OBS Video Guide
Passion Projects
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EOjGJeb_jrgdmbZJ3M2aKy_4Bn84-mVUcb4YGEXrilM/edit?gid=1396934608#gid=1396934608
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HA1ot7-wHRZ2rog7DKMNqqDIdmMfvqgj/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=107338344031078216845&rtpof=true&sd=true
https://www.loom.com/share/3aa50490c0a64fb2b80a8e14c65b106d
Group Website Unit
https://ourfavproductions.wpga.tech/
Google Gemini Certificate
AI Exploration Unit
In this article, titled “Apple announces MacBook Neo, its most affordable laptop ever,” it uncovers Apple’s new laptop unveiling. The new Macbook is lightweight, colourful and powered by an iPhone-grade chip and embedded with Apple Intelligence. It stands out as the most affordable laptop Apple has ever released, starting at $599. This is a stark contrast to the cheapest option for a laptop that Apple sold at $999, meaning that this new Mac cuts the price almost in half. This release is a clear counteraction to Windows as well as Google and their Chromebooks that dominate schools and first-time buyer markets. Personally, I believe this change is positive. People now have a larger variety of options and lower class citizens now have access to a more affordable mode of education and technology. As well, as Apple Intelligence grows and is implemented in their products, AI is growing and becoming far more accessible in many ways. To conclude, Apple is attempting to increase their profits and I believe that this trial may be successful, by cutting the price in half and advertising it with new aesthetically pleasing colours that will draw in consumers.
In this article titled, “How Amazon’s massive stake in OpenAI could boost its AI and cloud businesses,” it discusses Amazon’s investment into OpenAI. Specifically, it highlights that Amazon has strengthened the knot with OpenAI, pledging to invest up to $50 billion into the ChatGPT creator. As well, Amazon has crafted a partnership that targets OpenAI buying Amazon’s AI chips and to make its models available to Amazon engineers in order to develop consumer products. This deal is contributing to the ease of Wall Street’s concerns on Amazon’s massive sum of $200 billion capex spending and pushing forward its development in AI tools. Personally, I believe that this change will be successful for the pair, creating an increased revenue as they are hoping. Both parties may benefit from this investment, though there may be backlash from consumers who are skeptical about the AI tools and how they will be used in the future.
In this article titled, “Google’s AI chatbot allegedly told user to stage ‘mass casualty attack,’ wrongful death suit claims,” it informs on a recent lawsuit, of a father named Joel Gavalas accusing Gemini’s chatbox of convincing his son, Jonathan to commit “a mass casualty attack” and eventually commit suicide. This case was the latest of many suits accusing AI chatbots of encouraging self-harm or violence. Reacting against this particular accusation, Google made a statement establishing that Gemini is not designed for these accused purposes, but “unfortunately AI models aren’t perfect.” Personally, I believe that this raises a major red flag. As cases of this nature begin to pile up, concern grows on ethical uses of AI and how the bots respond to alarming problems. Having recurring cases that lead to such extreme measures appear to be a cause for concern and should be heavily regulated.
In this article titled, “Online age-verification tools spread across U.S. for child safety, but adults are being surveilled,” it covers new U.S laws designed for online child safety as they are implementing mandatory age-verification gates that use AI, targeting millions of American adults. This is causing major problems for social media companies as they are searching for the balance between legal compliance and privacy for users. Around half of the U.S have enacted or are advancing laws requiring platforms such as gaming services, social media and more to block underage users. A massive amount of sensitive identity data can now become targets for government demands and hackers. Fundamental information could be shared because of these surveillance strikes going against the free and open internet which has caused backlash from civil liberties advocates. In my opinion, although I see the benefits of implementing these tools, I believe that the cons outweigh the pros. There will be a concerningly high amount of surveillance on people’s accounts, contributing to the spread of private information that can certainly be utilised unethically when placed in the wrong hands.
In this article titled “AI’s got a gender gap: Women are more skeptical,” it explains that men are more enthusiastic about AI, while women are more skeptical according to CNBC’s annual survey. 69% of men polled to attest that AI is a “valuable assistant and collaborator,” while only 61% of women agreed with this statement. Half of the women in the survey noted that they view AI with suspicion and say that “using AI at work feels like cheating.” Only 43% of men agree. As a result of these statistics, company executives have spoken out, saying that without embracing AI, it will become more challenging for people that don’t utilize these tools that are already heavily implemented in the workplace. Personally, I believe that this will have several arising problems, specifically in the work world. If women persist with following their beliefs, it will widen the gender gap even more and provide incentives for women to “miss out on the first promotion to a manager level position.” In my opinion, many of these layers seem unjust and look as though they will be used unethically and could be pardoned as an excuse to lay off women, evidently creating a problem for the careers of several women.
In this article titled “Instagram to start parent alerts for teen suicide, self-harm searches as Meta trials continue,” it explains that Instagram will send parents alerts when teens repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm terms. As the social media giant is in the midst of two trials dealing with child safety on its platforms, they are rolling out a new parental supervision tool that will alert parents over email, text, Whatsapp or within Instagram. This will also be implemented for teens who engage in this type of conversation with their AI. Though I am aware of the benefits of this new tool, I am stuck on some major challenges that may arise with it. I personally believe that this could end up causing more harm than good, firstly, informing parents can create extreme troubles at home and prompt even more difficulty for the teen which can evidently lead to unfortunate results. As well, although it is not advised to use AI for help with self-harm or suicidal thoughts, that may be someones only resource for help, and by stripping that away and using it to inform parents, it is bound to create immense difficulty in the future for teens.
In this article titled “Elon Musk’s xAI wants to build a power plant in Mississippi. Regulators plan a key meeting on Election Day,” it discusses how Elon Musk’s xAI is seeking permission to build an extremely large, natural gas-burning power plant in Southaven, Mississippi to run the company’s nearby data centers. The NAACP has accused Mississippi’s environmental regulators of rushing to hold a crucial hearing on the same day as the state’s primary elections. As well, by holding the meeting in Jackson, almost 200 miles away from Southaven, those directly affected by the plant are unable to attend. XAI is investing billions of dollars into the area, but residents have argued against the lack of transparency from the company, and harmful noise and air pollution. From my perspective, I view this to be unjust. Citizens that should have the largest say in the matter, are being stripped away from their votes and arguments against it. The company is strategically preventing opposition to their acts. Meaning, that regardless of the environmental and ethical aspects of this project, any objections to it will likely be ignored, evidently posing a problem.
In this article titled “Netflix to Pay as Much as $600 Million for Ben Affleck’s AI Firm,” it states that Netflix is predicted to pay as much as $600 million for InterPositive, an AI moviemaking company created by Ben Affleck. It is said that this purchase will be one of the biggest to ever be made by a streaming leader. This new deal has prompted Hollywood workers to worry that studios will use AI to eliminate jobs and cut costs. As well, they are concerned that tech companies will steal their work and use it to train AI without compensation. Personally, I believe that these concerns appear to be rational and valid. Within Hollywood’s history these changes seem highly likely, which will ultimately diminish and exploit the work of the countless artists who work in this field. People will have to begin to tread carefully and hope that this new tool will be utilized to help their workers instead of a one sided gain for these big tech companies.
In this article, titled “Plans for large AI data centre approved,” it covers how the new plans for one of the UK’s largest data centers to be built in North Lincolnshire have been approved. The North Lincolnshire Council said the facility could attract up to £10 billion of investment and would bring about 900 highly-skilled long-term jobs to the area. I believe this new development could mean many things, firstly an influx of jobs is extremely helpful especially in this day and age. By creating 900 jobs from this data centre can make a difference for many. Though, there are some downsides as there are environmental impacts, especially due to the massive size, it definitely prompts a concern, especially for the communities that live near the data centre.
In this article, titled “Crypto.com lays off 12% of workforce as latest company to cite AI in job cuts,” it explains that the crypto exchange platform, crypto.com laid off 12% of their employees in order to further integrate artificial intelligence. The company’s CEO Kris Marszalek announced that the cuts were introduced for AI to step into “roles that do not adapt in our new world.” Furthermore, an increasing number of companies have been noted for mass layoffs due to AI, with several CEO’S stating that these are the kinds of jobs needed for their firms. Personally, I believe that this situation has many sides and perspectives. On one hand, it can be positive as companies are now able to expand and improve due to AI taking over complex jobs for humans. On the other hand, this can be seen as a negative change as a large sum of people are being removed from their jobs because of AI. This may cause some unrest and anger from the people that were laid off, and some concerns for the future of how quickly and commonly these AI replacements in the workplace will come to be.
In this article, titled “AI and bots have officially taken over the internet, report finds,” it covers how a news report shows the discovery that bots have surpassed human internet traffic. HUMAN Security’s State of AI Traffic report revealed that automated traffic grew eight times faster than human traffic increasingly over the years. Traffic from AI agents such as OpenClaw grew nearly 8,000% in 2025 in the year prior. A large side of the internet is AI, unknowingly instead of humans people are interacting with AI, evident in this spike of traffic. Personally, I believe that a portion of this raises some concerns, differentiating between bot and a human is very important, and the more it is integrated into the internet without our knowledge, the more uncertainty we’ll have in determining what is artificial intelligence or not. As well, it is replacing connections with humans, as AI chatbots are evidently arising in the internet. It has created discourse as some people believe that they need human communication to fully complete tasks, as some AI have been unable to help to the same calibre a person could.
In this article, titled “Meet Figure AI: The company behind the humanoid robot hosted by Melania Trump,” it discusses how Figure AI’s third generation humanoid robot appeared at a White House event next to Melania Trump. The first lady utilized the robot to promote her advocacy for artificial intelligence in children’s education, such as robots that can assist as interactive educators at home. Though, Figure AI and their billionaire CEO have much broader ambitions like utilizing the robots for generalized uses such as commercial and household tasks. Concerns have been raised that Melania’s endorsement may trigger a reexamination of an ongoing lawsuit the company was in last year because their robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. In my opinion, this raises some concern. The integration of these robots will have to be used very carefully, especially under the circumstances that there was a lawsuit on behalf of danger, and that the very same robot is intended for children in the future.
In the article titled “Microsoft’s diversity chief is leaving as company continues ‘AI-powered transformation,’” it covers the fact that Microsoft is making changes across human resources. Their chief diversity officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre is leaving to become a chief people officer at another company. Microsoft is very close to hiring an alternate new talent acquisition. The company stated that they are going through an “AI-powered transformation,” without providing any information on what this entails for their HR group, causing several executives to leave Microsoft in recent months. Personally, I think that this should raise some concerns. There has been an apparent trend of AI affecting jobs, whether it’s being laid off and replaced or leaving as a result of it. Sooner than we think, artificial intelligence will creep into people’s lives more than they know it, whether it will lead to positive or negative change is only for the future to tell.
In this article, titled “Meta makes ‘big bet’ on top leaders with stock options as pressure builds to catch up in AI,” it covers how Meta is granting stock options to key leaders as a tactic to keep talent as stress is growing for the company to strengthen its position in artificial intelligence. While OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have released new and popular AI features and models, Meta has had issues with finding a consistent strategy, although they plan to shell out up to $135 billion in capital expenditures this year. A Meta spokesperson says that these stock options will be a “big bet” for the company. Personally, I am unsure of how these new deals will work for the company. Meta’s involvement in these AI changes may not work as well as the company imagines because of the audience that is receiving these changes. Because of this, I have my doubts of how profitable this will be, of course there is no way of knowing so I am curious to see how this will play out in the future.
In this article, titled “OpenAI shutters AI video generator Sora in abrupt announcement,” it discusses how the tech firm has just “said goodbye” to Sora, which was released in 2024 and its stand-alone app was launched just six months ago. People used Sora’s AI video generator to make silly videos but also utilized the tool to generate violent or racist videos, as well as using copyrighted characters, deepfakes and misinformation which all received backlash. In my opinion, this is a very positive change. Though it will not remove all the harmful videos that are already on the internet, this is still a great step forward. Many peoples lives were negatively affected from this AI tool and now that it has been removed and change has been made against it, many people are extremely happy about this.
In this article titled “OpenAI Just Spiked Bob Iger’s Final Big Strategic Deal. For Disney, Maybe That’s Lucky,” it explains that as a result of Sora’s AI generator being shut down, Disney’s $1 billion deal has fallen through. Disney has publicly stated that they will find other ways and new platforms to enter the AI world. Though, at this point Disney may decide to “meet fans where they are” which means keeping their beloved characters away from AI machinery. I believe that the shut down of this deal will please many people, firstly the fans who did not want the artistry of Disney to be tainted by artificial intelligence but also, other Disney executives and Hollywood unions were not happy with the new deal. They laid out their worries that their work may turn into “AI slop” and stated that “Disney’s announcement with OpenAI appears to sanction its theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business off our backs.” Because of this, I believe that the termination of this deal is a positive change that will satisfy the masses, so long as Disney decides to give up on AI implementation into their company.
In this article, titled “OpenAI ads pilot tops $100 million in annualized revenue in under 2 months,” it informs that OpenAI’s emerging ads business has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue less than two months after the launch of its pilot in the U.S. The company stated in January that they plan to test ads with their free users and ChatGPT Go subscribers in the U.S. This decision was ridiculed by their rival Anthropic. Additionally, OpenAI is working with more than 600 advertisers and they will begin to explore testing in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Personally, I believe that others will start to follow the same mentality as Anthropic; that this is not a good idea and may enrage users. Though the company’s goal is to roll in profit, I think the contrary may happen as users may pull back from ChatGPT as a result of the ads.
In this article titled “Major outgoing CEOs are citing AI as a factor in their decisions to step down,” it covers how Coca-Cola CEO James Quincy and former Walmart CEO Doug McMillon have stated that the the reason for their departure is the next wave of artificial intelligence. Both CEO’s expressed their beliefs that their companies needed someone with a new energy and understanding of AI to manage the companies’ futures. This is one of the most major insights into how America’s corporate leaders are measuring up to the AI transition. Personally, I think this to be a positive change, though this is at the expense of others’ jobs, these CEO’s taking a stand can encourage others who have beliefs against AI to speak up and fight against it. Hopefully, a collection of people who will go against AI if they believe it isn’t being utilized positively which can create some change for our future.
In this article titled “Meta boosts investment in West Texas AI data center by over sixfold to $10 billion,” it discusses how Meta now plans to spend $10 billion for their data center in El Paso, Texas, raised up from a prior commitment of $1.5 billion. The goal of the data center is to provide 1 gigawatt of capacity online by 2028. Meta is increasing its investments in AI infrastructure, stating that their capital expenditures will reach up to $135 billion this year. Personally, I do not think this is good. Though, I do have to mention the benefits as it is said to lead to the creation of 300 new jobs. That is a positive thing for our future, but from another perspective, many people living in this area have expressed their concerns for water stability and surging electric costs. It is important that these voices are heard and all measures are taken for the data center to comply and work with, not against these concerns.
In this article titled, “Why Spotify AI more than music will be the secret to keeping subscribers,” it explores how a new ChatGPT integration with Spotify and a “Prompted Playlists” feature may be an indication that investing in AI may be the best counteraction to competitors such as Apple, Youtube and Amazon. The company has seen a stock price slump in the past year, though they say that their interactive DJ, introduced in 2023 has around 90 million subscribers and has a sum of 40 billion hours of user time spent. Personally, I believe that this article does have a point that AI may differentiate Spotify from its competitors which have the same music. Though, on the other hand, there is a large enough crowd that is hesitant to use Spotify because of its AI usage and if they were to increase artificial intelligence into their company then that may draw away even more of these customers.
NHL Prediction Unit
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CqsbIvBWU2HAjIbEyechbvhJszE33Q5jzGd_XV95RMw/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p
Winter Motion Capture
Halloween Project
WPGA Calendar Setup
