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- š§āš Subway Surveillance, Job Takeover Fears & the MetaāOpenAI Rivalry
š§āš Subway Surveillance, Job Takeover Fears & the MetaāOpenAI Rivalry
JetBrains drops a new coding model, Persona locks in $2B to stop identity fraud, and Meta fires back at OpenAI.
Good morning, itās Thursday. NYC rolls out behavior-tracking AI in subways (no facial recognitionāyet), a VC claims humans are obsolete, and a new model just dominated Putnam-level math with scary precision.
Plus, in todayās Forward Future Original, we examine how robots like Digit are transforming labor, safety, and AI ethicsāfrom warehouses to elder care.
Read on!
š MARKET PULSE
Persona Hits $2B Valuation as AI Escalates Internet Bot Crisis

As AI-generated bots increasingly flood the internet, identity verification startup Persona has secured a $2 billion valuation, positioning itself at the forefront of combating this digital epidemic. Trusted by major platforms like OpenAI, LinkedIn, and Reddit, Persona's AI-driven solutions are crucial in distinguishing genuine users from sophisticated bots, addressing the growing challenge of automated online interactions. ā Continue reading here.
šļø YOUR DAILY ROLLUP
Top Stories of the Day

š¦ Metaās LlamaCon Takes Direct Aim at OpenAI
At its first LlamaCon, Meta launched a public AI chatbot and Llama API, doubling down on open model access while directly challenging OpenAIās closed system strategy. The new tools expand the reach of Metaās Llama models, positioning them as developer-friendly alternatives to GPT services. Zuckerberg called open source an āunstoppable force,ā framing Metaās AI strategy as both ideological and competitive.
š„ DeepSeek-Prover Sets New Bar in AI Proofs
DeepSeek-Prover-V2 fuses step-by-step reasoning with Lean 4 proof generation, using reinforcement learning on subgoal chains built by DeepSeek-V3. The 671B-parameter model achieves 88.9% on miniF2F and cracks 49 PutnamBench problems. Its training includes cold-start synthetic proofs combining informal and formal logic. ProverBench spans AIME to advanced math topics.
š Muskās Grok 3.5 Generates Answers from Scratch
Elon Muskās xAI is rolling out Grok 3.5 to SuperGrok beta users next week, boasting a major shift: responses no longer rely on internet sources. Instead, the model uses internal reasoning to generate answers on complex topics like rocket science. This approach, similar to DeepSeekās, may reduce plagiarism risks but demands vast computing power. xAI is reportedly seeking major funding to scale.
š Waymo Teams Up with Toyota on Self-Driving Tech
Waymo and Toyota are exploring a partnership to bring autonomous driving to personally owned vehiclesāWaymoās first major step beyond ride-hailing. The collaboration could also add Toyota cars to Waymoās driverless fleet, signaling a broader strategy shift. If formalized, this deal would escalate the race for consumer-ready self-driving tech, putting new pressure on Tesla and others.
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š¾ FORWARD FUTURE ORIGINAL
Aligning the Steel: The New Ethics of Embodied AI

Noon Shift, Warehouse 74 Maria slips a fresh pair of steel-toe boots over aching feet, taps her ID badge, and eyes the newcomer at lane 3āa metal figure with turquoise panels and blinking status lights. "Digit," the floor lead calls it, "never needs a smoke break and lifts sixty-pound totes without a grunt."
Five minutes later, Mariaās handheld scanner beeps: shadow the robot, verify picks, record mis-grabs. Each time Digit pivots, she flinches, wondering whether its vision system really sees her. She likes the idea of fewer back strains. She dislikes the cold calculus that decides which jobs the machines absorb next. Ethics, for her, is the question whispered at the end of every shift: "Will Digit have my badge number tomorrow?" ā Read the full article here.
šļø SURVEILLANCE
New York Eyes AI Surveillance to Flag Subway Threats Before They Happen

The MTA is partnering with tech firms to test AI systems that scan live subway footage for suspicious behavior, aiming to alert police before a crime occurs. The initiative follows a year in which 10 people were murdered in NYC subways and public anxiety over random attacks remains high.
Crucially, officials say the system will flag behaviors, not identitiesāno facial recognition involved. But critics, including the NYCLU, warn of bias and overreach, calling it a āsweeping surveillance stateā disguised as safety. ā Read the full article here.
š¼ WORKFORCE
VC Claims AI Is Already Replacing WorkersāExperts Say Not So Fast

Venture capitalist Victor Lazarte says the quiet part loud: AI isnāt augmenting workersāitās replacing them. Speaking on a tech podcast, the Benchmark partner claimed roles in law and HR are already being automated out of existence. But reality lags behind the bravado.
Legal professionals are pushing back against courtroom AI blunders, and AI-led hiring systems are riddled with bias and inefficiency, creating more chaos than clarity. As one expert put it, inevitability isnāt a license for reckless deployment. ā Read the full article here.
š°ļø NEWS
What Else is Happening

š¤ JetBrains Drops Mellum Model: New 4B-parameter AI for code hits Hugging Face, but needs fine-tuning before itās ready to deploy.
š Metaās Llama Hits 1.2B Downloads: Its open AI models are spreading fast, with a billion users and thousands of spin-offs in the wild.
š AI Now Writes 30% of Microsoft Code: Nadella says AI excels at new code and may soon merge Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into one smart system.
𦾠Wikipedia Embraces AIāGently: New tools will speed up edits and translations, but humans stay in charge of curating the worldās knowledge.
šæ China Fires Back at Tariffs with Memes: Beijing invokes Korean War grit and AI-generated jabs to push back on Trumpās latest 145% tariff blitz.
š½ļø VIDEO
Qwen3 Is a Fantastic Open-Source Model
Quen 3 is a powerful open-source AI rivaling Gemini 2.5 Pro, with hybrid reasoning modes, top-tier code benchmarks, and lightning-fast performance on local machines. Get the full scoop in Mattās latest video! š
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Thatās a Wrap!
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The Forward Future Team
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