Chaos & Amazement #2521: Ivy x Altman, The Agentic Web, and Talking Baby Podcasts

May 24, 2025

Ben Thompson’s latest Stratechery post reframes the web’s past and future. He defends the ad model’s original alignment of incentives and questions whether subscriptions can scale without trust. Most striking: his vision of the Agentic Web, where AI assistants, not users, navigate content. Are we ready for that shift? https://stratechery.com/2025/the-agentic-web-and-original-sin/
After 2 years of leaks, it’s official: OpenAI is acquiring Jony Ive’s company io (yes, that name) for a sweet $6.5B. Possibly the biggest acquihire in tech. Jony’s now designing physical AI products at OpenAI. What products will they build? Rumors point to a wearable slightly larger than the AI Pin, with a form factor as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle. Or, as some call it, surveillance jewelry. Ming-Chi Kuo has all the rumors: https://x.com/mingchikuo/status/1925543472993321066

23andMe is selling its genetic data unit to pharma giant Regeneron. Includes data from 15M+ users. They claim it’s anonymized, but it’s unclear what’s really kept. Your DNA could soon fuel drug research. https://www.theverge.com/news/669548/23andme-bankruptcy-auction-regeneron-purchase

Google Flow looks like the AI video tool I’ve been waiting for. Built on Veo, Imagen & Gemini. Seamless scene building, camera control, asset management… the works. https://labs.google/flow/
- US only for now so I don’t have access. But here’s a collection of short films made with Veo 3 to give you an idea: https://labs.google/flow/tv/short-films .

A post shared by @junielaux

- This one by Ari Kushnir went viral on X: https://x.com/arikuschnir/status/1924953349943697763.
- More Google AI stuff at https://io.google/2025/
Hedra, the startup behind AI-generated talking baby podcasts, just raised $32M from a16z to boost its expressive video tech and ride the AI content wave. https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/15/hedra-the-app-used-to-make-talking-baby-podcasts-raises-32m-from-a16z/
- Here’s one talking baby podcast example from comedian Jon Lajoie: https://youtube.com/shorts/yAn5HKUJELM?si=tLUi6HKSg0q6-XSq

http://compost.party is a repurposed smartphone running on solar power. It's a web server pieced together from scraps, humming in the attic of an apartment building.
In 1899, artists tried to imagine what the year 2000 would look like. Some guesses were wild, some oddly accurate. Take a look: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/qGz9T0Cx9J
The Sistine Chapel Explained (Full 3D Virtual Tour)
The Cure. Remixed by Orbital. "ENDSONG" just became the soundtrack to my entire internal monologue. Dark, hypnotic, sublime.
Britney Spears - Oops!...I Did It Again just turned 25 (aka too old for Leonardo).
Watch it again, if only for that iconic intro.