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Today’s newsletter is packed with valuable insights, from tech giants facing backlash over controversial policies, how restaurants are leveraging cutting-edge tech to streamline operations, to a spotlight on Ark’s top ideas for 2025, and a closer look at China's rising DeepSeek competitors. We’d love to hear your thoughts—let’s dive in!

• Tech Giants Face International Blowback Over Policy Stance.

• Chick-fil-A’s NFL-Style Drone Strategy.

• 🧰 AI Tools

• 📰 News and Trends.

• ARK’s Big Ideas 2025 is Out. Here is what you need to know.

• Concerned about DeepSeek? Check these 4 Chinese Rising Stars.

Tech Giants Face International Blowback Over Policy Stance.

U.S. technology leaders are encountering mounting resistance abroad as foreign governments push back against their alignment with aggressive U.S. trade policies.

South Africa has delayed a planned Starlink satellite internet deployment, while Canada has suspended its $68 million Starlink contract amid trade tensions. The European Union is considering strong regulatory countermeasures, including potential restrictions on intellectual property rights and streaming services, according to Financial Times sources. These developments highlight the growing challenges tech companies face in balancing corporate interests with international diplomatic relations.

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📰 AI News and Trends

• California Bill Seeks to Protect Kids by Forcing AI Companies to Clarify: 'Chatbots Aren’t People' (TheVerge)

• OpenAI’s Sora Filmmaking Tool Meets Resistance in Hollywood (Bloomberg)

• Google published principles in 2018 barring its AI technology from being used for sensitive purposes. Weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term, those guidelines are being overhauled (Wired)

• With generative AI, MIT chemists quickly calculate 3D genomic structures in minutes rather than days (MIT)

• Figure AI Exits OpenAI Deal, Promises Groundbreaking Humanoid Tech Within 30 Days (TC)

🌐 Other Tech news

• Former Tesla engineer now in charge of the Technology Transformation Services wants an agency that operates like a startup software company (Wired)

• USPS Halts All Packages From China, Sending the Ecommerce Industry Into Chaos (Wired)

• Spotify recorded its first annual profit in its 16-year history after adding paid subscribers and cutting costs (Forbes)

ARK’s Big Ideas 2025 is Out. Here is what you need to know.

ARK Invest’s Big Ideas 2025 highlights 11 key disruptive innovations expected to reshape global industries and drive exponential growth. The report focuses on five core technological platforms: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy Storage, Public Blockchains, and Multiomic Sequencing. Here are the standout insights:

1. AI as a Key Catalyst: AI advancements, particularly in neural networks, are expected to accelerate productivity and unlock trillions of dollars in value. AI-specific compute costs are predicted to drop by more than 1000x by 2030, fostering the growth of robotaxis, drug discovery, and autonomous systems.

2. AI Agents & Consumer Impact: AI agents are projected to transform digital commerce, with OpenAI expected to surpass $10 billion in revenue by 2025. AI-mediated ads could dominate 54% of the $1.1 trillion digital ad market by 2030, while AI-facilitated online sales could account for $9 trillion globally.

3. Robotaxis Scaling Rapidly: Tesla and Waymo lead the autonomous vehicle race, with projections of 50 million robotaxis globally by 2030. Costs could drop to $0.25 per mile, reshaping transportation and creating a $10 trillion addressable market.

4. Autonomous Logistics Expansion: Autonomous trucking and drone delivery could lower logistics costs by over 80%. Robot and drone delivery revenues are forecasted to hit $440 billion by 2030.

5. Public Blockchains and Digital Finance: Blockchains are predicted to become the foundation of global finance as cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and smart contracts redefine the industry. Stablecoins have already overtaken Visa and Mastercard in transaction value, with a projected market size of $1.4 trillion by 2030.

6. Multiomic Sequencing & Precision Medicine: With falling sequencing costs, AI-powered drug discovery and precision therapies could revolutionize healthcare, collapsing R&D costs and accelerating new treatments.

Global Growth Expectations: Disruptive innovations could lead to a doubling of real GDP growth rates, with a significant portion of the global equity market dominated by innovation-driven companies by 2030.

Chick-fil-A’s NFL-Style Drone Strategy.

Chick-fil-A’s drive-through efficiency is soaring, thanks to its innovative use of drones and "game film" analysis. The fast-food giant, already leading U.S. per-restaurant sales with $21.6 billion in 2023, has taken lessons from sports to speed up service and reduce bottlenecks at its 3,000 locations, where drive-throughs accounted for 60% of sales last year.

The transformation began in 2017 when Chick-fil-A’s Service & Hospitality Team launched drone-assisted studies of parking lots, kitchens, and "cockpits"—the area where orders are bagged. Inspired by the NFL’s use of replay analysis, the team examined footage to identify slow points and optimized workflows. Drones helped visualize traffic congestion, while kitchen footage highlighted bottlenecks, such as uneven task distribution and Wi-Fi dead zones.

At a location in Rockford, Ill., a 2022 drone analysis resulted in reassigning drive-through tasks and adding outdoor order-takers. The result? A 50% increase in drive-through transactions. Chick-fil-A’s McDonough, Ga., location, opened in 2024, took the concept further, with four drive-through lanes and an elevated kitchen capable of serving 700 cars an hour.

The chain’s drone program has reshaped how it handles peak demand without relying on discounts. Investments in drive-through-focused designs and efficiency upgrades have enabled Chick-fil-A to serve more customers faster, turning longer lines into record-breaking sales without compromising quality—making it a model for fast-food innovation in an increasingly competitive market.

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Concerned about DeepSeek? Check these 4 Chinese Rising Stars.

Beyond China's established AI giants, a new generation of startups is transforming the artificial intelligence sector through specialized innovation and technical efficiency. China and other countries are also deploying great technology that may become a security concern for other nations, but innovation will not cease to exit. Here are the key players to watch:

• Stepfun: A Tencent-backed powerhouse launched in 2023, featuring the trillion-parameter Step-2 model that rivals ChatGPT and Claude. Their impressive portfolio includes 11 foundational models across multiple domains.

• ModelBest: This efficient AI pioneer from Tsinghua University achieves GPT-3.5-level performance with their MiniCPM series using just 4 billion parameters, attracting significant investor attention through their focus on small-scale, on-device processing.

• Zhipu: Valued at $2 billion+, this academic-rooted company excels with their GLM series models. Despite U.S. export restrictions, they maintain strong partnerships and are preparing for an IPO.

• Infinigence AI: Though smaller ($140M funding), this infrastructure specialist is revolutionizing heterogeneous computing clusters, reducing AI training time by 30% - a crucial advantage amid chip sanctions.

These emerging leaders showcase China's ability to innovate and adapt in the global AI race, proving that specialized solutions and efficiency can be as impactful as raw computing power.

🧰 AI Tools

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