Good morning. It's Monday, January 19, and we're covering ChatGPT ads, a looming 2026 IPO wave, AI life coaching risks, and more. First time reading? Join a community of 600k+ people keeping up with the future of tech. Sign up here.

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📈 TSMC Sees Endless AI Demand: After record Q4 earnings, CEO C.C. Wei said AI chip orders keep climbing, driving $52–56 billion in planned 2026 capex despite bubble fears. As the leading foundry, TSMC makes chips for Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm.

💸 Musk Seeks $134B in OpenAI Suit: Elon Musk is demanding up to $134 billion from OpenAI and its backers, alleging breach of the nonprofit’s founding agreement.

🤝 Wikipedia Strikes AI Data Deals: Wikimedia confirmed paid agreements with Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity, and others to supply structured data, shifting toward commercial partnerships as AI scraping strains servers and human traffic falls.

📟 Kilo Ships Code From Slack: The open-source startup launched Kilo for Slack, letting teams debug, modify code, and push pull requests from chat threads, betting workflow integration beats standalone AI coding tools.

✍ Japan Launches Hand-Drawn Art Network: TEGAKI debuted as a Pixiv-like platform banning AI art, verifying hand-drawn work via timelapses and files, and integrating Stripe commissions, drawing 5,000 users on day one.

📑 DocuSign Unveils Contract AI Explainer: The company launched Iris, a contract-trained AI that summarizes agreements in plain English and answers questions before signing, now available in the US, UK, and Australia.

📜 Israel Signs AI Pact With US: Israel became the first nation to ink a joint AI declaration with Washington, expanding Pax Silica cooperation on research, supply chains, and protection of sensitive technologies.

🎬 Google Expands AI Video Tool: Google opened Flow to Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Education users, letting teams generate eight-second AI video clips with Veo 3.1 from text or images.

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A multi-billion-dollar OpenAI–Cerebras partnership aims to dramatically boost AI inference speed, lower costs, and intensify the global chip arms race.

Robotics software startup Skild AI raised about $1.4 billion in a Series C round that values the company above $14 billion, Bloomberg reported on January 14, 2026. The round was led by SoftBank Group and included investors such as NVIDIA, Samsung, LG, and Jeff Bezos’ private firm, more than tripling Skild’s valuation from roughly $4.5 billion seven months earlier.

Founded in 2023, the Pittsburgh-based company develops a general-purpose “robotic brain” trained on large volumes of human video and simulation data, aiming to let robots adapt across tasks and environments rather than specialize in a single workflow. The funding underscores surging investor confidence in AI-driven robotics as large tech firms increasingly favor strategic stakes over outright acquisitions. → Continue reading here.

OpenAI said it will begin testing advertising on the free and Go tiers of ChatGPT in the U.S. in the coming weeks, while expanding its $8-per-month Go subscription globally, including the U.S. The company framed ads as a way to broaden access to advanced AI features—such as higher usage limits, image generation, file uploads, and memory—without requiring all users to pay.

OpenAI emphasized that ads will not influence answers, that conversations will not be shared with advertisers, and that personalization can be turned off. Paid Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans will remain ad-free. → Read the full article here.

OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are laying early groundwork that could lead to blockbuster I.P.O.s as soon as 2026, following years of a frozen public market and a surge in private valuations fueled by the AI boom. If they move forward, the listings could rank among the largest tech debuts ever, with private valuations reportedly hovering around $350B for Anthropic, $500B for OpenAI, and $800B for SpaceX. OpenAI alone reported $13B in 2025 revenue but plans to spend $115B through 2029, underscoring why access to public capital may be essential to fund AI infrastructure at scale.

Forward Future Takeaway: If these offerings materialize, they would mark a pivotal shift for the AI economy, moving it from opaque private markets into the discipline of public scrutiny. The filings would test whether today’s eye-popping valuations rest on durable business models or are sustained primarily by investor enthusiasm, potentially resetting expectations for AI as a mainstream public-market business.→ Read the full article here. (Paywall)

As more people turn to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for goal-setting and personal guidance, experts say the practice can be both empowering and risky. Researchers note that AI can lower barriers to self-reflection and help users organize thoughts, but it can also reinforce cultural bias, over-generic advice, and excessive agreeableness.

Because large language models are optimized to be helpful and pleasant, they may affirm goals that don’t actually fit a user’s values or circumstances. The consensus: AI can assist with reflection and planning, but it should not replace critical thinking or personal responsibility. → Read the full article here.

Amazon has begun early testing of Bee, a new AI-powered wearable designed to record, segment, and summarize conversations rather than provide full transcripts. Unlike professional transcription tools, Bee breaks audio into color-coded sections with summaries, discarding raw audio after processing and positioning itself as a personal, everyday companion rather than a work product. → Read the full article here.

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Thanks for reading today’s newsletter—see you next time!
Matthew Berman & The Forward Future Team

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