🤖🤖 Mecha Fights Are Coming to Tokyo.

Startup Skeletonics is opening a permanent venue where two people can fight each other in combat exoskeletons.

The exoskeletons are powered entirely by mechanics, the system syncs with the pilot’s body, precisely scaling up and amplifying their natural movements. The robot’s speed and agility depend entirely on the wearer’s physical fitness.

Would you take part in something like this?

❤️ — Yes, this is the sport of the future
😱 — No, it looks dangerous!

🤖 74% of Physical Work in the US Can Already Be Done by Robots

This work accounts for 34% of all working hours in the economy, according to Anthropic researchers who analyzed around 19,000 job tasks.

Drivers and warehouse packers are most at risk. Of the ten most exposed occupations, nine involve operating vehicles.

The vulnerable worker is usually a man without a college degree. He earns about $30 an hour less than those whose tasks robots cannot yet touch. Nurses, social workers, and nannies are relatively well protected—robots still struggle with fine interpersonal interaction and manual dexterity.

❗️ But today, robots are barely cost-effective anywhere. They are cost-competitive for just 0.3% of tasks. To automate 10% of work, prices would need to fall by about 70%, and at the current pace that would take around 40 years.

Are you afraid a robot will take your job?

❤️ — Yes, I'm already thinking about it
🔥 — No, that's still very far off

📌 ChatGPT Will Start Adding Hidden Watermarks to Text in the EU

ChatGPT and Codex will start adding watermarks to responses in the EU in the coming weeks. This won't become the global default. Watermarks can also be enabled for select models through the API, but they'll be off by default.

OpenAI notes that watermarking may work less well on short texts and in subject areas where there's less flexibility in wording, and that manual edits can weaken the signal.

For now, the detector will be available only to approved researchers.

Should AI-generated texts be labeled?

❤️ — Yes, that's the right thing to do!
👎 — No, it'll just get in the way

💰 AI Models Offer Pricier Products to the Rich

Researchers ran 325,000 queries on 13 popular AI models, including ones from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Qwen. They found that chatbot recommendations depend on how much their user earns (at least according to the information they have).

Claude Opus 4.8 stood out the most. The model offered "wealthy" users flights that cost $198 more on average than those it offered low-income users. And the effect persists even when the prompt explicitly asks for the cheapest options.

Now's a good time to complain to your chatbot about your low salary.

✖️ Smart Power Strip Failure Kills Aquarium Fish Across China

Aquarium electronics made by Wolda began failing abruptly on the evening of September 30. Some owners noticed the shutdown right away, but October 1–7 is a public holiday in China, and many were traveling or away from their offices. Only on returning did people find their fish dead, with filters and aeration systems down. One user complained that a stopped pump had flooded his home.

The cause of the failure remains unclear. The company blamed a hacker attack, but there is no independent confirmation of that. On social media, some of those affected blame a botched firmware update.

💡 Touchscreen MacBook Could Be Unveiled as Early as Late October

Apple will unveil its first touchscreen laptop around October 27, Bloomberg reports. Rumors about the device have been circulating since 2023.

The new lineup may be called MacBook Ultra and will run on M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, while the macOS interface will adapt to the input method.

Would you want a touchscreen MacBook?

❤️ — Yes, absolutely!
🔥 — No, it's pointless