Crypto is REALLY pumping, big names in AI are suing each other, major social media platforms went down…we’re in the wild west of disruptive tech right now.

Before diving into this weeks’ news, I put together a training breaking down how to clone a video version of yourself with AI. If you make IG reels, YouTube shorts, TikToks, run ads, or anything else that requires you to be on camera, then this could be very helpful for you.

Want to get access? Reply to this email directly and I’ll shoot over some more information on it.

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Today’s Menu

• Quest Headsets Stop Working Tuesday

• Elon Sues OpenAI

• BTC ATH Closes In

TODAY IN VR

Quest Headsets Tuesday Outage

Meta Quest headsets were basically unusable for an entire hour on Tuesday.

This was deeply concerning for a lot of people who use VR headsets for important work. For example - a lot of doctors and other people in the medical field use VR headsets to simulate complicated surgeries (as a practice run through) prior to operating.

In all likelihood this was probably a one-time thing. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn all went down for a few hours on Tuesday due to a “Server error.”

I personally can’t remember another time this has happened, however, it highlights the dangers associated with working on a VR headset.

TODAY IN AI

Elon Sues OpenAI

Earlier this week, Elon Musk decided to sue OpenAI. If you’re not familiar with the history, Elon was an original investor in OpenAI back in 2015 (he invested $44M in them).

OpenAI was filed as a nonprofit, which was a big part of why Elon was attracted to investing in their company.

OpenAI later went back on that filing status and became a for-profit company that is rapidly advancing AI innovation (probably faster than any other company in the world).

So Elon is lawyering up over this fact. It seems that the REAL reason though is that Elon is afraid of a potential breakthrough in AGI (artificial general intellience).

A lot of people speculate that this AGI breakthrough was the reasoning for Altman’s 4 day firing back in November.

Elon Musk has traditionally been more on the spectrum of “AI is dangerous and will destroy humanity” whereas Sam Altman has been more “We need to advance AI as fast as possible for the good of humanity.”

This has created a general rift between the two. It seems that Elon doesn’t have much of a case though and it wouldn’t surprise me if the case gets overturned fast.

However, I suspect that Elon’s real agenda with this lawsuit was to simply bring awareness to the disruptive potential of AGI.

OpenAI’s been making a TON of money for close to two years now and isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

TODAY IN CRYPTO

BTC ATH (…finally)

BTC has been WILD this past week. We reached an ATH of $70,000 twice this past week. Which ultimately resulted in a drop and then an upswing.

As of this writing, BTC sits at $68,500. We’ve hit the low 60’s this week as well.

This has been great news for all of the HODLER’s who have been waiting for this moment for quite some time. This begs the question, will BTC breakthrough and skyrocket past $70,000? Or will it plummet once again.

Or will both happen? (another plummet followed by another rapid rise).

We’re 100% BTC bulls and would love to see the Balaji Srinivasan prediction (I.E. $1M/BTC) come true.

The BTC halving will occur on April 19th (I.E. in 6 weeks) which will be a good test.

The Future of Disruptive Tech

Figure AI Raises $675

[this is a repost from an article I wrote for AI Marketers - click here to subscribe for free now]

Figure AI just raised $675M to develop humanoid robots. 

These robots are being built to fill labor shortages for jobs that young people refuse to take.

There are currently 33,185,550 small businesses in the US. 

A large percentage of these businesses provide blue collar, local trade-based home services:

• Roofers

• Plumbers

• HVAC

• Electricians

• Contractors

• Pool Cleaners and

• Exterminators

I would argue that the #1 biggest issue for the average small business owner over the last few years has been recruiting (this is a problem that’s probably going to continue to get worse in the future too).

A lot of Millennials and Gen Z grew up wanting to become YouTubers and TikTokers. 

Today’s teenagers don’t grow up with the ambition to become a roofer (even though many trade-based jobs actually pay REALLY well and require minimal education). 

Aside from the fact that these are not considered “cool jobs”...

Younger generations have also been told by their parents since Kindergarten that they need to go to college, get a degree, and land a “safe job.” 

Because of this, most young people today look down on these trade-based jobs and consider them to be low-status (a trend that I doubt will change anytime soon). 

This has resulted in a major worker shortage for MANY of these companies.

When I say “major” I mean 10M+ jobs that have gone unfilled, creating a massive recruiting problem for local home services businesses. 

The interesting thing about these local home services businesses is that I would consider them to be pretty “stable, automation-proof, and recession-proof.”

If you’ve ever lived in NYC and dealt with a mouse-infestation in your apartment…trust me, you will DEFINITELY want to have someone available to call and will happily pay whatever they charge to fix the problem.

These small business owners are struggling to run their businesses because they can’t find workers (and this problem isn’t going away anytime soon).

So what does this mean?

Enter Figure AI.

Yesterday I asked ChatGPT to break down Figure AI’s master plan and it gave me the following output:

“Figure AI plans to expand human capabilities through advanced AI and developing general-purpose humanoids. Founded by Brett Adcock, Figure aims to address labor shortages and improve quality of life by eliminating the need for humans to perform unsafe or undesirable jobs. The company's journey involves significant investment, engineering innovation, and overcoming high risks for potentially profound impacts on humanity. Early applications target industries with severe labor shortages, avoiding military uses. The plan includes advancing technology to lower humanoid costs, ensuring safety, and integrating AI for autonomous task performance. The ultimate goal is to fundamentally improve lives and productivity, marking a significant shift in the labor economy and standard of living.” 

Brett Adcock is a recruiting industry veteran. He previously founded Vettery, an online hiring marketplace, which he sold for $100M in 2018.

He’s continuing to work in the recruiting industry with Figure AI, except instead of placing humans…he’s placing robots. 

In addition to this major capital raise for Figure AI, Amazon just committed $1B to startups that combine AI with robotics. 

Based on the amount of money flowing into this industry (and also the heavy hitters who are backing it), I think it’s safe to say that the humanoid robotics industry is going to be HUGE.

So what does this mean for you as a marketer?

A few things I’d like to break down:

1. Timeline

Don’t panic! I don’t foresee this being something that plays a major role in the short term.

Although AI driven delivery robots are commonplace here in Miami, I think we’re still pretty far off from creating robots who actually replace a substantial amount of human jobs.

Who will it immediately effect?

As an extension of timeline, I don’t see this effecting more intellectual jobs in the short term. Like I said earlier, I think this is geared more toward blue collar jobs and manual labor jobs (not necessarily online businesses or marketing related jobs).

Does that mean the robots won’t come for your jobs in the future? Absolutely not. But I think this isn’t going to be something we’re seeing in the next 2-3 years.

In the same way that most of AI driven copy only works for people who are both A) already a high level copywriter and B) already good with prompt engineering…

The people managing these robots will need to be extremely good at what they do in order to truly replace a human workforce.

The types of services that these robots will replace in the short term aren’t like an email copywriter.

If an email copywriter makes a spelling error, it’s not the end of the world. Worst case scenario, you churn a client.

If a roofing robot makes a mistake, a roof could collapse. Not only does this open the business owner up to massive liability, but it could result in death too.

I think companies will attempt to use robots for sales calls, copy, and more intellectual work in the future. 

Once AGI happens, then this will 100% take place. But like I said I think we’re far off from that. 

2. How can you use this to make money?

Whenever new disruptive technology comes into the marketplace, it creates an entirely new industry.

For example - Facebook ads created a new industry of marketing agency owners. 

Small business owners will 100% want to have these robots in their workforce so that they can cut costs, eliminate human error, and fill jobs.

HOWEVER…

Keep in mind that these are the same types of people that struggle to build a basic website, to run basic local lead gen ads, or to put a Facebook pixel on a website.

We’re not exactly talking about a tech-savvy market.

Someone will need to manage the robots on their behalf. In all likelihood, these people will probably be willing to pay someone a substantial amount of money to setup, train, and manage these robots. 

If you’re quick to the market and can learn fast, then I think there will be a major opportunity here to provide “humanoid robot employees” as a service. 

I would even go so far to say that you could provide this as an upsell.

Imagine if you run a marketing agency for roofers. You run the ads to bring in deals, the roofing business owner closes the deals, and your team of robots fixes the roof. That’s a major value add right there. 

On the flip side of generating revenue…

The cost savings of this at scale could be enormous.

In the beginning these robots will likely be really expensive. But over time they will become much cheaper.

Payroll is one of the most expensive items on the Profit and Loss for most businesses.

If business owners can cut their entire workforce and replace it with a squadron of robots (and one person to train/manage them), this cuts out countless costs.

• No more recruiting fees…

• No more employee churn…

• No more 8 hour workdays (a robot can work 24/7/365)...

• No more attitude of entitlement or Gen Z employees “quiet quitting”…

Most importantly…no more human error.

That’s a bigtime cost saving for these businesses. 

If you can provide that, you will make a ton of money.

3. Existential Threat

Maybe this is just because I’ve watched iRobot and Transformers a few too many times…

But I do believe that these robots combined with AI could create a major existential threat to humanity. 

A robot doesn’t have human limitations. 

Usain Bolt’s 8.58 second 100M time is incredibly impressive by human standards.

But it’s comically slow in comparison to a Tesla, a Bugatti, or an Aston Martin.

The world record back squat is 1069 lbs.

A military grade armor truck could probably haul 10,000x that weight. 

When you combine the strength of machines with the intelligence of AI, you’re looking at a very powerful robot that humans wouldn’t be able to stop. 

(especially once AGI hits). 

In the wrong hands, this could pose a very dangerous situation. 

This is a big part of why Elon Musk has built Neuralink, so that humans can essentially become part robot too and keep up with AI.

Like any other new technology, opportunities will be created.

Some people will benefit…unfortunately many others won’t.

Want to share The Future of Disruptive Tech with a friend, family member, or coworker? Pass this link along to them.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Damon