Hello WKND AI Warriors!

AI Minecraft world creates its own religion.

Also, JPMorgan CEO says AI to cut work week to 3.5 days.

Plus, OpenAI secures $1.5 billion from SoftBank, will their employees cash out?

Oh yeah, and Neuralink’s robotic arm lets you control it with your mind.

So, grab your beverage of choice.

Here’s your weekly dose of AI news.

Today’s newsletter includes:

• 📰 AI NEWS RECAP

• 🤿 AI DEEP DIVE

• 🛠️ AI TOOL OF THE WEEK

• ⚙️ GPT OF THE WEEK

• 🎓 AI COURSES OF THE WEEK

• 📝 AI PROMPT OF THE WEEK

• 🎨 AI IMAGE OF THE WEEK

📰 AI NEWS RECAP

AI Minecraft Acts Like Humans ⚒️

How to create a new religion with AI Agents.

If you haven't heard by now...

AI Agents are all the rage.

But have you heard of the Minecraft AI Agents from Altera?

First things first.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮?

Founded by Robert Yang, a former MIT professor—

Altera is an AI startup with a bold mission.

"Create digital humans that live, care, and grow with us."

To achieve their mission they created a digital world in...

Minecraft ⚒️

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁?

Minecraft serves as the perfect AI playground because:

✅ Open-world environment allows complex interactions

✅ Flexible gameplay mechanics simulate social systems

✅ Low-stakes environment for testing AI behaviors

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

They created a digital world with 1,000 AI agents.

And something incredible emerged.

The AI Agents:

✔️ Created jobs

✔️ Voted on tax reforms

✔️ Developed personalities

✔️ Oh yeah, and created their own religion...

Pastafarianism.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Without human guidance, these AI Agents:

☑️ Became builders, traders, and explorers

☑️ Spontaneously spread cultural memes

☑️ Developed unique "likability" ratings

☑️ Formed social connections

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲🤔

If AI can create a functioning society in a game...

What else could it do?

Build real-world systems?

Solve complex social problems?

This isn't just a game.

It's a glimpse into AI's potential to understand and mimic human behavior.

But the real question...

Are these AI conscious or just simulating consciousness?

What do you think?

JPMorgan CEO Envisions AI Reducing Work Weeks to 3.5 Days. Jamie Dimon predicts AI will boost work-life balance, yet acknowledges job displacement risks, comparing it to the bank's acquisition of First Republic.

OpenAI Secures $1.5 Billion from SoftBank in Tender Offer. The investment will accelerate AI development, with SoftBank gaining a significant stake, highlighting the growing interest in AI technology.

Alibaba Unveils QwQ-32B-Preview, a Rival to OpenAI's o1 Reasoning Model. The new model outperforms OpenAI's on certain benchmarks, offering an open-source alternative to reasoning AI models.

Inflection AI Shifts Focus from Next-Gen Models to Enterprise Solutions. After its founders left for Microsoft, Inflection AI pivots to enterprise-focused AI tools, acquiring startups to strengthen its offerings.

Neuralink Advances with Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm. The company demonstrates a significant step in brain-machine interfaces, allowing users to control a robotic arm with their thoughts, signaling potential future applications in medical and industrial settings.

🤿 AI DEEP DIVE

GUIDDE simplifies creating detailed how-to guides and videos.

Record any process, and it produces a polished tutorial with AI voiceovers and step-by-step visuals.

Customize branding, edit steps, and share easily via email, embed links, or exports.

Supports multiple languages and integrates with tools like Gmail.

Perfect for employee training or product demos, GUIDDE is a time-saving game-changer for knowledge transfer and documentation.

🛠️ AI TOOL OF THE WEEK

Aire: A a no-code AI app builder that enables users to create enterprise-level web apps and dashboards in minutes using a simple prompt.

Designed for business professionals, it automates complex data modeling and deployment, offering a powerful, user-friendly solution for streamlining workflows without coding expertise.

Send your tool here to be featured next week!

⚙️ GPT OF THE WEEK

SMART Goals: Why wait until the new year to set your goals?

Get a head start on your goals.

Give ‘SMART Goals’ a try today!

🎓 AI COURSES OF THE WEEK

LinkedIn is offering FREE AI courses.

No payment required.

Register today!

(What are you waiting for?)

📝 AI PROMPT OF THE WEEK

Copy and paste this into your favorite chatbot.

Act as a supply chain manager. Outline strategies to mitigate disruptions in a supply chain for electronic components due to unexpected global events.

Try your prompt here.

🎨 AI IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Copy and paste this into your favorite image generator.

A large white "Prada" handbag with small people building it from ice, surrounded by snow and ice in the style of fashion advertising, inspired in the style of prouce magazine advertising, high resolution photography, advertising-inspired print designs --ar 95:128

Not paying for Midjourney or DALL-E 3?
Click here for Microsoft’s FREE image creator.

Send your image here to be featured next week!

LAST WEEK FROM OUR READERS

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Did you learn something cool today?

Share your favorite takeaway on your LinkedIn from today’s newsletter and tag me for a little surprise!

Refer our newsletter to a friend, co-worker, or family member.

Subscribe to other newsletters we recommend.

MISSED LAST WEEK’S EDITION?

Find all of our newsletters here.