👋 Good morning. Breathe a sigh of relief, we found an AI application that actually feels good. The Jane Goodall Institute is using AI to digitize 500k+ pages of handwritten field notes spanning five generations of chimpanzees in East Africa. Typically, researchers take handwritten notes every 15 minutes when observing a chimp (and every minute when watching mothers and infants) and then have to digitize the notes in multiple languages — a process that takes up to two days. The AI is also digitizing Goodall’s own handwritten notes to preserve her legacy.
THE BIG IDEA
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Teeing up for the future of AI-powered golf equipment
Ah, a peaceful day on the golf course: beautifully manicured greens, a gentle breeze, and... a robotic caddie chasing after you with advice?
A new AI-powered, self-driving golf trolley, known as iXi, will follow you from hole to hole, offering recommendations and real-time performance analysis, per CNN.
The roving digital caddie is part of a rapidly growing trend of AI-powered golf equipment — part of the global golf equipment market estimated to reach $26.7B by 2031.
Ace in the hole
Developed by Belgian startup Botronics with design studio Futurewave, the iXi trolley offers features beyond even the latest electric follow trolleys:
- Two cameras and GPS pre-loaded with 40k+ course maps to automatically navigate.
- Controlled by hand gestures or voice commands.
- Camera records and plays back swings, providing frame-by-frame analysis that can be shared with coaches.
- Screen offers suggestions for club selection and where to aim with real-time visualization.
- Front camera detects when a putter is removed from the bag and the trolley will preemptively roll to the next tee.
Sadly, there's no beer tap or Einstein putter.
The trolley — currently in the advanced prototype phase — will retail for ~$5.4k with an expected June 2027 release. Discounts were offered to supporters of a ~$1m crowdfunding campaign, and ~125 trolleys were pre-ordered in the first 10 minutes of availability.
AI on the fairway
Golf is seeing an unprecedented rise in popularity, following a pandemic resurgence.
- Over 48M Americans played golf in 2025 — a 41% increase from 2019.
- The period saw a net increase of 14m on- and off-course players — thanks to an increase of indoor virtual simulators and driving ranges.
More casual players are driving demand for gadgets, and the iXi trolley is far from the first time AI has rolled onto the green.
- Wilson's Fit AI platform helps players choose the best clubs.
- Sportsbox AI converts videos of swings into 3D models to provide real-time, corrective feedback.
- Swee analyzes golf swings and provides personalized practice plans.
- Arccos’ Smart Laser Rangefinder uses GPS positioning, live weather syncing, and detailed mapping to create a strategy for each shot.
Now, if only there were an AI-powered device to pour you a cold beer on the back nine...
WIN AT WORK
Work-speak, simplified
This one’s for all you chronic overthinkers. You circle-back Slackers. You second-guessing, pleasantly professional peeps. We love you, and need you to relax.
To come across wiser, kinder, and extremely effective at all times, bookmark this smart work communications database.
- 150+ messaging templates for tricky asks, status updates, and commonplace requests
- Filterable for 16 workplace goals + 6 tonal variations (straight shooter, cheerleader, chill guy, etc.)
- Save time, but never at the cost of personal touch
Here’s to saying what you mean, sounding like a pro, and schmoozing your way to a well-earned promotion.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
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Number of artists, selected out of a pool of 600 applicants, who will be temporarily excluded from the “struggling artist” narrative as the winners of luxury hotel La Residencia’s artist-in-residence program in Deia, Mallorca, where they’ll each spend two months creating locally inspired art between May and October, per Forbes.
While the five-star hotel will lose out on a sizable chunk of revenue — standard rooms range from ~$2.5k to $4.5k a night during the summer — the program will help keep the local art scene alive and maintain the town’s roots as an artist refuge that once fostered creatives like Joan Miró, who definitely could not have afforded to stay there as an up-and-coming painter today.
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 2000, Venus Williams scored her first Wimbledon victory.
🏢 Haha: Upload an architectural render to receive a more realistic — and more depressing — photo back.
👣 That’s interesting: The history of everyone’s favorite awkward party game: Twister.
🧠 Game: Navigate the maze.
🐘 Aww: A smiley baby elephant.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Birds probably don’t enjoy roller coasters. Their head stabilizers cancel out half the experience. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Danny Jensen, and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Par for the course" Friedman.
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