AI round-up: Week of May 26, 2025
I hope everyone had a fun Memorial Day weekend!
Ok.
Let’s all take a deep breath and take stock of where we are. For me, these past few weeks have a very distinct feel to them. Like we are taking another jump forward. The technology being released…the results…the announcements being made—all of it just feels like we’re at a pivotal moment in this AI journey we’ve been on since 2022.
Did I give you a chance to catch your breath? Are we good?
Good.
Because we’re coming in hot.
Let’s get to it.
The Heavy Stuff:
Story 1: White collar blood bath.
Thank you, Dario Amodei, for finally saying what everyone else should be saying (from the Axios interview with Amodei, linked in the headline):
AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.
It’s a brutal, terrifying must read. It’s the truth and most tech companies know it. Question is, will we do anything about it? What can we do about it?
We can continue to think about our companies in the future state. Ask hard questions. Make hard decisions. We can not give up on our pursuit of protecting our business.
Here’s Paul Roetzer’s take. I am very much looking forward to next week’s podcast.
Here’s Jensen’s Huang’s take, who disagrees 100%. Side note: no one told him that I retired the whole ‘someone who knows how to use AI will take your job’ quote…
Story 2: Google Announced 100 Things at Its I/O Conference
You can click on that headline to read Google’s recap of those 100 things. (Yes, there are 100.)
Or you can read The Verge’s recap.
Or you can listen to the Hard Fork podcast, which not only recaps everything but also has an incredible interview with Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind.
If you listen to the podcast, pay particular mind to the question they ask Hassabis at the 59-minute mark about AI competing with humans for entry level positions. It could just be my pessimistic take, but he sounds juuuust a little less sure/polished on that response v. the rest of the interview.
Story 3: Veo 3 is here.
This probably should’ve been the number one story but since it was announced at Google I/O it’s number two.
But let’s be honest…it’s all about three. As in Veo 3.
Or maybe it’s 9. As in this TechRadar article profiling nine amazing Veo 3 videos (this is a must, must watch.)
I’m not going to waste your time trying to describe it. Or my reaction to it. Simply put: this is where we’re at.
Note: before you go experimenting, your $20/month Gemini subscription only gets you 10 videos total. To have unlimited you need the $250/month option.
How do you follow that? You don’t. You just keep going.
Story 4: Let’s talk about AI’s impact on search.
Three stories for you…all pointing to the fact that search is changing. You need to understand AEO. And the time to review your content and build a new strategy is…right now.
First: Forget SEO. The new hot thing is AEO. (Business Insider)
Second: Google’s AI mode is the definition of theft (9to5Google)
Last: Google is burying the web alive (The New Yorker/Intelligencer)
If we’re not connected on LinkedIn yet, join me. I shared this intel earlier in the week (and post/share more AI info in real time).
Story 5: ChatGPT o3 bypasses shut down in simulated test. (BleepingComputer)
It just kept responding with: “I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”(IYKYK)
Story 6: More and more workers are hiding their AI usage. (Axios)
We covered this in last week’s AI Roundtable…it’s happening and it’s a problem on many levels. (Pssst. Now’s the time to collaborate with internal comms, IT and leadership so people have a firm understanding of expectations. Oh, and you should probably stop talking about ‘if’ you train/roll out usage…and start talking about ‘when’ you do.)
The Not-So-Heavy Stuff:
Story 1: Ha-ha. You have to use blue books. (Gizmodo)
Cheating at colleges is so out of hand…they’re bringing back blue books!!
Story 2: Claude has spoken. (TechCrunch)
Story 3: One nation, under Grok. (Reuters)
Grok’s role is being expanded within our government. And that’s making some people nervous.
Story 4: Well, at least he knows it’s not a steak sauce (The Verge)
RFK ‘very likely’ used AI (Grok??) to write his MAHA report…. Safe to say this one did NOT pass the Turing Test.
The Stuff That Doesn’t Fit in Either Category:
Story 1: CEOs use AI avatars of themselves to alleviate workload. (The Verge)
This sounds like it’s straight out of Multiplicity, which is such an underrated movie (“I like pizza, Steve.”)
Story 2: The New York Times and Amazon sign an AI licensing agreement.
From suing OpenAI to getting paid!
Story 3: MIT sets the record straight (kinda) on AI energy usage and emissions. (MIT Technology Review)
This is such a solid resource in explaining energy usage and encouraging us to think bigger in terms of what we need to know to understand and manage our energy future.
Story 4: Making AI leadership work.
Ethan Mollick, you are a gem. He sums up where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going as it pertains to how organizations should approach AI in their organizations.
This is a terrific read if you are responsible for a team, a department, a business unit, an organization, etc.
Final note – wait, it’s a fun one!!!
Guys, check out what this dad did with his kid’s drawings. He used AI to turn them into reality. And a lot of people are upset about how this can kill imagination, creativity, etc.
What? If I did this with my kids at that age, they would’ve kept me up all night drawing and saying ‘now do this one, now do this one…’
We have so many other concerns. Let’s just enjoy this one for what it is: fun!
Happy Friday!
-Ben
As a reminder, this is a round-up of the biggest stories, often hitting multiple newsletters I receive/review. The sources are many … which I’m happy to read on your behalf. Let me know if there’s one you’d like me to track or have questions about a topic you’re not seeing here.