Free newsletter with fact-based optimistic news about technology, science, and human progress. If you are not a subscriber, become one here.
📖 Book update
Time for an update on my book project!
I'm writing a new book about AI, and over 300(!) of you helped me refine its description last fall. That was incredibly valuable – four Swedish publishers are now interested in the book! I'm aiming to sign a deal with one of them soon for a release this fall.
I'm also working on finding a good literary agent to help sell the book internationally.
The working title is Sapiens Unleashed – Why AI Won’t Replace Us, but Empower Us. We'll see if it sticks!
I've written five chapters, including an introduction. Once I finish the next chapter – AI for All – it would be great to get some feedback. Would any of you be interested in reading it?
At the end of March, I’m heading to Seattle, where I’ll visit last year’s Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, David Baker. I’ll interview him and people from his lab, where they’ve used AI to create 10 million new proteins.
I’ve already done a few interviews, but I have several more lined up, including:
Fei-Fei Li, Stanford professor, AI pioneer
Nathan Myhrvold, former Microsoft CTO
Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson
Martin Lundstedt, CEO of Volvo
Paulina Modlitba, digital expert
Richard Maltsbarger, CEO of Pet Valu
David Deutsch, Oxford professor, father of quantum computing
Feel free to suggest interesting people to interview – especially women, as I currently have a shortage there!
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
💡 Premium Supporter content
Open and freely available to everyone, thanks to the support from our paying members, Premium Supporters.
🦾 The Swedish runner-up’s best prompt tips
Joakim Jardenberg placed second in the Swedish Prompt Championship and is highly skilled at collaborating with AI assistants like Gemini and ChatGPT. Here, he shares his best tips.
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
🔬 AI performs chemical research completely independently
A new AI system can independently plan, design and conduct chemical experiments. Coscientist has successfully optimized chemical reactions and proven its ability to work independently in six different experimental tasks.
🧒 Cancer mortality in children has decreased by 84%
Childhood cancer mortality in the US has decreased six-fold since the 1950s. Improved treatment methods for leukemia have led to significantly more children surviving the disease. Mortality has decreased significantly for all types of cancer, including lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
🦟 Drastic reduction in malaria deaths in Kenya
The number of malaria deaths in Kenya has decreased by 93 percent. Approximately 400,000 children in western Kenya have received the RTS,S malaria vaccine, the world's first of its kind. The country has distributed 15.3 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets.
🐳 Return of marine life in the North Sea
Thousands of grey seals are now born every year along Norfolk's beaches, with almost 4,000 pups during last year's record season. Humpback whales and minke whales are seen more frequently in the North Sea.
🌾 Record year for global food production
Global production of rice, wheat and soybeans reached new record levels during 2024. Corn production remained at high levels, comparable to the 2021 harvest. Yields per hectare for most staple crops were equal to or higher than previous years.
⚕️ Nine countries eliminated diseases in 2024
Cape Verde and Egypt became malaria-free countries in 2024. Jordan became the first country ever to be certified as leprosy-free. Pakistan, Vietnam and India eliminated trachoma, a disease that causes blindness.
✉️ Get a dose of fact-based, free, optimism once a week
Every week, we send out a free newsletter with fact-based, optimistic news about technology, science, and human progress.
If you're not a subscriber yet, you are welcome to become one!
If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend and ask them to subscribe. It's free and arrives once a week.
🎤 Talk on AI
Let me help your organization level up on AI.
Read more at mathiassundin.org.