1 big thing: Airports are pretty good now

Illustration of an airplane staircase with a red carpet.

2. TikTok's fate lies in the courts

Illustration of the US Capitol dome piercing a smart phone. The Capitol has pink and blue strokes in the colors and style of TikTok's logo.

3. Afrofuturism exhibit opens in D.C.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture's Afrofuturism exhibit.

Some of your least favorite airports are — surprise! — looking pretty good these days, Alex reports today.

Our newsletter will be shorter than usual for the next few days as we head into the second annual What's Next Summit.

Learn more about the event — and find out how to watch live — right here. We hope you enjoy it!

Today's newsletter is 960 words ... 3½ minutes.

Big thanks to What's Next copy editor Amy Stern.

Was this email forwarded to you? Get your daily dose of What's Next by signing up here for our free newsletter.

Whats Next

deepBlue

The next decade of big, sweeping changes will unfold in cities and communities where new technologies like 5G, AI and drones are transforming how we work, live and play together.  What’s Next will guide you through the revolution.

Axios What's Next

1 big thing: December's air travel meltdown, visualized

2.  "Crowdfunding" human composting

Illustration of a skull surrounded by a recycling symbol

3. Microsoft rolls out Bing AI image creator

Results from Bing’s AI image creator with the prompts “A magical world where everyone gets along” (L) and “The present world where everyone gets along” (R).

4. 📉 Remote work hits office rents

5. Taste-testing Starbucks' olive oil coffee

Starbucks Oleato line of beverages. Photo: Courtesy of Starbucks

It's no secret that last December was an air travel nightmare. Now, new data shows the extent of the meltdown, Alex reports today.

🏛️ Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director Arati Prabhakar have joined the speaker lineup for Axios' second annual What’s Next Summit on Wednesday, March 29, in Washington, D.C. Watch live here.

Today's newsletter is 989 words ... 4 minutes.

1 big thing: Fast food, fast charging

Illustration of a hot dog with mustard made from an electric vehicle charger.

2. Big bucks for transit

Illustration of the inside of a NYC subway train with a map covered in dollar signs

3. Google's ChatGPT rival advances

4. America's newest national monuments

Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, near Laughlin, Nevada, in March 2021. 

How about a Slurpee while you wait for your car to charge? 7-Eleven is just one major retail chain going all-in on EV charging, Alex reports today.

Today's newsletter is 931 words ... 3½ minutes.

1 big thing: Bridging the parent-TikTok divide

Illustrated collage of TikTok’s logo and a hand holding a phone.

2. AI is changing the software-making game

Illustration of binary code on a conveyor belt

3. EV subsidy clarity is upon us

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill stylized as an electric symbol.

Jennifer has a fascinating look today at a research lab that's become front and center in the debate over kids' social media use.

📣 Axios' second annual What's Next Summit is happening all day tomorrow, March 29, starting at 8:10 a.m. ET! 

Check out our day-of agenda featuring interviews with music producer Timbaland, head of YouTube Neal Mohan, Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud and more. Register to livestream the event here.

Today's newsletter is 1,077 words ... 4 minutes.

1 big thing: Better 3D-printed food

Illustration of a piece of cooked steak with a cursor on a computer dialogue box selecting "print"  

2. Air taxis are coming to Chicago

A rendering of Archer Aviation's "Midnight" eVTOL aircraft.

3. Gas cars are paying for their own funeral

Illustration of an electric vehicle plugged in, the charging wire has dollar bill signs running inside of it towards the car. 

4. Houston sticks with street dining

Finn Hall's outdoor dining includes greenery. Photo: Jay R. Jordan/Axios

5. One fun thing: Dunkin' tacos

Breakfast tacos are now available at Dunkin' restaurants nationwide. 

Researchers are figuring out how to improve 3D-printed food, Ayurella Horn-Muller reports today, with hopes of using it to address global food insecurity. 

Today's newsletter is 1,137 words ... 4½ minutes.

National

Miniature Twinkies, Cocoa Puffs popcorn, Dr Pepper-flavored cotton candy: Food manufacturers know Americans are snacking more, and they're busy pumping out irresistible new junk — er, snack — foods.

Why it matters: An explosion of new products is generating buzz and profits for food makers and surprise and delight for shoppers — but helping make Americans fatter and unhealthier than ever. 

Driving the news: A bevy of new reports on U.S. eating habits conclude that snacking rose steeply during the COVID-19 pandemic — and has continued.

"The landscape of eating has fundamentally changed," concludes a February report by the Hartman Group, a research consultancy that focuses on food and beverage culture.

"Eating occasions have become slightly more evenly spread out throughout the day, shifting consumption away from mealtimes."

Consumers are looking for "unexpected flavor combinations," "on-the-go snacks" and affordable indulgences, per C-Store Dive, a convenience store trade publication. 

For example: Cereal, chips and granola bars have turned into all-day snack foods rather than just breakfast or afternoon-break options.

Nestlé is using the term "smeals" to refer to small meals (or sizable snacks) that fit modern consumption habits.

PepsiCo is "seeing growth from our core of more indulgent products all the way to our much more health-forward products" when it comes to snacking, Parth Raval, chief growth officer for PepsiCo Foods North America, told Food Dive.

A wall of snacks displayed in a convenience store.

At the 7-Eleven in Montauk, N.Y., new snack products tantalize and proliferate. Photo: Jennifer A. Kingson for Axios

Newer products turn snacks into appealing toys, with colorful packaging, novel shapes and modern flavors — Spicy queso! Sweet chili! Asiago cheese! Buffalo cauliflower!

Miniatures are trending: Frito-Lay introduced fun-sized versions of Doritos, Cheetos and SunChips; Hostess Bouncers are a new line of bite-sized Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Donettes.

Heat is hot: The Flamin' Hot Cheetos empire recently expanded with a new flavor called "tangy chili fusion," while Takis super-spicy rolled corn chips keeps coming out with new flavor and packaging options. (The latest — introduced Monday — is Intense Nacho, but previous innovations included limited-edition color-changing chips in "scorpion BBQ" and "volcanic queso.")

Mashups are cool: The popularity of co-branding has brought us products like Reese's Dipped Animal Crackers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bugles and Morningstar Farms' plant-based Chik'n Fries coated with Pringles.

Breakfast is all day: Cereals are morphing into round-the-clock snacks with products like CinnaFuego Toast Crunch snack mix, cereal-flavored popcorns and Lucky Charms S'mores.

Check out: A new cereal from Post called Sweet Dreams — made with "a nighttime herbal blend of lavender and chamomile" — is meant to be munched at bedtime to help you sleep.

What they're saying: "There are three Vs in the snacking world: value, velocity and variety," Carlos Barroso, a food R&D executive who has worked at PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble, tells Axios.

Consumers want value and variety, while retailers want snacks that fly off the shelves, Barroso says.

Limited-time products called "in-and-outs" — like those color-changing Takis — are meant to pique consumer interest and make a brand look fresh.

"One thing we talk about is 'trips to the mouth,'" says Barroso, founder of a consultancy called CJB and Associates. "How long will I enjoy this snack? Something like a potato chip or certainly popcorn can last 10, 20 minutes."

By the numbers: Sales of snacks — in convenience stores and elsewhere — rose about 12% in 2022 and continue to grow, C-Store Dive reports, citing data from IRI and 210 Analytics.

Candy and chocolate sales are also way up, with the National Confectioners Association reporting an 11.1% rise in sales in 2022.

How it works: We may piously reach for zero-calorie sweeteners and plant-based proteins — but some of us become sweet-and-salty demons when let loose in a 7-Eleven. (Jennifer raises her hand here...✋🏼)

"People might answer a research study saying, 'Yes, I’m going to eat more healthy things,' but the fact is that snacking has continued to increase," Steve Stallman, president of Stallman Marketing and the Food Consultants Group, tells Axios. 

Brands are seeking out ways to make us feel good — witness Cracker Jill, the new female-empowerment version of Cracker Jacks.

Between the lines: Snackmania is fueling product development at all the big food companies, from Kellogg and Mondelez to PepsiCo, Hostess and Kraft Heinz.

Tastier microwavable options reduce the "trade-off between convenience and craveability," Alan Kleinerman, head of disruption at Kraft Heinz, tells Axios.

New Kraft Heinz products like HomeBake and Crisp from the Microwave let consumers build modular meals that are relatively effortless, Kleinerman said.

What's next: "Grilled Cheesies," a grilled cheese sandwich made with Kraft Singles that kids (or adults) can microwave for 60 seconds, will debut later this year.

Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever

New products include mini Twinkies, Cocoa Puffs popcorn and Dr Pepper-flavored cotton candy.

an illustration of a sugar cookie decorated with frosting forming a winking emoji with its tongue sticking out

Food

Miniature Twinkies, Cocoa Puffs popcorn, Dr Pepper-flavored cotton candy: Food manufacturers <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="know" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/retail-deals/2022/06/21/kellogg-spinoff-mondelez-clif-bar-acquisition-bet-on-snacks" data-vars-content-id="3da25b6a-ad02-444c-a191-1fc4205d6dc9" data-vars-headline="Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/retail-deals/2022/06/21/kellogg-spinoff-mondelez-clif-bar-acquisition-bet-on-snacks" target="_self">know</a> Americans are snacking more, and they&#x27;re busy pumping out irresistible <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="new" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/06/thaw-eat-heat-serve-uncrustables-eggo-nestle-deliwich-hot-pockets-frozen" data-vars-content-id="3da25b6a-ad02-444c-a191-1fc4205d6dc9" data-vars-headline="Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/12/06/thaw-eat-heat-serve-uncrustables-eggo-nestle-deliwich-hot-pockets-frozen" target="_self">new</a> junk — er, snack — foods.Why it matters: An explosion of new products is generating buzz and profits for food makers and surprise and delight for shoppers — but helping make Americans <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="fatter" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2018/10/22/health-wellness-obesity-fat-weight-gain-loss-diet-industry" data-vars-content-id="3da25b6a-ad02-444c-a191-1fc4205d6dc9" data-vars-headline="Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2018/10/22/health-wellness-obesity-fat-weight-gain-loss-diet-industry" target="_self">fatter</a> and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="unhealthier" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2020/04/05/coronavirus-vices-alcohol-marijuana-food" data-vars-content-id="3da25b6a-ad02-444c-a191-1fc4205d6dc9" data-vars-headline="Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2020/04/05/coronavirus-vices-alcohol-marijuana-food" target="_self">unhealthier</a> than ever.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Religious leaders are dabbling in ChatGPT for sermon writing, and largely reaching the same conclusion: It's great for plucking Bible verses and concocting nice-sounding sentiments but lacks the human warmth that congregants crave.

Why it matters: As scarily good generative artificial intelligence tools start to disrupt all manner of professions, men and women of the cloth are pondering how eerily close it can come to projecting a human — or divine — soul.

Driving the news: Curious leaders of all faiths have been plugging in prompts to ChatGPT — for example, "Preach to me about the raising of Lazarus in John 11" — and writing about the plusses and minuses of the results.

Early sermon-writing experiments have shown that ChatGPT can pull together cogent and relevant thoughts from religious texts and eminent theologians, plus turns-of-phrase that seem stirring and poignant.

A consensus seems to be emerging that ChatGPT can alleviate some of the religious leaders' more routine or repetitive tasks — such as explaining particular holidays — while freeing them for more meaningful spiritual counseling.

What they're saying: "It's really impressive — it's kind of amazing," Ken Sundet Jones, a Lutheran pastor and theology professor in Des Moines who posed the Lazarus question, told Axios.

Yes, but: While "Pastor ChatGPT" can do "an adequate job of assembling a string of facts and propositions about a topic," it's a "bit of a didactic bore" and "no real preacher," Jones wrote.

Plus "it can't do visitation, like meat-and-potatoes pastors do," he tells Axios.

Case study: Rabbi Joshua Franklin, of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, New York, delivered what he warned his flock was a "plagiarized" sermon about the theme of vulnerability in a story from Genesis — and was shocked when congregants guessed that it had been written by his father or a famous rabbi rather than AI.

"The more I was able to prompt [ChatGPT] and tell it what I was looking for and describe the style of how I wanted it to write, the better it got," Franklin said.

One notable missing piece: the rabbi's own perspective and anecdotes. Had he written the sermon himself, "I would have told a story — something about me that modeled my own vulnerability and showed how it was a strength," he said.

Reality check: While the technology "is extraordinarily intelligent," it's "missing the ability to show empathy," Franklin tells Axios.

Its flaws as a spiritual guide? "It can't actually feel emotion," Franklin says. "It can't show genuine love. It can't show compassion."

Todd Brewer, managing editor of a religious publication called Mockingbird, had a similar take after asking ChatGPT to write a Christmas sermon "based upon Luke’s birth narrative, with quotations from Karl Barth, Martin Luther, Irenaeus of Lyon, and Barack Obama."

"The AI sermon is better than several Christmas sermons I've heard over the years," Brewer wrote in an essay.

"Devoid of any obvious heresy, the AI even seems to understand what makes the birth of Jesus genuinely good news."

And yet: "As good as the AI sermon might be, the message would fly like a lead balloon on Sunday morning. Its content is mostly ok, though it lacks any human warmth."

The bottom line: ChatGPT "can tell you thoughts about the anthropology of divinity, but it can't articulate its own thoughts on God because it doesn't have a consciousness," Franklin said.

"I think it's going to force me to evolve as a rabbi, but I don't think that it's going to put me out of business."

Jones puts it in starker terms: ChatGPT "could be divine, but it might not be," he said. "Often, you can’t tell the difference between God and the devil."

Prominent prediction: In a recent Wall Street Journal essay, Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher wrote that "the arrival of an unknowable and apparently omniscient instrument, capable of altering reality, may trigger a resurgence in mystic religiosity."

Go deeper: Pope Francis prays for good AI

What's next: With AI programmers responsible for imbuing ChatGPT with ethics and morality, the roles of religious leaders could soon include offering guidance and moral suasion to the tech industry.

Religious leaders experiment with ChatGPT sermons

Generative AI can quote the Bible deftly — and sound eerily human.

Illustration of binary code in a stained glass window

ChatGPT

Technology

Google showed off an array of new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven health care tools on Tuesday, from a souped-up chatbot that can shed light on your medical symptoms to enhanced search features that tell you if a doctor takes Medicaid.

Why it matters: There's an arms race among big tech companies to infuse their products with AI — but the results, particularly in health care, can have unwanted consequences or pitfalls, like racial bias, privacy concerns and ethical problems. 

Driving the news: The "large language model" that Google has been building for the medical world — an AI chatbot called Med-PaLM 2 — now consistently passes medical exam questions with a score of 85%, placing it at "expert" doctor level, the company said.

That's an 18% improvement from the system's previous performance, per the company, and "far surpasses similar AI models."

A rival generative AI tool, ChatGPT, also passed the medical exams — but just barely. (ChatGPT's creator, OpenAI, just released a new, more powerful version of its underlying tech.)

Google's system is being trained to "retrieve medical knowledge, accurately answer medical questions, and provide reasoning," the company says.

Yes, but: Google acknowledges AI's shortcomings in the medical realm.

"There’s still a lot of work to be done to make sure [Med-PaLM 2] can work in real-world settings," reads a blog post from Yossi Matias, a Google vice president of engineering and research, and Greg Corrado, its head of health AI.

Google found "significant gaps" when the tool was "tested against 14 criteria — including scientific factuality, precision, medical consensus, reasoning, bias and harm," per the post.

"We look forward to working with researchers and the global medical community to close these gaps and understand how this technology can help improve health delivery."

Meanwhile: Google's conversational AI technology Duplex has called hundreds of thousands of U.S. health care providers to see if they accept Medicaid. The results are being displayed in Google Search, ahead of a March 31 re-enrollment deadline.

Google Search results will also soon highlight "providers that identify as community health centers offering free or low-cost care," the company said.

And an improved version of Fitbit's health metrics dashboard will soon be available — in some cases without a subscription — to help people map changes and trends in their breathing rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen.

What they're saying: "The future of health is consumer-driven," Karen DeSalvo, Google's chief health officer, told reporters. 

"People will expect a mobile-first experience with more personalized insights, services and care."

Zoom out: Google is also deploying AI tools to help offer high-quality, low-cost medical diagnostics globally.

Ultrasound devices with Google AI are being used to detect breast cancer in Taiwan and determine gestational age in expectant mothers in Kenya.

Another Google AI tool that checks chest X-rays for signs of tuberculosis is being rolled out in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A schematic image of an ultrasound of a pregnant uterus and a screen that shows gestational age. 

Google's AI-powered ultrasound system. Image: Courtesy of Google

Between the lines: The company is acutely aware of criticisms that "Dr. Google" can sometimes lead users to misleading or dangerous health guidance.

To help address those concerns, it's been adding information panels to YouTube Health about the source of some content to help users assess its credibility. 

Another new YouTube feature helps people "find human answers" to their health questions, said Garth Graham, director and head of health care and public health at Google/YouTube.

Google also announced a partnership with ThroughLine, which connects users to free mental health crisis support in more than 100 countries.

"This will increase the number of crisis helplines that appear at the top of search results," reads a blog post from DeSalvo. The feature is aimed at "searches related to suicide, domestic violence and other personal crisis topics."

The big picture: Even as they take breathtaking strides toward improving health care with AI, tech companies and others have been stumbling with what they've unleashed.

Older people covered by Medicare Advantage are finding their benefits cut off by AI algorithms no matter how dire their medical needs, a Stat News investigation found.

Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Google parent company Alphabet that focuses on treatment personalization, started laying off staff in January, per the Wall Street Journal.

On the plus side, AI is starting to detect breast cancers that radiologists miss, as the New York Times reports.

The development is "one of the most tangible signs to date of how AI can improve public health," per the Times — yet the technology produces too many false positives and still needs to "show it can produce accurate results on women of all ages, ethnicities and body types."

The bottom line: Medicine will always need to rely on a healthy mix of technology and human know-how.

"AI on its own cannot solve all of health care’s problems," Alan Karthikesalingam, the surgeon-scientist who leads Google Health's machine learning research group, said Tuesday.

"Medicine, after all, is about caring for people."

Google flexes its health care AI muscle

A Google chatbot now consistently passes medical exam questions with a score of 85%.

Illustration of a robot arm lifting a medical cross

Google

Google showed off an array of new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven health care tools on Tuesday, from a souped-up chatbot that can shed light on your medical symptoms to enhanced search features that tell you if a doctor takes Medicaid.Why it matters: There&#x27;s an arms race among big tech companies to infuse their products with AI — but the results, particularly in health care, can have unwanted consequences or pitfalls, like <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="racial bias" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2019/05/01/how-bias-creeps-into-health-care-ai" data-vars-content-id="539e0d20-2f2a-4faf-9526-84e6c3173071" data-vars-headline="Google flexes its health care AI muscle" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2019/05/01/how-bias-creeps-into-health-care-ai" target="_self">racial bias</a>, privacy concerns and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="ethical problems" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/09/ai-mental-health-fears" data-vars-content-id="539e0d20-2f2a-4faf-9526-84e6c3173071" data-vars-headline="Google flexes its health care AI muscle" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/09/ai-mental-health-fears" target="_self">ethical problems</a>.

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

Human-shaped robots with dexterous hands will be staffing warehouses and retail stores, tending to the elderly and performing household chores within a decade or so, according to a Silicon Valley startup working toward that vision.

Why it matters: Demographic trends — such as a persistent labor shortage and the growing elder care crisis — make fully-functioning, AI-driven humanoid robots look tantalizingly appealing.

Companies such as Amazon are reportedly worried about running out of warehouse workers, whose jobs are physically and mentally demanding with high attrition.

Driving the news: A heavy-hitting startup called Figure, which just emerged from stealth mode, is building a prototype of a humanoid robot that the company says will eventually be able to walk, climb stairs, open doors, use tools and lift boxes — perhaps even make dinner.

The company is the brainchild of Brett Adcock, a tech entrepreneur who previously founded Archer Aviation (a "flying taxi" maker that went public) and Vettery (an online hiring marketplace that he and a partner sold for $100 million).

He's assembled an all-star team of 40, including leading roboticists from Boston Dynamics and Tesla.

They've moved into a 30,000-square-foot facility in Sunnyvale, California, where they plan to set up a mock warehouse to test their prototype.

"We just got done in December with our full-scale humanoid," Adcock tells Axios. "We'll be walking that in the next 30 days."

Where it stands: The prototype — called Figure 01 — stands about 5'6" and weighs 130 pounds. 

It'll be fully electric, run for five hours on a charge and is intended for warehouse use.

"We think we can get into commercial operation within a few years," Adcock tells Axios. "We should be able to do most jobs — physical labor jobs that humans don't want to do." 

Yes, but: Humanoid robots are staggeringly difficult to build and engineer to perform reliably.

There are a host of design challenges, from simple balance to replicating human movements. 

"We need to be able to push it and have it not fall down," says Adcock about the Figure 01. (Boston Dynamics has plenty of robot blooper videos on YouTube.)

From there, programming a robot to move boxes in a warehouse is a lot easier than, say, engineering it to cook a meal.

What they're saying: "We face high risk and extremely low chances of success," Adcock wrote in a mission statement.

But he exuded optimism in an interview: "This stuff just wasn't possible 10 years ago — I think it's possible now."

A decade ago, "you just didn’t have the energy or the power density to make this work."

Reality check: Engineering robots is expensive. Adcock says he is self-financing Figure: "I put in $10 million last year."

Zoom in: Goldman Sachs put out an initial research report on the humanoid robot sector in November, estimating that "a $6 billion market (or more) in people-sized-and-shaped robots is achievable in the next 10 to 15 years."

This market "would be able to fill 4% of the projected U.S. manufacturing labor shortage by 2030 and 2% of global elderly care demand by 2035."

The big picture: The modern quest to build a robot that looks and feels like a human began in earnest more than a decade ago, with Boston Dynamics' Atlas — which tech writer John Markoff once compared to C-3PO from "Star Wars" — in the lead.

Today, Atlas and Xiaomi's CyberOne tilt more toward research than commercial applications.

Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot is likely to be Figure's chief competition — Elon Musk has described similar ambitions to Adcock's for the "Tesla Bot." (See it in action here.)

Another competitor: Agility Robotics, whose humanoid robot, Digit, is also aimed at warehouse work. (Watch it perform here.) 

But there's robot-fever everywhere. At SXSW in Austin, Disney just unveiled a rollerblading, somersaulting bunny rabbit bot that's meant to look like Judy Hopps from "Zootopia."

And non-humanoid robots are starting to flex their muscles as security guards, window washers, food deliverers and fry cooks. (Sometimes with mixed results.)

The bottom line: It will take decades for humanoid robots to be able to replicate the sophisticated things our bodies can do, but visionaries are hard at work trying to make it happen.

Humanoid robots are coming

A startup called Figure is building a human-sized robot, initially for warehouse work.

A rendering of Figure 01, a humanoid robot being built by a startup called Figure. Image courtesy of Figure

Robotics

Human-shaped robots with dexterous hands will be staffing warehouses and retail stores, tending to the elderly and performing household chores within a decade or so, according to a Silicon Valley startup working toward that vision.Why it matters: Demographic trends — such as a persistent <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="labor shortage" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/03/a-deep-dive-into-the-labor-shortage" data-vars-content-id="e72caf33-90aa-4a05-9347-dc8409eace8a" data-vars-headline="Humanoid robots are coming" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/03/a-deep-dive-into-the-labor-shortage" target="_self">labor shortage</a> and the growing <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="elder care crisis" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/19/axios-am-deep-dive-boomers-elder-care-crisis" data-vars-content-id="e72caf33-90aa-4a05-9347-dc8409eace8a" data-vars-headline="Humanoid robots are coming" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/19/axios-am-deep-dive-boomers-elder-care-crisis" target="_self">elder care crisis</a> — make fully-functioning, AI-driven humanoid robots look tantalizingly appealing.

As some states try to regulate children's social media use and TikTok emerges as a geopolitical chew toy, a new clearinghouse has emerged for mediating between tech companies and those concerned about their products' impact on kids: the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents

The Digital Wellness Lab is trying to address concerns about kids' social media use.

As some <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="states" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/24/utah-limit-kids-social-media" data-vars-content-id="fec12284-da05-4f56-a815-ca04068a925b" data-vars-headline="The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/24/utah-limit-kids-social-media" target="_self">states</a> try to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="regulate children&#x27;s social media use" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/27/pushback-grows-social-media" data-vars-content-id="fec12284-da05-4f56-a815-ca04068a925b" data-vars-headline="The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/27/pushback-grows-social-media" target="_self">regulate children&#x27;s social media use</a> and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="TikTok" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/24/tiktoks-fate-may-be-decided-by-the-courts" data-vars-content-id="fec12284-da05-4f56-a815-ca04068a925b" data-vars-headline="The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/24/tiktoks-fate-may-be-decided-by-the-courts" target="_self">TikTok</a> emerges as a geopolitical chew toy, a new clearinghouse has emerged for mediating between tech companies and those concerned about their products&#x27; impact on kids: the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Digital Wellness Lab" data-vars-click-url="https://digitalwellnesslab.org/" data-vars-content-id="fec12284-da05-4f56-a815-ca04068a925b" data-vars-headline="The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://digitalwellnesslab.org/" target="_blank">Digital Wellness Lab</a> at Boston Children&#x27;s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Why it matters: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Young people" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/26/gen-z-social-media-tiktok-discord-facebook" data-vars-content-id="fec12284-da05-4f56-a815-ca04068a925b" data-vars-headline="The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/26/gen-z-social-media-tiktok-discord-facebook" target="_self">Young people</a> live their lives on social media, and it&#x27;s not going away — so parents and pediatricians need to learn to recognize when it becomes a problem, says pediatrician Michael Rich, the lab&#x27;s founder.

Jennifer A. Kingson

Stories

The Digital Wellness Lab aims to mediate between TikTok and parents

Fun foods proliferate as Americans snack more than ever

Humanoid robots are coming

Google flexes its health care AI muscle

Religious leaders experiment with ChatGPT sermons

Newsletter editions

📲 Parents v. TikTok

✈️ Airport glow-ups

🍔 3D-printed food

🛫 Air delay data

🥤 Fast food, fast charging