How Far Has AI Really Come?
Weekly Wheaties #2601
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: How Far Has AI Really Come?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tesla and the Cybercab
😎 Pick of the Week: Leadership Bytes
📦 Featured Product: Nex Playground
📝 How Far Has AI Really Come?
With all the advancements we’ve seen in AI over the last few years, the question of “What Can AI Really Do?” still has some credence. Things change, and people can be very creative. Some things are obviously more applicable to a business versus things that are done for fun, so comparing the different ways AI has integrated into our lives across the web and work can look different year over year.
As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, “AI won’t replace anyone. Someone using AI will replace someone who isn’t.” In general, I make that statement as it’s a quick counterargument. However, in reality, there will be some jobs that will no longer be here. There is a really good article, The Vanishing Professions: A Catalogue of Jobs That No Longer Make Sense, that shares, “One day a profession is woven into the texture of daily life—its gestures familiar, its presence assumed—the next, it is reduced to an anecdote recited with faint amusement to someone too young to understand why such work was ever necessary.“
But many of the jobs that ‘vanished’ in the article did so to make way for new jobs. Just to point out one of them - the movie projectionist - they have and will be replaced with other jobs in the same field. This could include digital cinema technicians, programmers, digital content specialists, and more. As this industry has dwindled, we’ve even seen something else take its place that arguably requires even more workers - streaming platform jobs.
Another area of work that AI will have trouble replacing is those types of roles that require Soft Skills and emotional intelligence. CEOs across Fortune 100 companies argue that individuals who are adaptable, practice critical thinking, and have a willingness to learn will have plenty of job opportunities.
Regardless of the type of work, Gallup’s yearly Workplace Survey reported that AI Use at Work Continues to Rise. While this appears to be a slower increase, the number of organizations using AI, along with the individual frequency of use, is still climbing. Nearly half of those surveyed said their organizations have not adopted or integrated AI technology or tools to improve organizational practices. Another 23% still didn’t know.
We have a little insight into what this AI use at work looks like through a report released by Microsoft: What people do with Copilot. The use was very dependent on context, time of day/year, and device in use. If on a desktop, topics like work (productivity and programming) and career were discussed - typically during working hours. Whereas on mobile, they focused on personal (health and fitness) and reflective topics, with advice - after hours and on weekends.
As mentioned, there are still some cool things AI can do that humans are either incapable of doing or limited in their ability to do, based on their time and overall bandwidth. We’ve seen robots (with the help of AI) do some crazy things. You may have missed the T-REX wheel-legged robot, the Tesla Optiumus Robot does Kung Fu, or popular YouTuber WhistlinDiesel shows what not to do with a robot. Another YouTuber, MKBHD, shares the current Problem with Humanoid Robots.
In the audio world, AI has been known to cause issues with possible fakes (even video, for that matter). That said, one of the largest players in this space, ElevenLabs, now offers Iconic Voices that have been licensed for use in projects. That doesn’t mean there aren’t larger issues at play. The Podcast industry and the Music Industry may both have something to say about AI…
Moving on to App Development - not only have apps in general made a lot of headway with the use of AI, so have websites and coding for the backend of many systems. I’ve discussed in the In Case You Missed It parts of this newsletter multiple times about how Meta, Amazon, and other larger companies are starting to implement AI for their codebases.
The term vibecoding” was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2025 and brought about many tools to assist app development, in addition to the AI chatbots (Base 44, Lovable, and Glide - see the POTW below for more). Individuals and companies alike have vibecoded their way into new products and focuses.
Some of these niche parts of AI use are also becoming more normalized. We’ve always used machine learning (more on this soon) in the world of weather, but Google DeepMind’s New AI Weatherman Tops World’s Most Reliable System.
Another area probably not really thought about too much would be in the area of sports betting, maybe even all forms of betting when big numbers are involved, but let’s stick with sports for now. AI can take tons of information and distill it very quickly and accurately. Think Moneyball, but exponentially faster, with more ways to view the data. I’d bet betting will continue to become popular because, as these companies use AI on the backend, the house will still come out on top.
Something you may not consider: AI Hackers Are Coming Dangerously Close to Beating Humans. We’ve seen how vulnerable networks can be in general, just this last year, with issues from Cloudflare and the like. That said, what humans are doing can be pretty scary. I highly encourage you to watch/listen to a famous hacker, Ryan Montgomery – Exposes Roblox, Minecraft, Discord & the Darkest Online Cult. At minimum, watch him Show the Most Insane Gadgets in His EDC.
Lastly, one of the more interesting things I’ve seen AI get involved with is digitizing scent and Teaching Computers to Smell. Essentially, it appears that they are utilizing AI to analyze scent signals using chemical sensors and techniques from spectrometry, thereby converting molecular data into digital information. Anything that can be converted into digital information (ones and zeroes) can then be used to modify or reproduce it. Some things they note it’s helping with include: fragrance creation, aiding in disease detection, and exploring the relationship between scent, memory, and emotions
What interesting things have you seen AI help with?
🗞️ ICYMI: Tesla and the Cybercab
We’ve been promised the utopia of robot vehicles for years now, and a lot of bets are on these companies ramping up in 2026. For starters, Tesla confirms the start of Cybercab production. Tomas, with Uncharter Territories, discusses The Race between Waymo, Cybercab, and Uber and lays out much of what is happening in this space. A few things to note include that the prices of self-driving Waymos and Teslas are still a bit higher than those of Uber or Lyft, so plan to see the pricing battle follow suit as more self-driving vehicles come online.
Another concern for passengers always revolves around safety. Especially as the power goes out. But there are two areas to consider: hardware and software. Specifically to Tesla, we haven’t seen the NHTSA report for the Cybercab, but even their smallest vehicle, the Model 3, crushes NHTSA’s crash testing with a 5-star rating. On the software side, updates are frequent, with the most recent update allowing FSD to successfully complete a full coast-to-coast drive with zero interventions. These systems will only get better as they are tested and learn from mistakes.
😎 POTW: Leadership Bytes
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a new project, Leadership Bytes. It’s a website/web-app (more on this in the coming weeks) that can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. The goal is to utilize technology (when applicable) to help leaders be better leaders. There are three core objectives the app helps Leaders work on: Building Relationships, Challenging Their Skillset, and Leveraging Technology. Each Sunday, the app is updated with curated Conversation Starters to improve 1-on-1s and a weekly Leadership Challenge to strengthen skills with and without the use of technology. There is also an ever-growing list of recommended tools and software to streamline your workflow, and byte-sized posts sharing a bit on a given category of software. If you are a leader in your organization, I challenge you to check it out. If not, I would really appreciate you sharing with your supervisor or others you know who wish to better their leadership skills!
From a mobile device, tablet, or desktop, visit: https://leadershipbytes.co/
📦 Featured Product
If you were in the gaming space ~20 years ago, you may remember the buzz surrounding the first-of-its-kind Nintendo Wii. There have been some updates, but this was one of the first systems (at least at scale and with a following) to require movement from players for gameplay. However, it still required a controller.
A new system, the Nex Playground, only requires your body to play. You are the controller, and your hand and body movements allow you to play the various types of games. I will admit it does lean more kid-friendly (4-10 years). However, there are some ‘games’ that have an older demographic - Boxing, Zumba, and other fitness games. What appear to be the most popular games are: Bluey, Starri (a new type of Guitar Hero-style game), and the sports games (Baseball, Tennis, Bowling).
The console comes with a few built-in games, but is best experienced with the Play Pass Bundle. Rather than buying individual games, the bundle includes all 30+ games and is updated frequently. Their blog will list any updated games coming to the system.
