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Samsung held acquisition talks with Physical Intelligence, the robotics company. And this is making the OpenAI robotics push a little bit more complicated. Meta has launched something called Content Seal AI watermarking. This is three years after they promised to put AI labels on content. Synthesia launched Roleplay Sessions. Their goal is to let employees talk with AI to improve their conversations in a bunch of different areas and they get judged on it. Samsung is in talks to back mistral at a 20 billion euro valuation. And NextEra, Duke and 200 other utility companies signed Trump's AI electricity pledge. Last week I just started running my first ever Facebook ad campaign for my startup AI Box AI, which up until now has grown completely organically. We're ready to invest a little bit into paid marketing. The top performing ad I wanted to tell you about because I thought it was pretty funny. It's basically, it looks like a news clip, it's like says tech Alert and it's me in the kind of big banner image looking shocked. And there's like in the top corner, there's like a zoom in on like an image and camera lens. And the headline on it says, now Claude makes images, no extra apps needed. And the caption on it says, get Claude to generate images. Every top image model right inside the chat. No new apps, no API keys. Anyways, I thought it was funny. This is Basically, I've tried 77 different ad types and styles and variations and that is the winner of 77. So I figured if I was going to tell you guys about the new MCP on AI box that lets you generate 80 different AI models inside of Claude, I was going to just tell you guys the top performing thing Facebook ad. And yeah, it's super cool. I've been using it all week. Anytime that you want to generate an image inside of Claude, you could just say, Claude generated an image of xyz and you just basically put in the prompt that you give to chat, GPT or any other image generator and it will pull the image straight into Claude. Claude can then go use it. The thing that I mostly am using it for, number one Facebook ads because I've been creating 77 of them this week. Also though, I've done it with a bunch of different websites where I'm like, hey, I generate this, you know, website and we all know what a cloud website looks like. It's pretty generic. And so I'll say, hey, generate custom graphics for each section of this website. Sometimes I'll even say, hey, go generate, you know, take a screen. I'll take a screenshot of what the website looks like. And I'm like, regenerate this website, an image of this website where the design looks a lot better. And it will use an image generator to kind of fill it out with custom graphics, make it look better. And then I'll say, hey, now go and take each of the little custom graphics in this image and generate an image for each of those and embed it into the website. This has basically turned my websites and apps that I've done from looking super basic and generic to looking super customizable or custom. Right. So anyways, very cool use case if you want to check it out. It's AI box, AI mcp. I'll leave a link in the description. Speaking of Claude and Anthropic, Anthropic held acquisition talks with Physical Intelligence this spring. IT is an $11 billion robotic startup and the deal didn't actually close. But both Anthropic and OpenAI are now really racing to try and build robotic capabilities. But because they're both going for the new big ipo, they're both gonna, you know, debut on the stock market later this year. And robotics is such a hot area, it's kind of interesting. SpaceX, you know what the Space Data center route, which Sam Altman says is a scam, Elon Musk says is gonna happen, but whatever way you wanna cut it, it was a very novel, very new kind of competitive advantage that SpaceX had. OpenAI and anthropic, I think both wanna get into something physical. OpenAI has done a lot with, you know, physical data centers. I think that's gonna play, you know, bode really well for them. But I think both of them wanna get into robotics, which is kind where we're going to have, you know, robots that have AI embedded into their brains. One thing I wanted to clarify is that while Physical Intelligence is a quote unquote robotics company, they don't have robots. They've raised a billion dollars and they make a very popular AI model that's used for controlling a lot of robots. It's used in academic research. It's called PI 0.5 and that's, you know, the symbol PI. OpenAI acquired 17 companies since 2023, and they just launched an official robotics lab in San Francisco. Anthropic is testing robot control through their Safety Research Group. Both of these companies share investors in Physical Intelligence, including Koshala Ventures, Thrive Capital and Founders Fund. So there is definitely some overlap in kind of their different robotic strategies. I think if you understand the physical world, that's going to be super essential for the next generation of these AI systems that OpenAI and Anthropic are both coming out with. So a model like this that can help robotics would be incredibly valuable, not just for the model, but because it has the ability to go and collect real world data when it's put inside of a robot. You know, we have these different companies that are paying, I think Swift might be one of them, but it's literally just paying people to accept a robo or a person in their home to come and clean their home while wearing a hat with a camera on it. And it's essentially the camera's recording that's going to be used for training robots. But if you actually have a model that's used for the robots and then you can embed that in the robots and then you can send them out to do tasks, you can have the robots capturing data to help train other robots. I mean, there's a lot of different interesting use cases. I mean, maybe at that point if the robots are training, they'll train in a bad way. So maybe we still want to get the humans for the training data right now. But either way, this is a really critical company that both of them are looking at. Meta has just launched Content Seal. They launched it just this month. It is an invisible watermark that identifies images made with their new Muse model. So three years ago they promised, you know, they're like, hey, look, we're going to get these labels on all of the different AI generated content that's on like Facebook and Instagram and stuff. And this watermark in particular only works on Muse images. So. So obviously there's millions of AI photos that Meta generated since 2023, and those are not detectable by the tool. I think there's a bunch of different articles online where people are kind of begging on Meta for that. I'm going to be honest, at the end of the day, I think most image generation models with AI, like, they're getting really good, but they're not perfect and they're pretty. I'd say they're detectable now. We're not like past the undetectable phase. So as far as, like, a lot of people are kind of begging on Meta, saying, like, look, they promised this and all of These images since 2023 are undet. And Meta's models in particular, in my opinion, are pretty bad. And so I'm not super concerned about all of their old image models. This new Muse image model is really good. And so I'm happy that they're adding it here. Detection only runs through a rate limited web tool though, so it's not actually inside of Meta AI where users are actually seeing all the AI generated images. And Meta hasn't said when or if they're going to add detection to their Chatbot content. Seal is basically copying what Google did with Synth ID, which OpenAI already uses. But Meta built their own standard they didn't really want. I think they were even. It's actually funny. So they were actually on the same steering committee for C2PA, which is kind of an industry wide standard, but they just went and rolled their own thing. I mean tech companies are going to do this. Synthesia, a startup that I have been using for many, many years, way before ChatGPT launched a new product called Roleplay Sessions on Wednesday. And basically it lets employees practice conversations with AI avatars and then it's going to grade them against a rubric. So this is a company based out of the uk and they're basically betting that enterprises are going to pay more for proof that training actually changes behavior, not just cheaper video clips. So a lot of the early customers for this include one of Europe's top three firms by market value, a top five Fortune 100 firm, and one of the world's largest recruitment companies. It's always funny to me that like no one wants to put their names on. Like, hey, we're using AI to do everyone's training, but obviously some of the biggest companies in the world are using it. The product uses OpenAI's Reasoning Engine for the actual grading. So it's just plugged into, you know, OpenAI. Synthesia keeps its avatars and voice technology proprietary. So you know, they're very competitive there. That's kind of what they've always done is had these, these, you know, avatars, these AI generated avatars, voice technology, they do a great job there. But then, you know, once someone does like a test with one of these avatars, it's going to spit it over to OpenAI to give them a grade. Synthesia plans to expand from enterprise only. They're going to try to target small businesses and schools in the next couple months. The cost to run a lot of these AI conversations keeps going down, especially when you start using like open source models or other, other things. Once they get good enough right, they don't have to do everything, but for certain tasks the cost goes down. And so then all of a sudden small businesses and schools are a better target audience for them. Right now I think this is positioning Synthesia as kind of a performance management platform. So it's not just an AI video vendor. It's always interesting to me when these AI companies start going more deeper into one particular niche or another. This is a company that like, I've used their AI avatars for a million years. I used to use them years ago for generating podcasts. But right now they're making this big shift and they're going way more deep on kind of like skills and leadership and some of these measurable improvement areas and where you can, you know, get analytics so you can have someone go and talk through, you know, with their avatar on what they do in a certain situation and it will evaluate them for leadership or it'll, you know, be like a sales coach. They're selling the avatar something and it will evaluate them on that. So honestly, very interesting use case. Samsung is currently in talks to invest in the French AI startup Mistral at a 20 billion euro valuation that is more than triple its value in mid 2024. This would make Mistral Europe's only frontier AI lab, which is now competing with OpenAI and Anthropic. It would also give Samsung a direct stake in this new company that actually powers all of their Galaxy phones already. Mistral also just raised $5.8 billion in June. So they raised that from General Catalyst that was kind of leading that. And now this $20 billion valuation would be a 3.4x jump in under 18 months. So pretty incredible. Definitely on track with all of the US Frontier Lab growth rates. Samsung already integrates Mistral models into their Galaxy device features in some specific markets. They're trying to reduce the reliance on Google Gemini and offer region specific choices, which is interesting. I think a lot of places in Europe, this is what they're, they're kind of defaulting to. Mistral was just founded in 2023. It was a former Meta and DeepMind researcher and it focuses on open weight models and API services. Really they're focusing on kind of the European market. They're navigating EU AI act and data sovereignty concerns and all that kind of stuff. Nearly 200 utility and data center companies, including Nextera Energy and Duke Energy, signed Trump's pledge to Shield households from AI electricity costs that is now covering 80% of US power delivery. It was really just this kind of voluntary commitment and the goal with it was to make AI providers, not regular people, pay for new power plants and grid upgrades. I think there's a bunch of different ways to think about this. A lot of data centers are getting kind of shut down or the data center projects are getting shut down from proceeding because it's very unpopular, especially when local governments are offering big incentives for data centers to get built, and especially when they're offering energy incentives. So, you know, subsidizing their energy, because subsidized energy just means that the taxpayer or whoever's locally living there, their energy costs go up. So obviously a lot of people are not happy with this, and I think this is trying to not just get around that issue, but make them, you know, not make these projects more popular because we want the advancements in our country. But obviously people don't want to get stuck paying the bill for all of this. The original signers from March were Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI and Amazon, and they've expanded that list to a bunch of major utilities and data center companies like Equinox and Digital Reality. So hopefully this makes a difference and data center providers are not going to be passing on the cost to consumers and this actually works out. I think there's a lot of controversy on this. Some people think it'll work, some people don't think it will. But let's hope that this is a good bit of legislation that goes through. Guys, thank you so much for tuning into the podcast. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to go check out the AI box mcp. If you want to get AI image, audio and video straight into Claude, or if you're using something like ChatGPT, they're about to pull the image or the video model sort off of it. If you want to get Google's VO3 inside of that or any AI model inside of any AI model, we have 80 plus AI models and our MCP works with all of them. So go check it out. There's a link in the description. I'll catch you guys all in the next episode.
Podcast: How I AI Stuff
Host: How I AI Stuff
Episode Date: July 22, 2026
In this episode, the host dives deep into the current landscape of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on Anthropic’s ambitious moves in robotics, industry competition with OpenAI, and wider industry news. Other highlights include Meta’s new watermarking tech, Synthesia’s foray into corporate training, Samsung’s significant investment talks with Mistral, and a sweeping utility industry pledge regarding the costs of AI-driven energy consumption.
[08:08 – 16:00]
Anthropic’s Acquisition Talks:
Anthropic held acquisition talks with Physical Intelligence, an $11B robotics startup, though the deal didn’t close. Both Anthropic and OpenAI are racing to scale robotics capabilities, motivated by their upcoming IPOs.
Physical Intelligence’s Role:
“Physical Intelligence is a ‘robotics company,’ but they don’t have robots. They’ve raised a billion dollars and make a very popular AI model used for controlling a lot of robots, mostly in academic research, called PI 0.5.” (Host, 09:35)
OpenAI’s Robotics Push:
OpenAI, after acquiring 17 companies since 2023, has launched a new robotics lab in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Anthropic is testing robot control via their Safety Research Group.
Investor Overlap:
Both companies share key investors in Physical Intelligence (e.g., Koshala Ventures, Thrive Capital, Founders Fund), reflecting competitive overlaps.
Data Collection Strategies:
Host explains how robots with onboard AI can collect real-world data to improve models:
“You can have the robots capturing data to help train other robots… At that point, if robots are training, they’ll train in a bad way, so maybe we still want to get the humans for the training data right now.” (Host, 12:44)
[16:00 – 19:30]
Feature Launch:
Meta launched Content Seal, an invisible watermark for images generated by their Muse model, three years after the company promised AI labels.
Limited Scope:
The watermark only applies to new Muse images, leaving millions of legacy AI-generated images undetectable.
Comparison and Industry Standard:
“Seal is basically copying what Google did with SynthID, which OpenAI already uses… but Meta built their own standard—they didn’t really want to just copy.” (Host, 18:25)
Implementation Gaps:
Detection only runs via a rate-limited web tool, not integrated directly into Meta AI where images are shared; timeline for expanded coverage is unknown.
[19:30 – 23:00]
New Product Rollout:
Synthesia released Roleplay Sessions, allowing employees to practice conversations with AI avatars, graded against a rubric.
Enterprise Uptake:
Early adopters include top companies: “One of Europe's top three firms by market value, a top five Fortune 100 firm, and one of the world's largest recruitment companies.” (Host, 20:45)
Grading Tech:
OpenAI’s Reasoning Engine provides the grading, integrating cutting-edge LLM tech.
Market Expansion:
Synthesia is expanding from enterprise into small business and education as AI conversation costs drop.
Shift in Positioning:
“This is really positioning Synthesia as a performance management platform, not just an AI video vendor.” (Host, 22:20)
[23:00 – 25:30]
Deal Details:
Samsung is in discussions to back French AI startup Mistral at a hefty €20B valuation (3.4x its mid-2024 value).
Strategic Implications:
Mistral’s models are integrated into Galaxy phones, reducing Samsung’s dependency on Google Gemini, and supporting regional differentiation in Europe.
Market Context:
Mistral was founded in 2023, led by former Meta and DeepMind researchers; the company is focused on EU AI regulations and data sovereignty.
[25:30 – 28:40]
Industry Response:
Nearly 200 utility and data center companies have signed Trump’s pledge to shield households from AI-related electricity costs.
Intent:
The goal is to ensure that “AI providers, not regular people, pay for new power plants and grid upgrades.” (Host, 26:40)
Background and Debate:
Original signers included Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, OpenAI, and Amazon. There’s controversy over whether these voluntary commitments will prevent increased electricity costs for consumers.
On the Value of Physical Intelligence’s Approach:
“If you understand the physical world, that’s going to be super essential for the next generation of these AI systems.” (Host, 10:10)
On the Race for Robotics Domination:
“OpenAI and Anthropic…I think both wanna get into something physical…where we're going to have, you know, robots that have AI embedded into their brains.” (Host, 08:55)
On Meta’s Watermarking Effort:
“Three years ago they promised, like, ‘we’re going to get these labels on all the different AI generated content’…this watermark only works on Muse images.” (Host, 16:35)
On Synthesia’s New Direction:
“Honestly, very interesting use case. It’s always interesting to me when these AI companies go deeper into one particular niche or another.” (Host, 22:50)
On the Broader Energy Challenge:
“Data center projects are getting shut down…when local governments are offering energy incentives, because subsidized energy just means taxpayers’ energy costs go up.” (Host, 27:00)
| Time | Segment Topic | |-------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Quick industry headlines and ad campaign anecdote | | 08:08 | Anthropic vs OpenAI: Robotics acquisitions and strategy | | 09:35 | Physical Intelligence’s unique approach to robotics | | 12:44 | AI & data: Training robots in the real world | | 16:00 | Meta launches Content Seal AI watermarking | | 18:25 | Meta’s strategy vs Google/OpenAI watermarking | | 19:30 | Synthesia launches AI ‘Roleplay Sessions’ for enterprise training | | 22:20 | Synthesia’s pivot to performance management | | 23:00 | Samsung’s big-bet investment talks with Mistral | | 25:30 | Utility companies sign AI energy cost-pledge | | 27:00 | The controversy around AI-related electricity costs |
This episode offers a sharp, engaging overview of the latest in AI, with special emphasis on how industry titans are rapidly moving into robotics, and the ramifications of those moves. Listeners will come away with a clearer sense of both the intense corporate battles (and alliances) shaping AI’s future and the real-world issues—like data privacy, workforce training, and energy usage—that AI’s fast rise is forcing society to confront.