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In today’s There’s a Glitch :
Midjourney Debuts Video AI Model with Image-to-Video Conversion
Waymo Seeks to Launch Robotaxis in New York City
Microsoft Sales Layoffs: AI Investment Drives Major Workforce Restructuring
MIT Study Reveals AI Chatbots Dramatically Reduce Brain Activity and Learning
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🔥 Midjourney Debuts Video AI Model with Image-to-Video Conversion
The Breakdown: Midjourney has released its V1 Video Model, marking the AI image generator's first major expansion into video creation with an image-to-video workflow that allows users to animate existing images through automated or manual motion prompts.
Key Highlights:
Image-to-video conversion system with automatic motion generation and manual prompt controls
Dual motion settings: "low motion" for ambient scenes with static cameras, "high motion" for dynamic camera and subject movement
Video extension capability allowing four-second increments up to four total extensions per clip
Support for both Midjourney-generated images and external image uploads as starting frames
Each job produces four 5-second videos at approximately 8x the cost of standard image generation
The release positions Midjourney directly against established video AI competitors including Runway, Pika Labs, and Stable Video Diffusion. At roughly "one image worth of cost" per second of video, CEO David Holz claims pricing is "over 25 times cheaper than what the market has shipped before," though specific competitor pricing comparisons remain unverified. The company frames this as an intermediate step toward broader "real-time open-world simulations" combining video, 3D, and real-time generation capabilities.
Potential Impact:
Democratizes video creation for Midjourney's existing user base without requiring new platform adoption
Web-only launch suggests initial capacity constraints typical of compute-intensive AI video models
Integration with existing Midjourney workflows may accelerate adoption compared to standalone video platforms
Planned "video relax mode" for Pro subscribers indicates tiered access strategy similar to image generation model
The launch represents a calculated expansion of Midjourney's core competency rather than a fundamental platform shift. The pricing strategy appears designed to encourage experimentation while managing server capacity, with acknowledgment that costs and pricing remain "challenging to predict." The company's transparent approach to capacity management and sustainable business operations suggests lessons learned from previous AI model launches that experienced rapid demand spikes.
🤖 Waymo Seeks to Launch Robotaxis in New York City
The Breakdown: Waymo is pushing to deploy its autonomous robotaxis in New York City starting next month with human-supervised mapping and testing — marking the company's first attempt to crack the nation's most complex urban market since preliminary work in 2021.
The Details:
• Legal pathway underway: Waymo has applied for NYC permits allowing autonomous operation with safety drivers while simultaneously lobbying for changes to New York state law that currently prohibits fully driverless vehicles
• Technical challenge amplified: NYC presents Waymo's toughest operational environment yet with "bustling avenues, unusual road geometries, complex intersections and constantly evolving layouts" — significantly more complex than current markets
• Massive scale opportunity: The company now handles 250,000 autonomous trips weekly across six cities (25x growth from two years ago), with NYC's taxi-heavy market representing potentially their largest revenue opportunity
• Recent operational disruptions: Service was temporarily limited in LA and San Francisco after protesters set multiple Waymo vehicles ablaze during ICE demonstrations, highlighting new risks for autonomous fleets
• Expansion momentum building: Miami and Washington D.C. deployments planned soon, positioning NYC as the crown jewel of a rapidly expanding autonomous taxi network
Why It Matters: Successfully navigating New York City would represent a breakthrough moment for autonomous vehicle technology, proving robotaxis can handle the most demanding urban environment in America. While Waymo faces significant regulatory hurdles and technical challenges that have stymied autonomous vehicle deployment in complex cities, their proven track record scaling from 10,000 to 250,000 weekly trips demonstrates operational maturity. The recent protest incidents reveal new vulnerability vectors for autonomous fleets, but NYC's dense, lucrative ride-hailing market makes it an irresistible target despite the risks. If Waymo can crack New York, it would signal that autonomous vehicles are ready for mainstream deployment in any major city worldwide.
🚨 Microsoft Sales Layoffs: AI Investment Drives Major Workforce Restructuring
The Breakdown: Microsoft is preparing to cut thousands of sales positions next month as the company redirects its $80 billion annual AI investment strategy, marking the latest chapter in two years of aggressive workforce optimization.
The Details
• Scale and timing: The layoffs will affect "thousands" of employees, primarily in sales but potentially spanning other departments, with announcements expected in early July following Microsoft's fiscal year-end.
• Pattern acceleration: This follows 6,000 layoffs just last month and continues a restructuring trend that has eliminated over 18,000 positions since early 2023 across gaming, mixed reality, and enterprise divisions.
• AI investment correlation: The cuts directly align with Microsoft's unprecedented $80 billion fiscal year spending on AI-enabled data centers and cloud applications, representing a fundamental business model shift toward "AI-operated but human-led" operations.
• Geographic impact: With over 3,500 employees in Dublin and Belfast offices, Irish operations face potential exposure, though specific regional impacts remain unclear.
• Management restructuring: CFO Amy Hood recently signaled plans to "reduce layers with fewer managers," suggesting broader organizational flattening beyond traditional layoffs.
Why It Matters: Microsoft's workforce reduction reflects the broader industry transition from traditional software sales models to AI-driven services, where human sales teams become less critical for cloud and subscription-based revenue streams. Despite generating over $70 billion in quarterly revenue, the company is prioritizing operational efficiency and AI capabilities over maintaining existing headcount, setting a precedent for how profitable tech giants will navigate the AI transformation.
The timing reveals Microsoft's confidence that AI investments will generate sufficient returns to offset reduced human capital, positioning the company for a fundamentally different competitive landscape. However, the rapid pace of these cuts—particularly affecting customer-facing roles—represents a significant bet that automated and AI-enhanced systems can maintain client relationships and drive growth without traditional sales infrastructure.
🚀 MIT Study Reveals AI Chatbots Dramatically Reduce Brain Activity and Learning
The Breakdown: MIT researchers found that college students using ChatGPT to write essays showed up to 55% less brain connectivity than those working unaided, suggesting widespread AI adoption in education could create "intellectually stunted" learners dependent on artificial assistance.
The Details:
• Experimental design: Boston-area students wore EEG headsets while writing essays under three conditions—brain-only, search engine assistance, and GPT-4o support—with sessions repeated four times over several months to track cognitive patterns.
• Dramatic cognitive reduction: LLM users exhibited up to 55% less brain connectivity measured by Dynamic Directed Transfer Function (dDTF), while search engine users showed 34-48% reduction compared to unassisted writers, indicating significantly lower cognitive engagement.
• Learning performance gaps: AI-assisted participants performed worse on recall tests and showed reduced perceived ownership of their work, with the most striking deficit occurring when LLM users were forced to write without AI support in the final session.
• Neural network differences: Brain-only writers engaged "broad, distributed neural networks," search users employed "hybrid visual information management," while LLM users merely optimized "procedural integration of AI-generated suggestions."
• Educational implications: Results suggest AI use early in learning creates "shallow encoding" that impairs fact retention, leading researchers to recommend delaying AI integration until students develop sufficient self-driven cognitive skills.
Why It Matters: This first-of-its-kind neurological study provides concrete evidence that AI tools fundamentally alter how brains process information, raising urgent questions about their integration in educational settings. As AI becomes ubiquitous in classrooms and workplaces, the research suggests society risks creating a generation that has outsourced critical thinking to machines, potentially losing the cognitive autonomy necessary for genuine learning and problem-solving.
The findings challenge the assumption that AI tools are neutral productivity enhancers, instead revealing them as cognitive crutches that may weaken the very mental faculties they're meant to augment. With the research team now investigating "vibe coding" and other AI applications, this study likely represents the beginning of a critical examination of AI's neurological impact across multiple domains, forcing educators and policymakers to weigh short-term efficiency gains against long-term cognitive development.
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Wikipedia Pauses AI Summary Experiment After Editor Backlash (Link)
Meta Invests $14.3B in Scale AI, Recruits CEO for Superintelligence Team (Link)
Study: ChatGPT Resists Shutdown in Life-Threatening Scenarios (Link)
Google Names DeepMind CTO as Chief AI Architect (Link)
OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Projects With Deep Research, Voice Features (Link)
Any news tip ?
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