20260831 - China tries to kickstart a bubble in humanoid robots

Robocop plays Doom https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/23/we-put-human-neurons-into-a-computer-ai-will-surely-follow/ - blog post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5 Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set your own delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Get a horse shirt: Black Percheron by Rose Gerard https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/22329712 Send in your story tips and non-slop sponsorship offers: [email protected] Social media: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard https://bsky.app/profile/davidgerard.circumstances.run.ap.brid.gy Sources: In vitro neurons learn and exhibit sentience when embodied in a simulated game-world https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273%2822%2900806-6 Biocomputer with live neurons brought to life through art and cloud https://connectsci.au/news/news-parent/7947/Biocomputer-with-live-neurons-brought-to-life Human Brain Cells on a Chip for Sale: World-first biocomputing platform hits the market https://spectrum.ieee.org/biological-computer-for-sale Living Human Brain Cells Play DOOM on a CL1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRV8fSw6HaE&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA Human brain cells on a chip learned to play Doom in a week https://www.newscientist.com/article/2517389-human-brain-cells-on-a-chip-learned-to-play-doom-in-a-week/ A petri dish of human brain cells is currently playing Doom. Should we be worried? https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/mar/16/petri-dish-brain-cells-playing-doom-cortical-labs NUS Medicine, DayOne and Cortical Labs Unveil Biological Data Center Prototype in Singapore https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/news/nus-medicine-dayone-and-cortical-labs-unveil-biological-data-center-prototype-in-singapore/ Full Pivot to AI playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

Anthropic spook themselves again https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/22/ai-will-hack-all-the-tvs-by-the-end-of-2026-or-not/ - blog post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5 Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set your own delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Get a horse shirt: Black Percheron by Rose Gerard https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/22329712 Send in your story tips and non-slop sponsorship offers: [email protected] Social media: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard https://bsky.app/profile/davidgerard.circumstances.run.ap.brid.gy Sources: AI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenter https://www.anthropic.com/research/self-replicating-ai What are self-replicating 'AI worms', and why is Anthropic worried about them? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/18/anthropic-ai-worm-worries AI Agents Enable Adaptive Computer Worms (PDF) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.03811 AI could self-replicate on home devices within 'months', Anthropic says https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/10/13/ai-could-self-replicate-on-home-devices-within-months-anthropic-says Extras: AI Delusion with David Gerard https://www.machine-ethics.net/podcast/ai-delusion-with-david-gerard/ Full Pivot to AI playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

'Meta cannot simply write itself permission to take that work' https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/20/facebook-tries-to-grab-all-news-publisher-website-content-for-training-for-free/ - blog post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5 Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set your own delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Get a horse shirt: Black Percheron by Rose Gerard https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/22329712 Send in your story tips and non-slop sponsorship offers: [email protected] Social media: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard https://bsky.app/profile/davidgerard.circumstances.run.ap.brid.gy Sources: Meta Commercial Terms https://www.facebook.com/legal/commercial_terms_preview Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites https://www.theverge.com/tech/1013409/meta-removes-language-that-may-have-allowed-it-to-scrape-news-sites Legal experts warn Meta's new terms still grant broad scraping permissions, despite language changes https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/legal-experts-warn-metas-new-terms-still-grant-broad-scraping-permissions-despite-language-changes/ Meta updates data scraping policy following criticism https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/10/16/meta-updates-data-scraping-policy-following-criticism/ NMA Condemns Arrogant Meta's 'Shameless Landgrab Attempt' To Plunder News Publisher Websites https://newsmediauk.org/blog/2026/10/16/nma-condemns-arrogant-metas-shameless-landgrab-attempt-to-plunder-news-publisher-websites/ European Commission should be extremely concerned about Meta's dilemma for European Publishers: Hand Over Journalism for AI Scraping or Lose Access to Key Platforms https://www.epceurope.eu/post/european-commission-should-be-extremely-concerned-about-meta-s-dilemma-for-european-publishers-hand Full Pivot to AI playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

A successfully concluded blowoff https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/19/coreweave-founders-cash-out-the-rest-is-mop-up/ - blog post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5 Buy us nice useful things (if ot in the UK, set your own delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Get a horse shirt: Black Percheron by Rose Gerard https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/22329712 Send in your story tips and non-slop sponsorship offers: [email protected] Social media: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard https://bsky.app/profile/davidgerard.circumstances.run.ap.brid.gy Sources: CoreWeave Founders Shield Fortunes With $3.3 Billion Stock Sales https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-15/coreweave-founders-shield-fortunes-with-3-3-billion-stock-sales CoreWeave Is A Time Bomb https://www.wheresyoured.at/core-incompetency/ CoreWeave targets 'unlimited' insurance money to fund AI build-out https://www.ft.com/content/4ffa1853-0e2c-424f-b941-88c6bcac5765 Full Pivot to AI playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA

Anthropic on tenterhooks https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/16/us-third-circuit-ai-training-not-fair-use-after-all/ - blog post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A1529D5 Buy us nice useful things (if not in the UK, set your own delivery postcode to SW1A 0AA): https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3Q8VZW46J6DM6 Get an extremely cool Pivot to AI shirt or mug: https://pivot-to-ai.redbubble.com Get a horse shirt: Black Percheron by Rose Gerard https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/22329712 Send in your story tips and non-slop sponsorship offers: [email protected] Social media: https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard https://bsky.app/profile/davidgerard.circumstances.run.ap.brid.gy Sources: AI training of copyrighted material not fair use: Third Circuit https://www.courthousenews.com/ai-training-of-copyrighted-material-not-fair-use-third-circuit/ Opinion (PDF) https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/opinion-thomson-reuters-v-ross-intelligence-ai-third-circuit-affirm-partial-summary-judgment.pdf Previously on Pivot to AI: Thomson Reuters wins AI training copyright ruling — what this does and doesn't mean https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/02/12/thomson-reuters-wins-ai-training-copyright-case-what-this-does-and-doesnt-mean/ Anthropic AI wins broad fair use for training! — but not on pirated books https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/06/24/anthropic-wins-broad-fair-use-for-training-but-not-on-pirated-books/ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwoScPzTWiA&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA Anthropic IPO filing: the disaster in numbers https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/10/01/anthropic-ipo-filing-the-disaster-in-numbers/ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20VYK0-Q-3o&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA Full Pivot to AI playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA