers
Rather than just answering questions or generating content, AI systems will increasingly act autonomously, performing complex, multi-step workflows and interacting with apps and processes on behalf of users — a shift sometimes called agentic AI. These agents will become part of enterprise operations, not just assistant features.
3. Smaller, Efficient & Domain-Specific Models
Instead of “bigger is always better,” specialized AI models tailored to specific industries (healthcare, finance, legal, telecom, manufacturing) will start to dominate in many enterprise applications. These models are more accurate, legally compliant, and cost-efficient than general models.
4. AI Embedded Everywhere
AI won’t be an add-on feature — it will be built into everyday software and devices:
* Office apps with intelligent drafting, summarization, and task insights
* Operating systems with native AI
* Edge devices processing AI tasks locally
This makes AI pervasive in both work and consumer contexts.
5. AI Infrastructure Evolves: Inference & Efficiency Focus
More investment is going into inference infrastructure — the real-time decision-making step where models run in production — thereby optimizing costs, latency, and scalability. Enterprises are also consolidating AI stacks for better governance and compliance.
6. AI in Healthcare, Research, and Sustainability
AI is spreading beyond diagnostics into treatment planning, global health access, environmental modeling, and scientific discovery. These applications could help address personnel shortages and speed up research breakthroughs.
7. Security, Ethics & Governance Become Critical
With AI handling more sensitive tasks, organizations will prioritize:
* Ethical use frameworks
* Governance policies
* AI risk management
This trend reflects broader concerns about trust, compliance, and responsible deployment.
8. Multimodal AI Goes Mainstream
AI systems that understand and generate across text, images, audio, and video will grow rapidly, enabling richer interactions and more powerful applications in search, creative work, and interfaces.
9. On-Device and Edge AI Growth
10. New Roles: AI Manager & Human-Agent Collaboration
Instead of replacing humans, AI will shift job roles:
* People will manage, supervise, and orchestrate AI agents
* Human expertise will focus on strategy, oversight, and creative judgment
This human-in-the-loop model becomes the norm.
Sources:
[1]: https://www.brilworks.com/blog/ai-trends-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI Trends to Look for in 2026″
[2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/10/13/10-generative-ai-trends-in-2026-that-will-transform-work-and-life/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “10 Generative AI Trends In 2026 That Will Transform Work And Life”
[3]: https://millipixels.com/blog/ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “AI Trends 2026: The Key Enterprise Shifts You Must Know | Millipixels”
[4]: https://www.digitalregenesys.com/blog/top-10-ai-trends-for-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Digital Regenesys | Top 10 AI Trends for 2026″
[5]: https://www.n-ix.com/ai-trends/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI trends to watch in 2026 – N-iX”
[6]: https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2025/12/11/microsoft-unveils-7-ai-trends-for-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Microsoft unveils 7 AI trends for 2026 – Source Asia”
[7]: https://www.risingtrends.co/blog/generative-ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 Generative AI Trends to Watch In 2026″
[8]: https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/12/24/artificial-intelligence-ai-trends-to-watch-in-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends to Watch in 2026 and How to Invest in Them | The Motley Fool”
[9]: https://www.reddit.com//r/AI_Agents/comments/1q3ka8o/i_read_google_clouds_ai_agent_trends_2026_report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “I read Google Cloud’s “AI Agent Trends 2026” report, here are 10 takeaways that actually matter”
2,676 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uniladtech.com/news/ai/anthropic-claude-hidden-inner-mind-jspace-248193-20260707?utm_content=tech&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=facebook#Echobox=1783522469
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reality is setting in. https://trib.al/q27m2C6
Floored Model
American Tech Companies Are Suddenly Sweating Bullets as China Catches Up on AI
Reality is setting in.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-ai-companies-sweating-china?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS8oGpjbGNrBLygTmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsX6bZKzqnrZ226FVAh5HJcb5gtwuybGzPLCSp4i0UAJn1DlTe256OHcFlax_aem_A0lPu6Cw5XHPDBBREKUGdw
The head start that the US companies enjoyed in the AI race is quickly vanishing. Chinese competitors are now nipping at their heels, and it’s causing a wave of anxiety in the American sector.
Over a year ago, DeepSeek spurred an existential crisis — and a mass stock selloff — in the US tech industry when it released a competitive AI model created for a fraction of the cost of the leading American models.
If that was a wakeup call, then the release of GLM-5.2 last month is loudly banging on the front door. The model, from the Chinese start-up Z.ai, has been hailed as nearly or just as powerful as frontier US systems, especially when it comes to its coding capabilities and cybersecurity applications — while being significantly cheaper to use.
“AI insiders are saying GLM-5.2 is the first Chinese AI model to match and often beat the American big lab public AI models with no compromises.”
Perhaps betraying their sense of a weakening grip on the field, US companies are crying foul about China’s AI ascension. Earlier this year, Anthropic accused China’s DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax of using a technique called distillation to illegally gather data to imitate its models, which is essentially claiming that they cheated their way to the front of the pack.
In distillation, a weaker “student” model is trained on the outputs of a more advanced “teacher.” AI labs routinely use this to create smaller and more efficient versions of the their largest systems, but Anthropic says Chinese firms are abusing the trick in a mass coordinated effort involving tens of thousands of accounts that probe its models for data that it can extract and use to train their own AI models, thereby effectively pilfering Anthropic’s tech. These claims were relitigated last month, when Anthropic sent a letter to US senators accusing Chinese titan Alibaba of also engaging in this practice.
Distillation is an open secret among rivals in the US tech sector. And as the NYT notes, it’s not even clear if it’s illegal. Unless some court rulings go their way, US firms will have to rely on their own countermeasures to stop it. (Anthropic was caught trying to do this by secretly embedding code in its Claude Code model that allowed it to spy on Chinese users, creating alarm among its customer base.)
American firms could also benefit for some geopolitical strong-arming, such as the US cutting off China’s access to its powerful AI chips, or even blocking Americans from accessing Chinese models
Tomi Engdahl says:
Snap Back to Reality
Bank of America Warns That AI Investors Are in for a Nasty Reality Check
“Speculation is hitting extreme levels.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/bank-of-america-ai-investors-reality-check?fbclid=IwVERDUAS8oWxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR70q7_CUoE89WLCg3j2mAQsyaGyobalFQ77xPgev2WeXmQVKO8WHTmLyQJkdg_aem_CmVo9hqCBG8hfXIOyTe3kQ
Tech companies are running hot, with Wall Street investors sustaining multi-trillion dollar valuations despite subdued earnings. Companies heavily invested in AI are particularly challenged on that front, thanks to heavy data center spending that isn’t yet — and may ever — result in sizable profits.
The gap between those companies’ valuations and their ability to actually make money continues to grow at a breakneck pace, terrifying analysts. The S&P is up a whopping nine percent so far this year, wrapping up its best quarter since 2020 at the end of last month, as Fortune reports.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GPT-5.6 vapautuu USA:n hallinnon pannasta huomenna. Ylittää testeissä selkeästi Anthropicin (Claude) parhaan Mythosin, joka ei ole kuin jenkkieliitin saatavilla että sen saatavilla olevan parhaan Fablen. Tämä ei ehkä ole olennaista. Olennaista lienee tämän sijaan se, ettei tällä erolla ole enää merkitystä kuin vaikeimmissa tehtävissä. Siis niin vaikeissa tehtävissä, etteivät ne suju kuin kunkin tehtäväalueen hyvältä asiantuntijalta ja tehtävissä, joita näiden eteen ei tule joka viikko. Olemme jo nyt tasossa, jossa useimmat ammattilaistenkin eteen tulevat tehtävät hoituvat tekoälyn toimesta nopeasti ja luotettavammin kuin ihmisen kiireessä tekemänä. Tämä ei vielä näy monissakaan organisaatioissa, kun organisaatioilla on tapana mennä konkurssiin isoissa muutoksissa. Ja ne harvat, jotka käsittävät muutoksen, keräävät sitten voitot. Mutta tämä tietysti tulee näkymään. Todella monella tavalla.
Risto Linturi
https://www.facebook.com/share/19AXxqaA8H/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quru.fi/blogi-uutiset/generatiivinen-haku-geo-optimointi?utm_campaign=28128531-Quru%20Always%20On%20Paid&utm_source=ppc&utm_medium=demand-gen&utm_term=&utm_campaign=GoogleAds%C2%A0%7C%C2%A0GemandGen+%7C%C2%A0Awareness&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6162259644&hsa_cam=23078982199&hsa_grp=190457516284&hsa_ad=799896504943&hsa_src=&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23078982199&gbraid=0AAAAABW69gvw4OijVa3fvg2JrWX3UHkYi&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjb3SBhDgARIsAMKiWzg6wCmipd4jRspx61PduMhqfnwOL9v_x83u6NjBokytAxthmHizc6caAiqYEALw_wcB
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI’s started stealing doctors’ jobs now?
Humanoid robot performs surgery in world first
Researchers say humanoid surgeons can be deployed ‘anywhere from rural areas, to the battlefield, and even to space’
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/humanoid-robot-surgery-world-first-b3011493.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS80tBjbGNrBLzSzWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHisSJJ5ij6ekDiZ-S7Q3DTrJsBhnIIAtxzfjE93JGiijvkiQ_Jbf9ooKNSDE_aem_nNcRvQCv5jzEwoadQsBUuw
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meta paused training on employee keystrokes after data was ‘put in a place it wasn’t supposed to go:’ CTO : https://mrf.lu/2Nd53
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DBuCKxbCC/
Large AI and cloud-computing facilities release substantial amounts of waste heat into their surroundings.
Researchers have found that clusters of data centers can contribute to localized urban heat island effects, with measurable warming extending beyond the facility in some locations.
The exact distance varies depending on weather, geography, cooling systems, and facility size, so claims of temperatures increasing 6 miles away should be viewed as location-specific rather than universal.
#DataCenters #ArtificialIntelligence #Climate #Infrastructure #Energy
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sickening. https://trib.al/stKsGvQ
Cost of ChatGPT
The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It’s Almost Incomprehensible
Sickening.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pollution-ai-data-centers-severe?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS86d1jbGNrBLzpu2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqlLeb_xDp2A-Uy8f4KMN8HWd8MWpT3U75uLstcYRUGuMIphSknGTWKth3V3_aem_36qRlS3hn24haKbOk7WgfA
The massive surge of fossil fuel-powered data centers cropping up across the country are emitting an enormous amount of pollution, a pulsing indication that we’re headed in the wrong direction in the midst of a climate crisis.
The extent of the this polluting activity is confounding. As climate action group Floodlight found in a recent investigation spotted by Wired, Texas has become the epicenter of the United States’ current obsession with constructing AI data centers. Companies are exploiting regulatory loopholes as they construct new facilities powered by pollutant-spewing onsite gas plants.
The rate of growth of this “shadow grid” of custom power plants, some of which are big enough to fuel entire cities, is so enormous that the only global entity installing more gigawatts of gas plants than Texas is China, according to environmental group Global Energy Monitor.
On a national scale, scientists are still racing to wrap their heads around the environmental footprint of our new AI obsession. Cornell researchers found that at the current rate of AI growth, the burgeoning industry could represent 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, the equivalent of adding five to ten million cars to US roadways.
Meanwhile, ongoing projects like the one in Abilene, Texas, the starting point of president Donald Trump’s flagship $500 billion Stargate project, are obtaining environmental permits that are usually reserved for small businesses like gas stations or dry cleaners, as Wired reports. The project’s facilities feature a whopping 62 diesel backup generators
According to Floodlight, at least 38 data centers in Texas are using such regulatory loopholes to gain permits for onsite power sources, representing northward of 2,100 backup diesel generators, and yearly emissions of 2,500 tons of nitrogen oxides, which are highly toxic gases.
One common tactic for operators in Texas, according to Floodlight, is to announce a small data center development that would come in under pollution thresholds, only to suddenly expand once established.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Prime Pollution
Amazon Is Spewing a Record Breaking Amount of Pollution to Power Its AI Data Centers
The company once pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
https://futurism.com/science-energy/amazon-spewing-record-carbon-emissions-ai-data-centers?fbclid=IwVERDUAS86tVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR4Ol7N1oq0pPVnzAZ8VjNIruH27VS9AWmucAvjKNfzrN0qGnBidj002Z9QymA_aem_qyZx0dvmTA8S-D7B6kp6mQ
Amazon is breaking all kinds of records on the back of the AI boom, and not the good kind.
According to new reporting by Axios, Amazon’s AI buildout has fueled an unprecedented leap in the company’s emissions, a black mark on a corporation that pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 not even a year ago.
In its newly released environmental report, Amazon disclosed that its total electricity use jumped by a whopping 34 percent across 2025, fueling a 16 percent rise in greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a new record for the corporation, which noted that its data centers also hoovered up nearly 2.5 billion gallons of water last year.
“Some pollutants are far worse for the climate than carbon emissions,” the report boldly declares — a statement clearly meant to downplay the company’s overall record-breaking carbon footprint.
Though Amazon brags that the pledge aims to commit $100 million to eliminate super pollutants, it fails to disclose how much of that funding will actually come from Amazon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EtJFL1DHu/
A Michigan data center is being sued over a nonstop “jet engine-like” hum.
In Dowagiac, Michigan, residents living near a 30-megawatt data center say the facility emits a constant, high-pitched hum that can be heard from their yards and even inside their homes.
One resident measured the sound from his porch at around 60 decibels, roughly the level of a noisy dishwasher. But unlike a dishwasher, this sound does not shut off.
According to residents, the noise began after Hyperscale Data started operating the facility in 2022. One homeowner says outdoor readings have climbed from about 52 decibels to around 61 decibels, sometimes reaching as high as 78 decibels.
Two residents have sued the company, arguing that their homes are being “physically invaded” by excessive noise from the facility. The lawsuit claims the sound continues even when windows are closed or TVs are turned up.
The issue highlights a growing problem as data centers expand across the country.
These facilities power cloud computing and artificial intelligence, but they also rely on massive cooling systems, fans, electrical equipment, and backup infrastructure that can create continuous noise for nearby communities.
Audiologists say noise at this level may not damage hearing, but constant exposure can still affect stress, sleep, and overall well-being. Low, persistent mechanical sounds can be especially difficult to tune out because they feel unnatural and never fully fade into the background.
Learn more:
“Data Center Emits Constant Screeching Noise Directly Into Man’s House.” Futurism
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenAI wants to bring us a device without screens, Business Insider’s Peter Kafka writes. One big problem: We love screens.
#OpenAI #screentime #technews
OpenAI is trying to rip our screens away with its new device : https://mrf.lu/2N_PL
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14i31qNUXnU/
Experts warn that bypassing local consent is laying the groundwork for a wave of anti-tech political violence. Do you think we‘re on the road to violence?
The rapid, unchecked expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure is sparking intense backlash across rural America, where massive data centers are being constructed with little to no local consent. Supported by lucrative government handouts and guarded by heavy corporate security, these facilities devour millions of gallons of water and strain local energy grids, leaving residents with rising utility bills and minimal long-term economic benefits.
Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, a political scientist at the Royal Military College of Canada, warns that this undemocratic deployment of AI infrastructure is generating ‘the structural conditions historically associated with the onset of political violence.’
He argues that because national tech executives are out of reach, local policymakers who approve these projects are increasingly targeted as proxies for the public’s mounting anger.
This friction is already shifting from peaceful protests to active resistance and political fallout. From Port Washington, Wisconsin, where residents passed a referendum to block tax incentives, to Festus, Missouri, where voters ousted every city councillor who approved a major data center, local communities are reclaiming control.
Wall Street giants like Morgan Stanley have already warned clients that community pushback is a binding constraint on AI expansion. With physical threats and acts of sabotage targeting data centers and local officials on the rise, experts warn that the industry’s severe ‘accountability gap’ could soon transform quiet towns into the front lines of a dangerous, anti-tech backlash.
source: Veilleux-Lepage, Y. (2026). Beyond Misuse: Artificial Intelligence, Grievance, and the Future Landscape of Political Violence. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“All the resources in the world and the logo for Trump Airport is AI generated.” https://trib.al/NkvWQ8H
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pollution-ai-data-centers-severe
Tomi Engdahl says:
Execs Confused and Horrified by the Huge AI Bills After Thinking They Could Replace Workers for Free
Execs Confused and Horrified by the Huge AI Bills After Thinking They Could Replace Workers for Free
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/execs-confused-horrified-huge-ai-135718505.html
By now, it’s clear that the only way the tech industry can justify the cost of AI is if it replaces vast swaths of the human workforce with machines that run 24/7.
The bad news is that this situation has created a world-historic financial market that, by some metrics, is looking worse than the run-up to the Great Depression. The good news is that this future of an AI takeover is looking increasingly unlikely, at least at the industry’s current pace, a fact which is now dawning on some of the biggest rubes and dupes in the corporate world.
According to a new survey from “Big Four” accounting firm KPMG, a significant number of corporate executives are reeling from sticker shock over new usage-based AI pricing schemes. Though enterprises could once count on AI companies to subsidize the price of large language models via flat-rate contracts, that’s no longer a given, as the rising cost of computational power forces the entire tech sector into a defensive posture.
The KPMG report, initially flagged by the Register, surveyed 2,145 senior execs across 20 countries, finding that an astonishing 29 percent of them had no idea where the growing costs associated with AI were coming from.
A further third confessed that their own cluelessness about AI economics was a barrier to successfully deploying AI in the workplace, the Register notes.
“As usage-based pricing models become more common, many organizations are still building the capabilities required to forecast, monitor, and manage AI spending effectively,” the report authors write. Translation: one third of execs had no plan for how to actually use AI productively, a fact which is becoming increasingly clear now that the meter is running.
The finding underscores what many workers forced to use AI tools on the job have come to suspect: that an alarming number of corporate leaders treat AI as a plug-and-play solution for lowering overheard without understanding the how of it all, a kind of magical thinking entirely divorced from practical reality.
On the same token, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that AI — or more accurately, the myth surrounding it — is currently being deployed across the world as a tool to discipline labor, to force workers into a weaker position when it comes to wage negotiations, benefits, and overall stability.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C6zaXB3gp/
A Brown University professor says he suspected something was off after students in his economics class scored unusually high on a take-home midterm.
The class average was 96%, well above the course’s usual 65% to 80% range.
After noticing similar, AI-like answers, professor Roberto Serrano moved the final exam offline.
That’s when the numbers changed dramatically.
The final exam average dropped to 48.6%, 18 students left the course, nine skipped the final, and 19 failed.
Serrano said the case shows how seriously universities now need to deal with AI-driven cheating.
Source: Inside Higher Ed
Tomi Engdahl says:
9 months after launch, OpenAI is killing Atlas.
The ChatGPT browser launched in October 2025.
It shuts down on 9 August.
Everything it did moves into a ChatGPT desktop app.
Researchers tricked Atlas into leaking user logins.
The tools you rely on can vanish in 9 months.
Read more on TNW: https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-chatgpt-atlas-browser-shutdown-superapp
Tomi Engdahl says:
“AI is melting your brain bro.” https://trib.al/b9RX7sL
Archive of Our Own
People on X Are Getting Fooled by the Dumbest AI Slop We’ve Ever Seen
“AI is melting your brain bro.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/world-cup-ai-slop-x-twitter?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS-TfVjbGNrBL5N22V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqy91Uof8JfVcKuylGD6BDAt6ee_tTzoWUqNZrS4c0TQV5EBHOaIHkGMEkSr_aem_QH9AT8EZzxx4blmeY3Vu1g
As the World Cup enters its final stages, soccer-themed AI slop is proliferating on X-formerly-Twitter.
Sure, it’s no secret that X has suffered some major brain drain under the Musk regime. But the latest deluge of World Cup drek is so ridiculous, it makes the app’s crypto scammers look like Pulitzer finalists.
First spotted by Out Sports, the deluge of AI engagement bait mostly revolves around semi-erotic scenarios playing out in the grandstand.
In a clip with over 7 million views, one clickfarm account shared an AI-generated clip apparently playing on the distracted boyfriend meme: a woman’s boyfriend looking on jealously as she devours a buff, shirtless Norwegian soccer fan with her eyes.
“And with us, the first divorce case in the World Cup 2026,” the caption reads. The entire thing is AI-generated, but that didn’t stop lower-tier clickbait purveyors from circulating it to all corners of the social media platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/share/18mFXR5sk1/
Employees racked up AI bills, and companies are backpedaling on tokenmaxxing. Now, it’s all about routing prompts to the most value-for-money model.
#ai #tokens #tokenmaxxing
Tokenmaxxing is so over. It’s all about modelmaxxing now. : https://mrf.lu/2NBMK
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tokenmaxxing is so over. It’s all about modelmaxxing now.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-model-routing-modelmaxxing-efficient-token-use-2026-7?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS-VNVjbGNrBL5UvmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHtpPYACGCtuu_mAkK2EPZQ_FqueGdTgJB9CZdMypC0NGS7To6tE7kNK0mUo8_aem_Jc7AKZ3RTiZwG1fIyTC_dQ&utm_campaign=mrf-insider-marfeel-headline-graphic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&mrfcid=202607106a516ea52b04f96db8f61776
Twice a week, Morgan Linton tells his 16 engineers which AI models to use and when.
Business Insider spoke to Linton, the Lake Tahoe-based chief technology officer of AI startup Bold Metrics, 50 minutes before his engineering team’s standup. He planned to tell one team to use Claude Fable on low, and another to use GPT-5.5 on high. A third is using Cursor with Composer 2.5 and getting “totally perfect results,” he said.
Being specific about model use means Linton doesn’t have to set hard token caps.
“My team is getting to use the best stuff, but they’re using it a lot more efficiently,” he said.
The first half of 2026 was characterized by one word in the AI community: tokenmaxxing — referring to companies urging their employees to use AI as much as possible. But after reviewing the AI bills their employees were racking up, companies from Uber to Microsoft are taking a more considered approach.
Founders, software engineers, UX designers, and even non-technical vibe-coding enthusiasts are catching on to one cost-saving hack: model switching. They route their most difficult, intellectually challenging tasks to pricier frontier models and offload easier, repetitive tasks to older and cheaper ones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The AI boom is giving these execs more power — and headaches — than ever
https://www.businessinsider.com/cfo-power-brokers-ai-era-2026-6?fbclid=IwVERDUAS-VUBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7WW9_OJcNelLaKbgTlUyuclCnR_7Xtia-rKpueAqsBO46VY_HdHnfzY6Y7Ww_aem_7yOyD3ClxoWZEA59EmZh6g
At Match Group, every employee now has an AI budget.
The parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and other dating apps recently began giving department heads a set amount to spend on AI, which is then distributed across their teams. Employees can track their usage on a dashboard, and if they want to exceed their budget, they have to explain why. The company’s most expensive AI models also aren’t available by default and require a specific use case.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://gizmodo.com/smart-glasses-banned-in-new-york-courtrooms-statewide-2000782399
#2600net #irc #secnews #meta #glasses #glassholes #ny #courtrooms
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/fury-explodes-short-films-ai-erotica-1970s?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS-4aNjbGNrBL7hWWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqtPF5tI5tD8ZAptvyBgwpaTduEdXPu57QXhWquuEhKljJ1VosZzRjyyYDN9_aem_HGwNbhC6VduLSHM7rx3kyg
Tomi Engdahl says:
“You have zero purpose in life all of a sudden.” https://trib.al/VLFSx5S
The Grunt Work Will Continue Until Morale Improves
Meta’s Super Expensive New AI Team Is Already a Complete Catastrophe
“It’s literally the gulag.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-new-ai-team-catastrophe?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS-92VjbGNrBL73Q2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHkW0NrpCjJNMQhdeF5IMmNNcwoekxKlwuQQiYz-o46ML-Su6VzX-_nQeDCzR_aem_P9GbLuufB-_hUIOFfNHdvQ
Now that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s dream of a metaverse has collapsed in on itself, the billionaire has moved onto his next money pit: a wildly expensive “Superintelligence” unit.
But those who’ve survived several brutal rounds of layoffs at the company aren’t exactly thrilled to be part of his new vision for it. As Wired reports, morale within Meta’s 6,500-staffer Applied AI team, which was created in March to support the Superintelligence Labs, is hitting rock bottom.
Three employees who spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity said that the weekly busywork tasks they are being assigned, like generating puzzles to test the reliability of Meta’s AI models, is “soul-crushing.”
“It’s literally the gulag,” one employee told Wired. “You have zero purpose in life all of a sudden, you barely interact with anyone, you just have these tasks every week.”
Zooming out, Meta’s AI-focused restructuring has seen thousands of employees sacked, forcing those who remain to take on additional workloads.
A petition has also been signed by more than 1,600 employees, opposing a draconian new initiative that involves installing software on work computers to track everything employees to, including keystrokes and clicks, data that’s then fed to train AI.
“The vision we are building towards is one where our agents primarily do the work, and our role is to direct, review and help them improve,” Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth told staff in an April memo obtained by Reuters.
Zuckerberg has caught onto the “record-low morale,” arguing in a Friday memo that “we’ve made mistakes and will almost certainly make more.”
“So these employees were fine with creating soul crushing AI that would be forced on other workers at other companies or that would take their jobs,” another user wrote, “as long as they felt the work was challenging in the process?”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Big Mad
Meta Furious Over Bombshell Smart Glasses Revelation
“Despite the billions of reasons not to, Meta seems to have created the capacity to turn their customers into a distributed surveillance machine.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-furious-smart-glasses?fbclid=IwVERDUAS–M5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5zDvq8uEEbWWaJZemM4q3UFxa4vXfK3_vr-Gcum_zfRSC88L_8-36-4_aFlA_aem_U2HFwchR__astc0fgOpKFg
Code uncovered by journalists revealed that Meta quietly embedded facial recognition tech into its AI-enabled smart glasses — and top Meta executives are fuming.
Last week, Wired reported that Meta discreetly moved to infuse facial recognition tech into its popular smart glasses, as evidenced by a piece of code discovered in the Meta AI app by the magazine’s journalists. The unreleased feature, internally dubbed “NameTag,” would “transform faces captured by Meta’s glasses into unique biometric signatures, commonly known as faceprints, and check each one against faceprints stored on the user’s phone — a database that’s currently configured to receive updates from Meta,” as Wired put it.