D&T Issue 141

Hi there!
It’s issue #141 of DNT Weekly and the week has been quite eventful. Here’s what we’ve been reading.

AI is now fully mainstream. If you weren’t already conviced, Microsoft is in the process of buying out a huge stake in the company ($10bn investment) and is going to be adding in the service into the Azure cloud services soon.

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You are what you eat, goes the adage, or simply put, what you consume essentially (and literally) makes up what you are. Much like how the agricultural revolution was vital to our cognitive arrival, the upcoming information revolution aims to solve our existential one.

In a rare sit-down before a small audience, this editor spent an hour with Sam Altman to discuss his views of the future.

They can’t all be winners. This year, CES toasted some of tech’s epic fails in the Gallery of Flops.

How do you make progress when the work is always in flux? What if some of the best features actually—gasp!—start with a solution instead of a problem? Chief Product Officer of Figma, Yuhki Yamashita shares some words.

Suit seeks damages from Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt.

An AI language model is going to be used during an upcoming legal hearing to defend someone in a real case.

Paytm’s shares were hammered in the stock market — not because Indians don’t want to invest in startups, but because these unicorns are valuing their businesses too high.

“In the absence of a law regulating edtech companies, these profit-mongering giants are operating on a business model built around exploitative work culture,” said Chidambaram

Outlook’s key design challenge is that of many heritage products: how do you chart a path forward that modernizes a beloved product, while also honoring its legacy and maintaining familiarity for the millions of people who rely on it?

When success can be measured in followers, likes and click-throughs, the concept of the “personal brand” seems a sound investment—but Debbie Millman isn’t buying it. Here, the revered designer and brand consultant looks at the challenge of turning the messiness of humanity into a market-safe commodity.

The scientific evidence is clear: the only celestial body that can support us is the one we evolved with. Here’s why.