The Neuron: AI Explained

Brandon Baum — better known as heybrandonb to his 25M+ followers — built a YouTube empire making cinematic, effects-heavy videos that look like they cost millions but were born in a bedroom during COVID. In this episode, we get into how he went from 2 views to a million followers in a month, why he shoots everything on iPhones with a custom 3D-printed dual-phone rig, how AI tools like Firefly Boards have replaced his Post-it Note wall, and why he thinks the atmosphere is "ripe for change" in Hollywood. We also talk about what content is actually performing now (hint: it's not spectacle anymore), his plan to seed original IP on social before taking it to theaters, and why he's building custom AI agents to offload his admin so he can just be creative.Brandon B's YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@heybrandonbAdobe Firefly Boards: https://firefly.adobe.com/LM Studio / Ollama (referenced in OpenClaw discussion): https://lmstudio.ai/ https://ollama.com/Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter: https://theneuron.ai

Let’s build with v0 in real time. We’re going LIVE with Tom Occhino, Chief Product Officer at Vercel, to explore vibe coding and take a hands-on look at v0, Vercel’s AI-powered development platform for building apps faster. We’ll show v0 live and walk through how it turns a simple prompt into a real, shippable interface. Tom will also explain what “vibe coding” actually looks like in practice, including how teams are using it today and where it fits into modern development workflows. What we’ll cover:⚡ You’ll see a live build using v0, from the first prompt to a working app.🧠 We’ll break down what vibe coding means and why so many teams are experimenting with it.🔐 Tom will share how Vercel thinks about AI-assisted development, including security, developer experience, and scale.🧭 We’ll talk about product, community, and where the Vercel ecosystem is headed next.❓ We’ll wrap with live Q&A and take questions from the chat. If you’re building products, shipping web apps, or thinking about how AI fits into your workflow, this session will give you a clear, practical look at what’s possible.Links: • Try v0: https://v0.app/• Vercel platform: https://vercel.comCheck out these template to get inspired: https://v0.app/templatesHow to prompt with v0: https://vercel.com/blog/how-to-prompt-v0 📬 For more AI news and deep dives, subscribe to The Neuron newsletter: https://theneuron.ai 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5214856690925568

A team of former Google DeepMind researchers just raised $2B to build America's answer to DeepSeek. In this episode, we sit down with Ioannis Antonoglou (Yannis), co-founder and CTO of Reflection AI, who helped create AlphaGo—the AI that beat the world champion in the game of Go back in 2016. Yannis breaks down what Reflection is building, why they're releasing frontier-level AI models as open-weight, and how mixture-of-experts architecture lets massive models run efficiently. We dig into reinforcement learning, the US vs. China open source gap, sovereign AI, coding agents, and why open science might be the fastest path to the most powerful AI on the planet.Reflection AI: https://www.reflection.aiReflection AI raises $2B at $8B valuation (TechCrunch): https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/09/reflection-raises-2b-to-be-americas-open-frontier-ai-lab-challenging-deepseek/Previous Neuron coverage of DeepSeek: https://www.theneuron.ai/newsletter/deepseek-returns https://www.theneuron.ai/newsletter/10-wild-deepseek-demosSubscribe to The Neuron newsletter: https://theneuron.ai

This video is a re-upload from our livestream on YouTube. Most people are still using ChatGPT the way they used Google in 2005: type a question, get an answer, close the tab.In 2026, that’s like owning a professional kitchen and only using the microwave.In this episode, Grant and Corey walk through The Neuron’s 5-Level AI Proficiency Stack — a framework for going from “I use ChatGPT sometimes” to “AI saves me 10 hours a week.”No coding required. No hype. Just the actual progression that separates casual users from people getting real, compounding value out of AI every single day.The 5 Levels:🔹 Level 1: Projects — Why your first move isn’t prompting. It’s onboarding.🔹 Level 2: Prompting — The simplest formula that actually works🔹 Level 3: Skills — Turn one good conversation into a reusable superpower🔹 Level 4: Automations — Set it, schedule it, forget it🔹 Level 5: Agents — AI that decides what to do and when to do itTools mentioned:• ChatGPT Projects: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-projects-in-chatgpt• Claude Skills: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12512176-what-are-skills• Claude Cowork: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13854387-schedule-recurring-tasks-in-cowork• OpenAI Codex: https://developers.openai.com/codex/app/automations• Gemini Opal: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/opal-agent/• Gemini Scheduled Actions: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/16316416📩 Read the full deep dive:https://www.theneuron.ai/explainer-articles/how-to-actually-use-ai-in-2026-the-complete-guide/

Brian Gerkey is the CTO of Intrinsic, the robotics software company that started inside Alphabet and now sits inside Google, working directly with DeepMind and Gemini. Brian co-created ROS (Robot Operating System), the open-source platform used by over 1 million developers that powers everything from factory robots to NASA's Astrobee on the International Space Station. In this episode, Grant talks with Brian about "physical AI" — what happens when AI leaves the screen and starts controlling robots in the real world. They cover why 80% of US manufacturing facilities still have zero automation, how Intrinsic's platform acts as the "Android of robotics," the breakthroughs in AI-powered perception that let robots see with sub-millimeter accuracy using cheap cameras, the challenges of simulating physical contact (friction is a nightmare), and why the best robot application ideas often come from people who know nothing about robots.Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter: https://theneuron.aiIntrinsic: https://www.intrinsic.ai/ROS (Robot Operating System): https://www.ros.org/AI for Industry Challenge: https://www.intrinsic.ai/events/ai-for-industry-challengeIntrinsic joins Google (Feb 2026): https://www.intrinsic.ai/blog/posts/intrinsic-joins-google-to-accelerate-physical-ai