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

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

📱 Perplexity’s AI voice assistant is now available on iOS.
🔒 WhatsApp now lets you block people from exporting your entire chat history.
🤖 OpenAI seeks to make its upcoming ‘open’ AI model best-in-class.
🏢 Coinbase will open Charlotte's office and hire 130 people for the US expansion.
📈 Solana buying for balance sheet gains momentum as DeFi rises.

AI

• Perplexity’s AI voice assistant is now available on iOS

  • Perplexity’s iOS App just got an update enabling support for the company’s conversational AI voice assistant. 

  • Now Apple users can activate the assistant in the app and ask it to perform tasks like writing emails and making dinner reservations.

  • You can even navigate away from the app and continue to speak to Perplexity, although it doesn’t yet support screen sharing.

• WhatsApp now lets you block people from exporting your entire chat history

  • WhatsApp is launching a new “Advanced Chat Privacy” feature that aims to prevent people from taking conversations outside the app.

  • When the setting is turned on, you can block others from exporting your chat history and automatically downloading photos and videos in the app.

  • The feature will prevent people from using messages for Meta AI as well, which you can currently use to ask questions within a chat.

• Elf Labs raised $3.3M to bring characters to life with AI, AR, and VR*

  • They took on Disney at the US Patent & Trademark Office and won 30+ times.

  • Now they have just closed a $3.5M development deal with a telecom giant.

  • Invest now to get in early and receive 20% bonus shares.

• OpenAI seeks to make its upcoming ‘open’ AI model best-in-class

  • OpenAI announced its intention to release its first ‘open’ language model since GPT-2 sometime this year. 

  • Now, details about that model are beginning to trickle out from the company’s sessions with the AI developer community.

  • Aidan Clark, OpenAI’s VP of research, is leading the development of the open model, which is in the very early stages.

ROBOTICS

• Engineers create a robot that can jump 10 feet high without legs

  • Georgia Tech engineers have created a 5-inch soft robot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop.

  • Their device, a silicone rod with a carbon-fiber spine, can leap 10 feet high even though it doesn't have legs. 

  • They said their findings could help develop robots capable of jumping across various terrains, at different heights, in multiple directions.

• Aigen launches new robots for clearing weeds from farm fields

  • Aigen, an agricultural technology company,y has unveiled its Element gen2 robot for daily weed control. 

  • The company announced a strategic partnership with Bowles Farming Company, a sixth-generation family farm in California’s Central Valley.

  • The solar-powered robots use onboard AI vision to identify and eliminate weeds with precise ground strikes.

• Magnetic 'metabot' can expand and move like a robot, but without a motor 

  • Engineers at Princeton University have created a type of material that can expand, assume new shapes, move, and follow electromagnetics. 

  • "You can transform between a material and a robot, and it is controllable with an external magnetic field," said Glaucio Paulino.

  • Using a magnetic field, the researchers changed the metamaterial's structure, causing it to expand, move, and deform remotely. 

CRYPTO

• Coinbase to open Charlotte office and hire 130 as part of US expansion

  • Coinbase is expanding to Charlotte, North Carolina, the exchange confirmed with The Block on Wednesday.

  • The plan includes an “immediate commitment” to hire upwards of 130 local employees as well as investing in a new physical office. 

  • The move is part of an “intentional push” to invest in local economies, about a month after CEO Brian Armstrong made a commitment to hire.

• Solana buying for balance sheet gains momentum as DeFi raises

  • DeFi Development Corp added $9.9 million in Solana's SOL to its treasury, raising its total holdings to 317,273 tokens worth $48 million.

  • The company, formerly known as Janover, said it made the purchase through BitGo's over-the-counter desk, acquiring locked SOL.

  • The firm pivoted from real estate data to focus on the Solana ecosystem, now offering investors direct exposure to SOL.

• Lucky trader turns $170 into $225K by holding Solana meme coin

  • Troll was made on Pump.fun in May 2024 and got little traction, previously peaking at a market cap of just $10,500.

  • During this time, a lucky trader bought $170 worth of the Solana meme coin and held onto it.

  • Since April 20, Troll has skyrocketed in price, turning the trader's investment into $225,000.

CONTENT

• Hunter Isaacson’s 250M+ app download blueprint

  • Hunter Isaacson shares his framework for building successful mobile apps, including NGL (250M downloads) and Bags.

  • He discussed the importance of creating simple experiences with strong branding that people can understand and resonate with.

  • He also shared how to identify core metrics and growth loops that drive user engagement and viral sharing.

• Powering the next big things with Erin Price-Wright and Doug Bourum

  • Secretary Doug Burgum shares his journey from tech entrepreneur to Governor of North Dakota, and now Secretary of the Interior.
    Applying business principles to government, innovation over regulation, treating taxpayers like customers, and boosting energy independence.
    He advocates for a U.S. mining revival to secure critical minerals, reduce dependency on China, and do so cleaner and safer through tech.

• The Kill Chain: 2025 edition with Chris Brose

  • In this conversation, The Kill Chain author reflects on his predictions of warfare.

  • At Anduril, this shift has influenced their evolution from experimental defense tech into full-scale production.

  • The guest emphasizes the importance of industrial capacity as the next frontier: it's no longer just about innovation, it’s about producing at scale.

AND MORE…

• Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down

  • Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down and will be replaced by former Activision Blizzard and King exec Humam Sakhnini.

  • Sakhnini takes over on April 28th. Citron will stay on the board of directors and serve as an advisor to the CEO.

  • As we enter our next phase, I’ve been reflecting on how I can best contribute to Discord’s long-term success,” Citron says.

• Nvidia Partner SK Hynix warns of Tariff-induced volatility ahead

  • SK Hynix on Thursday warned that macroeconomic uncertainty creates volatility in demand in the second half of the year. 

  • It kept its forecast for high-bandwidth memory demand to double in 2025, citing supply agreements made with customers a year in advance.

  • SK Hynix reported operating income of 7.44 trillion won, exceeding the projected 6.6 trillion won on a 42 per cent rise in revenue.

• Lexus’ redesigned ES sedan can be electric or hybrid

  • Lexus’s mid-sized ES luxury sedan is getting a redesign for its eighth generation that includes some edgier styling.

  • It also includes a significant platform change that accommodates both an all-electric drivetrain and a regular hybrid one.

  • Revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show today, the 2026 ES is Lexus’ second electric vehicle after the RZ, which was just refreshed in March.