💥 AI Barbie Dolls Spark Debate

In today’s email:

🤳 Gen Z is turning selfies into AI-powered Barbie dolls, but these cute creations come with a carbon footprint (and copyright drama).

🏆 The Oscars just dropped their 2026 rules—AI in film won’t help or hurt, but voters finally have to watch what they’re voting on.

🧠 ChatGPT gets a memory upgrade, so it now remembers your taco cravings and that pirate pick-up line you asked about.

Curious? Keep scrolling!

🙈 The Hidden Cost of AI Barbie Dolls

Gen Z’s latest obsession is not avocado toast—it’s uploading selfies into ChatGPT to create mini action figures of themselves, complete with custom packaging. AI Barbie dolls are a thing now. They’re cute, hilarious, and very, very controversial.

Basically, ChatGPT and friends use big ol’ image models to take your photo + some instructions and turn you into a plastic dream... digitally. Sounds fun, right? But behind the scenes, things get a bit murky.

Here’s the tea:

• 🌍 These dolls are energy-guzzlers. Data centers powering them use more electricity than 117 countries.

• 🎨 They’re trained on possibly copyrighted stuff, so artists and creators? Not thrilled.

• 💸 The tech isn’t free—GPU costs are sky-high, and some folks say it’s wasteful.

• 🧠 It’s not perfect—think wrong eye colors, weird accessories, and Barbie with a PhD in “Management Synergy Optimization.”

Critics are raising eyebrows, saying we’re spending serious tech firepower on glorified Instagram toys while climate modeling and medical research are waiting in line. Professor Gina Neff calls it a “triple threat” to privacy, culture, and the planet.

🏆 Oscars' New AI Rules

The Oscars are kinda on the fence about AI. They’ve just released their new rules for the 2026 Academy Awards, and while it’s not a full-on ban, AI won’t help or hurt a film’s chances of being nominated. So, if a film uses AI, it’s really up to the voters to decide if it’s Oscar-worthy.

Here’s the lowdown:

• AI in films? No boost, no penalty. It’s neutral. Whether you use AI or not, the voters will still have the final say.

• A few films stirred up drama, like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, which used AI for voice tweaks and architectural sketches. This led to some major public debates.

• Academy members now have to watch all nominees in each category to vote. We kind of thought this was already a thing. Apparently, it wasn’t.

• A new “Best Casting” category will now have a shortlist of 10 films.

• Best International Film now lets filmmakers with refugee or asylum status represent a different country when submitting.

Basically, the Academy is trying to play it cool with AI while also making the voting process a little less lazy.

🧠 OpenAI Gives ChatGPT a Memory Boost

ChatGPT can now use your past to Google your future. It's called “Memory with Search,” and now ChatGPT doesn’t just search the web — it personalizes searches using stuff it remembers about you.

Let’s say you told ChatGPT you’re vegan and based in San Francisco. Now, if you ask it where to eat, it’ll skip the steakhouse suggestions and serve tofu tacos instead.

Here’s what’s cookin’:

• 🧠 ChatGPT now remembers your past chats (yes, even that one time you asked for pick-up lines in pirate speak).

• 🌍 When searching the web, it tailors the query using your faves, habits, and general life vibes.

• ⚙️ You can turn this off in settings if you prefer your chatbot forgetful and mysterious.

• 🔍 Not everyone has access just yet, but some users are already seeing it roll out.

This is part of OpenAI’s master plan to stay ahead of its AI buddies Claude and Gemini, who also have memory features. Basically, ChatGPT’s out here trying to be your super-helpful digital BFF — with a really, really good memory.

Other cool AI stuff that is trending right now 🔥🔥

💸 Being nice to AI might be burning millions in electricity—turns out your “please” and “thank you” could be the most expensive manners ever. - Read more

📰 ChatGPT just teamed up with The Washington Post—so now it can spill the news tea with snappy summaries, minus the paywall panic. - Read more

⛪ In his final days, Pope Francis tackled AI, screen addiction, and deepfake drip—proving even the Vatican’s top guy thought we should scroll less. - Read more

🤖 Meet your new AI coworker: it doesn’t just talk the talk—it feels the feels, reads your vibe, and might just out-empathize your boss. - Read more

📴 Instagram's cracking down on undercover teens with AI snitches—because nothing says “modern parenting” like a robot calling you out for pretending to be 21 while still stressing over algebra homework. - Read more