AI moves beyond the chat
Left Field Labs
Left Field Labs is the creative technology partner to ambitious people and brands.
We’re back with a quick peek at what’s inspiring us, from the conversations lighting up our Slack to the links, moments, and experiences we can’t stop thinking about. Consider this a glimpse into what’s inspiring us at Left Field Labs, and a few things we just couldn’t keep to ourselves.
Being at LlamaCon was a highlight this week: great people and big ideas. The launch of Llama 4, the newest addition to Meta’s language model lineup, as well as Scout and Maverick, which support multimodal inputs and 12 different languages, reminded us how tech + human connection are front and center in this new AI landscape. More of that, please.
Take a scroll, see what sticks, and if something sparks, say “Hi!” We’d love to hear from you.
With gratitude,
Ken Rivera & The Left Field Labs team
Whats Emerging in Tech
Breakthroughs rewriting the rules.
From answer engine to action machine: Here are the 2025 Forbes AI 50— the top AI companies moving beyond chat to produce real business results, visualized by real-world application.
Welcome to the AI chatbot world, Meta: Big news out of LlamaCon 2025 was the release of the standalone Meta AI app, offering personalized responses using data from users’ Facebook and Instagram activity.
ChatGPT is keeping receipts: A new memory upgrade is allowing ChatGPT to recall past conversations you didn’t ask it to save so that AI can really “get to know you over your life.”
Couch-surfing 2025: Samsung Ads just unveiled "Creative Canvas," a groundbreaking interactive ad format bringing the engagement of social media and QR-enabled experiences directly to connected TVs, redefining what's possible in digital advertising.
What Were Loving
Overheard in our “hallways.”
Titanic…the sequel? The first full-sized 3D digital scan of the Titanic has been created based on more than 700,000 images of the haunting shipwreck. Experts are hoping this ghost will finally give up her secrets.
The “wizards” behind the curtain: This had us laughing—sometimes a too-good-to-be-true AI shopping app is actually hundreds of human contractors manually completing purchases.
When they could have used some more human: What happens when an AI support system decides a software bug is actually a “new policy” and gaslights its users? Chaos, apparently.
Bet you didn’t know you needed… an edible robot that dances, lights up, tastes like chocolate…and provides vitamins—made possible by the united power of researchers and pastry chefs.
4Good Things
Disruption for good.
“You love me then?” The first full sentence a woman spoke in nearly 20 years after suffering a stroke—thanks to a new neural implant that translates thoughts into real-time speech.
Goodbye lithium? XL Batteries revives the long-elusive promise of cheaper, safer, and more durable organic energy storage, with a demo unit already in motion.
Phantom limbs are getting an upgrade: The company, Phantom Neuro, just raised $19M to bring intuitive control to prosthetics using phantom limb signals—with 94% accuracy so far. Carbon farming for the future: Mati Carbon just won the $50M XPrize by turning farmland into a powerful carbon-capture tool—using volcanic rock to fight climate change and boost crop yields for farmers across India, Zambia, and Tanzania.
Out of Left Field
Fresh takes and updates out of Left Field Labs
Voting ends today! Our work with Qualcomm on Snapdragon City had people asking “Wait…is this even possible” - and landed the experience a Shorty Award nomination in the Immersive category. Vote here!
Fresh from our Lab: Irresistible experiences, reimagined websites, cross-media activations, AI - AR - VR, games you can’t stop playing…we build what’s next.
Twister Air wins TWO Webby Awards: We’re beyond excited to announce our Twister Air won Best Use of Augmented Reality and the People’s Voice award in the Immersive Games category.
Peeling off the AI sticker: Is it really AI or did someone slap a label on their smart solution? Here's how to tell who’s actually building something meaningful, written by Executive Director of Production, Kristana Fruci.