A few days ago, electronic music producer and DJ, Deadmau5 (real name: Joel Thomas Zimmerman), published an Instagram post that led with the headline, ‘WELL, IT HAPPENED’. I can’t repeat the rest of the post here because it’s full of expletives, and I don’t think I’ve ever written any naughty words in this newsletter before. But the gist was that he’d woken up to an Instagram story featuring an AI version of himself promoting someone else’s work.

The Instagram post included a screenshot of the AI Joel, which, of course, looked incredibly convincing. I’ve not heard the audio, but, in Joel’s words, it “wasn’t quite 100% but pretty damn convincing”. His next sentence would come to mind for most of us. Again, I can’t repeat it, but it included the words “scary as” and a couple of other words that start with the letter ‘f’.

Artificial intelligence feels like something we’re all quietly hoping won’t cause catastrophic socioeconomic problems. As I sit typing this, I’m in a quiet working area of my gym. Everyone’s tapping away on their laptops, reading, taking sips from their coffee, and generally acting as though everything is absolutely fine. And it is. At the moment. Kinda.

I’m a father to a nearly four-year-old, and I’m concerned about what the future holds for him. For his generation, AI will be as normal as the Internet is to Gen Z. But where will it be by the time he’s 16? Or when he’s 35 and possibly has a family of his own?

Mr Deadmau5 has experienced something which we all fear. It’d be like looking in the mirror and an identical version of you looking back, but not mirroring your movements. Think about that for a minute. You have no control over that version of yourself and it looks and sounds exactly like you. Who in their right mind could ever want to build a tool that can make that possible? The damage this technology can do in the wrong hands is indeed f*cking frightening. And I’m fed up with saying “but I do like aspects of AI”, because the more this kind of thing happens, the more I don’t want any part of it, ever.

This week’s poll is all about the latest big product drop from Sony, which you can find out more about below, but I want your thoughts first!

I partnered with EarFun to check out their latest budget earbuds and I honestly cannot believe how good they sound. The mid-range is particularly excellent for the price and the bass is really smooth. Plus they come with a load of pro features like LDAC support, a fully customisable EQ and solid ANC. You can pick them up for about $50/£50 and get £20 off with the code EFAP4MER! Check them out and read the full review here!

The over-ear headphone kings are back with their latest flagship earbuds. The WH-1000XM6 was a glorious return to form for Sony, so I’m expecting big things from the WF-1000XM6 (yes, these names are ridiculous). Take a look and see if they live up to the hype!

👉 Redmi Note 15 Pro+ Review: A Steady Budget Option - This is a very intriguing device with a slightly confusing price point. It all adds up to quite a difficult review… →

👉 Sony XM6 vs Bose QC Ultra 2 – One Clear Winner, But It’s Close! - I’ve had some time with both of these headphones now, so felt I could properly give you a definitive opinion (sort of). →

😱 ATTEMPTING THE JOB BUGATTI TOLD ME WAS IMPOSSIBLE (Mat Armstrong) - Bugatti says no one but a select few highly trained Bugatti engineers can split a car in half. Mat Armstrong: “hold my beer…”.

👉 I Quit Streaming — and Took Back Control of My Music (The Mark Ellis Tech Diary) - In case you missed this one last week, it’s worth a watch to find out my next big plan.

Thanks to the new motorola g-series, you can win the chance to attend the FIFA World Cup 26™ opening match from now until April 30th!

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! We’ve got over the January lull in terms of tech releases, and there are big things coming over the horizon. See you next week!

~ Mark