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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
AI Decoded Human Thoughts at 74% Accuracy, and That's Just the Start
TLDR: Scientists used AI to decode what people were thinking, without them saying a single word, reaching 74% accuracy in reading "inner speech" directly from brain activity.
The Story:
This is a trend we continue to follow, and the technology is moving faster than most people realize. Researchers at Stanford University implanted tiny electrode arrays into the brain of a 52-year-old woman paralyzed after a stroke. AI then translated her brain signals into words on a screen, all without her speaking. The study also included patients with ALS (a disease that takes away the ability to move and speak). Stanford's team found they could decode "inner speech," sentences imagined silently in the brain, with up to 74% accuracy in structured tasks. Meanwhile, separate studies in Japan and Israel used brain scans and AI to reconstruct images people were looking at and even identify which songs they had listened to.
Its Significance:
This isn't science fiction anymore. AI isn't just reading your emails or suggesting what to buy. It's starting to read what's happening inside your head. Right now, this technology is being used to help people who can't speak or move. That's a good thing. Experts say brain chips could become commercially available soon, with companies like Neuralink pushing the technology forward. The flip side should matter to everyone: if AI can decode your thoughts at 74% accuracy today, what happens when it hits 95%? Who gets access to that data? Your employer? Your insurance company? The government? This is one to keep watching closely and is one of the AI developments we continue to track with great interest.
QUICK TAKES
The story: The U.S. military used Anthropic's Claude AI for intelligence assessments, target identification, and battlefield simulations during strikes on Iran, just hours after President Trump banned the government from using Anthropic's tools. Meanwhile, a Foreign Affairs report reveals China is rapidly building its own military AI arsenal, with the PLA testing AI systems that can pilot unmanned vehicles, track ships, identify targets, and create deepfake disinformation.
Your takeaway: AI is already deeply woven into how wars are planned and fought. Anthropic will be used for six months during the wind down. At the same time, China is racing to build the same kinds of tools. We've officially entered the age of AI warfare, and the rules are being written in real time.
The story: Tesla's Full Self-Driving system has now logged over 8 billion miles of data from real drivers on real roads. That's a massive training dataset for the AI behind the wheel. CEO Elon Musk has said 10 billion miles of data is needed before the system can drive without a human watching. At the current pace, Tesla could hit that number by summer 2026.
Your takeaway: The AI powering Tesla's driving system learns from every mile every Tesla drives. But after a decade of development and 8 billion miles of data, FSD still requires a human driver paying attention at all times. It's still classified as Level 2 (out of 5). Even if the AI reaches its data target, it can only legally drive itself in 22 states. The technology is impressive, but the space between "AI-assisted" and "self-driving" is still wide.
The story: Everett, Washington turned off all 68 of its AI-powered Flock license plate reader cameras after a judge ruled the footage is a public record. That means anyone, including stalkers, abusers, or federal immigration agents, could request the data. The AI-powered cameras had helped police make over 250 arrests and recover stolen cars since 2024.
Your takeaway: These AI cameras scan every car that drives by, not just ones connected to crimes. They use artificial intelligence to identify your vehicle by plate number, make, model, and color. The question cities are now wrestling with: does the crime-fighting benefit outweigh the risk of anyone being able to track where you drive? Lawmakers in at least 27 states are now debating what to do about AI surveillance tools like these.
TOOLS ON OUR RADAR
🐧 Focalboard Free and Open Source: A highly customizable project management platform that allows you to organize your tasks using visual boards keeping your team completely aligned without locking your data into a proprietary cloud. (Alternative to Trello)
🪴 Planta Freemium: An intelligent plant care application that identifies your houseplants and generates a customized watering schedule based on your local weather and room lighting.
🖼️ Stockimg Freemium: A creative artificial intelligence engine that instantly generates high quality stock photos book covers and marketing posters based on your exact text descriptions saving you hours of searching.
🏋️ Resume Worded Freemium: A career platform that instantly scores your resume against actual hiring software and provides line by line feedback to help you land more job interviews.
TRENDING
China's MiniMax Posts 159% Revenue Jump, Eyes Global AI Platform - Chinese AI startup MiniMax reported $79 million in revenue for 2025, with over 70% of sales coming from outside China. The company has served 236 million users across 200+ countries and plans to release its latest M3 model this year. It's still losing money ($1.87 billion in 2025), but the growth shows Chinese AI companies are competing globally, not just at home.
JPMorgan Says AI Will Transform How Credit Markets Work - JPMorgan's global head of credit trading says generative AI is a natural fit for credit markets because of all the unstructured data they produce. In plain terms: the way banks decide who gets loans and at what price is about to change. JPMorgan already has 150,000 employees using its internal AI weekly, and they report saving four hours per day.
Robotic Excavator Prototype Targets Moon Base Construction - Two U.S. companies successfully tested a robotic excavator designed to dig on the Moon. The goal is to prepare landing pads, roads, and building sites before astronauts arrive. The modular design means one rover can swap between different construction tools, making it a kind of Swiss Army knife for building on the lunar surface.
Over Half of U.S. Teens Now Use AI for Schoolwork, Study Finds - A Pew Research Center survey found 54% of teens aged 13-17 use AI chatbots for school. One in ten use it for all or most of their homework. The gap is striking: 20% of kids in households making under $30,000 rely on AI for most homework, compared to just 7% in households above $75,000. Researchers warn AI is becoming "the fast food of education."
Washington State Pushes AI Guardrails on Chatbots and Deepfakes - Washington lawmakers are advancing bills that would require AI chatbots to remind users they're talking to a machine, ban explicit content for minors, and mandate suicide prevention protocols. Another bill would require AI-generated images and videos to carry watermarks. At least 27 states have introduced similar chatbot legislation this year.
AI Tool Helps Decide Which Prostate Cancer Patients Need Biopsies - Norwegian researchers developed an AI tool called PROVIZ that can read prostate MRI scans and help doctors decide who actually needs a biopsy. The tool can take over clear-cut cases, freeing doctors to focus on harder diagnoses. Prostate cancer affects 1 in 8 men, and with the number of MRI scans rising sharply, AI is helping keep up with demand.
TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini)
💼 Build a job application tracker with pipeline status counts, priority tags, and per-entry status updates
Build me a single-file HTML app called "Job Application Tracker" using
React 18 (CDN) + Babel standalone. Dark navy color scheme (#0a1628
background, #38bdf8 accent). No external CSS or imports.
Include:
- Pipeline status panel: count badges for Applied, Phone Screen, Interview,
Offer, Rejected, No Response, plus an active applications count
- Log new application form: company name, role, status dropdown, pr
(High/Medium/Low) with Enter-to-add support
- Applications list: each entry shows company, role, date, priority tag,
an inline status dropdown, and a delete button
- Search Best Practices button cycling through 4 job search tips
Use only React.useState, inline styles, and CDN scripts.
Make it fully functional in a single HTML What this does:
Turns your scattered job search into a trackable pipeline. Log each application with company, role, status, and priority. Update statuses inline as things progress. The overview panel shows you at a glance how many applications are active vs. dead ends, so you know where to focus your follow-up energy.
What this looks like:
WHERE WE STAND(based on today’s news)
✅ AI Can Now: Decode words you're thinking silently in your brain at 74% accuracy
❌ Still Can't: Read your full thoughts freely or work without electrodes implanted in your brain
✅ AI Can Now: Read prostate MRI scans and flag which patients likely need biopsies
❌ Still Can't: Replace the doctor's judgment, patients still trust human experts more than AI for high-stakes diagnoses
FROM THE WEB
@chloe.vs.history 4/10 wouldn’t recommend 🎩 though if anyone knows where to find that guy at the end hmu #victorian #1800s #historytok #historytime
Wonderfully inventive use of AI by an Instagram influencer.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING/READING/WATCHING
Walter Isaacson spent two years shadowing Elon Musk for this biography, and the result is a fascinating look at the mind behind Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. Musk's approach to pushing AI development forward to steer it away from the danger he perceives in AI technology programmed to be overly political, sensitive, and dangerous to human independence makes for a compelling read.
“AI is Going to Fundamentally Change…Everything”
That’s what NVIDIA’s CEO said, calling AI “the largest infrastructure buildout in history.” Their chips helped make it happen. Now they’re collaborating with Miso Robotics for key robotics advances. Miso’s restaurant-kitchen-AI robots logged 200K+ hours for brands like White Castle. And NVIDIA helps unlock up to 35% faster performance. 100k+ US fast-food locations are in need, a $4B/year opportunity for Miso.
This is a paid advertisement for Miso Robotics’ Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.misorobotics.com.
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
By the way, this is the link if you liked the content and want to share with a friend.
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