🗞️ YOUR DAILY ROLLUP

Top Stories of the Day

🚀 Grok 4 Is Live, Elon Musk’s Most Advanced AI Yet
Described by Elon as “what physicists use,” Grok 4 is a major leap over its predecessors. Trained on the Colossus supercomputer, it excels in logical reasoning, code generation, and multimodal input. During the live launch, Musk claimed, “we’ve run out of test questions to ask.” It outperforms rivals on benchmarks like GPQA, AIME, and Humanity’s Last Exam.

🌐 Perplexity Unveils Comet: An AI-Native Web Browser
Perplexity has launched Comet, a new AI-powered browser that combines search, summarization, and web navigation into a single interface. Unlike traditional browsers, Comet reads and reasons through pages in real time, letting users ask questions about content, highlight key info, or delegate research tasks to AI agents. It’s available to Max subscribers as part of Perplexity’s push to redefine how people explore the internet with AI.

🤖 Hugging Face Debuts $299 Open-Source Robot
Hugging Face has launched Reachy Mini, a $299 desktop robot designed to democratize robotics development with full AI integration and open-source hardware. Built for developers, it connects to Hugging Face’s platform and runs preloaded AI apps. Unlike expensive proprietary bots, Reachy Mini invites a DIY, community-driven model that could reshape robotics.

💰 Meta Poaches Apple Exec with $200M+ AI Pay Package
Meta has successfully recruited Ruoming Pang, who led Apple’s AI foundation models team, to join its newly formed “Superintelligence” division. According to Bloomberg, Meta offered Pang a compensation package exceeding $200 million spread over several years, a figure far beyond what Apple typically pays outside its CEO.

💸 Microsoft Shares $500M in AI Savings After Mass Layoffs
Just days after cutting 9,000 jobs, Microsoft revealed it’s redistributing $500 million in internal cost savings driven by AI efficiencies. The move highlights AI’s growing impact on workforce and bottom-line decisions. While execs tout improved productivity, the timing has sparked criticism around balancing automation gains with job preservation.

📊 MARKET PULSE

Microsoft’s $4B Bet on AI Education

Microsoft just launched Elevate Academy to train 20 million people in AI skills, embedding Copilot, Azure, and other tools directly into global education and workforce programs. It’s not just philanthropy, it’s a strategic play to shape how the world learns, works, and builds with AI. → Continue reading here.

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👾 FORWARD FUTURE ORIGINAL

The AI-Powered Ops Playbook

Overwhelmed by busywork while strategic projects stall? This step-by-step beginner’s guide shows how modern ops teams are using AI, not headcount, to scale smarter. Learn how to delegate tasks, automate workflows, and build intelligent systems that free your team to focus on what matters most. → Read the full article here.

👨‍💼 EMPLOYMENT

Your Next Job Interview Might Be with an AI

AI is no longer just scanning résumés—it’s now conducting the interviews. Job seekers across North America are encountering automated agents like “Alex” and “Eve,” designed to ask questions, analyze responses, and help companies screen more applicants faster. Startups like Ribbon AI are behind this shift, touting personalization and efficiency.

But many candidates say the experience feels hollow or dehumanizing, especially when AI can’t answer basic questions or offer next steps. Some appreciate the lack of pressure, but others feel used—wondering if they were applying for a job or just helping train the system. → Read the full article here.

🎓 EDUCATION

AI Is Crashing the Value of Knowledge—Universities Must Rethink What They Teach

Generative AI is driving down the cost of knowledge, shaking the foundation of higher education. Universities can no longer rely on selling access to information when AI can deliver it instantly and cheaply. Employers are responding by devaluing degrees for routine jobs and prioritizing skills AI can't mimic—like critical thinking, ethics, and emotional intelligence.

The knowledge premium is shrinking, but human judgment still holds value. To stay relevant, universities must pivot: audit courses, rethink assessments, and focus on teaching students how to work with AI, not compete against it. The new edge isn’t what you know—it’s how you think. → Read the full article here.

🛰️ NEWS

What Else is Happening

🚀 Super Micro Bets on EU AI Boom: The server maker plans to boost European manufacturing as AI demand surges, brushing off weak forecasts and doubling down on long-term global growth.

🕵 Circle to Search Gets Smarter: Google adds AI Mode and in-game help to Circle to Search, while Gemini Live expands to Samsung foldables, wearables, and third-party apps for deeper integration.

🔲 China Defies GPU Ban with 115K+ NVIDIA Chips: Beijing plans to install over 115,000 banned NVIDIA GPUs in new Xinjiang data centers to power large-scale AI training, sidestepping U.S. export controls and escalating geopolitical tensions.

🍟 McDonald’s Bot Leak Exposes 64M Applicants: A security flaw in Paradox.ai’s hiring assistant “Olivia” exposed chat logs of 64 million job seekers after a backend admin account was left vulnerable with the password “123456.”

👥 Blok Uses AI Personas to Test Apps: The stealth startup simulates user behavior with AI agents, letting devs test features before launch—no more risky live experiments or guesswork.

▶️ YouTube Targets AI-Generated Slop: Starting July 15, YouTube will tighten monetization rules to block mass-produced, repetitive content—aiming to curb the flood of low-quality AI videos.

📽️ VIDEO

21 Things You Should Be Using AI For...

Matt and team cover how to use AI for coding, contracts, life advice, travel, and more—20+ real use cases to boost productivity, creativity, and decisions. Get the full scoop! 👇

🧰 TOOLBOX

Streamlined Robotics, Smarter Sales Outreach, and AI-Powered Lending

🦾 Viam: Simplify robot development with cloud tools for automation, remote updates, and custom integrations.

🎯 Janus: Boost outbound sales with AI-optimized emails, CRM integration, and scalable lead engagement.

💰 Upstart: AI lending platform offering fast personal loans with fair terms via smart credit assessment.

That’s a Wrap!

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Thanks for reading today’s newsletter—see you next time!

Matthew Berman & The Forward Future Team

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