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Paralysed Man Walks Again with AI

On New Year’s Eve in 2023, Dan Richards (a 37-year-old from the UK) went for a cold-water swim. A sudden wave flipped him backwards, injuring his neck - he knew immediately he was paralysed. 💔

Doctors told Dan he would be bed-bound for life - but 2 years later, he can move his arms. And with the help of AI, he has even walked again.

It wasn’t easy: after months in hospital, Dan began physiotherapy in Wales, pushing himself to move despite grim predictions. At a specialist clinic, he tried a robot-walking system:

• The machine guided his legs through a walking motion, while a special suit gently stimulated his muscles to help them activate.

• Sensors equipped with AI learned how his body responds - gradually helping rebuild a walking rhythm.

Later, Dan and his partner Anna travelled to Germany for more advanced treatment:

• He paired stem cell therapy (a treatment that repairs damaged nerves) with a brain-controlled robotic suit known as a Hybrid Assistive Limb.

• The suit’s AI picks up very faint signals from his nervous system and turns them into movement - helping him walk even when the signals are too weak on their own.

The idea is support and repetition. The more the system helps Dan walk, the stronger his signals become. Over time, the goal is to rely less on the machine.

“Tech is moving so fast,” Dan said. “Things aren’t where they were 10 years ago. I don’t want there to be a limit.”

(Source: Meleri Williams reporting for BBC)

Meta’s $2B Splurge on AI Startup with Chinese Roots

This is one of the first times a major US tech company has bought an AI startup with Chinese roots.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup founded by Chinese entrepreneurs. The tech giant is paying over $2B, making it one of the most expensive AI acquisitions of the year.

What does Manus do? The startup builds AI tools designed to handle deep research and complex tasks for paid users. Instead of answering questions, its systems can analyze large amounts of information, reason through problems step by step, and produce detailed results.

The company was in the middle of raising new funding at a $2B valuation when Meta decided to buy it outright.

Why Meta wanted it: CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on a hiring and acquisition blitz to strengthen Meta’s AI capabilities. The company is trying to catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google, and buying an experienced team is faster than building everything from scratch.

It’s a big deal in today’s geopolitics: beyond the price tag, it shows how global the AI race has become. Even as political tensions between the US and China remain high, top AI talent is emerging across borders, and big tech companies are willing to pay a premium to secure that expertise.

(Source: Angel Au-Yeung, Raffaele Huang and Kate Clark reporting for The Wall Street Journal)

Out of Ideas? Let AI Pick Dinner

If you’ve ever scrolled away for 30 minutes trying to pick a restaurant, this is for you.

DoorDash is testing a new app called Zesty that’s meant to answer the most exhausting question of all: “Where should we eat?”

Instead of bouncing between reviews, group chats, and food videos, you can ask an AI chatbot for nearby restaurant recommendations - based on your mood and preferences. The app pulls signals from places people already trust (Google Maps ratings, TikTok food videos, Reddit threads), then serves up suggestions.

You can also scroll a feed of photos and posts from other diners, and even follow people whose taste you like.