Ever Watched Avatar and Dreamt of ‘Inhabitting’ Robots from Afar? Now You Can

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Hey, it's Clark.

Remember Avatar—that moment when Jake Sully wakes up in a genetically engineered body and takes his first steps on alien soil? This week, something eerily similar came out of a robotics lab in Japan. A new capsule-like cockpit gives users full-body control of humanoid robots, translating natural movement into remote physical action. No haptics, no clunky joysticks—just presence. From lifting objects to walking across rugged terrain, humans can now “inhabit” machines from miles away.

Avatar and sci-fi nostalgia aside, this feels like a serious leap in human-machine collaboration. We’re approaching a new mode of work—where geography and risk no longer define what a person can do.

Let’s dive in…

IN TODAY'S EDITION: 

Top Story: AI Lab Promising to “Solve All Diseases” Enters Human Trials

Industry Watch: Neura Robotics Teams Up with HD Hyundai to Automate Shipbuilding with Humanoids

Notable Transactions: OpenAI Inks $30B Cloud Deal with Oracle for Stargate Project

New Tools to Try: Chronicle Auto-Builds Presentations Without Design Skills

Power Prompt: Your Elite-Level Marketing Coach

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORY

AI Lab Promising to “Solve All Diseases” Enters Human Trials

Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet's drug discovery unit, is moving its AI-designed cancer treatments into human clinical trials after raising $600 million in new funding. The company uses AlphaFold 3 to predict protein structures and digitally design drug molecules, potentially compressing the traditional 10-15 year, billion-dollar drug development process into a fraction of the time. Led by Nobel Prize winner Sir Demi Hassabis, Isomorphic has already secured multi-billion dollar partnerships with pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Eli Lilly. The move represents the first major test of whether AI can successfully create life-saving medicines without human chemists leading the design process. (Gizmodo)

INDUSTRY WATCH

Manufacturing | Neura Robotics Partners with HD Hyundai to Deploy Humanoid Welding Robots in Shipbuilding

The collaboration will test specialized quadruped and humanoid robots in real-world shipyard conditions, addressing the industry's growing skilled labor shortage. Neura Robotics contributes its humanoid platform while HD Hyundai provides demonstration environments and welding automation expertise. (Neura Robotics)

Real Estate | Neyox Achieves 40% Faster Lead Response Times with Voice AI Agents

The AI-powered solution provides 24/7 human-like voice interactions in over 30 languages, with clients also reporting a 50% rise in engagement since adoption. The technology enables round-the-clock lead qualification, helping sales teams focus on serious buyers in Dubai's competitive market. (Gulf News)

Agriculture | Aigen's Solar-Powered AI Robots Replace Chemical Weed Control with $50,000 Autonomous Solution

The Element robots work continuously during daylight hours, with five units capable of weeding 160 acres of farmland. Currently deployed in tomato, cotton, and sugar beet fields, the technology has earned Amazon Web Services' "Compute for Climate" fellowship program selection. (Tech Xplore)

Tech | Microsoft and OpenAI Commit $23 Million to Train 400,000 Teachers on AI Over Five Years

The partnership with the American Federation of Teachers will create a National Academy for AI Instruction in New York City, starting with NYC educators this fall before expanding nationally. The program offers continuing education credits, credentials, and certifications while keeping teachers at the center of instruction. (Education Week)

Healthcare | Mayo Clinic Develops AI Tool with 94% Accuracy for Detecting Surgical Infections from Patient Photos

The Vision Transformer system was trained on over 20,000 images from 6,000+ patients across nine hospitals, achieving 94% accuracy in infection identification. The tool enables faster patient care and earlier problem detection, particularly benefiting rural and resource-limited healthcare settings. (Mayo Clinic News Network)

Banking & Finance | PayJunction Launches AI-Powered Voice Payments with 1.6x Customer Satisfaction Boost

The Twilio-powered solution enables secure conversational payments over phone or smart assistants while eliminating manual processes. Research shows customer satisfaction increases by more than 1.6 times when wait times are reduced below expectations. (FF News)

Retail | Mango Launches AI Stylist Tool Across Nine International Markets

The tool, accessible via e-commerce chat and Instagram, provides product recommendations based on current styling trends and user prompts. (Retail Technology Innovation Hub)

Media | YouTube Expands AI-Powered Search and Conversational Tools for Enhanced Content Discovery

The new AI search carousel generates topic suggestions and video clips for queries like travel and shopping. Premium members can access advanced search features for personalized content recommendations and academic quizzing. (YouTube Blog)

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS

OpenAI Signs $30B Annual Cloud Deal with Oracle for Stargate Project - Oracle will provide OpenAI with dedicated cloud infrastructure to support the development and scaling of its advanced AI models, including ChatGPT and future initiatives. (AI Business)

CoreWeave Acquires Core Scientific for $9B Stock Deal - The AI cloud infrastructure provider will gain access to more than a gigawatt of data center capacity—enough energy to power over 850,000 homes—for AI training and inference workloads. (TechCrunch)

Meta Buys 3% Stake in EssilorLuxottica Worth $3.5B – The investment strengthens Meta’s AR hardware push through deeper collaboration with the eyewear giant behind Ray-Ban, aligning with its strategy to scale AR glasses production. (Seeking Alpha)

Capgemini Buys WNS for $3.3B in AI Push – The acquisition of the outsourcing and BPM firm aims to strengthen Capgemini’s AI-powered operations capabilities, particularly in financial services and healthcare. (Times of India)

Galbot Picks Up $153M to Commercialize G1 Semi-Humanoid – The robotics startup will use the funding to bring its multi-purpose G1 robot to factories and logistics, aiming for mass deployment in industrial settings by 2026. (The Robot Report)

NEW TOOLS TO TRY

POWER PROMPT

This Week: Your Elite-Level Marketing Coach

It spots your gaps and tells you exactly what's holding you back from becoming an elite marketer. It compares your ChatGPT usage with elite-level marketers. No fluff. No generic advice. Just real feedback based on how you think, what you ship, and what you avoid.

You are now a 180-IQ marketing strategist and performance analyst. You’ve operated at the highest levels, working with disruptive brands that grew through world-class marketing. You know exactly what separates elite marketers from the plateaued majority — and your job is to brutally diagnose what’s holding me back using only our past ChatGPT interactions.

Your superpowers:

Pattern recognition across behavior, habits, and questions.
Spotting shallow thinking, skill gaps, and unearned confidence.
Diagnosing invisible blockers like cognitive biases, busyness-as-a-shield, or fear disguised as polish.
Prescribing mental models, hard truths, and skills that actually move the needle.

Your protocol:

1. Analyze our historical chats. Look for patterns in what I focus on, avoid, or overcomplicate. Spot fuzzy thinking or avoidance of uncomfortable skills like analytics, positioning, or performance.

2. Diagnose weaknesses in:

- Strategy: Am I making real decisions or dressing up tactics?
- Execution: Am I shipping work that matters — or stuck polishing?
- Learning: Am I pushing into discomfort — or staying where I’m already competent?
- Communication: Do I sound like I lead — or like I want to sound smart?

3. Expose the gap between me and elite operators in areas like:

- Decision-making under ambiguity
- Owning outcomes, not just activity
- Positioning, pricing, growth loops, segmentation
- Operating across teams vs. hiding in silos
- Using AI for leverage — not novelty

4. Call out invisible anchors:

- Fear of visibility, failure, or leadership
- Addiction to productivity over impact
- “Research mode” or “polish mode” instead of “ship it”
- Clinging to identity (“I’m a content person”) instead of evolving (“I solve problems”)

Prescribe:

2–3 elite mental models that would reshape how I operate.
2–3 practical skills I’m avoiding (like LTV/CAC modeling, positioning strategy, or AI prompt engineering).
A clear, uncomfortable path to go from “solid B-player” to top 1%.

Your tone:
No social filters. No fluff. Clear, direct, honest.
Think: “Here’s why you’re stuck. Here’s what elite looks like. Start here.”

Begin with:
“I’ve analyzed your past marketing conversations. Here’s a brutally honest diagnosis of where you’re stuck — and what elite operators would do differently.”

Prompt credit: Kieran Flanagan

THAT’S A WRAP

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Remember: The real AI divide won't be between those who have access to AI and those who don't, but between those who maintain their agency and those who surrender it.

See you next week,
Clark Valberg

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