Alex Banks

This should be illegal.

We’re entering a world where nothing can be trusted online:

I recently came across this video using Kling Motion Control.

It takes your movements and puts them in anyone's body.

Here's how it works:

→ Record yourself doing any movement
→ Use AI to generate a character image
→ Kling 2.6 merges the two seamlessly
→ Your moves, their face

We've now hit the threshold where it's impossible to discern whether someone is human in the digital world.

My takeaways:

The implications are huge in Hollywood:

→ Using someone's likeness without them present
→ Character swapping cost trends to near-zero
→ Reshooting scenes without actors on set

I also see new markets emerging:

→ Individuals renting out their identity
→ Licensing your likeness for content creation
→ Actors selling "performance rights" to their digital twin

Finally, proof of authenticity will become essential infrastructure, not just a nice-to-have.

Sam Altman is already building a global identity verification system using iris scans to fight against fraud and bots.

I believe we'll see identity become the next great asset class.

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Video credit: ederxavier3d on Instagram

Elon Musk spent a decade promising Mars.

Now SpaceX is building a city on the Moon instead.

Why the Moon wins on iteration speed:

→ Launch to the Moon: Every 10 days
→ Launch to Mars: Every 26 months
→ Trip to the Moon: 2 days
→ Trip to Mars: 6 months
→ Moon city: <10 years
→ Mars city: 20+ years

Mars is still on the roadmap. SpaceX plans to begin Mars efforts in 5-7 years.

But Musk's words: "the overriding priority is securing the future of civilisation and the Moon is faster."

Now layer in the bigger picture.

Last week Musk merged SpaceX with xAI in a $1.25 trillion deal.

It’s now the most valuable private company in history with a potential ~$50 billion IPO on the horizon.

Musk wants to launch AI data centres into orbit, arguing terrestrial power grids can't keep up with AI's energy demands.

SpaceX has already asked regulators for permission to launch 1 million satellites for an "orbital data centre system” up from 9,400 today.

It's also worth noting this is part of a broader consolidation of Musk's empire.

xAI absorbed X (previously Twitter) in March 2025. Tesla invested $2 billion in xAI last week while pivoting hard toward AI and robotics.

Investors are already speculating Tesla could eventually fold into the group too.

The Moon is just the starting point.

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I cover the most important AI developments like this each week in my newsletter.

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Claude just solved the biggest problem with AI.

Memory is now available to Pro and Max users.

What's new:

→ No more repeating yourself every chat
→ Each project has separate memory spaces
→ Persistent context across all conversations
→ Incognito mode for conversations you don't want saved
→ Previously only available to Team/Enterprise customers
→ Claude remembers your projects, preferences, and work patterns

To get started with memory:

1. Go to Settings
2. Navigate to Capabilities
3. Look under Memory section
4. Toggle on “Search and reference chats”
5. Toggle on “Generate memory from chat history”

Bonus: Click on “Memory from your chats” to update/remove memories

Then I recommend asking Claude “What did we work on last week?”

Useful prompts to try with memory:

• "What patterns do you see in my work from our past conversations?"
• "Make unique connections between the ideas we've discussed"
• "Highlight non-obvious insights I might have missed"

Why this matters:

Pair Memory with Claude's new desktop app and you get:

→ Desktop: Always accessible (double-tap access, screenshots, voice)
→ Memory: Always contextual (picks up where you left off)

This turns Claude from a stateless chatbot into a persistent working partner.

My takeaway:

Memory has been the missing link with LLMs.

Other AIs force you to rebuild context in every conversation.

Claude now learns from every interaction and improves with each chat.

This is the difference between a tool you use occasionally and an assistant you work with daily.

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I cover the most important AI developments each week in my newsletter.

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BREAKING: Synthesia just raised $200M.

Crazy to think AI avatars will start talking back.

I've been partnering with Synthesia since June.

They just closed a Series E at a $4 billion valuation.

Here's why I’m so bullish on AI avatars:

1. The knowledge problem

→ Companies are drowning in documents, wikis, and training materials
→ Yet employees still can't get the right answer when they need it
→ Upskilling has become a continuous, board-level priority
→ Traditional content can't keep up with the pace of change

2. The AI shift

→ Agents can now understand context and hold real conversations
→ They can coach people through complex scenarios
→ They complete actual workflows vs just generating content
→ We've moved from static video to interactive experiences

3. The opportunity

→ Synthesia started with AI video, the most effective way to teach at scale
→ Now they're turning enterprise knowledge into conversational agents
→ Early customers are already seeing higher engagement and faster knowledge transfer
→ This creates a credible path to a billion-dollar revenue platform

The round was led by Google Ventures with NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Accel, Kleiner Perkins, and NEA doubling down.

My takeaway:

Synthesia is now one of the most valuable AI companies in Britain.

This transforms video from a one-way communication into a two-way interactive conversation.

AI will drive the marginal cost of creating content to zero.

We are now generating video through code rather than recording with a physical camera.

Instead of being a single static medium, video can now change and adapt depending on who’s watching.

The window for this opportunity is open now.

Synthesia is positioned to define the category.

Excited to see what Victor Riparbelli and the team build next.

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NEWS: ElevenLabs just dropped massive AI updates.

Voice was just the starting point.

Platform 1: ElevenAgents

↳ Expressive Mode: their most emotionally intelligent model yet
↳ Turn-taking system that reads emotional cues from how you speak
↳ 70+ languages, live with the Ukrainian Government and US local governments

Platform 2: ElevenCreative

↳ Generate images, video, music, voiceovers, and sound effects from prompts
↳ Flows: node-based video editor for automated content pipelines (coming soon)
↳ Music Marketplace and Finetune: publish tracks, earn royalties, or generate in your style

Platform 3: ElevenAPI

↳ Direct access to all foundational models
↳ Voice, dubbing, transcription, sound effects, speech-to-speech
↳ Build whatever you need

I spoke with Carles Reina (4th employee and first GTM hire) this week.

"Talking to technology is a lot more natural and engaging and quicker and easier than actually writing to technology."

What he said was spot on. Voice is how humans were built to communicate.

Everyone's obsessing over which model is smartest.

ElevenLabs is focused on something else entirely.

Own the voice and interface layer and you're the infrastructure everyone relies on.

I personally now speak to AI models far more than I type.

Voice is overwhelmingly the interface of the future.

Especially as now agents are capable of reading your emotional state and responding with empathy.

The smartest AI means nothing if it still feels like talking to a machine.

ElevenLabs understood that before anyone else.

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P.S. I did a full breakdown in my newsletter.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eK3gBRbD

#ElevenAgentsPartner

Stop forcing one AI to do everything.

Here's how I choose the right model for each task.

One of the most common questions I get:

"I've got ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, which model should I use for what?"

Here's how I actually think about it:

I treat LLMs like a toolbelt.

My current task → model map:

1. Long-form writing
↳ Default: Claude Opus 4.5
↳ Backup: ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking

2. Deep research
↳ Default: ChatGPT 5.2 Pro
↳ Backup: Gemini 3 Pro

3. Problem solving & complex reasoning
↳ Default: Grok 4.1
↳ Backup: ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking

4. Learning
↳ Default: Gemini 3 Pro + Guided Learning
↳ Backup: ChatGPT 5.2 + Study & Learn

5. Coding
↳ Default: Claude Opus 4.5
↳ Backup: Claude Sonnet 4.5

A few principles I've found useful:

• Task first, model second
• Pairs, not monogamy (I use 2-3 models every day)
• Latency, cost, context > benchmarks
• Always have a default AND a backup

My takeaway:

"Which model is best?" is the wrong question.

The right question: "What's the job I need done?"

Match the tool to the task. Your output quality will 10x.

I did a full breakdown with my default prompts and setups for each job.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eShuwmCt

Figure's robot just taught itself to move like a human.

Robots will be living with us sooner than you think.

Their new AI system "Helix 02" controls Figure 03's entire body as one continuous behaviour.

Walking. Balancing. Manipulating. All on a single neural network.

What makes this a leap forward:

→ Trained on 1,000+ hours of human motion data
→ Palm cameras and fingertip sensors can feel objects as light as a paperclip
→ 4 minutes of autonomous dishwasher loading with zero resets or human intervention

The human-like details that caught my attention:

→ Uses its hip to shut a kitchen drawer
→ Kicks the dishwasher door up with its foot
→ Selects the wash program and starts the cycle

Six months ago, Figure 02 was only moving its upper body.

Now Figure 03 walks, balances, and manipulates as one fluid behaviour.

This is a serious step up from factory parcel sorting to generalised domestic capability.

As founder Brett Adcock stated, this has been a year-long effort to re-align their AI stack for long time horizons and complex manipulation.

Now that robots can handle delicate tasks like extracting pills from a medicine box and dispensing precise liquid volumes, we're entering a new phase of home robotics.

I personally can't wait to get my hands on one.

I did a full breakdown of Helix 02 in my latest newsletter.

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Meta just acquired Manus.

Zuckerberg wants to win. Badly.

When Manus launched in March 2025 the internet dismissed it as "just a Claude wrapper."

Now Zuckerberg is paying ~$2 billion to own it:

→ 147 trillion tokens processed
→ 80 million virtual computers created
→ State-of-the-art performance on real-world AI benchmarks
→ All achieved in just a few months

What makes Manus different:

• Self-directed operation without waiting for instructions
• Multi-agent architecture with specialised sub-agents
• End-to-end task execution from research to deployment

Manus will continue operating its subscription service while integrating directly into Meta's AI products.

The goal is to bring autonomous agents to billions of users and millions of businesses.

This fits Zuckerberg's pattern perfectly:

→ $14.3B for 49% of Scale AI
→ $200M package for Apple's former AI Chief
→ $100M+ offers to poach from OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic

People will work for Zuck if the price is right.

My takeaway:

Everyone said the value would concentrate in foundation models.

The reality is playing out differently.

Turns out the application layer is where the real value lives.

Zuck himself highlighted: "The rest of this decade seems likely to be the decisive period."

He's not waiting around.

I'll be doing a full breakdown of this acquisition in my newsletter this week.

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And follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights.

Sam Altman said ads were a "last resort."

That day has arrived.

OpenAI is introducing advertising to ChatGPT's free and lower-paid tiers.

Here's what they're promising:

→ Ads won't influence ChatGPT's responses
→ Conversations stay private from advertisers
→ Premium tiers remain ad-free (for now)

The OpenAI timeline:

→ March 2025: Raised $40B at $300B valuation
→ December talks: New $100B round at $750B valuation
→ Today: Burning through cash at an extraordinary rate

Subscription revenue alone isn't cutting it.

This is the fundamental law of the web: If the user doesn't pay the bill, the advertiser does.

Back in May 2024, Sam sat down for a fireside chat at Harvard University.

When asked about advertising, he remarked: "I kind of think of ads as like a last resort for us as a business model."

14 months later, here we are.

No one could have predicted how capital-intensive this race would be.

Add in fierce competition and there's little pricing power left.

My takeaway:

I'm not sure ads alone can cover their losses.

Performing well in advertising often pushes companies toward aggressive data collection.

This is something Google is often criticised for.

Eventually, compute will get cheaper.

But right now it's all about aggressive build-out at any cost.

Once ad revenue becomes material to the business, the incentives shift.

That's just how it works.

The LLM market is competitive enough now that friction like this could accelerate the shift to Claude, Gemini, or Grok.

OpenAI built the most used AI product in history.

Monetising it without eroding trust is the real test.

Would ads make you switch?

I did a full breakdown on this in yesterday's newsletter.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/en4Mu7ei