Updates and Insights for Today

1. You Could Be Paying $40K for a School Where AI Teaches (But “Guides” Motivate)

2. You Must Face the New Threat: AI Designs Biological “Zero Day” Attacks Before Anyone Sees Them

3. You’re About to Pay $5 for AI-Journalism Access — Here’s Why It Matters (And Who’s On Board)

4. The latest in AI tech

5. AI tools to checkout

AI News

You Could Be Paying $40K for a School Where AI Teaches (But “Guides” Motivate)

Quick Summary
Alpha School in Austin charges about $40,000/year and runs academic lessons entirely through AI-driven software. Real humans in the classroom act as “guides” who coach, support, and hold small one-on-one sessions — not teach core content.

Key Insights

• Students spend only two morning hours on core topics (math, reading, science), working through personalized, adaptive AI modules.

• Guides (not teachers) are paid high salaries and focus on encouragement, mentoring, and one-on-one “concentrated time” sessions (~30 minutes weekly).

• In the afternoons, students engage in projects, public speaking, financial literacy, and group workshop interactions.

• The school claims students test in the top 1% on standard assessments, but skeptics argue the AI-first model is still experimentally unproven.

Why It’s Relevant
You may soon face choices between legacy schools and AI-augmented alternatives. Alpha School showcases a bold bet: allow AI to handle academic instruction and reserve human roles for coaching and connection. If effective and scalable, this model could shift how we fund, staff, and design schooling worldwide. For parents, teachers, and policymakers, it forces a question: what is the ideal balance between machine and human in education?

📌 Read More: CBS

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You Must Face the New Threat: AI Designs Biological “Zero Day” Attacks Before Anyone Sees Them

Quick Summary
Microsoft researchers warn that AI systems can invent novel biological threats that evade current biosecurity screening—creating a “zero day” in biology. These AI-designed molecules can pass defenses that detect known pathogens, exposing gaps in global safety frameworks.

Key Insights

• Generative AI models were used to redesign known toxins so variants bypass existing DNA/protein screening filters, yet retain biologically dangerous traits.

• The study is framed as the first “zero day” in biosecurity—an attack vector unknown to defenders until it’s already exposed.

• Microsoft emphasizes the dual-use nature of protein design AI: the same tools that aid medicine could facilitate bioweapons.

• Current biosafety systems (sequence similarity, motif matching, known pathogen databases) are inadequate against AI’s capacity to generate novel threats.

Why It’s Relevant
You’re looking at a paradigm shift in risk: AI no longer just amplifies existing biological threats, it can create new ones outside established detection regimes. For governments, biotech firms, and security teams, this means reactive defenses won’t be enough—you’ll need proactive, adaptive safety measures. That shift in posture can protect public health, innovation, and global stability before catastrophic misuse occurs.

📌 Read More: MIT Technology Review

You’re About to Pay $5 for AI-Journalism Access — Here’s Why It Matters (And Who’s On Board)

Quick Summary
Perplexity introduces Comet Plus, a $5 subscription (bundled into Pro/Max tiers) that gives users—and their AI agents—direct access to premium journalism. Launch partners include major publishers like CNN, The Washington Post, Le Monde, and Condé Nast.

Key Insights

• Comet Plus is designed to shift away from click-driven monetization and reward journalism based on human and AI engagement with content.

• Launch partners include CNN, Condé Nast (e.g. Wired, The New Yorker), Fortune, Le Figaro, Le Monde, The L.A. Times, The Washington Post.

• The subscription is standalone $5 but is included at no extra cost for Perplexity Pro and Max users.

• Perplexity frames the model as enabling publishers to “own the direct relationship” with readers, replacing pageview-race incentives with trust and content value.

Why It’s Relevant
You’re seeing a test of how journalism might be monetized in the age of AI. If Comet Plus scales, it could undercut the dominance of ad and traffic metrics in news media. For readers and AI users, it promises cleaner, trustworthy sources without paywall friction. For publishers, it offers a possible route to sustainable revenue tied to usage and credibility rather than clicks alone.

📌 Read More: Perplexity

The latest in AI tech

1. Anthropic Brings Claude Into Slack
Anthropic now allows Claude to integrate directly with Slack workspaces, letting users invoke it in threads or DMs for research, message drafting, or insight extraction. Claude can also pull needed context from Slack channels you already have access to. Org admins govern permissions, preserving security boundaries.
📌 Read More: Anthropic

2. (BBC Article – Access Blocked by Robots.txt)
We couldn’t fetch the content from the BBC link due to access restrictions. If you provide another working URL or copy the text, I can generate a summary right away.
📌 Read More: BBC

3. DoorDash Introduces Dot Delivery Robot
DoorDash launched Dot, a compact autonomous robot built to handle local deliveries on sidewalks, roads, and bike lanes at speeds up to 20 mph. It’s part of their Autonomous Delivery Platform, coordinating robots, dashers, and drones in real time to optimize logistics. Initial rollout in Tempe and Mesa, Arizona.
📌 Read More: DoorDash

4. OpenAI’s New Social App Overflows With Deepfakes
OpenAI’s app Sora, launched in early access, already features unsettling, hyper-realistic deepfakes of Sam Altman appearing in bizarre, surreal scenarios. The app allows users to generate or permit others to produce videos using their “cameo”—raising big red flags about identity misuse and disinformation.
📌 Read More: TechCrunch

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 AI Tools to check out

Colossyan: AI Video Generator

Colossyan transforms text, PDFs, PPTs, or scripts into narrated videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. It supports translations into 70+ languages, interactive video elements, brand kits, and API integration.
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👉 Try It Here: AltTextLab

FirstSign: AI-Driven Feedback & Idea Testing

FirstSign lets you validate ideas fast by simulating user interviews with generative-AI agents. It groups themes and surfaces insight so you get honest feedback without manual surveys.
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Typeless: Voice → Polished Text Transcription

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