🚀 ChatGPT Goes Mainstream

ChatGPT Is Mainstream Now

🌍 10% of People on Earth Are Using ChatGPT

In a recent TED talk, Sam Altman revealed that ChatGPT has reached a staggering 800 million users, doubling in just a few weeks. That means about 1 in 10 people on Earth have chatted with a robot—and the other 9 are probably unknowingly quoting it in meetings.

After its initial release, ChatGPT became the fastest-growing web app ever—reaching 100 million monthly users in just two months. And in March, it surpassed TikTok and Instagram to become the most downloaded app worldwide.

The stat confirms what many of us already felt in our feeds: AI has gone from niche to mainstream—faster than almost any consumer technology in history.

But it also raises a more important question: what exactly is everyone using it for?

🖼️ Ghibli Mode Went Viral—But Not Everyone’s a Fan

One of the biggest drivers behind ChatGPT’s latest growth? Image generation. More specifically, hand-drawn Ghibli Mode that lets users create art inspired by the iconic style of Studio Ghibli.

The launch sent the internet into a frenzy. Altman said signups hit 1 million within the first hour, calling the spike “biblical demand.” People everywhere were turning their cats into forest spirits and themselves into tragic anime heroes.

As Ghibli-style images flooded timelines, a startling 2016 quote from Studio Ghibli co-founder resurfaced:

And it hits harder when you realize:

• Miyazaki is still alive

• He’s still making art

• And now the internet is remixing his legacy without his permission

To address the tension, Altman floated a possible solution during his TED talk: a system where artists can opt in to having their style used—and receive a share of the revenue.

A small quote, but potentially a big shift in how AI respects (and compensates) human creativity.

⏳But When Novelty Wears Off, What’s Left?

The question isn’t whether these tools are impressive (they are), or whether people enjoy them (they do). The real question is: when the novelty fades, what remains?

Within Image Generation, there are tons use cases, including:

• Designers prototyping faster

• Marketers visualizing campaigns

• Educators making concepts more engaging

• Creators testing characters or environments before production

It’s possible that people in these fields never saw ChatGPT as a tool for them—but viral moments like these help broaden its appeal and show off unexpected use cases.

🚀 Final Thought

The next wave of AI adoption won’t be driven by fun—it’ll be driven by function. The real winners will be the people and companies who figure out how to:

• Move from “playing” to building

• Turn creative exploration into real output

• Use AI not just for novelty, but for leverage

Regardless, Ghibli images are so last month—the new trend is using ChatGPT to generate images of yourself as an action figure!

Heard in the Server Room

Nvidia Announces $500M Manufacturing Facilities Deep In The Heart Of Tech-sas

Nvidia's heading to the Lone Star State to churn out AI supercomputers, teaming up with Foxconn and Wistron to have facilities up and running in Houston and Dallas within the next 12-15 months. The $500 billion investment in U.S. AI infrastructure comes as geopolitical tensions with China have the chip giant rethinking its supply chain strategy. Beyond dodging potential tariff headaches, the move positions Nvidia to strengthen America's technological edge while meeting skyrocketing global demand for its AI hardware.

Ctrl + Alt + Deceive: Startup Founder Indicted For Fraudulent AI Claims

Former Nate CEO Albert Saniger finds himself in hot water with fraud charges after allegedly spinning an AI fairy tale to investors that helped his company raise a cool $40 million. While he claimed his one-click buy shopping app used cutting-edge artificial intelligence to handle everything from product selection to checkout, the real "AI" was actually human workers clicking away in the Philippines. If convicted of wire and securities fraud, Saniger could be doing some serious online shopping for prison commissary items—facing up to 20 years per charge.

I’m A Real Bot! Disney’s New AI Trained Robots Bring Smiles And Smarts

Disney is taking the magic beyond the screen with its BDX droids—free-roaming robots that combine AI smarts with good old-fashioned puppeteering to create characters that might just make you forget they're machines. These mechanical performers are first trained in virtual environments using reinforcement learning, before graduating to real-world interactions—where they learn to mirror human emotions with the help of a powerful tool called 'Newton,' developed by Nvidia and Google DeepMind. The result? Emotionally intelligent robots that Disney hopes will open your heart—and your wallet.

The State of AI: Two Major Reports Just Dropped

Stanford and LinkedIn both just dropped their 2025 AI Index reports—here’s a quick overview of their key findings.

Stanford Scores the State of AI

First, Stanford’s report, “one of the most comprehensive, data-driven views of artificial intelligence,” is packed with all kinds of interesting facts and trends. Here are some highlights:

1. The U.S. still leads in AI model output, but China’s catching up fast.
   In 2024, U.S. institutions released 40 “notable” AI models—far ahead of China’s 15 and Europe’s three. But while the U.S. dominates in quantity, China has nearly closed the quality gap.

2. Global AI optimism is growing, but it depends on where you live.
   Countries like China, Indonesia, and Thailand are overwhelmingly positive about AI, with over 75% of people seeing it as more helpful than harmful. Meanwhile, optimism is much lower in places like the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands—hovering around 40%.

3. AI is getting more efficient.
   Thanks to smaller, more efficient models, the cost to run AI models has drastically decreased. Hardware is improving too—with a 30% year-over year cost decrease between 2023 and 2024 and a 40% gain in energy efficiency.

4. Open-weight models are catching up to closed-source.

   Open-source AI is coming in strong by shrinking performance gaps from 8% to just 1.7% on some benchmark tests. The result? Advanced AI is becoming far more accessible to everyone.

The Global AI Talent Showdown—Ranked by LinkedIn

Second, Linkedin published its 2025 AI Talent Index, ranking countries by the concentration of AI-skilled professionals. Some of the leading countries include Israel, Singapore, and Luxembourg. They also ranked AI usage by gender and by overall literacy.

Why It Matters:

• 66% of companies say they won’t hire someone without AI skills

• 71% say they’d rather hire a less experienced person with AI skills than a seasoned pro without

The report shows that smaller nations are punching above their weight by building focused, fast-moving AI ecosystems where a larger share of the workforce is AI-skilled.

Singapore reportedly has a culture that promotes “avid learners,” which amounts to them spending 40% more time learning AI than their neighbors.

AI Me Anything - Answering Your Questions!

🍽️ AI Is Hungry—And It’s Eating Electricity for Breakfast

AI data centers are gulping down electricity at an astonishing rate as our appetite for computational power grows. While traditional data centers consume around 40 megawatts (enough to power 32,000 homes), today's AI-focused facilities demand 100-200 megawatts – sufficient to keep the lights on in up to 160,000 households.

By 2030, global data center energy use is expected to more than double, surpassing 945 terawatt-hours annually. For reference: AI may soon use more electricity than Japan.

Where exactly this power is going to come from is less clear, both today and in the future. Elon Musk has solved this problem by exploiting a loophole and installing around 35 gas turbine generators to power his Colossus datacenter in Memphis – much to the chagrin of locals and rivals.

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