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

Jeff Bezos Using AI to Set Your Post Subscription Price Based on Your Personal Data

TLDR: The Washington Post is using an AI algorithm and your personal data to decide how much you pay for a subscription, and several politicans want to make the practice illegal.

The Story:

Some Washington Post subscribers recently got emails saying their subscription prices were going up. But the real surprise was buried at the bottom: a disclaimer reading, "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data." The practice is called surveillance pricing. It means different people can be charged different amounts for the exact same product based on things like zip code, estimated income, and buying history. Instacart was recently caught charging some shoppers up to 23% more based on similar hidden criteria. The Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, hasn't explained exactly what data the algorithm uses to pick your price.

Its Significance:

This matters because it's happening quietly, and most people don't even know about it. The only reason we know about the Post's pricing is because New York passed a law requiring companies to tell customers when AI sets their price. Without that law, you'd never know you were paying more than your neighbor for the same thing. Rep. Greg Casar of Texas has introduced a bill to ban surveillance pricing. At least a dozen states are now considering similar laws. If this kind of pricing spreads, it could change how you pay for everything from news subscriptions to groceries.

QUICK TAKES

Robot Dogs Are Now Guarding AI Data Centers, and They're Cheaper Than Humans

The story: Data center operators are deploying Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dogs (starting at $175,000) and Ghost Robotics' Vision 60 ($165,000) to patrol their massive facilities. The robots work around the clock, detect thermal problems, spot leaks, and monitor security. With 5,000 data centers in the US and up to 1,000 more being built, robotics companies see a huge new market.

Your takeaway: At $150,000 a year for a human guard versus a one-time robot purchase that pays for itself in 18 months, the math is hard to argue with. This is one of the clearest examples of AI infrastructure creating demand for more automation, not less.

China Approves Commercial Brain Implant, Challenging Neuralink

The story: China's drug regulator just approved its first brain-computer interface (BCI) for commercial medical use. The device, made by Neuracle Medical Technology, helps people with spinal cord injuries regain hand movement. In clinical trials, patients improved their ability to hold and grab objects.

Your takeaway: This puts China in the race with Elon Musk’s Neuralink and Synchron. The global BCI market could hit $12.4 billion by 2034, and China's approval could speed up the technology reaching more patients around the world.

OpenAI's "Adult Mode" for ChatGPT Still Isn't Here, and the Reasons Are Troubling

The story: Five months after Sam Altman promised ChatGPT would allow erotica and mature content for verified adults, the feature keeps getting delayed. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI's age-prediction system is misclassifying minors as adults 12% of the time, which could expose millions of underage users to inappropriate content.

Your takeaway: This shows how hard it is to build safety systems that actually work at scale. A 12% error rate on a platform with hundreds of millions of users isn't a small problem. It's a preview of the challenges every AI company will face as they try to offer different experiences to different age groups.

TOOLS ON OUR RADAR

🔒 AppFlowy Free and Open Source: A highly secure digital workspace that gives you total control over your data while providing a beautiful interface to manage your projects and notes locally. (Alternative to Notion)

📹 Fathom Freemium: A powerful video conferencing assistant that joins your online meetings to automatically record transcribe and highlight the most important moments of your conversations.

🌌 Kosmik Freemium: A unique desktop application that provides an infinite visual canvas where you can browse the live web and pin your files notes and images side by side.

✂️ Munch Freemium: An intelligent video repurposing engine that scans your long recordings and automatically extracts the most engaging short clips perfectly optimized for modern social media algorithms.

🔊 OpenHome Open Source Hardware: A true local large language model smart speaker that processes your voice commands entirely on the device allowing you to experience an intelligent assistant that never sends your private conversations to the cloud.

TRENDING

London Judge Catches Witness Being Coached Through Smart Glasses in Court - A London judge discovered a witness was receiving live coaching through Bluetooth-connected smart glasses during cross-examination. The witness claimed the mysterious voice was "ChatGPT." The judge rejected his entire testimony as "unreliable and untruthful."

Brain Cell Computer That Plays Doom Is Headed for Data Centers - Australian startup Cortical Labs, which made headlines teaching 200,000 living human neurons to play Doom, is now building two biological data centers in Melbourne (120 units) and Singapore (up to 1,000 units). Each unit uses a fraction of the power of conventional AI chips.

Trustpilot Seeks AI Shopping Partnerships as Traditional Search Declines - Trustpilot's click-throughs from AI-powered search are up 1,490% year over year, and the review site was the fifth most cited domain on ChatGPT in January. The company is now pursuing deals with major e-commerce players as 43% of AI-first consumers say they've completely replaced traditional search.

Gamma Launches AI Image Generation to Challenge Canva and Adobe - The AI presentation platform (now approaching 100 million users) launched Gamma Imagine, a tool that creates brand-specific marketing assets, social graphics, and infographics from text prompts. The company integrates with ChatGPT, Claude, Zapier, and others.

Memories.ai Building Visual Memory Layer for Wearables and Robots - Founded by the team behind Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses, this startup just partnered with Nvidia at GTC 2026 to build technology that lets wearables and robots remember what they see. The company has raised $16 million so far.

Sears Exposed AI Chatbot Conversations to Anyone on the Web - Sears left customer conversations with its AI chatbot, including phone calls and text chats containing personal details and contact info, accessible to anyone online. The exposed data could make it easier for scammers to launch phishing attacks.

TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini)

🥦 Build a calorie counter that logs meals by type, tracks macros, and shows daily progress against your goal

What this does: A calorie counter app where you log foods by meal (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack) with calories and optional macros (protein, carbs, fat). It tracks everything against a daily calorie goal you can set, shows a progress bar that turns red when you go over, summarizes your macros, breaks down calories by meal, and groups your food log by meal type

What this looks like:

WHERE WE STAND(based on today’s news)

✅ AI Can Now: Approve a brain implant for commercial use that helps paralyzed patients regain hand movement (China's Neuracle)

❌ Still Can't: Run a biological neuron computer well enough to survive more than a few minutes in Doom (Cortical Labs' brain cells still play like a beginner)

✅ AI Can Now: Patrol data center perimeters 24/7, detect leaks, and spot thermal problems without a break or a paycheck

❌ Still Can't: Secure its own chatbot logs from being publicly accessible on the open web (Sears' AI left customer conversations exposed)

FROM THE WEB

RECOMMENDED LISTENING/READING/WATCHING

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Book)

A former starship AI, once controlling thousands of bodies simultaneously, is now trapped in a single human body and hunting for the weapon that will let her take revenge on the ruler who destroyed her ship. Leckie's debut was the only novel ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards in the same year in 2014. The novel uses a single pronoun for all characters regardless of gender, which is disorienting at first and then completely rewires how you think about identity.

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

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