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Technology
Fox News AI Newsletter: Russian robot faceplants in humiliating debut
The humanoid robot AIdol fell down during its Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, debut in Moscow. (Moscow News Agency via AP)
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Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Russia’s first AI robot faceplants on stage in humiliating Moscow debut
– Actor George Clooney claims the rise of AI technology is dangerous, says ‘genie is out of the bottle’
– OpenAI accuses NY Times of wanting to invade millions of users’ privacy in paper’s lawsuit against tech giant
TECH TRIP: Russia’s first humanoid robot was showcased to the world Wednesday with the unveiling dramatically cut short after it tripped within moments of stepping onto a Moscow stage.
FAKE STAR PANIC: Actor George Clooney said Tuesday he is alarmed by the rise of artificial intelligence. In an interview with Variety’s Marc Malkin, the “Ocean’s Eleven” star said the Hollywood community is disturbed by how realistic AI depictions have become, particularly those created with the latest audio and video generation models.
During a recent interview with Variety, actor George Clooney said that artificial intelligence-generated videos are getting “dangerous” with how realistic they look. (Anadolu/Getty)
PRIVACY UNDER SIEGE?: OpenAI released a blistering statement accusing The New York Times of wanting to invade the privacy of its users as the paper proceeds with its lawsuit against the tech giant.
AI RACE: Advanced Micro Devices chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su joined “The Claman Countdown,” where she thanked the Trump administration for its support of artificial intelligence development and underscored the importance of maintaining American leadership in the global AI race.
KIDS AT RISK: Kids are spending more time online than ever, and that early exposure is opening the door to a new kind of danger. Artificial intelligence has supercharged online scams, creating personalized and convincing traps that even adults can fall for. The latest Bitwarden “Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025” poll shows that while parents know these risks exist, most still haven’t had a serious talk with their children about them.
A new Bitwarden poll released for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025 finds parents are aware of AI-driven online scams but few have discussed them with their children. (iStock)
VETS GET AI BOOST: For more than three decades, I had the honor of serving our country in uniform. I led soldiers at home and abroad. I commanded U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency through some of the most complex technological shifts in our history. But the transition that came after my time in uniform came to an end was its own kind of mission. The structure, tempo and identity that comes with military service doesn’t simply disappear when you step out of it. The day you enter civilian life, you begin a new chapter – and you’re expected to write it while you’re living it.
ROCKETS TO RUINS: Elon Musk is putting money toward a digital renaissance of archaeology aimed at reimagining life in ancient Rome — with the potential to rewrite history books.
‘IMMINENT’ THREAT: A new report from a conservative think tank says that artificial intelligence is the new “cold war” between the U.S. and China.
EMPOWERED BY AI: Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI on Monday announced a new initiative that aims to make it easier for service members and veterans to use AI tools when they’re transitioning from military service to the workforce.
Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Technology
How soapy micro dramas became Hollywood’s next big bet
Once upon a time (read: a few years ago), there were a pair of upstart streaming services called Quibi and Go90 that were supposed to appeal to phone-addicted millennials. These platforms were supposed to compete with Netflix and Amazon by offering up short-form videos designed to be watched on the go. Both services were touted as being the future of entertainment, and they had sizable financial backing. But neither Quibi nor Go90 managed to gain any real traction before their names became shorthand for “bad ideas exemplifying how out of touch studio and telecom execs can be.”
Quibi and Go90 were not long for this world, and much has been written about how they were doomed from the jump. Quibi was oddly expensive, Go90’s landscape mode-focused branding confused people, and neither service made it easy to share their content on other platforms. Back then, people — especially here in the West — laughed at the idea of watching scripted series that were meant to be viewed on a smartphone. But that same basic concept began to take off in China as the covid-19 pandemic ground the entertainment industry to a halt and forced movie theaters to close. Some were supernatural period dramas, while others were romantically charged thrillers set in the modern day. And their stories were all filled with wild twists that played out over the course of dozens of episodes.
In 2025, “micro drama” companies like DramaBox and ReelShort have demonstrated that there actually is an audience willing to pay for content that can be consumed in small, quick bites. And the recent micro drama boom has been a fascinating case study in old, failed ideas finding wild success in the present day because the way people think about and interact with media has changed.
When you open up any of the dedicated micro drama apps, you can see that the companies behind them took notes from social media platforms like TikTok and streaming services like Netflix in order to create a new, slop-filled third kind of thing. You’re immediately presented with a grid of posters for multipart series whose “episodes” each run for about two minutes max. And the titles — gems like I Kissed a CEO and He Liked It, Betrayed Alpha Queen Rises from the Ashes, and The Unwanted Wife Strikes Back — are as self-explanatory as they are ridiculous. Almost all of the shows involve elements of pulpy romance and women getting revenge after being scorned for not embodying the “right kind” of womanhood or femininity.
Many of the series frame fertility, motherhood, and werewolf / Omegaverse culture as the things that define their heroines’ sense of self. And while these female characters are often introduced as people who are able to fend for themselves independently, their main goal is usually to find a man who can sweep them off their feet and take care of all their worldly needs.
Micro dramas’ overwhelming focus on stories about downtrodden damsels in distress speaks to the fact that female viewers make up a substantial chunk of these platforms’ subscriber base. On some level, these series are tapping into the same kind of tawdry energy that kept the romance lit space humming along even as the larger publishing industry has seen a steady drop in sales. But unlike romance novels from traditional publishing houses with rigorous editorial processes, there’s a slapdash shoddiness to micro dramas’ production values that reflects how incredibly inexpensive they are to make compared to a Netflix or Hulu original.
That relative cheapness is one of the major reasons that ReelShort and DramaBox — which are backed by Chinese and Singaporean companies, respectively — have been making a bigger push into Western markets over the past few years. That’s also why US-owned studios like GammaTime and MicroCo are starting to pop up. It doesn’t seem to bother viewers that basically everything about micro dramas, from the writing to the acting to the lighting, is absolutely terrible. Globally, the micro drama industry is expected to rake in about $3 billion by the end of the year thanks to the platforms’ surprisingly aggressive and gamified pricing strategies. And with Hollywood execs deciding to get more serious about making micro dramas, the business has become something of an unexpected boon for young actors, writers, and production workers trying to maintain careers within a contracting job market.
Though you would be hard-pressed to find a micro drama that felt like a strong piece of storytelling, there’s no denying that people are paying to watch them at a time when traditional streamers have been struggling to draw in new subscribers. Are series like Carrying His Triplets, Becoming His Wifey, and Found a Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas destined to become mainstream pop cultural phenomenons? Probably not. But these kinds of projects are keeping people employed and making enough of a profit to justify their existence.
By launching a new kind of labor contract designed to address “the unique needs” of actors working on serialized micro dramas, like ensuring they’re paid a fair wage and earn screen credits for their labor, SAG-AFTRA has sent a signal to the rest of the entertainment industry about this kind of content’s future potential. These shows might not be particularly good right now, but that could change if the studios put more effort into producing them. And even if micro dramas were to stick to their current style of stilted acting / lackluster directing / weak writing, their success right now suggests that their subscribers might not really be interested in something “better.”
As different segments of the tech and entertainment industries vie for people’s attention, micro dramas feel like an unusually strong contender. Micro dramas don’t quite add up to streaming series in the way we typically think of them, and they don’t exactly scratch the same “look watch some randos do stuff” itch that TikTok is built for. Ironically, ReelShort and DramaBox’s success feels like a direct byproduct of the way that TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have gotten people into the habit of endlessly scrolling through vertically shot video. But these micro dramas are their own weird thing that have carved out a unique niche and found a ravenous audience in the process. And if these new platforms can keep their upward momentum going, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see their streaming and social media competitors rushing to make the similar content of their own.
- More and more micro drama production houses are embracing generative artificial intelligence into their workflows to keep production costs down while churning content out even faster. As ill-suited as the tech generally is for more polished projects, it makes a lot of sense for the style these kinds of shows are known for. It’ll be interesting to see if micro dramas’ use of AI will become a point of contention for the human actors relying on these projects for work.
- Micro dramas’ rise in prominence also happens to coincide with a sharp downturn of film and TV production in Los Angeles. That’s another reason more performers are turning to the platforms to stay afloat, and this moment could be a choice opportunity for micro dramas to establish themselves as a viable source of entertainment.
- Though micro dramas are currently on the come up, this Puck piece does an excellent job of illustrating some of the challenges these platforms will be up against as their growth leads to market saturation.
- It’s important to understand just how hostile toward users basically all of the big micro drama apps are. Janko Roettgers’ recent piece here breaks down what makes these apps feel so predatory, and how many of them have been informed by mobile gaming’s freemium model.
- The Ankler had a great sit-down with ReelShort CEO Joey Jia about how the company’s approach to monetization turned it into a billion-dollar business. The piece also includes a chat with actor Kasey Esser about how working on micro dramas has had a profound impact on his career.
- SAG-AFTRA’s micro drama contract makes it seem like the union is being proactive about shifts within the entertainment industry. But this Variety piece digs into how the new contract was — at least partially — a response to the fact that some actors were just deciding to work nonunion.
Technology
How AI is making IVF more predictable
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In-vitro fertilization (IVF) can take a serious toll on families, not only emotionally but financially, especially when every cycle comes with new bills and no clear sense of what the full journey might cost. Gaia Family aims to change that by removing the guesswork around pricing with a blend of tech and AI-driven forecasting. Instead of worrying about unpredictable costs, couples pay a fixed upfront price or monthly installments that cover their planned IVF treatment, medications, embryo transfers and built-in protections if cycles or transfers aren’t successful. It gives families a clearer path forward and support that lasts through the entire process.
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ROBOTS POWER BREAKTHROUGH IN PREGNANCY RESEARCH, BOOSTING IVF SUCCESS RATES
Artificial intelligence is giving hopeful parents more clarity about their chances over multiple IVF cycles, helping them plan their journey with clearer expectations instead of guesswork. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How Gaia Family was born
Gaia Family was founded by Nader AlSalim, a former Goldman Sachs executive who knew the IVF struggle firsthand. After spending over $50,000 across five IVF rounds in multiple countries, he and his wife finally had a son. The experience left him frustrated by how little clarity the system offered and how emotionally draining the process could be.
He saw that most fertility systems were built around procedures, not people. His goal with Gaia Family was to build something different, a program that uses data to empower families instead of leaving them to navigate uncertainty and mounting debt. That personal experience became the foundation of Gaia Family’s mission to bring agency, transparency and compassion to fertility care.
TRUMP ROLLS OUT PLAN TO SLASH IVF COSTS FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES THROUGH NEW PHARMA PARTNERSHIP
Gaia Family gives families one fixed IVF price with built-in protection and full support every step of the way. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How Gaia Family’s plan works
- Choose your clinic: Gaia partners with more than 100 fertility clinics across the U.S.
- Get your personalized quote: Your doctor designs your treatment plan, and Gaia uses it to calculate your fixed cost upfront.
- Start with confidence: Pay monthly or upfront, then begin treatment knowing all your major expenses are covered.
If a cycle doesn’t result in viable embryos, Gaia’s built-in protection covers another attempt, helping families try again without financial shock. Once you have viable embryos, your Gaia Plan allows you unlimited frozen embryo transfers (usually $5,000 each) at no extra cost until you have a baby. And, if none of those transfers result in a live birth, then Gaia will give you money towards another cycle. Plus, you have the option of including all of your PGT-A testing and your medication for a fixed cost, so you have even more protection throughout your journey. AlSalim, tells CyberGuy the company’s mission goes beyond technology.
“At Gaia Family, we’re using AI not to replace the human element of fertility care, but to bring more confidence to it,” AlSalim said. “Fertility treatment can feel like a game of chance — our technology helps turn it into a guided, informed journey. By analyzing millions of data points, we can forecast the most effective and affordable pathway for each individual, so patients can make decisions grounded in data rather than uncertainty. Ultimately, it’s about giving hopeful parents more agency, transparency, and peace of mind in one of the most emotional experiences of their lives.”
SKIN DNA BREAKTHROUGH COULD LET 60-YEAR-OLD WOMEN HAVE GENETICALLY RELATED KIDS
For many couples, this combination of data and compassion is transforming uncertainty into confidence and renewed hope. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Why Gaia Family’s model matters
IVF in the United States can cost as much as $30,000 per cycle, and most couples need several tries. Each failed attempt adds more bills and stress. Gaia Family’s fixed-cost model gives families financial predictability while keeping them emotionally supported. It also encourages clinics to focus on outcomes rather than repeated treatments.
This approach is transforming how people view fertility care. Instead of relying on luck, families can benefit from AI insights to make better decisions. While it may not lower the medical costs yet, it changes how couples experience one of life’s most emotional challenges, turning fear into informed planning and despair into hope. Gaia removes the spiraling costs, making couples’ outcomes so much more cost-efficient.
What this means for you
If you are thinking about IVF or egg freezing, Gaia Family’s model could make your path more manageable. It provides upfront transparency about costs, protection against financial loss and a data-driven forecast of success. It helps you make decisions based on evidence rather than guesswork.
Still, while AI can analyze data patterns, it cannot alter biology. Factors like age, health and genetics continue to shape outcomes. Even so, Gaia Family’s system gives couples a sense of control that traditional fertility care rarely provides by serving everyone, with no eligibility criteria in terms of age or health factors. Knowing that your finances are protected can ease stress and allow you to focus on what matters most: building your family.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Gaia Family is blending AI and empathy to rewrite how fertility care works. It replaces uncertainty with insight and transforms risk into reassurance. For many, it’s not just about technology, it’s about restoring hope and fairness to one of life’s most personal journeys.
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Technology
Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO next year
According to the Financial Times, Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO as early as next year. And the board has started to seriously work out a succession plan. FT says that John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice-president of hardware engineering, is considered the frontrunner for the position.
Rumors of Cook’s stepping down follow the retirement of Apple COO Jeff Williams, whose last day at the company was Friday. As part of that departure, there has been some shuffling of responsibilities at the executive level, including expanded roles for Services chief Eddy Cue, head of software engineering Craig Federighi, and Ternus.
Regardless of who winds up taking over as CEO, it’s unlikely to be someone from outside Apple. Tim Cook has previously said there is a strong preference for an internal candidate and that the company has “very detailed succession plans.”
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