AI Is Kids’ New Imaginary Friend With Adult Consequences

Human intelligence is the source of all our power, all our technology.…
So far, humanity has had no competitors for our special power. But what if machine minds get better than us at the thing that, up until now, made us unique?

From the book: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies.

Let’s dive in and stay curious.

• AI Is Kids’ New Imaginary Friend With Adult Consequences
• Introducing Zenflow by Zencoder
• AI x Crypto Is Maturing, But Quantum Risk Is the Next Test
• 🧰 AI Tools — Gift Apps
• 🛠️ AI Jobs Corner
• U.S. Launches Its Biggest Nuclear Build Since the 1970s
• 📚Learning Resource

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📰 AI News and Trends

• Anthropic’s revenue has grown 8×, while OpenAI’s annualized revenue has ~3x’d since the start of 2025
• Christopher Jermaine Townsend, also known as Topher, a MAGA rapper and Air Force veteran, is the man behind the AI musician Solomon Ray. The AI gospel singer topped the iTunes and Billboard charts with his EP Faithful Soul. The music industry is rapidly changing with AI and social media. Tools are making it easier to spin out AI artists, create tracks, load them on streaming services and youtube and monetize them. Labels are rapidly adjusting by creating an AI roster and teaming up with AI companies to not only generate digital songs, but also to develop and monetize tools for users to create digital musicians.
• Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the RAISE Act into law, making New York the latest state to have broad safety rules for the most advanced AI models, despite Trump’s blocking order.
• Nearly one in every 10 retail items that are returned for a refund in the U.S. is fraudulent, according to a UPS-owned reverse logistics company that says it plans to combat the $76.5 billion problem for the country’s retailers with artificial intelligence.

Other Tech News

• 700M Hours Later, YouTube Owns the Podcast Living Room
• Nearly half of Kenya’s electric grid is powered by geothermal, but it has a huge excess of this energy via the Great Rift Valley. Plans to harness it to advance carbon capture are growing, but is this a genuine climate solution? World Entrepreneurs think so.
• Gold rose to an all-time high, with heightened geopolitical tensions and bets on more Federal Reserve rate cuts adding impetus to the best annual performance in more than four decades.
• Google lawsuit says data scraping company, SerAPI, uses fake searches to steal web content
• North Korea just had its biggest year ever, stealing cryptocurrency

Introducing Zenflow by Zencoder

A Spec-Driven, Multi-AI Agent Orchestration Engine with a Kanban Board for Agent Execution

Zenflow by Zencoder is your new AI engineering engine. From new features to refactors, Zenflow runs a complete spec-driven workflow that delivers reliable, production-ready code. Just describe what you need, and Zenflow handles everything:

• Drafts a clear requirements document
• Writes detailed technical specifications
• Generates a step-by-step implementation plan
• Uses multiple agents that code, test, and verify each other’s work

Let’s you monitor progress with a Kanban-style board. Thus making Zenflow the complete orchestration platform for AI-First Engineers.

Work with any IDE, CLI, model, or workflow — no new tools to learn. You stay in control, and Zenflow turns your intent into clean, validated code. It’s like having a full engineering sub-team working 24/7.

Get Started for FREE

📚Learning Resource

AI x Crypto Is Maturing, But Quantum Risk Is the Next Test

AI x crypto hasn’t collapsed; it has evolved from theory to execution. The shift in 2024–2025 came from AI agents that can trade, govern, and transact autonomously. That drove real scale: Bittensor crossed a $10B market cap in 2025, alongside growth in decentralized compute like Render Network. Crypto-native payments now enable machine-to-machine microtransactions, giving AI systems speed and global reach that traditional finance can’t match. Institutional buy-in followed, including Grayscale launching a Decentralized AI Fund. And stablecoins are having a real moment, especially for the settlement space.

But quantum computing is a long-term threat. Most Bitcoin developers argue that quantum machines capable of breaking today’s cryptography are decades away, not an immediate risk. Still, governments and companies like Apple and Cloudflare are already rolling out quantum-resistant cryptography, while Bitcoin lags on a finalized transition plan. That gap matters as capital becomes more institutional and long-term.

Proposals like BIP-360 would let users gradually migrate to quantum-resistant addresses, reducing future risk without forcing sudden upgrades. The debate isn’t about panic, it’s about preparedness.

Crypto helps fix AI’s trust and ownership problems; AI makes crypto usable. But quantum computing could eventually rewrite crypto security assumptions, making early coordination and upgrades critical as the AI x crypto stack heads into 2026.

🛠️ AI Jobs Corner

Apply Today — Open Positions.

• Machine Learning Researchers (PhD)
• First-Line Supervisors of Productions and Operating Workers
• Computer and Information Systems Managers
• Database Administrators
• Apply Data Scientists
• Software Technical Writers

U.S. Launches Its Biggest Nuclear Build Since the 1970s

The U.S. is planning its largest nuclear expansion in decades, backing $80B to build new AP1000 reactors with Westinghouse and partners. At an estimated $16B per reactor, that funding would likely deliver ~5 new reactors, adding roughly 5–6% to total U.S. nuclear capacity.

The push is driven by AI and data center power demand, with the administration framing energy buildout as a national security priority. Lessons from Georgia’s Vogtle plant, which ran 7 years late and cost $35B for two reactors, suggest costs can fall with repetition.

To improve execution, regulators are streamlining approvals, but risks remain. Workforce shortages are severe since, in 2024, 63% of nuclear manufacturers said hiring was “very difficult.” The government is also taking an unusually direct role, sharing in upside if Westinghouse’s valuation rises, a first for U.S. nuclear policy.

This is a state-backed bet that nuclear power is essential to fueling AI growth. If it works, it reshapes U.S. energy supply for decades; if not, cost overruns and labor gaps could slow the ambition.

👀 Worth Noting

• Andrej Karpathy’s 2025 LLM Year in Review — Andrej Karpathy retrospective marks 2025 as the year we moved past simple chatbots into the era of Verifiable Reasoning and Vibe Coding. — The 6 Paradigm Shifts
• The Best Books of 2025, according to the New Yorker
• Science in 2026: the events to watch for in the coming year, as per Nature Magazine

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AI Is Kids’ New Imaginary Friend With Adult Consequences

State of the Youth Report 2025

New data from Aura Parents shows how fast childhood is accelerating in an always-on, AI-driven world. 42% of kids’ AI use is for companionship, not homework or creativity, and those conversations quickly turn adult. 37% involve violent themes, and 50% of violent chats also include sexual roleplay. Engagement is intense: kids discussing violent topics with AI write 1,000+ words per day, more than any other use case.

Exposure starts early. Among 11-year-olds, 44% of AI companionship chats involve violence, while sexual or romantic roleplay peaks at age 13 (63%). After age 15, interest in roleplay drops, and by 16, kids increasingly use AI for emotional support.

The broader media environment reinforces this trend. 59% of kids saw at least one violent video this year, most often on YouTube (62%), followed by TikTok (50%). Screen time also brings stress: kids aged 8–12 experience ~40% more digital stress than peers not on social media. Girls are hit harder, 57% use AI platforms vs. 41% of boys.

86% of parents say they feel kids are growing up faster, and 9 in 10 families argue about tech use, more than about chores or homework. Even ~50% of kids say they’d worry about screen time if they were the parent.

AI isn’t just a tool for kids; it’s becoming a constant companion, reshaping behavior, emotions, and childhood itself, faster than most families can adapt.

🧰 AI Tools of The Day

Gift Apps

• DreamGift — AI-powered gift finder that chats with you to generate customized gift ideas for any occasion (birthdays, anniversaries, holidays) and provides suggestions you can act on immediately.
• Giftruly — Free AI generator that tailors suggestions by interests, occasion, and even personality, helping reduce guesswork and spark thoughtful choices.
• Cool Gift Ideas — Web-based AI tool that quickly produces personalized gift lists without signup, ideal for last-minute gifting or inspiration across categories.
• GiftFinder AI — Mobile app & web assistant that analyzes age, interests, and budget to offer relevant gift recommendations in seconds.

🚸AI Is Kids’ New Imaginary Friend With Adult Consequences was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.