Good morning, it’s Monday. We’re kicking things off with key stories you might have missed over the past few days. Then we’ll dive into how Elon Musk and his allies are reshaping government programs with AI and what the widening skill gap means for workers.
Plus, in our latest Forward Future original, we’re tackling a big question: How do you future-proof yourself in the age of AI?
🗞️ ICYMI RECAP
Top Stories You Might Have Missed
🌍 Meta’s Record-Breaking AI Cable Network
Meta’s Project Waterworth is a groundbreaking 50,000 km subsea cable system connecting five continents to power AI-driven digital infrastructure. This multi-billion-dollar investment enhances global connectivity, linking the U.S., India, Brazil, South Africa, and more. Featuring 24-fiber pair cables, it introduces three new oceanic data corridors, improving speed and resilience. Meta is strengthening global digital infrastructure for more reliable connectivity in the next era of innovation.
🤝 U.K. Shifts AI Focus, Partners With Anthropic
The U.K. has rebranded its AI Safety Institute as the AI Security Institute, prioritizing criminal misuse and national security over societal risks like bias and misinformation. Aligning with a deregulatory AI stance, the government partnered with Anthropic to modernize public services using its Claude AI assistant. Plans also include leveraging Anthropic’s Economic Index for workforce strategies. Critics worry this shift neglects AI bias oversight, potentially increasing discrimination.
🧪 AI-Designed Enzyme Breaks Down Plastics Efficiently
Scientists used AI-driven protein design to create an enzyme that digests PET plastics, a major step in synthetic biology. Using AI tools RFDiffusion and PLACER, researchers developed enzymes that break polyester’s ester bonds, overcoming early single-reaction limitations. Iterative AI screening refined the enzymes for multi-step reactions, mimicking natural catalysts. This breakthrough highlights AI’s potential to engineer proteins for environmental and industrial use.
🧬 AI Deciphers Proteins, Advancing Disease Research
MIT and Whitehead Institute developed ProtGPS, an AI model that predicts protein localization in cells, crucial for disease research and drug design. By analyzing 200,000 mutations, it revealed how mislocalized proteins drive illness. ProtGPS also designed proteins targeting specific cell compartments, a breakthrough for therapeutics. This AI-driven approach could revolutionize protein research, diagnostics, and precision medicine.
🧐 Startup Posts Job for AI, Sparks Debate
Y Combinator startup Firecrawl posted a job ad offering $10,000–$15,000 to an AI agent instead of a human, aiming to research models and build sample apps. While partly a PR stunt, the founders sought a functional AI hire but found no suitable candidates. Firecrawl, now focused on AI web crawlers, originally started as an edtech firm. The move raises questions about automation’s role in future workplaces and AI’s potential as a co-worker.
🤖 Meta Ventures Into Humanoid Robotics
Meta is forming a humanoid robotics team within Reality Labs, led by former Cruise CEO Marc Whitten. Focused on hardware, software, and AI, the team aims to build a foundational robotics platform rather than a branded robot. Meta is reportedly in talks with Unitree Robotics and Figure AI for potential partnerships. This move signals a serious push into consumer and industrial robotics, much like Google’s approach with Android for smartphones.
🧠 Google’s Gemini AI Gets Memory Upgrade
Google’s Gemini AI now remembers past chats, letting users continue conversations seamlessly—but only for Gemini Advanced subscribers via Google One AI Premium. It can summarize previous discussions and build on projects, enhancing long-term interactions. Currently available in English on web and mobile, the feature will expand to more languages and Google Workspace soon. This upgrade brings Gemini closer to ChatGPT’s memory, making AI assistants more context-aware.
🚀 NVIDIA Launches Cosmos for AI Robotics & Simulations
NVIDIA unveiled Cosmos, a platform to accelerate AI-driven robotics and autonomous system development. It integrates generative world foundation models, tokenizers, guardrails, and an accelerated data pipeline to create physics-aware simulations and high-fidelity videos. Released under the NVIDIA Open Model License, Cosmos aims to democratize AI robotics, lowering barriers for developers and improving real-world AI training through open-access tools.
🏭 Intel, TSMC Partner to Boost U.S. Chipmaking
Intel is in talks with TSMC to strengthen U.S. semiconductor production, possibly through joint fabs or engineer exchanges for advanced chipmaking. The partnership could receive CHIPS Act funding and aligns with Trump’s push for domestic manufacturing amid potential tariffs on foreign chips. While still in early stages, the deal could reshape supply chains, boost competition with Taiwan, and offer U.S. tech firms a reliable source for cutting-edge processors.
🗽 GOVERNMENT
Musk Allies Push AI Overhaul in Education Department’s Student Aid Services
The Recap: Staffers with ties to Elon Musk and the tech industry are proposing a major shift in the Education Department’s student aid services by replacing human call center workers with a generative AI chatbot. This plan aligns with President Trump’s broader effort to shrink the federal workforce but raises concerns about privacy, accuracy, and accessibility.
The Education Department currently employs 1,600 call center agents who handle 15,000+ student aid inquiries daily.
A proposed AI chatbot would replace many of these workers, potentially cutting costs but also reducing human oversight.
The department’s existing chatbot, Aidan, is far less advanced than what Musk’s team envisions, having handled 2.2 million messages in 2021.
Musk has a vested interest in AI, founding his own generative AI company while also seeking control of OpenAI.
The move comes after last year’s disastrous rollout of the new FAFSA application, which left three-quarters of student aid calls unanswered.
Critics warn that AI's tendency to produce inaccurate information and issues with equitable access to technology could exacerbate existing problems.
The proposal follows the integration of personnel from the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, including former executives from ed-tech and venture capital firms.
Forward Future Takeaways:
This proposal signals a significant shift toward automation in federal agencies, with AI poised to replace human roles in public services. While AI could enhance efficiency and cut costs, the risks of misinformation and unequal access may create new barriers for students seeking aid. As the Education Department moves forward, careful testing and oversight will be critical to avoid a repeat of last year’s FAFSA debacle. → Read the full article here.
👾 FORWARD FUTURE ORIGINAL
“Artificial Intelligence Is Changing the World of Work on an Unprecedented Scale”
Most jobs that exist today might disappear within decades. As artificial intelligence outperforms humans in more and more tasks, it will replace humans in more and more jobs. Many new professions are likely to appear: virtual-world designers, for example. But such professions will probably require more creativity and flexibility, and it is unclear whether 40-year-old unemployed taxi drivers or insurance agents will be able to reinvent themselves as virtual-world designers (try to imagine a virtual world created by an insurance agent!). And even if the ex-insurance agent somehow makes the transition into a virtual-world designer, the pace of progress is such that within another decade he might have to reinvent himself yet again.
Historician Yuval Harari, 2017
Since the beginning of human history, the tools and instruments developed by man have been the key to the development of civilization. It enabled humans to free themselves from the constraints of nature, to farm, to secure their food supply and ultimately to form complex societies. This ability to use tools fundamentally distinguishes humans from other living beings like Apes and Gorillas. With the industrial revolution, this process took on a new dimension: technology and increasingly specialized tools made people more and more productive, machines replaced muscle power, computers expanded cognitive abilities and the internet revolutionized access to knowledge. But now we are on the threshold of a new era: artificial intelligence is changing the world of work on an unprecedented scale. The question is no longer whether it will affect jobs, but to what extent and with what long-term consequences. → Continue reading here.
💼 WORKPLACE
How AI Will Divide the Best from the Rest
The Recap: AI was once seen as a tool to democratize work, boosting productivity for lower-skilled workers and narrowing social gaps. However, recent research suggests that AI benefits high performers the most, helping the best get better while leaving many behind—just as past technological revolutions have done.
Early studies suggested AI could help lower-skilled workers by automating repetitive tasks and transferring best practices from top performers.
Newer research shows that AI provides the greatest advantage to highly skilled workers who can best evaluate its outputs and apply insights effectively.
While AI initially boosts productivity for roles like customer service, it eventually automates them, making human workers redundant.
AI is taking over entry-level tasks in industries like law and finance, forcing young professionals to adapt or be replaced.
In research, business, and investing, high performers use AI to refine decisions, while lower-skilled workers struggle to filter valuable insights.
AI is shifting the most valued workplace skill from execution to imagination—those who creatively leverage AI will thrive.
Like past technological shifts, AI rewards expertise and adaptability, mirroring the Industrial Revolution and the rise of software engineers in the digital age.
Forward Future Takeaways:
According to this article, AI isn't flattening workplace hierarchies—it’s reinforcing them. Those who can critically assess AI’s outputs and apply them strategically will flourish, while those with routine-driven jobs may find themselves obsolete. As AI evolves into more autonomous systems, the gap between top performers and everyone else will likely grow, making adaptability and high-level decision-making more valuable than ever. → Read the full article here.
📽️ VIDEO
OpenAI Reveals Details About GPT-5 And The "Unified Model"
OpenAI is simplifying its AI model experience by unifying tools and removing the confusing model picker. GPT 4.5, internally called Orion, will be the last non-chain-of-thought model, while GPT 5 will integrate multiple AI capabilities, replacing the "o" series. Free users get standard GPT 5 access, while paid tiers offer increased intelligence levels. Get the full scoop in Matt’s latest video! 👇
📥 FF INTEL
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