Welcome back to your daily dossier talking AI, robotics, crypto and the future of tech. 👾

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🤖 Duolingo doubles course offerings using generative AI for 1B learners.
📱 Meta considers premium tier and ads for its standalone AI app.
🚀 Microsoft beats earnings expectations with AI-driven revenue growth.
📉 Bitcoin drops as U.S. GDP contracts for the first time in 3 years.
🪙 Ripple offers $4B+ to acquire Circle, but deal falls through.

AI

• Visa and Mastercard unveil AI-powered shopping

  • Visa's ‘Intelligent Commerce’ and Mastercard's ‘Agent Pay’ enable AI agents to make purchases based on user preferences.

  • Collaborations with tech giants aim to create personalized, secure, and convenient AI-driven shopping experiences.

  • These initiatives mark a significant shift in integrating AI into mainstream consumer financial services.

• Mark Zuckerberg is planning a premium tier and ads for Meta's AI app

  • Meta considers introducing a paid version of its AI app, offering enhanced features and computational capabilities.

  • Plans to incorporate product recommendations and ads, focusing on user engagement before monetization.

  • The standalone Meta AI app, with nearly 1 billion users, expands beyond integration with Facebook and WhatsApp.

• Duolingo said it just doubled its language courses thanks to AI

  • Duolingo added 148 new courses using generative AI, expanding offerings to 28 UI languages for over a billion learners.

  • The ‘shared content’ system allows rapid customization of base courses, maintaining high-quality educational standards.

  • CEO Luis von Ahn emphasizes Duolingo's shift to an ‘AI-first’ approach, integrating AI into staffing and evaluations.

ROBOTICS

• Your guide to Day 1 of the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo

  • Day 1 featured keynotes on humanoid robots, AI integration, and robotics advancements across healthcare and manufacturing sectors.

  • Panels explored automation, system scaling, and real-world applications for startups, researchers, and enterprise robotics teams.

  • Evening networking events included the RBR50 Awards, celebrating innovation and leadership in global robotics development.

• Zebrafish-inspired control system enhances robot swarm coordination

  • Researchers built a system mimicking zebrafish behavior to coordinate robot swarms with simple, collision-free group movement.

  • The model uses position-following instead of speed, improving accuracy and simplicity in robotic navigation control.

  • Applications include drone fleets, underwater robots, and autonomous cars operating in complex shared environments.

• Near Earth Autonomy delivers miniaturized autonomy systems to U.S. Marines

  • New systems allow Marine aircraft to navigate without GPS, using onboard sensors for autonomous flight control.

  • The miniaturized tech supports safe landing, navigation, and mission execution in contested or GPS-denied areas.

  • This improves logistics and resupply efforts while reducing exposure to hostile threats on the ground.

CRYPTO

• Crypto rebounds from early declines alongside reversal in U.S. stocks

  • Bitcoin climbed back to $94,700 after dropping earlier, mirroring a broader recovery in U.S. stock indexes.

  • Altcoins like XRP and Avalanche still lagged, both falling around 4% despite Bitcoin’s late-session rebound.

  • Crypto stocks saw mixed results, with Hut 8 Mining notably dropping 5.7% during trading.

• Ripple made $4-5 billion offer to acquire USDC issuer Circle

  • Ripple attempted to buy Circle for $4–5 billion, but Circle rejected the offer as undervalued and premature.

  • Circle continues its plans for a public listing, aiming to expand independently in the stablecoin sector.

  • The move signals Ripple’s aggressive strategy in positioning against USDT and other stablecoin leaders.

• Bitcoin falls as U.S. economy contracts for first time in three years

  • Bitcoin fell to $94,300 after U.S. GDP shrank by 0.3% in Q1, ending three years of steady growth.

  • Analysts cite tariff-driven import surges and economic uncertainty as triggers behind the crypto market decline.

  • Ethereum and Solana both dropped roughly 3%, continuing broader weakness across altcoins during the session.

CONTENT

• How I use AI agents to make money (Vibe Marketing Tutorial)

  • Greg Isenberg introduces "Vibe Marketing," leveraging AI agents and automation tools to streamline marketing tasks and workflows.

  • The approach utilizes tools like Replit, n8n, Gumloop, Manus, Claude, and OpenRouter for content creation and sales automation.

  • Isenberg emphasizes building systems over campaigns, enabling small teams to achieve results previously requiring larger groups.

• Bittensor’s Rise, Meta’s Llama Goes Cloud, & AI Now Writes Your Code

  • The podcast discusses Bittensor's growth as a decentralized AI compute network, positioning it alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum.

  • Meta's decision to host its LLaMA models via partnerships with Groq and Cerebras is explored as a potential AWS competitor.

  • The episode highlights that AI now contributes to writing up to 30% of code at major tech firms like Google and Microsoft.

• Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas: From Academic to $9B AI Pioneer

  • Aravind Srinivas shares his journey from academia to founding Perplexity, an AI-powered search company valued at $9 billion.

  • He discusses Perplexity's revenue-sharing model with publishers and strategies to reduce AI power consumption.

  • Srinivas emphasizes the importance of continuous iteration and product focus in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

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• Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations for fourth quarter in a row

  • Microsoft reported $70.07 billion in revenue, surpassing forecasts, driven by strong AI and cloud service performance.

  • Azure cloud revenue grew 33% year-over-year, highlighting the company's significant investment in AI technologies.

  • CEO Satya Nadella emphasized AI's role, noting up to 30% of Microsoft's code is now AI-generated.

• Google Eyes Gemini-iPhone AI Deal This Year, Pichai Tells Court

  • CEO Sundar Pichai expressed hopes to integrate Google's Gemini AI into iPhones within the year.

  • Discussions with Apple aim to enhance iPhone AI capabilities through Google's advanced language models.

  • The potential deal signifies a strategic partnership to bolster AI features on Apple devices.

• Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company's code was written by AI

  • Satya Nadella revealed that AI now writes 20–30% of Microsoft's codebase, indicating a shift in development practices.

  • The company sees varying success across programming languages, with better results in Python than in C++.

  • This trend underscores Microsoft's commitment to integrating AI into its software development processes.