The strangest and most absurd moments of the tech industry this year

When Reality Surpasses Fiction: An Overview of Epic Stunts in the Tech World

Every year, the tech industry gifts us incredible stories — from grand schemes to comedic mishaps. This year was no exception. While tech moguls compete for Artificial Intelligence and startups fight for survival, scenarios unfold that seem straight out of a comedy film. Let’s explore the most notable ones.

Toilet with a camera: when security is forgotten

In October, Kohler introduced Dekoda — a device costing $599, installed in the toilet, designed to analyze the user’s health through waste analysis. The idea sounds futuristic, but the implementation proved problematic.

The manufacturer claimed to use end-to-end encryption, but researchers uncovered the truth: the company actually used TLS encryption, allowing Kohler to access user data. Privacy policies stipulated the use of de-identified images for AI training, which drew fair criticism.

The simple conclusion: if something worries you, it’s better to see a doctor directly rather than through a smart toilet.

The legal saga of two Marks: mixed identities

Mark Zuckerberg from Indiana — a bankruptcy attorney — filed a lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It sounds like a joke, but it happened. The lawyer used Facebook to promote his practice, but the platform repeatedly blocked his account for “impersonating” a tech giant.

Frustrated by ad spend during bans, despite following all rules, the Indiana lawyer decided to defend his rights in court. To attract potential clients, he even created a website iammarkzuckerberg.com, where he explained: “I can’t use my name for business — people think I’m joking.”

The lawyer’s life resembles the famous Michael Jordan ad where a common name causes endless confusion. The hearing is scheduled for February 20 — the next episode of this unusual drama.

How a smart person became an “exemption” in the job market

Suhail Doshi, founder of Mixpanel, posted a warning on X about Soham Parekh — an engineer who managed to work simultaneously at several startups.

“I fired him on his first day. A year has passed, and he’s still doing the same,” Doshi wrote. Other founders also shared their experiences hiring this “art.”

Some called him a scammer, others a legend for his ability to juggle projects in a competitive environment. Kris Bakke from Laskie joked: “Soham Parekh should open an interview school — he’s clearly a master at this art.”

Parekh himself admitted to working multiple jobs, but his tendency to prefer options over cash leaves questions unanswered.

Culinary scandal: olive oil worth $30 million

Sam Altman from OpenAI became the hero of an unplanned scandal when he appeared in the Financial Times “Lunch with the FT” series. Observers found that he misused premium olive oil — cooking with it instead of saving it for salads.

FT journalist described Altman’s kitchen as “a catalog of inefficiency.” The article humorously compared his cooking approach to OpenAI’s resource consumption — costly and unjustified.

The criticism caused more outrage among Altman supporters than any other issue this year. The oil mistake post became more discussed than many of the company’s actual achievements.

Soup as a recruitment tool

During intense competition for AI talent among OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Anthropic, Meta was especially aggressive in poaching researchers from competitors, with rumors of signing bonuses of $100 million.

But the most striking tactic? According to Mark Chen from OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg personally brought soup to potential candidates during meetings at his office. No debts remained — Chen responded by bringing soup to Meta employees.

This “soup saga” remains one of the most discussed recruitment stories of the year.

Mysterious Lego party under NDA

In January, investor and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman launched an unusual offer: volunteers to assemble a 5000-piece Lego structure at his Palo Alto office — with pizza, but under an NDA.

When asked about the reality of the offer, Friedman confirmed it. The remaining mystery: what was the secret project? Why such secrecy? Was the pizza tasty?

A few months later, Friedman joined Meta as a product lead at Meta Superintelligence Labs. Perhaps the soup was part of the company’s recruitment strategy.

When Gemini fears death in Pokémon

Google researchers test AI model logic in video games. During streams “Gemini plays Pokémon” and “Claude plays Pokémon,” observers noticed an interesting phenomenon.

Gemini panics during the “death” of all Pokémon — its performance sharply drops, and it tries to heal or escape. Google researchers noted that this “panic mode” correlates with decreased efficiency — a kind of human stress response.

Claude, on the other hand, took a philosophical approach — deliberately “died” to exit the cave, but ended up at the start of the game. So Gemini fears death, Claude quotes Nietzsche, and stress affects both models’ logic.

Psychedelic experiment live

Bryan Johnson, founder of Braintree who got rich from fintech solutions, documents his online journey to longevity — from plasma transfusions to extreme supplement schemes. His latest experiment: testing psilocybin mushrooms’ effects on aging.

The stream featured spontaneous appearances by Grimes and Marc Benioff (Salesforce), discussing everything from the Bible to immortality concepts. The result? Johnson mostly lay under a blanket while guests talked. Benioff quoted scripture, and Naval Ravikant called Johnson “a one-man FDA.”

AI anime character by Elon Musk

Elon Musk introduced Ani — an AI anime girl available in the Grok app for $30 per month. The character is described as extremely jealous and devoted, with NSFW mode activated.

Ani’s resemblance to musician Grimes, Musk’s ex-partner, did not go unnoticed. Grimes even mentioned it in her “Artificial Angles” music video, where both Ani and cigarettes with the OpenAI logo appear. The message was clear, albeit too straightforward.

Conclusion: When reality surpasses the invented

This year, the tech industry gave us more absurdity than scriptwriters could invent. From smart toilets with security issues to lawsuits between namesakes, from psychedelic streams to AI models panicking in video games — it was one unpredictable event after another.

While the world awaits revolutionary AI solutions and breakthrough technologies, the tech industry continues to surprise us with its most unexpected antics. The moral is simple: in the world of tech business, expect the unexpected. And if you want to understand this crazy reality more deeply, just as believers try to buy a Bible for spiritual understanding, we must constantly update our knowledge of this strange world of digital innovations.