Published on 2026/02/23
MACHINES WILL GO TO WAR FOR US
With the development of
AI applied to the military field, something is starting to happen that feels familiar in the history of technological leaps. It happened with the
atomic bomb. It happened with the
space race. And now we’re seeing something similar with autonomous systems and combat robots.
More than a question of whether they’ll be used tomorrow or next year, what really exists is a
race to be first. A quiet competition between powers trying to show they have the technology, that they can develop it, and that, if needed, they could deploy it. It’s not necessarily about an imminent war, but about sending a message: be careful with me, look at what I’m capable of.
In that context, artificial intelligence is speeding everything up. According to a report cited by
Newsweek, defence analyst Francis Tusa warns it wouldn’t be surprising if
China unveils battlefield-ready autonomous systems within just two years. The question is no longer only who has better weapons, but who manages to
scale autonomy first — and what happens when machines begin making decisions faster than humans can.
The underlying logic is quite clear. One of the biggest brakes on large-scale conflict has always been
human casualties. Military losses, civilian impact, and the political cost inside each country. Wars aren’t fought only on the battlefield; they’re also fought in public opinion.
But if the scenario changes and, instead of sending soldiers, you send
machines, the political calculation shifts. The direct risk to the population drops, the perception of human cost weakens, and conflict can be framed as more acceptable — even justifiable — if the goal is influence, resources, or territory.
This doesn’t mean countries want to conquer the world tomorrow. But geopolitical ambition hasn’t disappeared, and technology has always been a tool to enable it. Military AI isn’t born only as a weapon, but also as a
deterrent force. Just like nuclear arsenals, the mere fact of possessing it already reshapes the balance of power.
History has shown us that when a strategic technology appears, it quickly becomes part of the global chessboard. The difference now is speed. AI doesn’t evolve in decades — it evolves in months.
# Watch video
Running the vacuum.
Published on 2026/02/23
PUNCH, THE BABY MONKEY AND THE ENDING EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE
The name
Punch has been everywhere this weekend.
Social media, newspapers, TV… suddenly, a baby Japanese macaque from a zoo in Japan has become one of the most
viral stories of the moment. And it’s not by chance.
Punch was born last summer and was
rejected by his mother shortly after birth. Since then, zoo keepers have been raising him by hand, trying to replace the bond he never had. To help him cope, they gave him a
stuffed toy that he uses as comfort, company, and almost as a mother figure. That image — a tiny monkey hugging a plush toy while trying to find his place — is what has traveled all around the world.
Videos showing him trying to interact with the other macaques, still unable to fully understand the group’s
social codes, have touched something very basic in people. It doesn’t need much explanation: everyone understands what it feels like to be small,
out of place, or unsure of where they belong. The Internet works like that. When a story connects with something
universal, it spreads on its own.
And as usually happens in cases like this, the viral wave hasn’t stayed only in the emotional territory. The toy Punch carries has
sold out in several countries, and shops and resellers are already trying to
replicate it or release similar versions to ride the trend. The monkey’s story has gone from a touching scene to a full
commercial phenomenon, once again proving how fast the Internet turns any symbol into a product.
Punch isn’t just a viral animal. He has become a small
global narrative: fragility, rejection, survival… a real-life character with a story that’s easy to understand and easy to connect with, even if you know nothing about zoos or macaques.
And that’s where another phenomenon of our time steps in:
AI.
Because artificial intelligence isn’t just useful for generating pretty images or curious clips. It allows us to turn into scenes the things we imagine when we see stories like this. It gives visual form to that version of the story we build in our heads when we want it to move forward, change, or reach a different ending.
Sometimes reality stops halfway. And sometimes technology shows up just in time to
push it a little further.
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Today’s slow-motion moment.