🛎️Is the Future Here? OpenAI’s Race to AGI, Robotaxis Roll Out, and Humanoid Butlers.

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Happy Holidays Familia,

This will be our only newsletter of the week!! Enjoy your break and your family, too much tech news and trends this year, and now tis the time for some real social and human connections. In today’s edition, OpenAI is racing ahead with new “reasoning” models (o3 and o3-mini), even as its ambitious GPT-5 project (Orion) falters under data constraints. Meanwhile, there are new rules that could jump-start fully driverless vehicles, and humanoid robots raise big questions about privacy, labor, and trust. Let’s dive in!

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Quick and Deep Dives:

• OpenAI has unveiled two new “reasoning” models, o3 and o3-mini, that it claims bring AI closer to AGI-level performance — though testing is still ongoing. The models “think” through tasks, trading speed for deeper accuracy and stronger results in fields like math and coding. A preview for safety researchers is available now, with a wider launch planned for early next year.
• Additionally, OpenAI’s GPT-5 project, code-named Orion, is behind schedule and costing hundreds of millions. Scaling by adding ever more data has hit a wall — there isn’t enough high-quality material left online. OpenAI is now creating new data from scratch and exploring “reasoning” models, but fierce competition, internal turmoil, and data limits leave Orion’s future uncertain.

• NHTSA has proposed a new framework (AV STEP) to let companies deploy fully driverless vehicles — no steering wheels or pedals — if they share detailed safety data. The voluntary program aims to track risks, gather crash reports, and eventually set minimum AV standards. Critics call the move premature, noting life-saving existing rules and uncertain future crash-reporting requirements under a new administration.
• New humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus and Prosper’s “Alfie” promise to revolutionize work and daily life, but most still depend on remote human operators to function effectively. Prosper, for example, envisions Alfie as a trustworthy, household butler — but admits 80% of its tasks will require teleoperation by overseas workers. That raises big questions about privacy, data use, labor exploitation, and whether robots designed to look friendly can really earn our trust. While advances in AI make it easier to train robots, true autonomy — where robots safely “think” and act on their own — remains largely elusive.
• Brain rot 2024: the best and funniest viral moments of the year.

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