AI For Humans: Weekly AI News, Tools & Trends

Kevin Pereira & Gavin Purcell

Fast Company called AI For Humans 'the most entertaining way to learn about artificial intelligence.' Every Thursday, hosts Kevin Pereira and Gavin Purcell break down the biggest AI news, tools, and breakthroughs, so you can stay ahead without losing your mind. Whether you're AI-curious or deep in the game, this is your weekly reset on everything that matters in artificial intelligence.

  1. 1D AGO

    Pope Leo Wants to Disarm AI. Explained.

    Pope Leo XIV just released his first encyclical and picked a side in the AI war. AND He brought Chris Olah, the co-founder of Anthropic, on stage to launch it. On this special solo episode of AI For Humans, Gavin breaks down the Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo's first encyclical, what it actually says about AI, why Anthropic was invited to stand next to the Pope at the launch (does he love Claude Code??), and what the next 5-10 years look like when 1.3 billion Catholics, every other major religion, and every labor union on Earth gets handed a moral framework for the AI debate.  Plus: why this Pope picked the name Leo, what 1891's Rerum Novarum has to do with 2026, and the prediction that ethical AI might soon be defined by clergy instead of engineers. SHOW LINKS: Magnifica Humanitas: The Full Text https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html Chris Olah's Remarks at the Vatican (Anthropic) https://www.anthropic.com/news/chris-olah-pope-leo-encyclical Pope Leo Warns of AI Fueling Warfare (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/25/europe/pope-leo-ai-encyclical-magnifica-humanitas-intl Pope Calls for Robust AI Regulation (PBS NewsHour) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-calls-for-robust-regulation-of-ai-in-manifesto-that-ponders-the-future-of-humanity Rerum Novarum (1891) - Pope Leo XIII's Original Encyclical https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html

    10 min
  2. 5D AGO

    Spotify Goes AI. People Will Be Furious. Plus, OpenAI Cracks An 80-Year Math Problem.

    Thanks to HP & Intel for sponsoring us! More on the Zbook Fury https://bit.ly/4uapNHs Spotify just made AI music official. They cut a deal with Universal Music Group for AI-enhanced and remixed tracks and we all know where this goes. This week on AI For Humans, Spotify officially crossed the line. They announced a sweeping deal with record labels, distributors, and music publishers to bring AI music tools to the platform, complete with fan-remix features that use real artist voices and tracks. They also rolled out AI-generated personal podcasts and launched Studio by Spotify, a standalone AI creation app. Gavin and Kevin break down why this changes everything for music, who actually signs up, and why the fan backlash is just beginning.  Meanwhile, a Higgsfield AI feature film just premiered at Cannes for $500,000 total cost, but $400,000 of that was pure AI compute, raising big questions about what the new economics of filmmaking actually look like.  Plus, an unreleased OpenAI general LLM model disproved a central conjecture in discrete geometry that had stood for 80 years, the best new Google Omni prompts and practices and a humanoid robot fail that traveled the entire internet IS IT TIME TO PANIC? NO, SAYS THESE TWO MORONS. // Show Links // Spotify's Official Announcement: Artist-First AI Music Collaboration https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-10-16/artist-first-ai-music-spotify-collaboration/ Billboard Coverage Of The Spotify AI Music Deal https://x.com/billboard/status/2057479053649600917?s=20 Spotify's AI-Generated Personal Podcasts (Hollywood Reporter) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/spotify-ai-generated-personal-podcasts-1236603314/ Higgsfield Cannes Film: $500K To Make, $400K Was AI Compute https://www.wsj.com/cio-journal/this-cannes-film-cost-500-000-to-make-400-000-was-ai-compute-costs-a823b08d?mod=e2tw The Impact Of AI In Four Charts https://x.com/marcportermagee/status/2057000000000000000?s=20 Google Omni Horseback Riding Prompt https://x.com/AIWarper/status/2057489859615605244?s=20 FoFR Animals With Google Omni https://x.com/fofrAI/status/2057281646270026097 FoFR Rooster Dog https://x.com/fofrAI/status/2057290425170616754?s=20 Clean Up The Alley Prompt https://x.com/nmatares/status/2057143283357569280?s=20 Ogre Walks On Stage https://x.com/maxescu/status/2057169603001004400?s=20 US Gov Poster Situation https://x.com/usedgov/status/2056839488152670378?s=20 OpenAI Model Disproves Central Conjecture In Discrete Geometry https://openai.com/index/model-disproves-discrete-geometry-conjecture/ Noam Brown's Post About The OpenAI Breakthrough https://x.com/polynoamial/status/2057178198228586824?s=20 The Humanoid Robot Fail That Traveled The Internet https://x.com/adamcurtisbroll/status/2057050384166764826?s=20 Ben Relles Launches Make Believe (Hollywood Reporter) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/new-interactive-ai-startup-make-believe-ben-relles-1236602882/

    28 min
  3. MAY 20

    Google's New Gemini Omni AI Is Too Much. All The Good Stuff From Google I/O.

    Google I/O 2026 just dropped Gemini Omni, a world-model AI that simulates physics, edits video, and might be the biggest leap since Seedance 2. But it's not perfect. Gavin and Kevin break down everything from Google I/O 2026, including the launch of Gemini Omni (Google's new world model), Gemini 3.5 Flash benchmarks against GPT-5.5 and Opus 4.7, the Gemini Spark personal agent, AskYouTube, Docs Live, new AI glasses, the first search box redesign in 25 years, and the shocking news that Andrej Karpathy is joining Anthropic. SHOW LINKS: Google I/O 2026 Full Keynote: https://www.youtube.com/live/wYSncx9zLIU?si=Nb881MfGTlf1Q0II Gemini Omni physics demos from Google DeepMind: https://x.com/GoogleDeepMind/status/2056786449312493669?s=20 Gemini Omni's incredible London knowledge (via fofrAI): https://x.com/fofrAI/status/2056789242274259242?s=20 Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis on Omni video editing: https://x.com/sundarpichai/status/2056524502746747048?s=20 Gavin's hands-on Gemini Omni experiments: https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2056762427879182692?s=20 Gemini Omni's character cameo feature (less impressive): https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2056772793539481830?s=20 Gemini Omni volleyball fail: https://x.com/flavioAd/status/2056771223359549645?s=20 Google's new Content Credentials Verification: https://x.com/Google/status/2056787498676658576?s=20 Genie 3 IRL — Google's world model now simulates real streets with Street View: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/googles-genie-world-model-can-now-simulate-real-streets-with-street-view/ Bilawal Sidhu on Genie 3 IRL: https://x.com/bilawalsidhu/status/2056804315721843024?s=20 Gemini 3.5 Flash launches — official announcement: https://x.com/GeminiApp/status/2056788115893993701?s=20 Gemini Spark — Google's new personal coding agent: https://x.com/Google/status/2056791134295273554?s=20 Google's new AI glasses  https://x.com/backlon/status/2056807059707036050?s=20 Andrej Karpathy joins Anthropic to focus on recursive self-learning: https://www.axios.com/2026/05/19/anthropic-openai-karpathy-andrej-claude

    28 min
  4. MAY 15

    Google Is Cooking Again. The I/O Leaks Are Wild.

    Thanks to  @HPInc  & Intel for sponsoring us! More on the Zbook Fury https://bit.ly/4uapNHs Google I/O is next week and the AI leaks are pouring out: a new Spark agent, Veo 4 Omni, Gemini 3.2 Flash that's reportedly 20x cheaper than GPT-5.5. This week on AI For Humans, Google is cooking again and the I/O leaks are stacking up. We dig into Google Spark, a new Gemini agent that may have access to your entire digital life. Veo 4 Omni model leaks suggest deeper reasoning and character consistency, and the model gets math right. Gemini 3.2 Flash is rumored to deliver 90% of GPT-5.5's capability at a fraction of the cost and dramatically faster speeds. There's a new GoogleBook with Gemini built in. And Google is reinventing the mouse cursor, the input device that's been largely unchanged since 1968, with voice AI. Plus, Thinking Machines dropped voice interactivity demos that feel a lot like ChatGPT Voice from two years ago. OpenAI is reportedly already working on GPT-5.6, and Sam Altman is giving away two free months of Codex to companies to drive adoption. Gavin's been experimenting with local open-source LLMs and shares his setup.  AND…we get into the data center sickness conversation: infrasound from data centers may be causing cortisol spikes in nearby communities. Figure 03's package sorting livestream proved the robot is autonomous after skeptics accused it of being teleoperated. Unitree dropped a transformable robot.  AI KEEPING US UP AT NIGHT. NO MATTER. WE COOK. // Show Links // Google Spark: Gemini's Agent With Access To Your Life https://x.com/kimmonismus/status/2054855742247584231?s=20 Veo 4 Omni Model Leaks: Gets Math Right https://x.com/TomLikesRobots/status/2053845600051798065?s=20 More Veo 4 Omni Examples https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/2053718756799467735?s=20 Omni Model Added To Gemini Web Build https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/2054196983523393857?s=20 Gemini 3.2 Flash At 90% Of GPT-5.5 For Way Less https://x.com/kimmonismus/status/2054887891222802633?s=20 New GoogleBook With Gemini Built In https://x.com/Google/status/2054270454467121187?s=20 Google DeepMind: Rethinking The Mouse Cursor With Voice AI https://deepmind.google/blog/ai-pointer Thinking Machines Voice Interactivity Demos https://thinkingmachines.ai/blog/interaction-models/ Sam Altman: Two Months Of Free Codex For Companies https://x.com/sama/status/2054626219858293128?s=20 Data Center Sickness: Ben Jordan's Video On Infrasound https://youtu.be/_bP80DEAbuo Figure 03 Package Sorting Livestream https://www.youtube.com/live/luU57hMhkak?si=KZHwUdYUwY4SIRUp Brett Adcock: Figure 03 Was Not Teleoperated https://x.com/adcock_brett/status/2054737974710169840?s=20 Unitree Transformable Robot https://x.com/UnitreeRobotics/status/2054067819634159622?s=20

    31 min
  5. MAY 8

    Elon Musk Just Teamed Up With Anthropic and Claude Dropped A TON Of New Stuff.

    Anthropic signed a compute partnership with SpaceX, with Elon Musk personally signing off. Months ago he said Anthropic hates Western Civilization. Um, what? This week on AI For Humans, in one of the wildest plot twists of the year, Anthropic announced a major compute partnership with SpaceX. Elon Musk personally tweeted that he spent time with the senior Anthropic team, was impressed, and approved leasing Colossus 1 to Anthropic since SpaceXAI had moved training to Colossus 2.  The partnership came alongside Anthropic's massive Code with Claude keynote, where they unveiled a wave of new features including Dreaming, where Claude reviews its past sessions and updates its own memory, Multi-Agent Orchestration, where a lead agent delegates to specialist sub-agents, Routines that let Claude Code kick things off for you, Outcomes that let you specify success and Claude iterates until it's there, Auto-Fix, Webhooks, Async Coding, and Remote Control to code from mobile. Plus, Claude Code rate limits doubled for Pro, Max, Team, and Seat-Based Enterprise plans.  Meanwhile, OpenAI rolled out GPT-5.5 Instant to everyone, and a new voice model is incoming and sounds incredibly good. Spotify launched Save-To-Spotify, an AI agent that creates personalized podcasts. Google's Gemini Nano is coming by default. iRobot creator's Familiars AI robot pet launched. GENE-26.5 is cooking. There's a robot monk in South Korea. And the world's best text exchanges are between Sam Altman and Mira Murati. ANTHROPIC AND SPACEX TEAMED UP. CLAUDE GOT MASSIVE NEW FEATURES. WHAT A WEEK. Come to our Discord: https://discord.gg/muD2TYgC8f Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AIForHumansShow AI For Humans Newsletter: https://aiforhumans.beehiiv.com/ Follow us for more on X @AIForHumansShow Join our TikTok @aiforhumansshow To book us for speaking, please visit our website: https://www.aiforhumans.show/   // Show Links // Anthropic Announces Higher Limits And SpaceX Partnership https://www.anthropic.com/news/higher-limits-spacex Reuters: Anthropic Unveils Dreaming Feature For AI Agents https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/anthropic-unveils-dreaming-feature-help-its-ai-agents-self-improve-2026-05-06/ Dario Amodei On The SpaceX Compute Partnership https://x.com/trq212/status/2052250816720056604?s=20 Code With Claude Full Keynote Video https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2052055459272761661?s=20 Claude Managed Agents https://x.com/ClaudeDevs/status/2052069321355182447?s=20 New OpenAI Voice Model Incoming And Sounds Very Good https://x.com/flowersslop/status/2051741508177649934?s=20 GPT-5.5 Instant Rolls Out To Everyone https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2051709028250915275?s=20 The World's Best Text Exchanges (Sam Altman And Mira Murati) https://x.com/TechEmails/status/2052160627884560828?s=20 Gavin Tries To Get The Voice Model Working https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2052279126153982113?s=20 Spotify Launches Save-To-Spotify Personal Podcasts https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-05-07/personal-podcasts-launch/ Familiars Coverage From Gizmodo https://gizmodo.com/roombas-creator-is-making-an-ai-robot-pet-that-cant-lie-to-you-2000754646 Familiars Already Going Bad https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2051539370101059864?s=20 GENE-26.5 New Robot Cooking https://x.com/gs_ai_/status/2052050956272230577?s=20 Robot Monk In South Korea https://x.com/Reuters/status/2051987843996852245?s=20

    31 min
  6. MAY 5

    The White House Wants To Approve AI Models. Blame Mythos.

    A blockbuster New York Times story says the White House may soon require AI models to be approved before public release, with Anthropic's Mythos at the center of it all.   This week on AI For Humans, a major New York Times story revealed that the White House may soon require AI models to be approved by the government before public release. Anthropic's unreleased Mythos model appears to be the catalyst. The administration wants to avoid political fallout from any devastating AI-enabled cyberattack and is also evaluating whether new AI models could yield capabilities useful to the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies. Some officials are pushing for a review system that would give the government first access to AI models. Is this AI nationalization? Not quite, but it's the closest we've come. We dig into what this means and whether Anthropic's scare tactics around Mythos worked.  Sam Altman weighs in on how we get better AI narratives. Even Zach Galifianakis on Conan's podcast went full AI doomer. Plus, AI just outperformed doctors on emergency triage diagnoses in a Harvard trial. Then, we discuss AI microdramas exploding in China and starting to land in the US (PineDrama, Knocked Up Husband Edition, DJ Grandma in the House), what this means for video production, and Gavin's uprezzed Grape Fall images via ChatGPT Images 2.0.  Oh and Kevin's moving across the world today, so Friend of the Pod Ben Relles is co-hosting. AI LOCKDOWN. AI MICRODRAMAS. AI FOR… HUMANS? #ai #ainews #claude Come to our Discord: https://discord.gg/muD2TYgC8f Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AIForHumansShow AI For Humans Newsletter: https://aiforhumans.beehiiv.com/ Follow us for more on X @AIForHumansShow Join our TikTok @aiforhumansshow To book us for speaking, please visit our website: https://www.aiforhumans.show/   // Show Links // NYT: White House Wants AI Models To Be Approved Before Release https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes Sam Altman On Better AI Narratives https://x.com/nxthompson/status/2050696841222623565?s=20 Zach Galifianakis Goes AI Doomer On Conan's Podcast https://youtu.be/zIXdKMLsPVY?si=tLLaeQLmWCQGPWxn AI Outperforms Doctors In Emergency Diagnoses (Harvard Trial) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/30/ai-outperforms-doctors-in-harvard-trial-of-emergency-triage-diagnoses NYT: AI Microdramas And The China Backlash https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/03/world/asia/china-microdrama-ai-backlash.html PineDrama: Bytedance's Microdrama App On The App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pinedrama-short-dramas/id6754134922 AI Video Trend Going From Innovative To Saturated (TikTok) https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTktBJAtb/ Gavin's Uprezzed Grape Fall Images via ChatGPT Images 2.0 https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2050976861409431825?s=20

    34 min
  7. APR 30

    Robots Are Having Their ChatGPT Moment & Bringing Manufacturing Back to America.

    Thanks to @HP & Intel for sponsoring us! More on the Zbook Fury https://bit.ly/4uapNHs The AI robots are coming! We're finally seeing the next stage of AI come to fruition robotics (even in America) as manufacturing and capabilities of humanoids speeds up. This week on AI For Humans, robots just hit their ChatGPT moment. Eka Robotics' robotic hand grabbed a raspberry at incredible speed, and Wired is calling it the moment when robots became as transformative as ChatGPT was for text. Figure Robotics is now manufacturing one robot per hour. 1x just opened a factory targeting 10,000 robots per year. American robotics manufacturing is finally catching up to China after years of falling behind.  We dig into why physical AI is the next big thing and walk through the most impressive recent demos including MotuBrain's new world action model, KAI Robotics' touching but slightly terrifying video out of China, and Neuralink doing robot-assisted surgeries.  Plus, the White House is now fighting Anthropic again because they want MORE access to the Mythos model. Sam Altman launched GPT-5.5 Cyber. Grok dropped a new Imagine video agent. And then there's the strangest story of the week: OpenAI dropped a full blog post explaining why their models keep being obsessed with goblins, and we explain why it matters and what it tells us about how these models actually work.  And, our inaugural Sloppies Award Show kicks off with the first nominee: Amazon's AI voice product overviews, featuring the now-legendary diaper rash cream review.  ROBOTS. GOBLINS. DIAPER RASH CREAM. OH MY. Come to our Discord: https://discord.gg/muD2TYgC8f Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AIForHumansShow AI For Humans Newsletter: https://aiforhumans.beehiiv.com/ Follow us for more on X @AIForHumansShow Join our TikTok @aiforhumansshow To book us for speaking, please visit our website: https://www.aiforhumans.show/ Thanks again to our sponsors #HP & #Intel   // Show Links // 1x Robot Factory: 10,000 Robots Per Year https://www.1x.tech/manufacturing 1x Tech Manufacturing Announcement https://x.com/1x_tech/status/2049855122612924562?s=20 Figure Robotics: One Robot Per Hour https://x.com/Figure_robot/status/2049513959594885151?s=20 Eka Robotics https://ekarobotics.com/ Wired: I've Covered Robots For Years. This One Is Different. https://www.wired.com/story/when-robots-have-their-chatgpt-moment-remember-these-pincers/ Neo Carrying Case Demo https://x.com/BerntBornich/status/2049579663190798721?s=20 KAI Robotics' Touching and Terrifying Video From China https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2049785832379236788?s=20 Eren Chen AI Robotics Video https://x.com/ErenChenAI/status/2049810496560263558?s=20 White House Opposes Anthropic's Mythos Expansion Plan https://x.com/AndrewCurran_/status/2049688119650451607?s=20 White House vs Anthropic: WSJ Coverage https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/white-house-opposes-anthropics-plan-to-expand-access-to-mythos-model-dc281ab5 Trump and Anthropic Pentagon AI Executive Order (Axios) https://www.axios.com/2026/04/29/trump-anthropic-pentagon-ai-executive-order-gov Sam Altman Announces GPT-5.5 Cyber https://x.com/sama/status/2049712078836170843?s=20 Grok Imagine Video Agent https://x.com/testingcatalog/status/2049649752699249019?s=20 Gavin's Grok Imagine Experiment https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2049867544945983966?s=20 OpenAI's Where The Goblins Came From Blog Post https://openai.com/index/where-the-goblins-came-from/ The Codex System Prompt That Forbids Talking About Goblins https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/openai-codex-system-prompt-includes-explicit-directive-to-never-talk-about-goblins/ Original Tweet That Brought Goblins To Everyone's Attention https://x.com/arb8020/status/2048958391637401718?s=20 Sloppies Nominee: Amazon's AI Podcast Diaper Rash Cream Review https://x.com/katienotopoulos/status/2049549142150598798 Gavin's Reaction To The Amazon AI Podcast https://x.com/gavinpurcell/status/2049728740176142591?s=20

    29 min
  8. APR 29

    OpenAI's Growth Is Slowing. Is The AI Bubble Popping?

    The Wall Street Journal reported OpenAI missed its end-of-year billion-active-user target. Is the AI bubble actually popping or is the panic overblown?  This week on AI For Humans, the AI bubble panic hit a fever pitch after a Wall Street Journal report revealed OpenAI missed its weekly user, monthly revenue, and end-of-year billion-active-user targets. CFO Sarah Friar reportedly told peers she's worried OpenAI won't be able to pay for future compute contracts if revenue doesn't accelerate, and the board is now scrutinizing Sam Altman's deals more closely.  AI stocks crashed, with Oracle, AMD, and CoreWeave all sinking on the news. Anthropic is eating into OpenAI's market share on coding and enterprise. We dig into whether the bubble is actually popping or whether this is a panic that conflates AI capability with the business of AI. Spoiler: we don't think it's over.  Plus, DeepSeek v4 launched and made surprisingly small waves. OpenAI's deal with Microsoft expanded to other clouds. Meanwhile, AI itself is absolutely not slowing down: Tom Cruise is running faster than ever in a viral video, OpenAI dropped a new Chappie-style voice interaction, Claude got a Blender connector for 3D modeling, NVIDIA released Nemotron 3 Nano Omni with 30B parameters and 256K context, and Talkie is an LLM trained entirely on 1880s text.  OPENAI MISSED ITS NUMBERS. IS THIS THE BUBBLE? YES. NO. SHRUG EMOJI? #ai #ainews #openai  Come to our Discord: https://discord.gg/muD2TYgC8f Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AIForHumansShow AI For Humans Newsletter: https://aiforhumans.beehiiv.com/ Follow us for more on X @AIForHumansShow Join our TikTok @aiforhumansshow To book us for speaking, please visit our website: https://www.aiforhumans.show/   // Show Links // WSJ: OpenAI Misses Key Revenue and User Targets https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-misses-key-revenue-user-targets-in-high-stakes-sprint-toward-ipo-94a95273 AI Stocks Sink on OpenAI News (Yahoo Finance) https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/oracle-amd-and-coreweave-stocks-sink-after-report-says-openai-missed-sales-user-targets-130600628.html DeepSeek v4 Launch https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/2047516922263285776?s=20 Sam Altman: OpenAI's Microsoft Deal Expands to Other Clouds https://x.com/sama/status/2048755148361707946?s=20 Kwindla's Smart Take on AI's Importance https://x.com/kwindla/status/2049161481149935668?s=20 Tom Cruise Runs Faster: Viral AI Video https://x.com/Le_Chuck_81/status/2049027447304196297?s=20 New Chappie-Style Voice Interaction From OpenAI https://x.com/OpenAIDevs/status/2048871260512473385?s=20 Blender Connector From Claude https://x.com/claudeai/status/2049143438281445811?s=20 NVIDIA's Nemotron 3 Nano Omni Announcement https://x.com/NVIDIAAI/status/2049159441870717428?s=20 Talkie: LLM Trained on 1880s Text https://x.com/status_effects/status/2048878495539843211?s=20

    26 min
4.9
out of 5
281 Ratings

About

Fast Company called AI For Humans 'the most entertaining way to learn about artificial intelligence.' Every Thursday, hosts Kevin Pereira and Gavin Purcell break down the biggest AI news, tools, and breakthroughs, so you can stay ahead without losing your mind. Whether you're AI-curious or deep in the game, this is your weekly reset on everything that matters in artificial intelligence.

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