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Field notes on the AI stack — markets, energy, jobs, dating companions, and the tools in the directory.
How to Make an AI Girlfriend: The Actual Build Order
Appearance last. Personality first. Scenario as the memory spine. Then voice, memory, and who actually keeps her. A 2026 build order for Candy, Character.AI, CrushOn, and Nomi — including the free path.
22 min read
Who Owns the AI Character You Just Built?
You spent a night on her. You probably do not keep her. Character.AI, Candy, SpicyChat, Nomi, CrushOn — who actually owns the AI girlfriend you just built, in the terms they already published.
17 min read
Best AI girlfriend apps in 2026
Character.AI, Kindroid, SpicyChat, CrushOn, Replika, Chai, Talkie, Muah, Candy, and Nomi — grouped by what they actually do, with live pricing caveats.
4 min read
How many students use AI regularly in 2026? Adoption, weekly use, and the literacy gap
Most students have used AI. About half use it every week. DEC 92%, College Board 84%, Pew teens 30% daily, HEPI UK 95%. Charts, sources, and why 84% is not 24%.
20 min read
AI relationship statistics 2026: dating copilots, girlfriends, and a $2.9 billion market
U.S. singles are using AI to write bios and plan dates. A smaller slice is dating the model. The girlfriend-app market is about $2.9 billion in 2026 — not the $37 billion companion TAM. Charts, sources, and the generation split.
13 min read
AI is making your next laptop more expensive — here’s why
Copilot+ wants 16 GB and a 40 TOPS NPU. IDC says OEMs flagged 15–20% hikes. DRAM is going to data centers first.
7 min read
How to opt out of Instagram AI training (2026 guide)
Meta trains on public Instagram posts in some regions. EU users can object. US users mostly cannot. Here is what the buttons still do.
7 min read
China AI data centers, in IEA numbers — not a brochure TAM
China used about 25% of world data-center electricity in 2024 (~104 TWh) and adds ~175 TWh by 2030. Coal still ~70% where the load sits.
10 min read
How many jobs has AI created in 2026?
LinkedIn counts 1.3 million AI-enabled jobs over two years and 600,000 data-center seats in one. That is the number. The rest is a forecast.
6 min read
Fastest-growing AI jobs in 2026 — and the ones that were a fad
AI engineer, forward-deployed, eval, Head of AI. Prompt engineer got absorbed. Here is what the boards actually opened, and what they pay.
6 min read
AI salaries by country, 2026: the pay gap reshaping where models get built
Levels.fyi’s US machine-learning median is $278,800 total comp. Senior India cash often sits in a $30–60k band. Sourced ranges, not a 9× meme.
17 min read
The GPU shortage, explained without the mythology
It was never only NVIDIA. HBM, CoWoS packaging, and power are why a purchase order can clear and the cluster can still be late.
5 min read
Open-weight models vs closed APIs, in 2026
Closed APIs still win the hardest prompts. Open weights win when data cannot leave the building. Most teams that have shipped twice use both.
6 min read
AI energy use, in numbers that mean something
Training runs make headlines. Inference is the line item on the grid. IEA, LBNL, Ireland CSO, and query-level watt-hours — with sources.
12 min read