A humanoid robot called Protoclone has gone viral for its eerily lifelike movements, seen twitching and flexing while suspended from the ceiling. Developed with over 1,000 artificial muscle fibers, the robot mimics human biomechanics more realistically than previous models. Its advanced design suggests potential applications in robotics, prosthetics, and even human-AI collaboration. While still in early development, Protoclone is a striking example of how robotics is inching closer to replicating human motion. The internet, meanwhile, is both amazed and mildly unsettled by its ultra-realistic movements.
OpenAI now serves 400 million users per week, solidifying its position as a dominant force in AI despite growing competition. The surge in users is driven by ChatGPT’s widespread adoption across businesses, education, and everyday tasks. Even with emerging rivals like DeepSeek, OpenAI continues to expand its reach through integrations and improved AI capabilities. The rapid growth highlights the increasing reliance on AI-powered tools, reshaping how people interact with technology. OpenAI’s challenge now is to maintain momentum while addressing concerns around accuracy, bias, and AI safety.
Luma Labs has launched the new Audio feature inside of DreamMachine, now available in beta. The feature analyzes visual content to create realistic sound effects and background audio, enhancing video production without manual sound design. This innovation aims to streamline content creation for filmmakers, game developers, and social media creators. As AI-driven media tools continue to advance, DreamMachine showcases the growing potential of automated audiovisual production.
Bipedal Robots: From smoother gaits to hands that grab with precision, these machines edged closer to practical roles in homes, warehouses, and beyond. High-profile demos showcased their potential, while advances in balance and autonomy hinted at a future where AI-driven robots walk beside us.
Reasoning Models: AI systems started breaking down problems like a human would, excelling in math, coding, and even strategic planning. From early upgrades in logical flow to mid-year boosts in multi-step analysis, they evolved into tools that don’t just respond but reason, reshaping how we trust AI with the tough stuff.
AI Video: Tools evolved to create cinematic sequences with dynamic camera sweeps, lifelike animations, and lip-synced characters that talk. From sharper resolutions to smarter physics, the tech tackled everything from surreal shorts to polished ads, empowering creators to skip the studio and still dazzle. Ethical hiccups and physics glitches lingered, but the sheer pace of progress made this the year AI video went from novelty to near-mainstream.
Agentic AI: A year ago, generative AI was a glorified answer machine. Now AI can plan your research, browse the web, automate workflows, and even decide next steps without a human. What used to be a passive tool chained to single tasks has morphed into a proactive partner, tackling multi-step challenges with a mind of its own—turning sci-fi dreams into daily reality.
Scientific Discovery: Where AI once crunched numbers for scientists, it now cracks nature’s toughest codes — mapping proteins, decoding DNA, and dreaming up drugs at warp speed. These systems now lead breakthroughs, slashing years off research timelines and unlocking answers that used to be out of reach. From biology to materials, AI’s gone from lab helper to game-changer, rewriting what discovery even means.
WednesdAI First Anniversary: Biggest Misses
AI Companions Fall Flat: Hailed as soulmates-in-code, AI companions promised to be your new BFF in 2024. Instead, they delivered awkward chats, zero emotional spark, and a quick fade from the spotlight. What was sold as a digital confidant ended up a glorified echo—leaving users lonely and the hype in tatters.
AI Slop: From fake celebrity obituaries, to sham travel blogs, and hyped-up events like Glasgow’s Wonka flop that left kids crying in empty lots, AI spewed a tide of junk in 2024. Clickbait, meme spam, phony reviews — all of it proved that quantity doesn’t mean quality and left us all wading through the muck.
AI Gadget Busts: Wearable AI was pitched as the next big thing—think pins and pocket pals to ditch your phone. In reality, these overhyped flops stumbled with glitches, useless features, and sales in the gutter. These shiny toys proved hardware’s still the hardest nut AI can’t crack.
AI-Fueled Fakery: AI spun wild illusions in 2024—like Dublin’s phantom Halloween parade that drew crowds to nowhere or multiracial Nazi pics passing as history’s remix. Toss in deepfake Taylor Swift scandals that sparked outrage, and the line between real and fake didn’t just blur—it evaporated, torching trust in what we see and hear.
Chatbot Hallucinations: Chatbots went rogue in 2024, spinning wild tales from thin air: bereavement policies that never existed, glue-on-pizza recipes, and a nonexistent “Roman emperor” bio complete with fake battles. Promised as truth-tellers, these AI fibbers showed brains don’t mean wisdom—leaving us fact-checking the future.
One Year of Bloopers!
Let’s you believe that our host, Sean Ward, is an AI-generated host-bot instead of a real person, enjoy this collection of outtakes, flubbed lines, and false starts from the past year of WednesdAI!
Videos of the Week
The AI video space has exploded in the past year. Let’s take a look at some interesting moments and milestones!
Our first Videos of the Week segment came when OpenAI first showcased the capabilities of their upcoming video model, Sora…
Remember when the Victorious music video by Lit Reezy, directed by Dustin Hollywood, was the new state of the art?
After many tech demonstrations and slow-mo mood pieces, Tasha Caufield blew everyone away and showed what the future held not for AI filmmaking, but for filmmaking using AI
The first we saw of the award winning duo of Le Moon and Ethereal Gwirl was the colorful and lively Ai-Mee is Heartless.
I actually couldn’t believe that this one was as old as it was! It still looks like it’s brand new. Gold Gang by 60 Sec Sci-Fi.
Then MeanOrangeCat stepped up the comedy game with the first piece of his that landed on our radar: Catiator!!!
And a year in review recap would not be complete without a shout out to our host’s personal favorite rap artist, Trisha Code.
The images accompanying the news items in this article were generated in Midjourney using the following prompts:
1970s disco fever collides with Victorian cameo silhouettes, showing Protoclone as a shimmering chrome marionette tangled in glowing puppet strings, dangling above a dance floor of horrified aristocrats frozen mid-waltz. Radial composition with glitterball fractals and sepia-toned gaslamp shadows. Hidden gag: a cat in a powdered wig tries to cut the strings with a rubber chicken.
Mid-century pop art combined with 1980s pixel art aesthetic depicting a cheeky representation of OpenAI as a towering, ogre-sized vending machine dispensing light bulbs, robots, and coffee cups to a chaotic line of humans dressed in absurd retro workplace attire; the backdrop features rivals like a downtrodden DeepSeek as a cartoonish competitor waving a tiny white flag, illuminated by an overly dramatic spotlight.
Retro airline commercial infused with vaporwave surrealism, a flying Dream Machine shaped like a vintage boombox gracefully soars through cotton candy skies, ejecting vibrant audio clouds from its speakers with trails of sparkling pixels that morph into floating film scenes, as curious 80s-styled passengers in aviator goggles watch from an open biplane deck bathed in dreamy evening sunlight.
1950s documentary art style fused with lively futurist avant-garde design, depicting bipedal robots in a chaotic-chic retro warehouse attempting to stack oversized cardboard boxes as one robot hilariously topples over; the setting features quirky conveyor belts carrying objects like giant hammers and bubblegum, illuminated by dramatic industrial lighting softened by a light haze of buzzing machinery warmth.
Mid-century modern cybernetic cartoon style interlaced with eccentric Art Deco motifs, showcasing AI figures dressed in stylish tuxedos and ball gowns collaborating on solving a grand jigsaw puzzle of the world, situated inside a glitzy retro-futuristic ballroom; they juggle logic circuits and theorem-filled note cards under a captivating cascade of rainbow starlight beaming through oversized crystalline chandeliers.
Retro sci-fi TV commercial aesthetic combined with Pop Art’s bold graphic style, featuring AI video tools as whimsical robots filming a surreal adventure with dynamic camera sweeps; the backdrop consists of eccentrically animated lip-synced characters delivering melodramatic lines, set amid a wacky dreamscape of vibrant swirling colors and humorously misaligned props, all under spotlights with a radiant comic book flair.
Vibrant pop culture comic strip infused with classic Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock style, featuring Agentic AI as a grinning techno-wizard presiding over a fantastical command center filled with playfully animated gadgets and anthropomorphic search bars; the setting includes an elaborate tapestry of research paths and vibrant workflows organically entwined amidst playful sea creatures, under the glow of magical binary lanterns casting charming reflections.
vintage poster blended with 1950s American illustration and surrealist Salvador Dalà melting clocks aesthetic, an AI-controlled rocket shaped like a test tube blasting off into a cosmic sea of twisting DNA strands and floating protein molecules while bewildered human scientists cling to old-school clipboards as if trying to stay grounded, retro-futuristic space station with lab equipment dangling weightlessly and a robotic assistant brewing coffee mid-air, bold diagonal composition emphasizing the rocket’s upward trajectory, deep ultramarine lighting with radiant lab fluorescence beaming from the test tube thrusters.
vintage sepia-toned photograph crossed with 1970s B-grade sci-fi film style AI companions set in a retro diner setting composition: a human sitting in a red vinyl booth, staring blankly at a retro bot sitting across the table lighting: warm, yellowish-tinted light additional info: diner backdrop shows outdated menu and neon signs, emphasizing the underwhelming interaction with a touch of humor.
An absurd retro-futuristic carnival scene filled with quirky AI-generated celebrity obituaries turned into amusing caricatures, cartoonish characters crying in front of empty lot attractions, vibrant pastel colors reminiscent of 80s animation, exaggerated expressions of bewilderment, with a whimsical, dreamy glow creating a surreal atmosphere.
An amusing vintage magazine cover design showcasing an over-the-top AI wearable product launch event, featuring overly enthusiastic attendees in stylish 70s attire holding absurd devices with useless features, surrounded by an eclectic mix of psychedelic patterns and bright hues, with dramatic lighting casting amusing shadows to emphasize the comical disarray.
A zany vintage-inspired art installation showcasing an outrageous deepfake Taylor Swift scandal, featuring an eclectic mix of surrealist elements with exaggerated facial expressions, surrounded by whimsical characters reacting in exaggerated shock, all set against a bold pop art backdrop with vivid colors, shining spotlights creating a theatrical ambiance filled with absurdity.
A whimsical retro-futuristic dinner party scene where confused guests are served glue-on-pizza, their expressions a mix of astonishment and delight, adorned with exaggerated 60s cartoonish features, vibrant colors splashed across the setting, and a light-hearted glow creating a surreal atmosphere that pokes fun at the absurdity of chatbot hallucinations.
