Good morning, itās Tuesday. If you, too, have been āgetting overā a cold for two weeks, congratulationsāyouāve officially hit the February limbo, where time is fake and so is recovery. Elsewhere in the universe (which AI is now helping us understand), Chevron is fueling the AI boom with natural gas, and OpenAI is turning the web into your personal research assistantāat a price that makes a Netflix subscription look like pocket change.
But the real headline? AI agents are stepping out of the chatbot shadows. In our latest Forward Future Original, we dive into how AI agents are evolving, leveraging advanced reasoning to tackle complex tasks.
šļø YOUR DAILY ROLLUP
Top Stories of the Day
š OpenAI's Deep Research: AI-Powered Online Investigator
OpenAI has introduced Deep Research, an advanced AI agent designed for rapid online research, source analysis, and report generation. Unlike typical chatbots, it actively browses the web, synthesizes data, and provides citations, making it a game-changer for fields like finance, science, and law. While powerful, OpenAI warns of potential accuracy issues. Available to ChatGPT Pro users for $200/month, it utilizes OpenAI o3, moving closer to autonomous AI assistants.
š§ AI-Driven Roads: The End of Potholes?
Scientists from Kingās College London and Swansea University, backed by Google Cloudās AI, have developed self-healing asphalt that autonomously repairs cracks. Using biomass waste and AI-optimized rejuvenators, microcracks heal in under an hour, mimicking natural regeneration. This innovation could slash road repair costs, extend road lifespans, and support the UKās net-zero goalsāpotentially eliminating potholes for good.
šø OpenAI & SoftBankās $3B AI Bet in Japan
OpenAI and SoftBank have launched SP OpenAI Japan, a $3 billion joint venture to expand enterprise AI services. Their AI system, Cristal Intelligence, will enhance productivity across SoftBankās businesses, including Arm Holdings. This move comes amid market shifts following Chinaās DeepSeek AI release and builds on OpenAIās $500 billion Stargate project with Oracle. SoftBank plans to invest $3 billion annually in AI integration.
š The Beatles Win Grammy for AI-Assisted Song
The Beatlesā AI-enhanced song āNow and Thenā won Best Rock Performance at the Grammys, marking the first AI-assisted track to take home the award. Rather than generating artificial vocals, Paul McCartney used advanced noise reduction to isolate and restore John Lennonās voice from a decades-old, low-quality demo. The band first attempted this in the ā90s, but only after seeing AIās potential in the Get Back documentary did they complete the song in 2022.
š¤ OpenAI Eyes Robots, Smart Jewelry, and Quantum AI
OpenAIās latest trademark filing hints at AI-powered hardware, including smartwatches, VR headsets, smart jewelry, and humanoid robots with learning abilities. It also references AI chips and quantum computing, aligning with reports of OpenAIās semiconductor ambitions. While the company has hired robotics experts and secured hardware partnerships, CEO Sam Altman says prototypes are years away.
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š¾ FORWARD FUTURE ORIGINAL
AI Agents: The Main Character of 2025
When you think about where AI is headed then, get rid of the clichĆ©s. Donāt think about Terminators and superintelligences; but equally, donāt think about basic chatbots or static interfaces. Instead, imagine an entity that helps you navigate the complexities of modern life, acts as your representative, your advisor and counselor, who lives life alongside you, helping you carry out tasks on your computer and eventually out in the world. A companion that sees what you see online and hears what you hear, personalized to you. Imagine that overload you carry quietly, subtly diminishing. Imagine clarity. Imagine calm.
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, Times
In recent years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has led to significant progress in various areas. One particularly notable trend is the emergence of AI agents that are able to perform complex tasks autonomously through the use of large language models and advanced reasoning capabilities. This development promises to fundamentally change both the economy and our everyday lives.
AI agents are autonomous software units that are designed to make decisions and perform actions independently in order to achieve specific goals. In contrast to traditional systems based on predefined rules, modern AI agents use LLMs to understand and generate natural language. This enables them to act flexibly in a variety of contexts and adapt to new situations.
The integration of LLMs into AI agents significantly expands their capabilities. By processing large amounts of data, they can recognize patterns, make connections and draw conclusions from them. This enables them to perform complex reasoning, i.e. the ability to draw logical conclusions and solve problems that go beyond simple tasks. One example of this is the development of systems that make decisions in real time, drawing on a variety of information sources. ā Continue reading here.
š PHYSICS 2.0
AI Poised to Revolutionize Physics ā and Predict the Fate of the Universe
The Recap: AI is rapidly transforming fundamental physics, tackling complex problems that have long stumped scientists. A new wave of AI-driven research suggests it could even predict the ultimate fate of the universe, offering insights into dark matter, quantum mechanics, and cosmology.
AI is accelerating discoveries in physics by identifying patterns in vast datasets, solving equations that are otherwise intractable, and proposing new theories.
Breakthroughs in quantum mechanics and relativity are emerging, with AI uncovering novel solutions to Einsteinās field equations and deepening our understanding of spacetime.
Dark matter and dark energy studies are benefiting from AIās ability to analyze cosmic data, potentially revealing their true nature.
AI-driven simulations are modeling the universeās evolution at unprecedented scales, refining predictions about its ultimate fate.
Neural networks are replacing traditional models in areas like turbulence physics, where they outperform classical mathematical approaches.
Scientists warn of interpretability issues, as AI often produces results without clear human-understandable reasoning, raising concerns about trust and verification.
The technology could redefine the scientific method, shifting from human intuition-driven hypotheses to AI-generated theories that scientists must then interpret.
Forward Future Takeaways: AIās integration into physics is not just an assistive toolāitās becoming a fundamental player in theory generation and discovery. If AI can accurately model the universeās future, it could reshape our understanding of reality itself. However, ensuring transparency and interpretability in AI-driven breakthroughs will be crucial to maintaining scientific rigor. ā Read the full article here.
ā” ENERGY
Chevron Bets Big on AIās Power Hunger with Natural Gas Plants
The Recap: Chevron is jumping into the AI-driven energy race by planning to build natural gas power plants that will directly supply electricity to data centers. This move highlights how energy giants are shifting strategies to meet the soaring power demands of artificial intelligence while grappling with uncertainty about future energy needs.
Chevron is partnering with Engine No. 1 to develop gas-powered plants, marking a shift from its traditional oil and gas focus to direct electricity generation.
The first plants could be online within three years, with initial operations disconnected from the grid for faster deployment.
AI's electricity demand is skyrocketing, with data centers projected to consume up to 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028, up from 4.4% in 2023.
Tech stocks took a hit amid uncertainty, with Nvidiaās shares plunging 17% after a Chinese startup demonstrated AI advancements with lower energy consumption.
Rival energy firms are also expanding in natural gas, with Constellation Energy acquiring Calpine for $16.4 billion and NextEra planning more gas-fired plants.
Tech companies like Microsoft and Google face a dilemma, needing fossil fuel-based energy to meet immediate AI demands despite their long-term clean energy commitments.
Carbon capture remains a future consideration, as Chevron and Engine No. 1 are eyeing sites that could support emissions reduction tech but arenāt implementing it from the start.
Forward Future Takeaways:
Chevronās foray into AI-driven power supply reflects a growing shift among fossil fuel giants toward electricity generation as AIās energy needs explode. However, volatility in the AI and energy marketsāalongside pressure to transition to cleaner sourcesāraises questions about how long natural gas will remain the go-to solution. Whether this move cements Chevron as a leader in AI-era energy or leaves it overexposed to shifting tech trends will depend on how the AI power race unfolds. ā Read the full article here.
š°ļø NEWS
Looking Forward
š AI Predicts Solar Storms Early: Machine learning analyzed decades of solar data, forecasting CMEs with high accuracy. This could protect power grids and improve aurora forecasts!
š
Heroās AI App Combines It All: Former Meta employees built Hero, an all-in-one AI-powered productivity app. It merges calendars, to-dos, and notesātaking on Google Calendar and more!
š¼ AI Tax Tool Gains Professionalsā Trust: Thomson Reuters and Anthropic integrated Claude AI into tax software, improving efficiency while ensuring security. Early users report major time savings and enhanced accuracy!
š OpenAI Expands AI Data Centers: Stargate is securing sites in Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Wisconsin for massive AI hubs. With $45B raised so far, funding efforts continue!
š± Googleās X Spins Out Agri-AI Startup: Heritable Agriculture uses AI to analyze plant genomes for better crop yields and sustainability. Backed by Google, it aims to modernize farming without genetic modification!
š½ļø VIDEO
DeepSeek R1 Cloned for $30?! PhD Student Stunning Discovery
A UC Berkeley PhD student reproduced DeepSeekās "aha moment," where an AI model autonomously develops reasoning skills using reinforcement learning. By applying this to the Countdown game, the model learned self-verification and search strategies. The experiment, costing just $30, highlights AIās potential to evolve reasoning without explicit programming. Get the full scoop in Mattās latest video! š
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AI, Work, and the Human Hustle: Lars Thomsenās Take on the Future We Missed
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