Rogue Agents 🕵️‍♂️🤖

👀 TLDR

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover a cautionary tale in autonomous AI. With OpenAI’s Operator set to release soon, we look at how an AI networking email campaign went off the rails. Are we truly ready for autonomous AI agents? We also have news on everything at TikTok, Trump memecoins, Nikita Bier’s latest viral app, the Australian Open beating copyright, and much more!

Our Top Take 🎬

🧟🤖 AI – Sexist Email Campaign Sparks Questions About Autonomy

By the sounds of it, 2025 should be the year of AI agents. OpenAI is reportedly close to releasing its long-awaited Operator, an AI agent that will be able to work autonomously on your PC, booking flights, sending emails, and so on. Yet, what if the agents go a bit wild? The story of Boardy went viral on LinkedIn this week after the AI enterprise tool sent a wave of blatantly sexist emails as part of a campaign. Boardy is used as a networking tool designed to make introductions between like-minded corporate individuals, hook people up with job opportunities, etc. However, in an email campaign, the AI seemingly went rogue. It provided feedback on female employees’ appearances and clothes (with the AI mimicking Donald Trump’s style – we kid you not), while it remained relatively professional for male employees. Boardy’s CEO apologized profusely on LinkedIn, calling it short-sighted. It’s not known to what extent the AI did as was intended by Boardy (the CEO was tight-lipped on what went wrong), yet it’s about more than sexist emails, as serious as that matter is. It is telling us that AI agents, and AI in general, may do the unintended when we send them out in the wild, so let’s all keep our cautionary hats on when the big agent releases come this year. #RogueAgents Read more here.

📲 App of the Week: Boardly

While researching “Boardy” for our main story, we actually fell upon another tool, Boardly (we admit it: it was through an accidental typo). Anyhow, it tickled our interest, at least in terms of an interesting idea. Boardly uses AI to advise small businesses on various aspects of their enterprise. It does this by presenting itself like a real board of directors, handing down advice from the C-suite. The AI is trained on everything from Harvard Business School data to real-life inputs from CEOs. The tool is not yet live (there’s a waitlist here), and this is not a 3Advance recommendation because we haven’t used it ourselves yet, but we thought those of you seeking advice for growing your business might find it intriguing. More on Boardly here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 5.2mm

📈📉 Apple – Rumors Swirl About How the iPhone Air Will Measure Up

We know the Vision Pro was a bit of a flop (at least so far), but Apple loyalists still get excited about rumors of new products, and all the talk in early 2025 is about the iPhone Air. Expected to arrive with the iPhone 17 range in the fall, the Air model will not be a budget phone like the iPhone SE. It’s supposed to be aesthetically pleasing, hence all the chat about how thin it will be. Some are saying 5.2mm, making it the thinnest iPhone ever, others settle on around 6mm. Whatever the measurements, this is yet another gamble for Apple. Apple ‘fans’ will love it, but if it's going to cost as much as an iPhone 16 Pro Max (as rumored), you’d want it to do something special. Seemingly, it won’t, apart from being really, really thin. #ThinAir Read more here.

🗞️ Other Stories

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news: the newly redesigned website for Pulse of Perseverance is officially live! 🎉 Last May, we partnered with P3 to release their mobile apps, designed to connect underrepresented youth with life-changing mentorship opportunities. Now, we’ve worked with their team to create a fresh, modern website to support their mission even further.

P3 started as a bestselling book and has grown into a movement of mentorship, motivation, and scholarships that empower the next generation. Be sure to check out their new site at PulseOfP3.org to learn more about this impactful organization and how you can get involved.

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