[{"content":" So lately, Apple has been making noticeable attempts to earn more money, such as hiking up prices, as well as adding ads to\u0026hellip; uhm\u0026hellip; Apple Maps?\nFirstly, the price increases of Apple\u0026rsquo;s products. Apple says they hiked up prices because RAM, or an essential electronic part, as well as SSD, or storage, has skyrocketed. Why have electronic parts gone up? Well, its all because of AI, and how many resources the AI data centers take up. The data centers need copious amounts of electronic parts to function efficiently, so companies funding the centers buy a up a lot of parts, which raises demand and prices. RAM, as I mentioned before, have increased almost 5-fold. Anyways, back to Apple. Apple\u0026rsquo;s reason seems like a logical excuse, right? I would agree, IF they weren\u0026rsquo;t literally supporting AI, and collaborating with major AI companies to create better models. They\u0026rsquo;re literally developing AI, letting prices rise, then forcing the public to pay higher prices for their products. Okay, maybe not forcing, but you get what I mean.\nAnyhow, onto the ads. As I previously said, Apple is adding ads for Apple Maps. I personally don\u0026rsquo;t find any reason Apple can justify this because Apple already has like 40 subscriptions they clearly show off. Maybe their already extremely high net worth of 4.5 trillion dollars wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough. Ads probably won\u0026rsquo;t pop up in the middle of driving, and might just suggest places nearby. But, like all ads, I\u0026rsquo;m betting a weird glue stick next to me that it would be a big annoyance to the public. If I were to make a guess, I would say that no one is going to be pleased with any of these changes, maybe except the CEO of Apple.\nPersonally, I\u0026rsquo;m a little scared of the price inflations, since if my phone breaks because I accidentally threw it at the wall, I won\u0026rsquo;t be able to afford a new one. Either that or I go into debt to buy the newest and best Iphone.\n","permalink":"http://haedam.kim/posts/2026-08-13-paying-more-for-apple/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/posts/images/2026-08-13/apple.jpg\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo lately, Apple has been making noticeable attempts to earn more money, such as hiking up prices, as well as adding ads to\u0026hellip; uhm\u0026hellip; Apple Maps?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/posts/images/2026-08-13/apple_pricehike.png\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirstly, the price increases of Apple\u0026rsquo;s products. Apple says they hiked up prices because RAM, or an essential electronic part, as well as SSD, or storage, has skyrocketed. Why have electronic parts gone up? Well, its all because of AI, and how many resources the AI data centers take up. The data centers need copious amounts of electronic parts to function efficiently, so companies funding the centers buy a up a lot of parts, which raises demand and prices. RAM, as I mentioned before, have increased almost 5-fold. Anyways, back to Apple. Apple\u0026rsquo;s reason seems like a logical excuse, right? I would agree, IF they weren\u0026rsquo;t literally supporting AI, and collaborating with major AI companies to create better models. They\u0026rsquo;re literally developing AI, letting prices rise, then forcing the public to pay higher prices for their products. Okay, maybe not forcing, but you get what I mean.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Paying More for Apple"},{"content":"Remember slumping down into your couch and watching Home Alone on Christmas? Well, this should be a key memory for everyone who owns a Disney+ subscription—okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people.\nSpeaking of Disney, they recently made a billion-dollar investment in OpenAI. This investment is an agreement between OpenAI and Disney, which could lead anywhere, good or bad.\nThe Walt Disney Company agreed to a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI on Thursday, December 11, 2025. More specifically, Disney now has a partnership and agreement with Sora, an AI-powered text-to-video model developed and owned by OpenAI( if you didn’t already know ). This agreement between the two companies is also the first time Sora gained a major licensing partner.\nAs part of this agreement, the Walt Disney Company will be able to purchase additional equity, or investments. Furthermore, this agreement will allow Sora to generate videos that are able to be viewed and shared. These videos take from a set of characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. In addition, this agreement means that Disney will make a selection of these short-form videos able to be streamed on Disney+.\nThis could definitely be an opportunity for AI to grow bigger and prove whatever capabilities it may have. For me, I wouldn’t want AI to grow, mainly because I don’t want to fall for some fake news that some world changing event is coming in the near future, then realize its fake right after overworking my last brain cell on what I should do.\nAlternatively, Disney stock may fall, and so might the popularity of the company. In my opinion, entertainment and AI really don\u0026rsquo;t go together. Having to watch an AI generated movie or video doesn’t seem all that pleasing.\nAlongside the licensing agreement, OpenAI states, “Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.” In short, this basically says that Disney will be able to use tools of OpenAI however they want, possibly leading Disney to use AI as a foundation or building block for the company and its products.\nDisney and OpenAI share a commitment to responsibly use AI, protecting the safety of users. OpenAI claims, “Together, the companies will advance human-centered AI that respects the creative industries and expands what is possible for storytelling.” However, this could always go wrong. For example, Disney’s partnership with Sony, which at first seemed to have a great outcome planned ahead, but the idea was eventually salvaged, and the collaboration was ended.\nFurthermore, according to the Walt Disney Company, “Sora and ChatGPT Images are expected to start generating fan-inspired videos with Disney’s multi-brand licensed characters in early 2026.” With these changes, there are sure to be some effects due to it, positive, negative, or just meh.\nFor example, if Disney becomes reliant on AI. If that happens, Disney will likely be just an old, cherished, but now useless, relic of the past, and so will most Disney movies. Not a very good change if you ask me. On the other hand, parts of Disney movies might actually be improved, with AI just a part of the sidelines, making videos and making small changes. Still kinda meh though. Honestly, if AI isn’t some miracle worker, I don’t see many good outcomes from it.\nIf you think this deal is questionable, you’re not alone. Even WIRED, a well-known news source, points out, “None of this makes much sense—unless Disney was fighting a battle it couldn’t win.” Additionally, WIRED gives a possible explanation, saying, “with access to OpenAI’s tools, it can try to ensure it’s not left behind by an AI-generated entertainment revolution, as unlikely as that may seem today.”\nSo, with these changes and effects coming in the near future, what do you feel about this new collaboration between Disney and OpenAI? Are we going to lose access to key movies such as Star Wars? Let’s just hope Netflix doesn’t make similar decisions.\n","permalink":"http://haedam.kim/posts/2026-07-30-a-deal-between-openai-and-disney/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRemember slumping down into your couch and watching Home Alone on Christmas? Well, this should be a key memory for everyone who owns a Disney+ subscription—okay,  maybe not everyone, but a lot of people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of Disney, they recently made a billion-dollar investment in OpenAI. This investment is an agreement between OpenAI and Disney, which could lead anywhere, good or bad.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Walt Disney Company agreed to a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI on Thursday, December 11, 2025. More specifically, Disney now has a partnership and agreement with Sora, an AI-powered text-to-video model developed and owned by OpenAI( if you didn’t already know ). This agreement between the two companies is also the first time Sora gained a major licensing partner.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Deal Between OpenAI and Disney"},{"content":" Everyone–almost everyone–has electronics of some sort, like a phone, laptop, tablet, you name it (if you don’t, tell me your ways of reading this. I need the secrets for when I have power outages). Anyways, they could become scarce and expensive sooner than you might expect. This may sound a little ridiculous to say in the least, yet already, some components of computers have skyrocketed, nearly doubling or even tripling in price since 2025.\nDiving deeper into the roots, this problem is mostly because of AI. Let me elaborate. So recently, many tech companies have been converting to supplying AI, for the sole reason of profit–super enticing. The companies earn money through the revenue that AI provides them, which comes from three main factors: AI subscriptions, grants, and partnerships. Big AI companies such as OpenAI “actively seek out grants from government agencies” and others that seek to achieve the same mission as them, as well as making partnerships with companies who see a fountain of money pouring out of AI (Roald Larsen, “Exploring OpenAI\u0026rsquo;s Business and Revenue Model”). Since most people are unable to pour thousands and thousands of dollars into electronics, many tech companies find a lack of incentive to stay in the technology business and see an overwhelming potential in AI. Powered by profit, these tech companies move to AI as they seek more money.\nAlthough computer prices are currently among the most heavily affected by these changes, that doesn’t mean it’ll take a load off the prices of other electronics. Most modern electronics, like iPhones, iPads, and Androids, have memory chips, graphics cards, or a CPU and many more parts, all of which AI is yearning for. In addition, these parts are sourced from elsewhere, not made by the company itself. Major companies such as Apple or Samsung source their parts from elsewhere, so even if those companies don’t convert to AI, products such as phones could skyrocket in price, during the search for new suppliers.\nHere are some of the (important) companies that have converted to AI.\nMicron NVIDIA Apple AMD AWS IBM Intel Qualcom Cerebras Systems Tenstorrent You probably don’t know most of these companies that I just listed, maybe except Apple or NVIDIA, but I can promise you these companies are all very important – trust me. Just the absence of Micron alone, has resulted in RAM (think of it as a temporary memory for electronics) and SSD (storage) prices increasing by up to 300%. You also may be wondering, if Apple has converted to AI, why can I still buy iPhones? I have an answer for you. Not all companies converted 100% to AI, unlike Micron. Boo, make better choices next time, Micron.\nThese AI companies use these newly found materials to make agentic AI, which is important, but not the topic I’m writing about so I’ll sum it up. Agentic AI performs complex, multiple step tasks independently, and this system is so promising that big AI companies are pouring resources into it (This situation is getting out of control. Firstly, tech companies give their resources to AI companies, then AI companies use those resources to make agentic AI. What’s going to happen next? Agentic AI grows a consciousness and invests in tech companies, creating a loop?). While AI in general may seem negative, it actually has some positive impacts. For example, it sped up medical research and breakthroughs, which benefits all of us. Additionally, AI has also supported in optimizing industrial processes and scientific research which might not benefit us directly, but it helps the world advance.\nRegardless, of what AI is secretly planning behind the scenes, agentic AI and modern electronics have more similarities than you might suspect. First off, both use a lot of tech components to make/develop. While phones, and other electronics don’t use that much by themselves, it adds up when companies are making tens of thousands per day. Also, they both can process huge amounts of data, but unlike electronics, agentic AI and every other AI are designed to do more, ranging from simple image recognition to solving a 50 year-old protein “folding” problem ( don\u0026rsquo;t ask me what that is ).\nAnyways, you may be asking, is this going to change my life so drastically that I can’t even begin to look back and imagine how the world was back then when electronics prices weren’t skyrocketing? The answer is probably not. Popular Mechanics announces that “prices for smartphones could rise by up to 30 percent.” While 30 percent isn’t life changing, just remember that as AI keeps rising, electronic prices will too. While not always negative, there are sure to be side effects of electronics prices spiking and AI growing, similar to how tariffs were added to everything and protests arose when Trump was elected.\nIn the future, if many tech companies do end up transitioning into AI, electronic prices skyrocketing is basically guaranteed. I just hope I don’t have to go back to those Nokia phones when my phone breaks down because I accidentally “dropped” it a little too hard on the wall.\n","permalink":"http://haedam.kim/posts/2026-07-16-a-price-spike-in-electronics/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/posts/images/2026-07-16/header.avif\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone–almost everyone–has electronics of some sort, like a phone, laptop, tablet, you name it (if you don’t, tell me your ways of reading this. I need the secrets for when I have power outages). Anyways, they could become scarce and expensive sooner than you might expect. This may sound a little ridiculous to say in the least, yet already, some components of computers have skyrocketed, nearly doubling or even tripling in price since 2025.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Price Spike in Electronics"},{"content":"You’ve probably seen the main image and came here because of lawsuits—right? No? Someone’s going to throw cheese at me for saying that? Anyways, let’s backtrack for a moment and see how this all started, no matter the reason you came here.\nAnthropic, if you don\u0026rsquo;t already know, is a company specializing in AI, best known for making Claude AI, one of the biggest generative AI models as popular as ChatGPT or Gemini. Everything all started peacefully, with Anthropic signing a 200 million dollar contract with the Pentagon, AKA U.S. Department of War (DoW), in July of 2025, basically to maximize earnings and efficiency for both sides. But—I’m not-so-accurately paraphrasing what Anthropic’s CEO said—the U.S. DoW came by and kindly asked Anthropic if Anthropic could change their AIs to be able to fully automate military weapons and surveil a majority of the U.S. population. Unsurprisingly, Anthropic said no, because of privacy and safety concerns (this is the first smart company I’ve seen in a long time).\nConsequently, the DoW, mainly under the control of Trump, threatened to remove Anthropic from the U.S.’ systems and label them as a “supply chain risk” if Anthropic didn’t remove the safeguards preventing the AI from meeting the US DoW’s goals. Wait, is this all because Trump was elected? Regardless of the threats, Anthropic didn’t budge.\nBecause of Anthropic’s refusal, in February, the DoW labeled Anthropic as a supply chain risk and a security risk, basically blacklisting it, and cancelling a 200 million dollar contract between Anthropic and the department.\nIn addition, according to Politico—a global politics news company—Trump ordered a stop to all uses of Anthropic’s AIs within the government, indicating escalation in the argument between the two, with Anthropic claiming that the risks it was labeled with are false. On a side note, is Trump doing a “fail a reelection” speedrun? I mean people can’t be that oblivious—right? This is such an obvious display of Trump abusing power.\nAs a consequence, Anthropic, citing its First Amendment violations, or the rights of an individual, sued the U.S. Yeah, I don’t think the government is winning this one. Fortunately for the government, Anthropic was reasonable and just asked them to remove the labels of supply chain and security risks.\nSlowly, the U.S. seemed to back down a little bit, with Trump saying the company’s executives were “very smart people” and had “high IQs”—as recorded by the CNBC podcast on April 21st. This act made by Trump is very different from what he called them before. Maybe this was a fluke, because they are still fighting a legal battle. Maybe the U.S. DoW thinks Anthropic will fold and give in? They might also just have too much pride.\nThat’s pretty much all the important stuff that has happened so far. Don’t ask what is happening, because I don’t know either. All I can make out of this is that the Department of War is abusing power, Trump is trying to drive himself into the ground, and Anthropic is stuck in the midst of it.You’ve probably seen the main image and came here because of lawsuits—right? No? Someone’s going to throw cheese at me for saying that? Anyways, let’s backtrack for a moment and see how this all started, no matter the reason you came here.\n","permalink":"http://haedam.kim/posts/2026-07-03-anthropic-sues-us-dow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou’ve probably seen the main image and came here because of lawsuits—right? No? Someone’s going to throw cheese at me for saying that? Anyways, let’s backtrack for a moment and see how this all started, no matter the reason you came here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnthropic, if you don\u0026rsquo;t already know, is a company specializing in AI, best known for making Claude AI, one of the biggest generative AI models as popular as ChatGPT or Gemini. Everything all started peacefully, with Anthropic signing a 200 million dollar contract with the Pentagon, AKA U.S. Department of War (DoW), in July of 2025, basically to maximize earnings and efficiency for both sides. But—I’m not-so-accurately paraphrasing what Anthropic’s CEO said—the U.S. DoW came by and kindly asked Anthropic if Anthropic could change their AIs to be able to fully automate military weapons and surveil a majority of the U.S. population. Unsurprisingly, Anthropic said no, because of privacy and safety concerns (this is the first smart company I’ve seen in a long time).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Anthropic Sues the US Department of War"},{"content":"Everyone knows about generative AI–you know, the iconics like ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, the list just keeps on going–however, have you heard about agentic AI? Well, for the majority of teens that don\u0026rsquo;t know, agentic AI is basically a system that acts independently to plan and achieve goals. In addition, massive AI companies are obsessed over it, and are willing to invest whatever they have into it—mainly because of the magic phrase called “potential success.\u0026quot;\nYou may be asking, why should I care? I’m just a teen. I don’t have a job, and AI isn’t going to take something nonexistent. However, agentic AI can also help you save time and effort by completing tasks so you can go back to being a couch potato, or doing whatever hobby you like. While you probably shouldn’t use this on your homework as your teachers might have an AI checker, you still can use it to help you organize or plan your schedule based on due dates or time, the easiest way is to just set it in Google Classroom.\nI think that’s enough about how we could abuse agentic AI. So, you may be asking, why is it called “agentic”? ( No one asked but I needed subtopics ). Agentic AI has agents, or in short, scripts it runs through to create different functionalities so that every role is filled. Agents are not different AI, it’s the same AI, just given a “personality”. Underwhelmingly, most AI have agents, and agentic AI merely has the tag “agentic” because it has agents with better functions, such as agents like agentic RAG agents, which is basically an important agent that combines systems such as planning and … uh, reasoning? That can’t be it—right? Last I checked, AI was just plagiarizing information.\nAnyhow, agentic AI isn’t the same as generative AI, even though it may seem like it. So, I’ll provide a little more in-depth explanation for you—without having to read multiple articles to figure it out. Agentic AI works through a system known as the agentic AI loop. However, the loop doesn’t only react to fixed inputs, unlike generative AI where you have to tell it what to do. Every. Single. Time. Instead, the loop uses memory, action, independence, observing, and reasoning—wait a moment, REASONING? So, I wasn’t going crazy after all. But, since when did AI have reasoning? Anyways, the AI combines all of it into a continuous cycle or loop, allowing the AI to notice changes, make decisions, complete tasks, and adapt based on experiences.\nAgentic AI is very new, proved by how I never knew about it until I opened up a new tab and searched, “Major changes in AI.” Because of this, agentic AI only has minor achievements, unlike its competitor, generative AI.\nBut, before you go talking trash about agentic AI, I’m going to one-up you. BOO! AGENTIC AI SUCKS! GET BETTER! Right now, even I have to say, agentic AI isn’t the best compared to the AI we have now, but later on, that may change, with a small, small chance, which in my books means I probably jinxed myself and dug myself too deep for repairs.\nMy final message to you, the reader, is to go experiment with agentic AI, like Claude Code, if you are interested in coding, or find your own AI to play around with, so you could get familiar with agentic AI before it becomes as relevant as generative AI. You want to be that one friend who knows everything tech related—right? No? Is that just me? Oh, okay. Anyways, be aware that agentic AI still hallucinates and makes up information sometimes, not to mention the price of some platforms. If you’re poor like me, I recommend just waiting until a better free version comes out, so you won\u0026rsquo;t have debt to pay off.\n","permalink":"http://haedam.kim/posts/2026-07-02-agentic-ai/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEveryone knows about generative AI–you know, the iconics like ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, the list just keeps on going–however, have you heard about agentic AI? Well, for the majority of teens that don\u0026rsquo;t know, agentic AI is basically a system that acts independently to plan and achieve goals. In addition, massive AI companies are obsessed over it, and are willing to invest whatever they have into it—mainly because of the magic phrase called “potential success.\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Agentic AI"}]