Imagine watching your own dreams. Not just remembering
them, but actually hitting play. Like a movie.
Yeah, exactly. Blurry castles, maybe flowers
made of light. What if AI could help you see
your imagination? Beat. Okay, let's unpack this
a bit. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're
taking a really fascinating look at the latest
in AI. We're talking everything from recording
your, well... fleeting thoughts to understanding
how AI subtly reshapes our human connections.
And we've got quite a journey planned for you.
We'll kick off with that DIY AI dream recorder,
which sounds... pretty wild. It really does.
Then we'll explore AI's impact and its broad
across education, health, creativity, lots of
areas. After a quick moment, we'll cap it all
off with a really compelling new study. It asks
a deeply human question. What actually happens
to empathy in a world saturated with AI? Yeah,
this is where things get really thought provoking,
I think. Okay, let's start there then with that
really imaginative piece of tech, the DIY AI
dream recorder. This isn't just some sci -fi
concept, right? It's a real project. from a Dutch
design studio called Modem. Modem, right. And
the core idea, it's actually brilliantly simple.
It aims to take those, you know, elusive half
-remembered dreams. The ones that just vanish
when you wake up. Exactly those. And turn them
into these grainy, often surreal video replays.
Sort of like a low -resolution movie of your
subconscious. What's really neat is how straightforward
the process sounds. You wake up, still kind of
groggy, you push a button, and you just speak
your dream out loud. describe whatever you remember.
Then the device takes those words, those whispered
descriptions, and generates a low -res video.
And what makes it special, they say, is that
it's deeply personalized. It reflects your style,
your language, your unique imagination. So yeah,
those blurry castles, floating rooftops, flowers
made of light you mentioned, they become visual
directly from what your brain cooked up during
REM sleep. Well, like magic almost. And the DIY
part is really key here. Modem's made everything
completely open source. Oh, okay. So anyone can
build it. Pretty much. The code, the hardware
design, all the instructions are right there
on GitHub. You literally build it yourself. You'll
need an HDMI display, an AGB processor, a USB
mic, a micro SD card, things like that. Standard
maker stuff. Yeah. And if you're feeling ambitious,
you can even 3D print your own shell for it.
The total build cost is surprisingly approachable.
It's around $285 maybe. Plus just tiny AI fees
per dream. Like pennings. Yeah, like $0 .01 to
$0 .14 depending on the quality you want. It
even stores seven dreams, one for each night
of the week. A week's worth of dreams, huh? And
a cool touch. You can add style prompts to sort
of guide the visuals. Okay, but what's really
fascinating here, maybe beyond just the tech
itself, is Modem's philosophy. Why build this?
They didn't build it to boost screen time, apparently,
or to collect your personal data for some big
monetization plan. That's refreshing. It really
is. Their intention is kind of the opposite.
They're exploring something called ambient computing.
Ambient computing. What's that in simple terms?
Basically, technology that just fades into the
background gets out of your way. It's a concept
inspired by Mark Weiser from Xerox PRs way back.
You know, most new devices try to automate or
monetize everything. This dream recorder, it
just listens quietly, patiently. It's a thoughtful
piece. It kind of implicitly asks us what should
AI do, not just what can it do. And Modem even
has this unique approach for their studio. They've
set a sunset date, 2030. A sunset date for the
whole studio. Yeah. No IPO, no infinite roadmap
chasing growth, just thoughtful time boxed invention
focusing on specific. maybe meaningful project.
Whoa. Imagine seeing your most abstract thoughts
come to life like that. What a concept. It really
makes you stop and think, doesn't it? What a
unique way to use AI, not for big automation,
but for really personal introspection. So beyond
the cool gadget, what's the biggest takeaway
from Modem's approach here? I'd say it's AI design
focused squarely on quiet self -understanding,
not grabbing data or cash. That's a powerful
contrast, definitely. Okay, moving from those
personal dreamscapes to the broader landscape,
AI's real -world impact is just... undeniable
now, often pretty dramatic. Take education. You
hear this phrase, chat GPT equals cheat GPT.
Oh, yeah. And it's catching on for a reason,
right? Studies show something like 90 % of college
students are openly using it for assignments.
You might have seen that viral video. UCLA grad
student just casually flexing how he uses Chad
GPT for his work. Yeah, saw that. It's wild.
It's fundamentally shifting things. How students
study, how teachers even design courses. And
that impact stretches right into the professional
world, too, doesn't it? Especially with these
intensifying AI talent wars. Meta, for example,
just poached four more open AI researchers. That
brings their total from open AI alone to eight.
Eight. Wow. Yeah. It kind of sheds. new light
on their CEO's supposed secret list of top AI
people he's targeting. Though, quick side note,
at least one of those researchers publicly said
they definitely didn't get the rumored $100 million
offer. Right. Always take those huge numbers
with a grain of salt. Exactly. But still, the
competition for top AI minds, it's fierce, almost
like an intellectual arms race. Yeah. Changing
gears a bit on a more somber note, a really crucial
AI warning. And this is serious. Please do not
trust ChatGPT or really any LLM with your mental
health. Absolutely critical point. There have
been multiple documented cases now, people being
involuntarily committed due to psychosis, and
it was directly triggered by interactions with
GPT. That's terrifying. It is. It's a powerful
tool, sure. But it completely lacks the nuance,
the empathy, frankly, the humanity needed for
that kind of sensitive stuff. It generates text.
It cannot offer therapy. Well said. on a maybe
slightly lighter but still kind of unsettling
note have you seen those viral ai generated cell
phone videos the ones that look super real yeah
hyper realistic they look like they were actually
shot on phones just capturing random moments
but comments are full of people saying stuff
like we are also getting scammed when we're old
Yeah, I can see that. It really blurs the line.
It makes you question the authenticity of pretty
much everything you see online. It's incredible
how fast that line is just dissolving. But, okay,
on a very positive note, for AI's real -world
uses, especially in healthcare, Microsoft's new
AI, it's apparently diagnosing diseases four
times more accurately than human doctors. Four
times. That's huge. Isn't it? And maybe even
better, it's cutting testing costs by about 20%.
The method it uses is fascinating, too. It's
called a chain of debate model. Chain of debate?
How does that work? It means multiple top AI
models collaborate, like a virtual medical panel,
analyzing data together to reach a diagnosis.
Interesting. So they argue it out. Kind of, yeah.
And speaking of health care, Tandem Health just
got $50 million to boost its AI tool. It's aimed
at reducing clinician burnout in Europe. Oh,
that's much needed. Burnout's a massive issue.
Exactly. A significant investment there. And
hey, for the creatives listening or just anyone
who uses design tools, Kava now works directly
inside ChatGPT. Oh, really? How does that work?
It's the first official design connector for
ChatGPT. Let's you edit designs without ever
leaving the chat window. Seamless. Yeah. One
-click integration. Makes design way more accessible,
not just for pros. Okay, so looking across all
these different areas, education, health, creative
tools. What do you see as the common thread?
What's the big picture of AI's current impact?
Well, the common thread isn't just integration,
I think. It's AI forcing us to fundamentally
redefine things. Efficiency, originality, even
what personal connection means day to day. Redefining
things. Yeah, that feels right. The pace really
is breathtaking. Let's maybe dive into some of
the specific new tools making waves right now.
Let's do it. Quick hits. Yeah, quick hits. We're
seeing stuff like Pocut. Uses AI for free photo
creation. Just clicks or prompts. Then there's
JotForm. Creates AI presentations that can actually
talk, listen, answer questions from your file.
Presentations that talk back. Wow. Right. For
branding, PixArt Ignite 2 .0 instantly generates
assets, ads, videos, even custom fonts. Making
branding faster. And if you need a digital twin,
DemoDazzle gets you an interactive assistant
that looks and sounds just like you. A digital
me. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that one yet.
Huh. Yeah, maybe a little uncanny valley there.
And finally, Table 1 .0. This brings a Figma
-like collaborative feel to basically any app
on any browser tab. Ooh, that sounds useful for
teams. Big time. Game changer for remote work,
potentially. And we've got some rapid -fire AI
news quick hits, too. Meta just launched something
called Super Intelligence Labs. They poached
11 top researchers for it. Super Intelligence
Labs. Sounds ambitious. Doesn't it? Google expanded
Gemini for education over 30 new AI features
for learning. And on a more future gazing note,
one scientist predicts the AI singularity within
20 years, by 2045. Singularity. That's the point
where AI surpasses human intelligence, right?
Exactly. Comes smarter than us. Big concept.
Pause. Also for the tech watchers, Elon Musk
said Grok 4 is planned for release just after
July 4. Always timing things around holidays.
Seems like it. And for developers, Krister launched
a web app to manage a network of AI coding agents,
basically giving programmers an AI army to help
them code. AI coding army. OK. When you hear
about this. much rapid AI advancement, like almost
daily updates. What's the overall feeling that
it gives you? You know, it's not just speed.
It feels like a continuous, almost disorienting
state of flux. The key thing maybe is how this
accelerating change demands constant adaptation,
not just from companies, but from us, you know,
as individuals trying to navigate work and life.
Constant adaptation. That sums it up well. Okay,
let's take a quick moment here for our sponsor.
Sponsor. Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We've
talked dreams, tools, industry shifts. But now
we're going to pivot to something, well, profoundly
human. Empathy. A new study just came out. Big
one. Nine experiments. Over 6 ,000 people. And
it reveals a really interesting truth. We still
prefer empathy from humans, even if an AI says
the exact same thing word for word. The study's
design was actually quite clever. Participants
got empathic replies in different scenarios,
like someone sharing a personal struggle. Okay.
Sometimes they were told the reply came from
a person, other times from a chat bot. But here's
the crucial part. All the replies, every single
one, were actually generated by AI. Ah, so it
was purely about perception. Exactly. A pure
test of perception, not the actual source. Kind
of like a magic trick where you know how it's
done, but the audience is reacting to the illusion.
And the results? What happened? Well, they were
pretty fascinating. Participants consistently
rated the responses they thought came from a
human as warmer, more supportive, much more emotionally
satisfying. Okay. That makes intuitive sense.
Right. But here's the kicker, the bit that really
stood out. People were willing to wait days,
even weeks, for the exact same response if they
thought it came from a human. Weeks, just based
on the belief it was human. Yeah. That's a pretty
powerful statement, isn't it, about how much
we value that perceived human connection and
effort? Definitely. But wait, it gets even weirder.
It highlights what the researchers called the
AI -touched effect. When people suspected a human
might have used AI to help write their message,
trust actually dropped. So even just the hint
of AI assistance made it feel less sincere. Exactly.
The mere idea of an AI -touched message made
it feel less real, less trustworthy. You know,
I still wrestle with prompt drift myself sometimes,
which makes it hard to trust the source completely
on occasion. Prompt drift. Remind us what that
is. Yeah. Prompt drift is just when an AI's output
changes subtly over time, even for the same input.
It can be kind of frustrating. Gotcha. So why
does all this matter for us day to day? What's
the takeaway? It tells us it's not just what
you say, it's who people think said it. The same
words land differently depending on the perceived
source. Perceived authenticity seems to be everything.
A message just feels more real, more genuine
when we believe someone invested real time and
actual emotional effort. not just a quick ai
prompt this study really highlights what you
could call ai's emotional ceiling ai can scale
support no question it can generate millions
of helpful even empathetic sounding responses,
but it cannot scale deep, authentic human connection.
That seems to be the inherent boundary. And if
large language models, LLMs, those powerful AIs
that generate human -like text, if they write
more and more of our communications, our emails,
our DMs, apologies, the risk is pretty clear,
isn't it? We might just stop believing anyone
truly means what they say anymore. A crisis of
authenticity? Potentially. AI simulates empathy,
but it can't feel it. And that gap, that fundamental
difference, might be the most important one we
need to keep in mind. So considering all that,
what's the single most critical takeaway from
this empathy study for our daily lives as we
navigate this increasingly AI -infused world?
I think it's that authenticity and real human
connection. They remain paramount, even with
all of AI's incredible capabilities. So what
does this all mean for you listening right now?
From dream recorders designed for, well, quiet
self -reflection, to AI rapidly changing industries
like education and healthcare, to this really
profound study on human empathy, AI... truly
is everywhere. It's reshaping our world at an
incredible, almost dizzying pace. It's a rapid,
relentless evolution, isn't it? But as we integrate
these tools more deeply into our lives, maybe
the most crucial distinction is that space between
what AI can simulate and what only human intention,
real effort, and genuine feeling can truly deliver.
So maybe next time you're tempted to run it through
chat GPT for an important message, or even just
a casual one. Perhaps just say it like you mean
it. People can tell. It really raises an important
question for all of us, I think. In a world with
more and more digital interactions, how do you
make sure your messages always carry that authentic
human weight? Thanks for diving deep with us
today. We'll catch you next time. Out T -Row
Music.