#25 The Weekend Download – Catching Up on What Matters

Essential insights you need to stay ahead

📩 Issue #25 – 09/08/2025

⚡ Quick Hits – What You Need to Know

🤖 GPT-5 aims for ‘PhD-level’ smarts
OpenAI says its new GPT-5 model is “smarter, faster, and more useful,” claiming PhD-level skills in coding, writing, and reasoning — with fewer hallucinations.
Read More (BBC)

🧠 AI mental health guardrails
OpenAI adds safety features to ChatGPT to better handle sensitive mental health conversations.
Read More (NBC)

🏠🇦🇺 Victoria pushes WFH rights
Australia’s Victoria state is moving to give workers the legal right to work from home two days a week – a first in the country, and a fight with bosses is expected.
Read More (The Guardian)

🤖 Vogue’s AI ad backlash
The uproar over Vogue’s AI campaign spotlights tensions over authenticity and creative trust.
Read More (TechCrunch)

🔥 Top Insights

🔍 Inside the algorithm
A look at how social media algorithms decide what you see
Read More (TIME)

🐾💔 Pets as family
From grief leave to divorce custody battles, laws are catching up to how people value pets.
Read More (Trendwatching)

💻 Syria’s hidden tech hub
Despite war and sanctions, Syria is quietly building a resilient tech industry.
Read More (Rest of World)

📊 Numbers to Watch

📈 From forum to search engine
Reddit’s AI-powered “Reddit Answers” now has 6M weekly users, as the platform positions itself as a go-to search engine for advice and community insights.
Read More (The Verge)

📱👧 Kids cut their own screen time
Many children are self-regulating phone use to protect their mental health.
Read More (The Guardian)

💡 Something to Think About

🎶 Millennial nostalgia boom
From Backstreet Boys at The Sphere to Dawson’s Creek reboots, nostalgia is shaping pop culture.
Read More (NBC)

🧭 Surviving the job post jungle
Navigating vague, misleading, and AI-written online job ads.
Read More (WSJ)

📅 College kids live by the calendar
Students are micromanaging their lives, including downtime, on Google Calendar.
Read More (WSJ)

🌀 Offbeat & Unexpected

🩸Period confidence in sport
West Ham United Women partner with Modibodi to break taboos and improve inclusivity.
Read More (iSportConnect)

🐙Octopus cities
TikTok is obsessed with footage of octopuses building underwater “towns.”
Read More (Fast Company)

💌 Paid to date
Some companies now offer “Tinder leave,” paying employees to go on dates.
Read More (NY Post)

🎥☀️ Brain Rot Summer
From Coldplaygate to blockbuster fatigue, pop culture’s monoculture is getting weirder.
Read More (Business Insider)