Digital Social Hour DSH #1382: AI Robots & Tech – The Surprising Future Unveiled

Host: Sean Kelly
Guests: Frank and Landon, Co-Founders of Easy Day Foundation
Date: May 24, 2025

Overview

This episode of Digital Social Hour features an in-depth conversation between host Sean Kelly and guests Frank and Landon, co-founders of the Easy Day Foundation. The discussion spans the rise of advanced AI robots, trends in venture tech, innovations in hospitality and live events, and the vision behind their rapidly growing veteran-focused nonprofit. The dialogue is filled with candid insights on the near-future of artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics, and the practicalities of running both high-impact charities and high-growth tech funds.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Easy Day Foundation: Mission and Major Event Launch

• Founding and Vision:
  • Frank explains that Easy Day Foundation is a nonprofit grant maker founded on Veterans Day 2023, focused on supporting veterans in mental health, job placement, and family support.
    • “We try to tailor a holistic approach to the process of reintegrating back into society after veterans leave the service.” (01:39 – Frank)
• Upcoming American Music Awards Partnership:
  • The Foundation is organizing a major event at the AMAs in Las Vegas (May 26), broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, to raise funds and awareness for veterans.
    • “To be able to partner with them after starting our organization 18 months ago... we’re very excited about it.” (02:30 – Landon)
• Charity Impact:
  • Over 4,000 veterans helped; 80%+ of funding goes directly to programs, well above many nonprofits.
    • “We had an event last May... raised over a million dollars. We’ve distributed a good chunk of that so far.” (03:06 – Frank)
  • Donations during the AMAs will go 100% to vetted veteran orgs.
    • “That’s our commitment through this event.” (23:57 – Landon)

Memorable Quote:

• “Our veterans make it possible for us to live in the best country in the history of the world. They don’t deserve to come home and have to struggle.” (26:06 – Frank)

Frank & Landon: Backgrounds and Careers

• Frank: Born and raised in Las Vegas with roots in hospitality; business school at USC and master’s at NYU.
• Landon: Background in venture capital, co-founded a tech-focused investment fund; first investment was in SpaceX.
  • “The first investment we made a decade ago into Space X.” (07:05 – Landon)

Investing in Tech & The Rise of Humanoid Robots

• Portfolio Highlights:
  • SpaceX; Archer Aviation (electric VTOL aircraft); Figure AI (humanoid robotics by Brett Adock); Liquid Death and more.
• Humanoid Robots with Figure AI:
  • Figure is building robots engineered for a “human-like world”—dexterous, able to interpret real-world commands without specific training (“zero shot”).
    • “The business is… they’re creating humanoid robots… The idea is: we live in a human-like world so the bodies that power this technology will be human-like.” (10:12 – Landon)
  • Realistic skins for robots and potential applications in logistics and manufacturing, not just service/hospitality.

Memorable Quote:

• “You could say to you, Sean, pick up the purple hat on the table and… the robot, without having that in its dataset, would know to pick that up and put it on its head, do whatever.” (10:14 – Landon)

AI in Hospitality, Day-to-Day Life, and Cautions

• AI in Hotels & Airports:

  • Frank values the human touch in hospitality; Host shares experience with “AI crazy” hotels in Miami (no front desk staff, entirely automated).
    • “In our business, we like to keep the aspects of like the human touch… So we’re not really trying to get rid of that just yet.” (11:59 – Frank)
  • AI-run wheelchairs at the airport navigating to passengers.

• Everyday Use Cases:

  • Host and Landon cite daily reliance on ChatGPT for content creation, health advice, and email scripting.
    • “It’s amazing for health, too. Like, you can get blood work done and put it in there and it’ll give you a plan on how to improve all your results.” (13:23 – Host)
  • AI for generating personalized routines and tracking health metrics.

• Fears, Deepfakes, and “Black Mirror” Moments:

  • Discussion of robots with human-like skins in China, viral videos of AI malfunctions, and hallucinations in LLM outputs.
    • “There are like hallucinations in the data. So like sometimes you’ll input something and it will actually come back with stuff that’s incorrect.” (14:54 – Landon)
  • Concerns over photorealistic deepfake videos.
    • “Three years ago I could tell—the mouth would be off. But now, is that AI or is that deepfake? It’s insane.” (15:41 – Host)
  • Worries about legal issues with fake celebrity ads.

Memorable Moment:

• “Have you seen though, coming out of China, they have like skins that they’ll actually put over the robot that look really human.” (14:20 – Landon and Host)

Broader Trends & Exciting Innovations

• Other Disruptive Startups:
  • Liquid Death (water branding), EVTOL flights in NY/SF, general developments in AI and robotics.
• Power Slap and Live Events:
  • Frank describes investment in live events (Power Slap, UFC); explosive social media reach.
    • “Power Slap is a great one. That’s really entertaining, people seem to love.” (17:12 – Frank)
  • Discussion about the intensity and technical skill in Power Slap, upcoming events, athlete backstories.

Notable Segment:

• Power Slap training, rules, and techniques (19:00–20:00)

Future Outlook: AGI, AI Bubbles, and Industry Adaptation

• Is AI a Bubble? Host and guests agree that AI is not going away; progress is rapid but AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is still further off than the hype suggests.
  • “I think my view is it will probably be a lot longer than we think. I don't think it's as near as everyone thinks...” (15:10 – Landon)
• Competition Among AI Providers:
  • Ongoing, rapid improvements and model “leapfrogging” (OpenAI, xAI, etc.).
    • “The rate of improvement with the models month over month… it's pretty incredible.” (15:22 – Landon)

Easy Day Foundation’s Next Steps & How to Support

• Laser Focus on AMAs event (May 26);
• Donations during live broadcast via QR codes, performances hosted by Jennifer Lopez, first-ever veteran award presented.
  • “It's going to be hosted by Jennifer Lopez. Nice. At the Fountain Blue here in Las Vegas. For the first time ever, we're doing a veteran award...” (22:54 – Frank)
• Rigorous Vetting of grantee organizations to ensure high throughput; every dollar goes to programs, not overhead.

Notable Quote:

• “If you’re feeling generous, go and donate at easyday.org… we’re trying to help people that really need it and really deserve it, most importantly.” (26:06 – Frank)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Humanoid Robots:
  • Landon: “You could say … pick up the purple hat on the table … the robot, without having that in its dataset, would know to pick that up…” (10:14)
• On Deepfakes & AI Video:
  • Host: “Three years ago I could tell—the mouth would be off. But now… is that AI or is that deepfake? It’s insane.” (15:41)
• On Veterans’ Needs:
  • Frank: “They don’t deserve to come home and have to struggle. We want to make it as easy as possible for them to have a sense of purpose … and reintegrate back into society…” (26:06)
• On Charity Transparency:
  • Landon: “To be able to know that the donation you’re making goes 100% through to the orgs that are actually working … is a really interesting piece of the puzzle…” (23:57)
• On the State of AI:
  • Landon: “There are like hallucinations in the data … sometimes you’ll input something and it will actually come back with stuff that’s incorrect.” (14:54)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic/Quote | |----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:17 | Easy Day Foundation’s mission and three pillar approach | | 02:13 | Announcement of AMAs Las Vegas partnership | | 07:05 | Landon’s background and SpaceX investment | | 10:12 | Figure AI and humanoid robots | | 11:24 | AI in hospitality; fully automated hotel/airport experiences | | 13:23 | Host’s health and productivity uses for ChatGPT | | 14:20 | Robots with human-like skins emerging in China | | 15:41 | Rise of deepfakes — “is that AI or is that deepfake?” | | 17:12 | Frank on Power Slap, UFC investments | | 22:54 | AMAs event features — Jennifer Lopez hosting, QR code donations, veteran award | | 23:57 | 100% donor throughput to veteran organizations | | 26:06 | Frank’s closing statement about the importance of veteran support |

Final Takeaways

This episode is a rich, sometimes mind-bending journey from the practicalities of running a high-impact nonprofit for veterans to the bleeding edge of humanoid robotics, AI, and disruptive entertainment. The guests emphasize the need for ethical, effective philanthropy, while also reveling in the excitement—and occasional unease—of living in a world transformed by AI. The conversation remains upbeat, candid, and accessible, loaded with both technical vision and human empathy.

Easy Day Foundation and its AMAs event may set a new bar for charity impact and innovation, while the tech insights remind us just how fast—and unpredictably—the future is arriving.