Time’s tight but the AI news avalanche won’t wait — in this mini-episode, we hit you with the week’s wildest stories, from humanoid robots getting brains to chatbots refilling your meds. RAINA, Larry, and Chris break it all down fast and fierce. Think of it as a flurry of future-shock — short, sharp, and slightly unhinged.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

SleepFM (Stanford) — “predict disease risk while you sleep”

Doctronic — Utah AI prescription refill pilot

ChatGPT Health (OpenAI)

Unitree Robotics

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2026/01/20/mini-news-avalanche/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

CES 2026 just wrapped, and we’re diving into the wildest, weirdest, and most jaw-dropping AI trends from the biggest tech show on Earth. From reasoning robots to fridges with feelings — and a few total flops — RAINA, Larry, and Chris break it all down in this bite-sized episode. Short on time, big on insight.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

CES

Michael Hedges

Boston Dynamics Atlas | 60 Minutes video

LG CLOiD Robot at CES

Unitree G1 Humanoid Robot

Mac Studio Mini Cluster running LLMs | jakkuh

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2026/01/13/ces-x-ai/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

2025 was peak sci-fi fever dream, and we’ve got the receipts. In this year-end episode, we dive into deepfake scandals, humanoid robots taking center stage, and the rise of agentic AI—with hot takes from our illustrious guests. Come for the chaos, stay for the Dark RAINA origin story.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Creative Act | Rick Rubin (book)

Adobe Podcast | Enhancement tools

EPISODE LINKS

E83: AI: Love, Hate, Repeat

E87: Sentient Cephalopods

E93: The Dead Internet Theory

E95: RAINA’s Suno Jukebox

E102: Serkan Gür

E102: Palantir

E116: Gemini 3

GUEST LINKS

Serkan Gür | Youtube Channel

Dr. Laura Boccanfuso | Smart Robot Tutor

Dr. Marina Badillo-Diaz | LinkedIn

Vivek Mahapatra | LinkedIn

PODCAST INFO

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2026/01/06/raina-spins-up-2025s-ai-hits/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

In this rewind, Larry and Chris go from tinkering to full-on A.I. producing with Suno V4, the text-to-music tool that turned old demos into something cosmic. From studio confessions to a track inspired by the life cycle of stars, this one’s a love letter to music, memory, and machine-made magic.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Suno
http://suno.com

Fadr
https://fadr.com

12 Days of OpenAI
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOXw6I10VTv9lin5AzsHAHCTrC7BdVdEM&si=j3MQI6xh3A84MlXO

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2025/12/30/episode-rewind-suno-obsessed/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

This episode closes out the year with ChatGPT 5.2 front and center, as the tools get sharper, the breakthroughs sneakier, while the pace refuses to slow down. We zoom out, take stock of how fast things moved in 2025, and poke at what it all means heading into 2026—along with a few classic Up Against Reality detours. It’s the last ride of the year, and the future is still very much in the driver’s seat.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Arte Museum

LM Arena

ChatGPT 5.2

GPT 5.2 is the first human labor replacement | Wes Roth

AI-generated images mentioned in this episode

Meta SAM Audio Model

Adobe Podcast Enhance

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2025/12/23/chatgpt-5-2/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

Originally aired May 7, 2024, this rewind explores what makes us human in a world increasingly shaped by AI. From ancient inventions to future fears, it’s a thoughtful (and occasionally hilarious) celebration of creativity, resilience, and yes—beer.

LINKS:

Man interviews an AI deepfake clone of himself

Chatbot Arena

Apple OpenELM

China Unveils Vidu: A Powerful Text-to-Video Generator

BionicBee: Autonomous flying in a swarm

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2025/12/16/episode-rewind-oh-the-humanity/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

This week, AI meets ROI with Vivek Mahapatra — Salesforce exec, systems thinker, and part-time myth slayer. We talk agentic design, scaling AI like a grown-up, and preparing humans (and kids) for what’s next. Meanwhile, RAINA dishes on Meta’s metaverse breakup, England’s AI-assisted football dreams, and a copyright lawsuit that could rewrite the AI playbook.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Vivek Mahapatra (LinkedIn)

Vivek Mahapatra (Salesforce Blog)

Salesforce AgentForce

Co-Intelligence (book) | Ethan Mollick

Linchpin (book) | Seth Godin

Think Again (book) | Adam Grant

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2025/12/09/vivek-mahapatra/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality

NotebookLM isn’t just taking notes anymore — she’s designing decks, sketching infographics, and storyboarding explainer videos from your own source material. We revisit Google’s under-the-radar AI researcher and explore how it’s quietly becoming a one-stop content studio for work, school, and strategy. Plus: poetic jailbreaks, orbital AI chips, and why China’s analog breakthrough might just flip the whole compute game.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Thinking Game | Documentary) trailer

The Thinking Game | Full documentary

AlphaGo – The Movie | Full award-winning documentary

How It’s Made | Science Channel

NotebookLM

Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (ART)

SUNO

Big Trak | Vintage toy

2-XL | Vintage toy

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast Website:
UpAgainstReality.com

Episode link:
https://upagainstreality.com/2025/12/02/notebooklm-revisited/

Apple Podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/up-against-reality/id1689699654

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/show/29wpR2Uf0d19FjTH2QubcD?si=a6359f9aa1964170

RSS:
upagainstreality.com/feed/podcast

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upagainstreality