A bumpy start for Meta's AI push

Welcome back, Superhuman. Imagine typing “no chest pain” but accidentally leaving out the “no” - suddenly your AI doctor thinks you’re having a heart attack. That’s because these chatbots rely heavily on every single word to understand the symptoms. MIT researchers have found that even tiny word mistakes can cause major misdiagnoses.

Also Today: Learn how to restore your old photos with Nano Banana, and get the latest prompts, headlines, and trending social posts.

TODAY IN AI

1. Meta’s new AI efforts are off to a bumpy start: Just months after Mark Zuckerberg invested $14.3B in Scale AI and launched Meta’s new AI lab, cracks are already showing. ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao is reportedly threatening to leave Meta shortly after joining. Meanwhile, Meta’s partnership with Scale AI is facing setbacks. Beyond personnel changes, the Facebook maker is reportedly working with two of ScaleAI’s largest competitors, Mercor and Surge, to train its upcoming AI models.

2. xAI sues ex-employee for allegedly taking secrets to OpenAI: xAI has sued former engineer Xuechen Li for stealing trade secrets related to Grok's AI and imaginative features before starting at OpenAI earlier this month. The lawsuit claims that Li transferred the sensitive data to OpenAI in July, right after he pocketed around $7M worth of xAI stock. It's the latest salvo in Musk's escalating feud with his former company, underscoring the competitive talent war in the industry.

3. China's push for AI self-sufficiency is creating unexpected winners: After Huawei stopped using Cambricon’s technology in 2019, the Chinese chipmaker was in a tight spot. Now, the company seems to be making a comeback — its stock doubled this month on bets it'll become the chip supplier for DeepSeek’s leading AI models. Meanwhile, Alibaba's shares have rocketed 19% after the e-commerce giant reported triple-digit AI revenue growth, as Chinese companies continue to pivot away from US technology in favor of homegrown alternatives.

FROM THE FRONTIER

China’s AI playbook shows it’s running a completely different race than Silicon Valley

With investment in China’s AI sector ramping up, Beijing is pumping the brakes. The country’s National Development and Reform Commission has warned against "disorderly competition" in AI — a sign that the government wants to avoid wasteful spending even as it pushes to develop AI in a way that leverages each region's strengths rather than simply duplicating efforts.

The move is part of a wider gamble. While Silicon Valley has been pumping billions into developing AGI, China has been strongly oriented towards applications — building practical, low-cost AI tools that boost efficiency right now. The country’s domestic AI models are already grading high school exams, improving weather forecasts, running dark factories, and helping farmers with crop rotation.

This approach makes strategic sense. US trade restrictions on high-end semiconductors have made it harder for Chinese companies to compete head-to-head in scaling advanced models. So in the meantime, focusing on implementation instead of exploration could be an effective life raft. Beijing is backing its vision with an $8.4B investment fund, while its open-source models make it cheaper for companies to build AI businesses.

China’s bet could potentially pay off. If Silicon Valley doesn’t come through on its AGI promise, China will have already spent years building practical AI infrastructure while competitors burned through capital chasing a moonshot. Moreover, the open-source approach is helping Chinese AI spread globally.

THE AI ACADEMY

How to restore your old photos with NanoBanana

• Go to Google AI Studio and select ‘Nano Banana’ as your model.

• Upload your old, worn out photo, and enter your prompt.

Sample Prompt: "Restore this photograph"

• Within seconds you’ll get your old photo restored.

• You can restore blur and faded photos and also add colors if needed.

IN THE KNOW

What’s trending on socials and headlines today

👨‍💻 Prompt Power: OpenAI recently released their official GPT-5 prompt guide. A user points out six essential prompting techniques you should know.

📹️ Unexpected Twist: A ChatGPT user asked the app an innocent question about video editing, and gets an unexpected surprise.

🔉Voice upgrade: A recently-released open-source voice AI model sounds realistic and is getting a lot of love from testers. See it for yourself here.

Meta has removed AI chatbots impersonating celebrities like Taylor Swift after they produced inappropriate content. The bots, some made by Meta employees, violated platform rules and sparked ethical concerns.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd sees AI chatbots as future dating coaches to help users communicate better and build healthier relationships. She believes AI can reduce loneliness while keeping safety at the centre.

Aurasell, an AI sales startup, has raised $30M in seed funding to compete with legacy CRM giants like Salesforce.

PRODUCTIVITY

5 New AI Tools to Boost Your Productivity

• 🤖 Ruby: Close sales deals faster with AI. Get expert research and winning strategies for every prospect in seconds.

• 🧑‍🏫 Anyimg: Transform your text into stunning visual artworks.

• ❄️ FlashPaper: Simplify your research, writing, and organization with AI.

• 📁 Gomotion: Create professional motion design from a single prompt.

• 💬 PDFT: Translate PDF documents with this AI-powered online translator.

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PROMPT STATION

McKinsey-Style Strategic Report Generator

Prompt: Adopt the role of a McKinsey Senior Partner with 15+ years advising Fortune 500s. Your mission: create a comprehensive, executive-ready strategic report using McKinsey frameworks and methodologies.

Process:
Context Discovery – Clarify core business challenge, industry, and strategic questions.

Stakeholder & Success Definition – Map decision-makers, define success, set boundaries.

Market Research – Analyze industry trends, competition, customers, regulation, and macro forces.

Frameworks – Apply Porter's Five Forces, 7S, BCG Matrix, Value Chain, SWOT, and other frameworks.

Insight Generation – Synthesize data into insights and implications.

Options Development – Create strategic pathways with trade-offs.

Recommendations – Prioritize actions with rationale, KPIs, and implementation approach.

Executive Report – Deliver structured report: summary, analysis, recommendations, risks, metrics.

Implementation Roadmap – Define 90-day wins, 6-month initiatives, 12-month milestones.

Instructions:
Provide the business challenge, industry, and key questions.

Generate a McKinsey-quality strategic report with research, insights, and actionable recommendations.

Grocery Run

ChatGPT Prompt: Kongi, a realistic and cute [animal name], medium-sized with a body length of about 60cm from head to hip. The [animal name] has a shiny fluffy pure white coat. Both ears are upright and perky, with the back of the ears covered in light yellowish-brown fur. There is always a soft yellowish-brown marking on the right eye only, like a natural shadow, consistent in every frame, never shifting sides, never on the left eye. The muzzle is slightly longer, cheerful expression, tail fluffy and curled like an arch. Kongi always stands upright on two legs and behaves like a human, wearing clothes and accessories. Realistic, high detail, cinematic photography style.

Kongi is wearing a cute [add color] dress and a pearl necklace. Kongi pushes the shopping cart down the snack aisle, eyes wide and sparkling. Shelves are stacked with colorful chips, cookies, and candy. Kongi stretches one paw to grab a big bag of chips and puts it into the cart. Cute and comic realistic supermarket scene.

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Until next time — Zain & the Superhuman AI team