🍜 Amazon’s walking on OpenAI..

Amazon just dropped “Nova Act,” its brand-new AI agent that can surf the...

April 01, 2025

Welcome, Noodle Networkers.

Amazon just dropped its new Nova AI agent 🤖, aiming to outsmart OpenAI and Anthropic in the browser battleground. It can shop, schedule, and browse the web—basically everything except resist the urge to fill your cart with 37 different types of ergonomic office chairs. If you ever wanted a personal assistant with zero spending restraint, Nova’s got you. Meanwhile, analysts are nervously whispering that Google could be the next Kodak 📉. Yup, the company that once ruled the internet might end up as a cautionary tale if AI search takes over. Who knew “just Google it” could become “just ask that creepy AI that lives in your fridge”? And in fintech drama, Builder.ai—backed by Microsoft—is calling in the auditors 🧾 after some, let’s say, “creative” sales reports raised eyebrows. Nothing screams investor confidence like “we swear everything’s fine, please welcome our new team of accountants.”

Are we standing on the edge of AI greatness, or just watching tech giants trip over their own ambition? Let’s get into it...

In today’s AI digest:

  • Amazon’s Nova AI agent takes on OpenAI and Anthropic 🤖 

  • AI could threaten Google’s future, like Kodak before it 📉

  • Microsoft-backed Builder.ai hires auditors over sales concerns 🧾

Read time: 5 minutes

Do you have a degree?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

(source: CNBC)

The Digest: Amazon just dropped “Nova Act,” its brand-new AI agent that can surf the web, shop online, and do everything short of filing your taxes and ghosting your situationship. With Nova, Amazon is basically saying, “Hey OpenAI and Anthropic—move over, there’s a new bot in town, and it’s got Prime shipping.”

Key Details:

  • Web-Savvy AI, Finally – Nova Act can search the web, buy stuff, schedule things, and answer questions about whatever you’re looking at online. So basically, it’s like Clippy got a glow-up and a PhD in productivity. Need help booking a flight, finding socks, and ordering pizza—all at once? Nova’s your multitasking queen.

  • SDK for the Win – Amazon also released a Nova Act SDK, so devs can build their own AI agents that run around your browser like caffeinated assistants. If you ever wanted your code to have its own intern, congratulations—it now comes with one, and it doesn’t need coffee breaks.

  • Beating the Bots – Amazon claims Nova outperforms AI from OpenAI and Anthropic on a bunch of web-based benchmarks. Translation: it’s faster, smarter, and probably way more patient when you ask it to compare 12 different air fryers.

Why It Matters: With Nova, Amazon isn’t just competing—it’s storming the AI party and rearranging the furniture. These agents could redefine how we interact with the internet, taking on your daily digital chores like a highly competent browser butler with zero attitude and zero salary.

(source: Barrons)

The Digest: Some analysts are saying Google could be the next Kodak, which is the corporate equivalent of being told, “You peaked in high school.” The rise of AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity is starting to nibble at Google’s dominance in search—and if you’ve recently asked ChatGPT something instead of Googling it, congrats—you’re part of the problem.

Key Details:

  • AI is the New Cool Kid – AI tools are changing how people get information, and suddenly, Google Search feels like that one friend who still insists on using Yahoo Mail. Platforms like ChatGPT offer answers without the ten sponsored links and a Wikipedia rabbit hole—and users are noticing.

  • The Numbers Don’t Lie (But They Do Sting) – Alphabet’s revenue came in at $96.5 billion, but that still disappointed Wall Street, sending the stock down over 6%. To recover, Google’s planning to invest $75 billion in AI in 2025, because apparently, throwing money at a problem still counts as strategy.

  • Kodak Flashbacks – Kodak invented the digital camera… and then ignored it, which is like creating fire and saying, “Nah, candles are fine.” Google is now being warned: don’t be the Kodak of the AI age—because nostalgia doesn’t pay the bills.

Why It Matters: If Google doesn’t evolve fast enough, it could go from “verb” to “history lesson.” The AI boom is rewriting the rules, and if Google doesn’t fully embrace the shift, it risks being that company people remember fondly—right before asking AI what “Google” used to do.

(source: Bloomberg)

The Digest: Builder.ai, the Microsoft-backed AI startup, just hit the financial “uh-oh” button and called in auditors after realizing its sales figures might’ve been more inflated than a Black Friday mattress ad. The company has now revised its revenue estimates downward, prompting many investors to say, politely, “Wait… what?”

Key Details:

  • The 25% Drop Heard ‘Round the Office – Builder.ai trimmed its 2024 sales figures by around 25%, blaming "underperforming sales channels." Which is corporate-speak for “Oops, we may have overestimated how many people actually bought the thing.”

  • New CEO, New Broom – New CEO Manpreet Ratia came in like the responsible adult at a chaotic house party, saying, “We need to get our house in order,” which is CEO code for “Who left this mess and where’s the mop?”

  • Double the Auditors, Double the Fun – Builder.ai didn’t just hire one audit firm—they brought in two, because when it comes to explaining “creative math” to investors, you might need backup.

  • Ex-Employee Whistleblowers – Several former employees claimed sales were inflated by more than 20% on multiple occasions. So basically, it wasn’t “fake it till you make it,” it was “fake it until the accountants show up.”

  • Audit With a Side of Conflict – There’s also drama around prior ties between Builder.ai’s founder and a past auditor, raising governance red flags and some serious eyebrow lifts from people in suits.

Why It Matters: Builder.ai’s saga is a reminder that in the fast-moving world of AI startups, hype can’t replace healthy bookkeeping. Investors love bold vision—but they also like it when the numbers aren’t written in disappearing ink.

THE NOODLE LAB

AI Hacks & How-Tos

The Digest: StoryLoom is an AI-powered platform that lets you craft immersive, choose-your-own-adventure-style stories with branching paths, visuals, and dynamic dialogue—no coding required. Perfect for writers, game designers, or just storytelling enthusiasts.

How-to:

  1. Sign Up for StoryLoom:

    • Head to storyloom.com and create a free account.

  2. Start a New Story:

    • Click “Create Story” and enter a title, genre, and basic summary.

    • Choose a visual theme or template to get started faster.

  3. Build Your Narrative:

    • Use the visual editor to write scenes, dialogue, and plot choices.

    • Add decision points where readers can choose how the story unfolds.

  4. Integrate AI Help:

    • Use the built-in AI to brainstorm plot twists, generate dialogue, or suggest new story paths.

  5. Test & Share:

    • Preview your story as a player would experience it.

    • Publish and share the link with others for interactive reading.

Explore More: Use Follow-up Mode to dive deeper into a specific industry and fine-tune your niche selection. We just covered AI-powered niche discovery in a workshop—access it at the top of this email! 🚀

Trending AI Tools

  • Aura's AI-Powered Parental Monitoring App: Assists parents in monitoring their children's online activities and mental health by detecting subtle changes in behavior. ​

  • ZeroEyes: Utilizes AI to detect firearms via CCTV, aiming to prevent mass shootings through real-time alerts. ​

  • AccelEye: Provides AI-driven gun detection systems to enhance public safety by identifying weapons in surveillance footage. ​

  • Bluetech: Develops environmental data solutions, including flood sensors, to address flooding risks and insurance challenges. ​

  • Deloitte's Zora AI: An agentic AI platform offering digital agents to assist in tasks like financial management and tax compliance. ​