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NVIDIA GTC took place March 17-21 in San Jose, California. There, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled powerful new chips and cute robots. But at NVIDIA GTC it is the random meetings you have that are magic. 

I spent two hours with the head AI guy at a HUGE soft drink company. Think Pepsi or Coke (don't want to out him too much yet). Grok says "it is far more than just a soft drink company — it’s a global beverage conglomerate and a marketing powerhouse."

He told me they won't eliminate any jobs because of AI. That was a condition of him taking his job. Yesterday I met someone in the same role at the NBA at the investor conference I spoke at. He told me the same thing. 

Nice to hear corporate responsibility from such big players. 

But what did we talk about?

The soft drink industry is about to change deeply due to autonomous cars. When I did work at RedBull I heard the same. 

Why?

Well, a good percentage of their sales come from when you visit a gas station, are thirsty, and go inside and buy a drink.

In an autonomous/electric world that goes away. Humans will change their buying behaviors.

I once hung out with the CEO of Moet Hennessy and asked him what keeps him up at night.

"Uber," was his answer.

"But you are an alcohol company, why are you scared about a transportation company?"

"We aren't an alcohol company, we are a party delivery company, you are standing in my party, remember?" (We were indeed in his suite at the French Open.)

"Uber could deliver a party to your house and take away my brand’s relevance, or sales."

That conversation stuck with me. So, I threw him an idea. "What if you put a cooler into self-driving cars/Robotaxis, whether they are from Waymo, Zoox, or Tesla and include your product inside?"

We riffed on how Waymo users might order a game car to head to the game, or a date car to head to a city center for a play or a dinner. Maybe wrapped with the brand around the car?

If you are ordering a Tesla Cybercab, for instance, maybe a higher-priced tier would be one of these cars with drinks and snacks all arranged in the trunk for you in a refrigerator, like in a hotel room. 

But that conversation has been sticking with me for days since. 

And we didn't even go into what happens when humanoid robots actually get in the home (I still think we are years away, but 1X Technologies says they are coming sooner). 

When that happens, and an autonomous car network reaches your neighborhood, buying soft drinks and food becomes a service. 

Can your robot change your soft drink preference? 

Well, it certainly could bring you some free samples to see if you are willing to. 

And then I imagined that some cans might have augmented reality concerts that will "jump out of" the can that you can see in your Holodeck glasses, or on a lightfield display on the wall.

In other words, which will be the relevant soft drink company in 2035? The one who gets on top of these trends and pushes them, or the one that waits?

Which gets me back to the guy I had dinner with. It's all about how the humans who run these companies see such weird new ideas. 

I told him I tried to get Bill Gates to buy all of Web 2.0 and Gates told me I had no business value. 

So, coming up with new ideas isn't the hard part. It's convincing the executives, and, even, the employees that it's a good idea to do. 

Which gets me back to the AI industry. So many are hitting resistance. Fear of AI inside the corporate walls. Fear of change. Inability to see the future is about to become very different from today's world. 

So, the idea is 1% of the puzzle and cultural change is 99%. I have been a part of a few cultural change initiatives and know they are very tough. You have to meet with many people, face-to-face, and convince them one-by-one. Sometimes this takes years. 

Especially at a huge company with many divisions and thousands of managers. 

Good luck! It is easier to vibe code some AI Agents or so some AI Art. 

Anyone doing it well in the AI industry?

Just Three Things

According to Scoble and Cronin, the top three relevant and recent happenings

​​Nvidia Launches Groot N1: AI Model for General-Purpose Humanoid Robots

Nvidia unveiled Groot N1, an open-source AI model for humanoid robots, at GTC 2025. It uses a dual-system architecture for planning and executing actions, inspired by human cognition. Groot N1 expands on last year’s Project Groot, moving from industrial to general-purpose humanoid robotics. Nvidia also released tools for simulation and synthetic data. CEO Jensen Huang declared, “The age of generalist robotics is here.” TechCrunch

Apptronik Raises $403 Million to Scale Apollo Humanoid Robot

Apptronik added $53 million to its Series A round, bringing the total to $403 million. The funding will support the production of its AI-powered humanoid robot, Apollo, and meet demand across industries like automotive, logistics, and manufacturing. Apptronik has partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and GXO Logistics to test Apollo and recently teamed up with Google DeepMind and Jabil. Founded in 2016, the company has raised $431 million to date. This investment follows a broader surge in funding for humanoid robotics, including major rounds for Figure AI and Agility Robotics. The Robot Report

Apple Shakes Up AI Leadership as Siri Struggles and Vision Pro Chief Takes Over

Apple Inc. is restructuring its executive leadership to address delays and setbacks in its artificial intelligence efforts. CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in AI chief John Giannandrea and is assigning Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell to take over responsibility for Siri. Rockwell will now report to software head Craig Federighi, effectively removing Siri from Giannandrea’s control. The shake-up follows a leadership meeting where Apple’s lag in AI compared to rivals was a major concern. Apple’s AI platform, Apple Intelligence, launched late and underperformed, failing to boost iPhone 16 sales as expected. Rockwell will also leave his current role leading the Vision Products Group, though Vision Pro software teams will follow him to Federighi’s department. Meanwhile, Vision Pro hardware will remain under John Ternus. Apple’s struggles with AI are especially pressing as the company has delayed key Siri upgrades promoted to support iPhone 16 sales. Apple has not commented on the executive changes. Bloomberg

Scoble’s Top Five X Posts