GM. This is Milk Road AI, where we track the AI arms race and the trillion-dollar fight to decide what replaces the phone in your pocket.
Here’s what we’ve got for you today:
- ✍️ Silicon Valley’s all-in war to own your attention.
- 🎙️ The Milk Road AI Show: The Most Underestimated AI Market Heading Into 2026 w/ ARK Invest
- 🍪 Nvidia unveils Rubin, its next-gen AI chip platform.
Launching The Energy Network on Solana, Fuse Energy has just secured $70M in Series B funding. Discover the future of energy now.
Prices as of 10:00 AM ET.
THE NEXT INTERFACE WAR HAS BEGUN
How many times did you touch your phone yesterday? 100 times? 500 times?
Wrong.
The average user touches their phone 2,617 times a day.
For the top 10% of heavy users (yes, I’m looking at you), that number doubles to 5,427 touches.
My right thumb has officially done more cardio this year than my legs.
So much for that "New Year, New Me" gym membership, at least my thumb is absolutely shredded.
We are walking around like zombies, necks bent at 45 degrees, developing what orthopedic surgeons call "text neck”, a literal degeneration of the spine found in people under 30.
(This is your official reminder to sit up straight while reading this. Yes, I see you hunching.)
We are all slaves to the glowing rectangle and it is a massive business.
Companies are projected to spend $835 billion in 2026 just to show you ads while you watch videos of hydraulic presses crushing gummy bears.
They are betting nearly a trillion dollars on your addiction.
But in Silicon Valley, the smartest people in the room have decided that we are transitioning to a new era.
They are building the cure... or are they?
The evidence is overwhelming:
- Meta shipped 4 million smart glasses in 2025.
- Google just dropped $150 million to build cool glasses with Warby Parker.
For 15 years, technology has demanded your eyes. Now, it wants to free your hands.
We are entering the era of "ambient computing", where technology stops being a distraction you stare at and becomes a utility that floats in the air around you or something far worse…
And Silicon Valley is fighting a blood sport to define what that looks like.
Google’s second shot at the face computer
We have to start with the OG. The company that started this whole mess.
Google is officially back. (RIP "Glassholes".)
Remember 10 years ago when Google put a camera on your face and everyone hated it?
To see the screen, the display was positioned just slightly above your natural line of sight.
Google's lead designer officially claimed the goal was "lightness" and "simplicity".
Simplicity? My guy, you look like you're trying to see your own eyebrows without a mirror.
(And yes, I know you just tried to do that just now. Stop it, you look ridiculous.)
But after a decade in the penalty box, Google realized something important:
They are nerds, not fashion designers.
So for 2026, they teamed up with Warby Parker (for the style) and Samsung (for the tech) to make sure you don't look like a cyborg.
They are launching two types:
- No screens, no distractions. Just you and Gemini AI whispering in your ear. Finally, the voices in my head are actually helpful (and real).
- A lightweight pair of glasses with a tiny in-lens display. It uses Android XR to float apps in front of your eyes without anyone else seeing what you're looking at.
Google’s secret weapon isn't just hardware, it's the ecosystem.
By using Android XR, they are letting developers port thousands of existing apps instantly.
The goal isn't just to put a computer on your face, it's to make your existing digital life float in the air around you.
Meta’s fashion flex
While Google was licking its wounds, Mark Zuckerberg was taking notes.
Zuck realized the one thing Google missed: Fashion wins.
People don't want to walk around looking like a sci-fi extra; they want to look hot.
That’s why Meta partnered with EssilorLuxottica (the massive company that owns Ray-Ban, Oakley, and basically every sunglass brand on earth).
And it worked. Meta captured nearly 75% of the smart glasses market last year.
And going into 2026/2027 they are doubling down:
- Ray-Ban: Regular sunglasses with a secret projector. You look cool on the outside, but really you're watching your battery icon drop to 4% and panicking.
- Artemis: Full holographic AR. The catch? They cost $10,000 to make. Unless you're selling a kidney, you aren't buying these.
But the real magic isn't the glasses. It's the controller.
Meta knows that waving your hands in the air to click buttons makes you look insane (industry nerds call this the "Gorilla Arm" problem).
So they built the "Neural Band".
It’s a wristband that reads the electrical signals in your arm muscles with 90% accuracy.
You literally just think about moving your finger, and the glasses react.
It’s the closest thing we have to The Force. (Jedi robes sold separately.)
But while Google and Meta are fighting a war for your eyes, the third player in this game thinks they are both wrong.
They don't want to put a computer on your face.
They want to make the computer disappear entirely…
FUSE ENERGY RAISES $70M AT A $5B VALUATION
Is this the most legit energy company to ever enter crypto?
Fuse Energy is a $400M ARR utility powering 200,000+ homes, today announcing a $70M Series B at a blockbuster $5B valuation.
This comes after the recent beta launch of The Energy Network, a new digital layer engineered to scale our grids and save billions in costs.
And now, it’s just building its momentum:
- Today raised $70M in Series B led by Lowercarbon and Balderton.
- Now valued at $5B.
- Launched beta on Solana.
- Received landmark no-action letter from the SEC last month.
- Planning listings for early 2026.
A new foundation for the grid is coming.
Check out their announcement here and follow Fuse on X for updates.
THE NEXT INTERFACE WAR HAS BEGUN (P2)
OpenAI’s Sam Altman is betting on a screenless future.
And he dropped $6.5 billion to prove it by acquiring the hardware startup founded by design legend Jony Ive (the guy who designed the iPhone).
Together, they are building the "Anti-Phone".
Leaks from Taiwan reveal the device is internally named "Project Gumdrop".
But don't let the cute name fool you. This thing seems to be weird:
- It’s pen-shaped, roughly the size of an old iPod Shuffle.
- You carry it in your pocket or wear it on a lanyard like a high-tech hall pass.
- It has cameras and mics to take in its surroundings and can even digitally capture your handwritten notes.
Instead of tapping apps, you use OpenAI's new "Operator" agent, built right into the pen.
You don't tap buttons, you just talk.
"Book me a hotel in Tokyo near a gym."
Some processing happens right on the tiny device, while the heavy lifting gets beamed to the cloud.
If Google and Meta want to put the internet on your face, OpenAI wants to put the internet in your pocket and then make you forget it's even there.
The last device you’ll ever need?
If wearing glasses feels like heavy lifting and reaching into your pocket counts as a workout, there is one final utopic option.
Just put the computer inside you.
According to leaks, Neuralink is prepping for "high-volume production" in 2026.
So, what is Neuralink? It is a coin-sized chip that sits flush with your skull, invisible from the outside.
It has tiny wires that tap directly into your brain's electrical signals to read your intentions.
Right now, this is strictly a medical device for patients with paralysis, but that is just the Trojan Horse.
The long-term vision is far more radical.
Musk’s core thesis for mass adoption is terrifyingly simple: As AI becomes 1,000x smarter than humans, we risk becoming obsolete.
Best case scenario? We become "house cats" to our AI overlords, cute, loved but dumb.
The only way to ensure we don't get left behind is symbiosis, merging with the AI.
The argument comes down to a simple bandwidth bottleneck.
Humans are currently "Input Rich, Output Poor".
We can watch a 4K movie and absorb massive amounts of data instantly, but we can only communicate back by tapping two meat-sticks on a piece of glass.
To keep up with AI, we need to communicate at the speed of thought.
It sounds cool, until your brain chip gets buggy and you accidentally "Like" your ex's Instagram post from 2019 just because you thought about them for a split second.
(Or, yes, you accidentally order 400 Domino's pizzas while dreaming about cheese. Error 404: Impulse Control Not Found.)
The investor’s playbook
Hardware is hard (just ask Peloton), but the prize is undeniable.
The smartphone market created the first $3 trillion company.
The device that kills it will likely create the first $10 trillion company.
Right now, Meta looks like the undisputed heavyweight champion.
They have the sales, the momentum, and the Ray-Ban partnership that actually makes people want to wear computers on their faces.
But in the era of AI, the leaderboard is written in pencil, not ink.
Just because Zuck is winning the first round doesn't mean he wins the war (just ask BlackBerry or Nokia).
We are entering a phase where software moves faster than hardware.
A smarter agent from OpenAI, a better data layer from Google, or a surprise move from Apple could flip the board overnight.
We aren't just betting on who makes the best glasses; we are betting on who builds the smartest mind behind them.
And this prize is still for the taking.
Alright, that’s it for this edition of Milk Road AI.
Quick pit stop before you bounce.
If today’s edition made you rethink your relationship with the glowing rectangle (or your neck), leave a rating and a quick comment below. It takes 10 seconds, and your thumb can handle it.
(We’ll keep this at the end of every edition so you can tell us what hit, what missed, and how you’re feeling about the newsletter overall so far.)
And yes, we read every single response. For real. No “feedback black hole” situation.
What'd you think of today's edition?
AI SHOPPING IS THE SLEEPER 🛒
In today’s episode, we sat down with Frank Downing and Nick Grous, from ARK Invest, to talk about the most underestimated AI market heading into 2026.
Here’s what you’ll hear:
- Why this is not an AI bubble yet, and what makes today different from the late 90s.
- How consumer AI becomes a platform war where distribution and personal context beat model quality.
- Why shopping could be the biggest sleeper, with ARK modeling $9 trillion in AI facilitated commerce by around 2030.
- Where value accrues over time, from chips and data centers to platforms, then advertising and commerce.
Tune in and see for yourself 👇
YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
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BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD 🍪
Nvidia unveiled its next-generation Rubin AI chip architecture at CES. The platform is already in production and will replace Blackwell as AI demand grows.
xAI says it raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round. The funding will expand Grok and its data center footprint.
Intel is building a handheld gaming platform with a dedicated chip. The system will be based on its new Panther Lake processors and target portable gaming devices.
MILKY MEMES 🤣
ROADIE REVIEW OF THE DAY 🥛
