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- 📞 People Are Talking to AI Santa for Hours 🤯
📞 People Are Talking to AI Santa for Hours 🤯
PLUS: 👓 Google’s First AI Glasses Are Almost Here
Hey AI Explorers,
Here’s what’s in store for you today:
📰 AI NEWS
🎅 Tavus Says Users Spend “Hours a Day” Talking to Its AI Santa
👓 Google Set to Launch Its First AI Glasses Next Year
🎨 Figma Adds AI-Powered Object Removal and Image Extension Tools
LATEST DEVELOPMENT
🎅 Tavus Says Users Spend “Hours a Day” Talking to Its AI Santa
Image Source: NewsBytes
AI startup Tavus reports that its interactive holiday character, AI Santa, has become so popular that many users are spending hours every day chatting with it. The company says some even hit their daily usage limits, highlighting how quickly people are embracing more lifelike AI companions.
🤖 What Makes AI Santa Different
AI Santa goes beyond a typical chatbot. It appears as a realistic virtual character that can see, hear, and respond in real time through text, voice, or video. It remembers previous conversations, adapts to users, and mixes entertainment with utility — from playful chats to helping with tasks like gift ideas or messages.
⚠️ Rising Engagement, Rising Concerns
The surge in usage shows a growing comfort with emotionally responsive AI, but it also raises questions. Spending long periods with an AI character — especially for kids — blurs the line between fun and dependency. Experts warn about the psychological impact of forming deep interactions with digital personas.
Tavus says it has built safety features like content filters, usage controls, and data-deletion options.
🔮 A Glimpse of the Future
AI Santa’s success suggests that AI companions may soon become part of daily life, not just seasonal novelties. As these agents grow more expressive and humanlike, expect broader adoption — and louder discussions about the ethics of emotionally intelligent AI.
Wall Street Isn’t Warning You, But This Chart Might
Vanguard just projected public markets may return only 5% annually over the next decade. In a 2024 report, Goldman Sachs forecasted the S&P 500 may return just 3% annually for the same time frame—stats that put current valuations in the 7th percentile of history.
Translation? The gains we’ve seen over the past few years might not continue for quite a while.
Meanwhile, another asset class—almost entirely uncorrelated to the S&P 500 historically—has overall outpaced it for decades (1995-2024), according to Masterworks data.
Masterworks lets everyday investors invest in shares of multimillion-dollar artworks by legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso.
And they’re not just buying. They’re exiting—with net annualized returns like 17.6%, 17.8%, and 21.5% among their 23 sales.*
Wall Street won’t talk about this. But the wealthy already are. Shares in new offerings can sell quickly but…
*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.
👓 Google Set to Launch Its First AI Glasses Next Year
Image Source: Cybernews
Google is preparing to release its first AI-powered smart glasses in 2026, marking its biggest return to wearables since the original Google Glass. The company is positioning the device as a lightweight, everyday assistant rather than a bulky AR headset.
🔧 Two Versions Coming
Google plans to offer:
A lighter, screen-free model that relies on voice, audio cues and an onboard AI assistant.
A premium model with a built-in display, capable of showing subtle overlays like directions, translations and notifications directly in your field of view.
Google is partnering with major eyewear and hardware brands to make the glasses look and feel like normal eyewear, not tech gadgets.
🌐 Why It Matters
The launch puts Google directly in the rapidly growing AI-wearables race. With companies pushing smart glasses and AI assistants into more everyday use cases, Google wants to position its glasses as the natural successor to the smartphone for quick, hands-free interactions.
🔮 What to Watch
Key questions remain — battery life, pricing, and how naturally the display blends into daily life. But if Google delivers on comfort and AI integration, its 2026 glasses could become one of the first widely adopted AI wearables.
🎨 Figma Adds AI-Powered Object Removal and Image Extension Tools
Image Source: Yahoo News
Figma has rolled out powerful new AI-driven features aimed at simplifying how designers edit images — directly within the app. The update brings tools to remove or isolate objects in photos, and even extend or expand image backgrounds to fit new formats.
✂️ What’s New
Users can now select an object in an image — like a person, logo, or item — using an improved lasso/selection tool, then remove it cleanly from the photo, or isolate and move it while preserving background integrity.
For projects requiring different aspect ratios (social media banners, web headers, etc.), Figma now supports image expansion — extending backgrounds smoothly so you don’t have to manually crop or recreate elements.
All these editing tools are gathered into a single, accessible toolbar, making it easier to switch between selection, object editing, background adjustments, annotation, and text overlays without leaving the design workspace.
🧰 Why It Matters
Until now, many designers had to export images out of Figma, edit them in a different app (like a dedicated photo editor), and then re-import — a time-consuming back-and-forth. With these tools, more of the design workflow can stay inside Figma.
This move also brings Figma closer to parity with other editing suites (which already offered such features), while keeping its cloud-based, collaborative strengths intact. For freelancers, agencies, and teams — especially those working quickly on marketing assets, social media creatives or UI designs — it could cut hours of tedious editing work.
QUICK HITS
📰 Everything else in AI today
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💬 Wispr raises $25M as its voice-AI platform surges in adoption.
🎮 Samsung Tab A11+ to launch in India with built-in Galaxy AI features.
🖥️ OpenAI & Foxconn partner to manufacture next-gen AI hardware.
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