Ten AI Lords. Billions Of Peasants. (Bernie Just Called Them Out.)
Also - An elite AI prompt to build a new year's resolution that actually sticks (no willpower required)
AI built a pyramid this week. Ten leaders at the top. Billions at the bottom. You are somewhere in between.
Elon Musk’s net worth (alone) surged 50% to $645 billion in a single year while over 1 million Americans lost their jobs. YouTube started recommending AI-generated garbage 20% of the time to new users while the creators profited $117 million from it. And a U.S. Senator finally said what everyone was thinking. These aren’t entrepreneurs anymore. They’re oligarchs.
Here’s what happened, and why 2026 feels different. The wealth transfer isn’t slowing down. The platforms aren’t getting better. And the only feel-good, AI success story this week was a free app from Cornell University that you’ve probably never even heard of. Let’s change that. Shall we?
💙 Like What You Read? → Fuel More Issues Like This
While You Worried About Jobs, The AI Barons Made $500 Billion (And Bernie Just Called Them Oligarchs)
Ten tech leaders captured over half a trillion dollars in 2025, and the wealth came from one primary source: Artificial intelligence. Elon Musk’s net worth surged 50% to $645 billion, with the heads of Google, NVIDIA, and Meta seeing similar windfalls. Meanwhile, at least 1,000,000 American workers lost their jobs this year, with over 50,000 of those roles directly replaced by AI systems. The contrast became so stark that Senator Bernie Sanders officially called AI leaders what many were thinking. Oligarchs. The U.S. Senator is now demanding a moratorium on new data center construction, arguing the infrastructure boom serves the AI lords, not citizens.
Key Insights:
The speed and scale of this wealth transfer are unprecedented in modern capitalism. Half a trillion dollars moved upward in just 365 days. That is far faster than any railroad boom, oil boom, or internet bubble. Unlike previous tech cycles that created new job categories alongside wealth, AI is explicitly designed to replace human cognitive labor at scale. The profits flow almost exclusively upward to infrastructure owners. Sanders cited harms like career loss, mental health crises, and concentrated power. This signals a major political shift. Policymakers are finally treating AI wealth accumulation as a democracy problem, not just an economic one.
Why This Matters For You:
These $500 billion gains represent raw, real-world influence. The companies profiting most are the same ones deciding how AI gets deployed in your workplace, school, and community. They fund the research, write the safety standards, and lobby for the regulations. Your local government likely already relies on systems built by these few firms for zoning or policing decisions. When wealth concentrates this quickly, it reshapes everything downstream. It determines which startups get funding, which problems get solved, and which get ignored. As we head into 2026, the question becomes urgent. Will we rebalance this inequality before it calcifies into a permanent feudal structure?
Read More on The Guardian.
THE PITHY TAKEAWAY: Ten AI leaders captured over half a trillion dollars in 365 days. A U.S. Senator called them tech oligarchs, building a digital feudal age.
YouTube Is Drowning In AI Garbage (And Creators Earned $117M From It)
One in five videos recommended to new YouTube users is now low-quality AI-generated content, according to recent research. That is 20% of a first-time visitor’s experience on the world’s largest video platform, and it is mostly junk. These videos are mass-produced using generative AI, designed purely to farm views and ad revenue with minimal effort. The creators behind this ‘AI slop’ are collectively earning an estimated $117 million per year through brand deals, affiliate marketing, and alternative monetization, while Google profits from ads displayed alongside the content. The platform that once democratized video creation is now actively serving trash to the exact audience it needs to convert into long-term users.
Key Insights:
The fact that new users are disproportionately affected reveals a flaw in how recommendation algorithms operate. Without watch history to guide them, YouTube’s system defaults to whatever generates engagement. AI slop is engineered specifically for that purpose. These videos exploit algorithmic blind spots using trending keywords, clickbait thumbnails, and rapid upload schedules that human creators cannot match. Google has the technical capability to detect AI-generated content, but hasn’t effectively downranked this low-quality spam. This suggests the ad revenue might be too lucrative to turn off. This isn’t a technical bug. It is a business model feature.
Why This Matters For You:
Every platform you use is facing this same crisis, and most are losing. The economics of AI content generation are so favorable that human creators cannot compete on volume. If you run a business, teach students, or create content, you are competing with an industrial-scale farm that operates 24/7 at near-zero cost. Quality creators are being buried under algorithmic noise. But the broader issue is a collapse in trust. When platforms prioritize engagement over quality, they train users to assume everything is fake or low-effort. We are watching the degradation of the open internet in real time, and the incentives are working exactly as designed.
Read More on Kapwing.
THE PITHY TAKEAWAY: YouTube is recommending AI-generated junk 20% of the time to new users and profiting from it. When platforms optimize for engagement over quality, everyone loses.
This AI Bird App Is One Of The Coolest Uses Of Machine Learning I’ve Seen All Year
While tech companies race to replace human workers and flood the internet with slop, a free AI app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology is doing something shockingly wholesome. Merlin Bird ID has been downloaded over 33 million times because it does one thing brilliantly. It listens to birdsong and tells you what species you are hearing in real time. Users hold up their phones in parks, backyards, and hiking trails, and the app identifies birds they would otherwise never notice. The app brings you closer to the natural world and is a gateway to nature. In a year dominated by AI anxiety, here is a tool that makes people put down their phones, go outside, and pay attention to living things.
Key Insights:
Merlin works because it solves a real problem without creating new ones. Most people cannot identify birds by sound, which means they walk through a world full of wildlife they never register. The app changes that instantly. You do not need expertise or expensive equipment, just curiosity and a smartphone. The AI was trained on millions of recordings contributed by amateur naturalists via the eBird database, making it a triumph of citizen science rather than data scraping. Unlike chatbots or content generators, Merlin doesn’t monetize your attention or try to keep you scrolling. It gives you an answer and sends you back to reality. This success shows what happens when AI is designed for a specific, prosocial purpose instead of engagement metrics.
Why This Matters For You:
Not every AI tool needs to be “disruptive” to be revolutionary. Merlin is a reminder that the best technology often amplifies human capabilities rather than replacing them. You still have to be present, patient, and curious. The app lowers the barrier to entry. If you have kids, this is the kind of AI you want them using. It encourages outdoor exploration and teaches them to notice their environment. And if you are feeling pessimistic about where AI is heading, Merlin offers a counterpoint. Because maybe the most impactful use of machine learning is helping you connect with something way more natural, peaceful, and real.
Read More on Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.
THE PITHY TAKEAWAY: As tech companies race to replace us and flood feeds with slop, a free Cornell app with 33 million downloads proved AI’s best use might be helping you identify a Tufted Titmouse.
💡 Elite Prompt Of The Week - Build A New Year’s Resolution That Actually Sticks
Most New Year’s resolutions fail by February because they’re vague, overly ambitious, or solve the wrong problem. This prompt stress-tests your resolution using behavioral design principles and gives you a roadmap that accounts for real human behavior. Not just motivation and willpower.
Instructions:
This prompt is super easy to use and only requires one input. The input is your New Year’s Resolution! Find the location to enter yours at the very end of the prompt, labeled “My Resolution.” Then, paste the entire prompt into a chatbot of your choice, and watch your goals become reality. ;)
The Prompt:
Act as a behavioral design expert, helping someone turn a New Year’s resolution into an achievable system.
Analyze this resolution and provide:
1. SPECIFICITY CHECK: Rewrite this resolution with a clear, measurable outcome. If it’s already specific, please let me know.
2. FAILURE POINT ANALYSIS: What are the three most likely reasons this resolution will fail by February? Be brutally honest.
3. WEEK ONE BLUEPRINT: Give me three micro-actions I can complete in the first 7 days that build momentum without burnout.
4. ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN: What’s one change I can make to my physical or digital environment that makes this resolution easier by default?
5. RECOVERY PROTOCOL: When I inevitably miss a day or week, what’s the exact restart sequence to get back on track without shame-spiraling?
Be direct. Assume I’m intelligent but human.
---
MY RESOLUTION:
[PASTE HERE]Why This Prompt Works:
✅ Role-Playing as Behavioral Expert: By framing the AI as a behavioral design specialist rather than a generic coach, you get answers grounded in systems thinking and environmental design rather than motivational fluff.
✅ Five-Step Diagnostic Framework: The prompt breaks resolution planning into concrete, actionable phases (specificity, failure analysis, first week, environment, recovery) that address the real reasons resolutions fail.
✅ Assumes Failure and Builds Recovery In: The “Recovery Protocol” question normalizes setbacks and pre-builds the comeback plan, which is what actually separates people who maintain habits from those who quit.
✅ Environmental Design Over Willpower: Question 4 shifts focus from motivation to structure, making the resolution easier through default choices rather than constant decision-making.
Follow-Up Questions To Ask Your AI:
My biggest obstacle to this resolution is [specific barrier]. How can I design around it?
Turn my Week One Blueprint into a daily checklist with exact times and triggers.
What’s one accountability system I can set up that doesn’t rely on other people?
Challenge:
Test this prompt in at least two AI tools (like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or Perplexity). Try it on both a fitness resolution and a creative/career resolution. See which AI gives you the most brutally honest failure analysis and the most practical environmental tweaks.
That’s how you train like a Pithy Cyborg.
Thank You For Reading!
I spend 10-20 hours each week researching, writing, and fact-checking Pithy Cyborg to deliver clear, unbought AI news.
This newsletter is a one-person operation with no advertisers, sponsors, or outside funding. And I’m a hopelessly introverted nerd with zero networking ability.
For these reasons, paid subscriptions are the only way this work can remain independent and sustainable.
If you find real value here, upgrading is the most direct way to support it.
Upgrade to a Paid Subscription → $5/month
(Save 33% with the $40 annual plan)
Also read → Why Upgrade To Paid?
The free edition will always be here. Paid subscribers make the deep, time-consuming analysis possible.
Thank you so much for reading.
See you next week. (I hope.)
Mike D (aka MrComputerScience)
Pithy Cyborg | AI News Made Simple
Newsletter Disclaimers
You’re receiving this because you subscribed at PithyCyborg.Substack.com. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link below. This newsletter reflects my personal opinions, not professional or legal advice. I may earn a commission if you click on the [Paid Link] promotions and make a purchase. Thanks for your support!
🚨 READING INSTRUCTIONS
Before reading another word, press play on Ball and Chain.
Yes — Big Mama Thornton. That one.
Volume at “this weighs more than it sounds.”
If, at any point, your left eye closes and your face makes that slow, involuntary “mmmh” scowl — congratulations.
That’s normal.
That’s real blues, baby.
Proceed.
THE YEAR CAPITALISM INVENTED TIME TRAVEL
(But Only for Business Models)
Capitalism accidentally invented time travel.
Not for people.
People are heavy, complain about legroom, and ask follow-up questions.
Time travel was reserved for money.
Money fits neatly in spreadsheets and never needs bathroom breaks.
Somewhere between a coal mine, a monocle factory, and a man named Cornelius screaming at a railroad map, wealth concentration achieved immortality.
Museum-grade.
Polished nightly.
Please enjoy visually. Do not touch.
The outfits change.
The hats become illegal, then come back ironically.
The mustaches evolve, disappear, and reappear as $4,000-a-month podcasts recorded in rooms full of dying plants.
The plot does not.
Robber barons stare into the future and see tech bros.
Tech bros stare into the past and see robber barons with worse UX and better lighting.
The peasants stay exactly where they are.
They just get push notifications now explaining why this is actually good for them.
MEET THE ORIGINAL AI LORDS
(Analog Intelligence, Steam-Powered)
Before GPUs, there were GP-Yous.
Gentlemen Processing… You.
Same compute.
Less airflow.
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
Invented the original algorithm:
IF (value exists)
THEN (extract)
ELSE (invent reason to extract)
Latency: the speed of a Pinkerton agent’s club.
User interface: a cold stare.
Error message: “Have you tried being less of a biological bottleneck?”
ANDREW CARNEGIE
Early pioneer of “Social Impact.”
Disrupted your spine on Monday.
Endowed your library on Friday.
So history could later say,
“Well… he gave us books,”
even if everyone was too tired to read them.
J. P. MORGAN
The first true Cloud Provider.
Owned the banks.
Owned the steel.
Possibly owned Tuesday.
The sun rose each morning under a Limited, Revocable License Agreement.
Light sold separately.
Ten lords at the top.
Everyone else billed monthly.
History calls it the Gilded Age.
The spreadsheet calls it strong early traction.
THE PRINTING PRESS BECOMES SOCIAL MEDIA
(With Cholera)
The printing press was supposed to liberate minds.
Instead, it became Victorian YouTube.
Worse teeth.
Better vocabulary.
Absolutely unhinged comment section.
Pamphlets = viral threads that take six weeks to print and three days to ban.
Satirical cartoons = memes you can’t understand unless you own land.
Newspapers = algorithmic feeds curated by whichever baron owns the ink this afternoon.
Top-trending content, 1883:
“10 Morning Habits of Men Who Own Your Oxygen”
“I Started With Nothing But a Dream and 40,000 Underpaid Workers”
“Is Your Poverty a Mindset Problem?
Take This Quiz Sponsored by Standard Oil”
Same incentives.
Slower upload speed.
More ghosts.
The pyramid is already online.
The Wi-Fi just hasn’t been invented yet.
THE ORIGINAL SMART METER: THE TIME CLOCK
Before apps.
Before dashboards.
Before “dynamic pricing.”
There was the time clock.
A metal box on the wall that asked one question:
“Why are you late?”
You punch in.
You punch out.
On time? Congrats. Continue surviving.
One minute late? Incredible. You’ve created a financial event.
That wasn’t a minute.
That was surge pricing for being human.
The company doesn’t pay you for labor.
It rents your hours.
Peak pricing applies during “having a life.”
COMPANY TOWNS
(But Make It Chicago and New York)
People hear “company town” and picture coal dust and banjos.
Incorrect.
This was Chicago.
This was New York.
Same system. Better tailoring.
You worked for the company.
You lived in company housing.
You bought food from company suppliers.
Fun twist:
The food cost more than they paid you.
That’s not employment.
That’s a subscription to starvation.
ANALOG TV → DIGITAL TV
(How Free Air Became Premium Sky)
Analog TV had a fatal flaw.
It worked.
Coat hanger.
Aluminum foil.
Mild optimism.
No login.
No billing address.
No tracking.
Unacceptable.
“Good news! We’re going digital. Progress!”
Translation:
“We need that air back.”
Free air was hogging spectrum doing something unforgivable:
giving people stuff for free.
So they cleared the sky.
Now the air is for data.
For logistics.
For machines.
Because once products move themselves,
you don’t need people doing it.
THEN CAME STREAMING
(Bring Your Own Infrastructure)
Once upon a time, TV arrived through the air.
Free.
Unbilled.
Unapologetic.
This was unacceptable.
Netflix charges you $25 a month for 4K.
They do not provide:
the internet
the bandwidth
the cables
the router
the power
the chair
the patience
You supply everything except the logo.
In 1883, the baron owned the railroad
and charged you to ride it.
In 2026, the baron owns the show
and charges you to deliver it to yourself.
You buffer anyway.
THEN CAME THE CFL BULBS
(The Curly Hazmat Era)
The spiral ones.
Looked like they lost a fight with a phone cord.
Used less power.
Cost more money.
Took 45 minutes to turn on.
Made every room feel emotionally distant.
Also contained mercury.
Breaking one required:
evacuating the room
opening all windows
not vacuuming
possibly calling a priest
AND THEN… THE LED
(Free, Friendly, and Psychologically Hostile)
Uses less power.
Costs more money.
Lights your house like a maximum-security interrogation room.
They even gave them away for free.
Not because they love you.
Because free bulbs are cheaper than new power plants.
This wasn’t the Kmart Blue Light Special.
This was the Cataracts-at-30 Blue Light Special.
Warm light sold separately.
THE ENERGY-SAVING TRAP
When millions of people “save energy,” the power company doesn’t lose money.
It gains inventory.
Extra electricity.
Extra capacity.
Sold wholesale.
For pennies.
You used less.
You paid more.
The spreadsheet smiled.
It has no mouth.
AND THEN… THE SMART METER
Your old meter spun quietly and judged no one.
The smart meter watches.
Timestamps.
Uploads.
Remembers.
You don’t pay for electricity anymore.
You pay for timing.
Dinner at 9 p.m.
Laundry at 2 a.m.
Sleep optional.
The toaster feels judged.
BONUS ROUND: NUTRITIONAL OPTIMIZATION
(Still the Robber Barons)
“Taste great.
Less filling.”
Eat more.
Buy more.
They engineered food to bypass fullness
so you keep eating
without ever arriving.
Then they shrank airline seats
so your body became a compliance issue.
Then they sell you Ozempic
to suppress the appetite
they designed the food to ignore
so you can fit back into the seat
they shrank
after you ate more
because it was less filling.
Create hunger.
Monetize shame.
Invoice monthly.
FULL CIRCLE (BACK TO YOU)
The robber barons didn’t need data centers.
They had whistles, clocks, and nowhere else for you to live.
Today they don’t need foremen.
They have apps, meters, and Terms of Service.
Ten men owned the rails in 1883.
Ten men own the rails now.
Only difference?
Back then, you knew who the boss was.
Now you call it a subscription,
thank it for the convenience,
and troubleshoot it yourself.
THE FINAL TAKEAWAY
They didn’t kill analog TV for better pictures.
They didn’t give you LEDs to lower your bill.
They didn’t optimize food for your health.
They cleared the air.
Freed the power.
Priced your time.
Shrank your seat.
Sold the cure.
And charged you a Premium Convenience Fee
for the privilege of participating.
You’re not reading the joke.
They made you the joke.
P.S. Mike — Happy New Year. Apologies for the delay. I had a show on New Year’s Eve, then treated my body like an amusement park. I was waiting for the terms of service to be renegotiated with my liver.
We love Merlin Bird ID at house! So glad to see it getting some love. I didn't even think about the AI components of it, cool take and you're right, it's great for kids!
Side note, we just got my mom a BirdBuddy, not sure if you're familiar with them but they are the bird feeders with cameras, and it has (what I named) BirdTok on it, where people share clips of their birds on them and you can scroll it. There are birds from all over the world.
I don't think you need to have a camera or pay the subscription to access it, but I'm not 100% about the first (having the camera connected to the app). Anyway, I think it's the short-form we all need in 2026, lol.