The Hillsberg Report

Edition 14 - April 6, 2025

Quote of the week

“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity”

- Bruce Lee
Quote of the week

LLM Leaderboard Shift

Every month it seems we have a new LLM atop the list. This time the lead goes to Google's Gemini 2.5.

The new Gemini model has impressed users with its reasoning and benchmark performance, but as you know, the benchmarks can be gamed. So how good is it really?

From a qualitative perspective, user feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and many people are reporting that it can successfully complete specific tasks that other LLMs were unable to complete. I want to focus on coding capabilities.

Claude 3.7 from Anthropic had been the LLM leader in coding for a short while. Now, many software engineers are turning to Gemini 2.5 for more complex and larger problem sets. Gemini 2.5 was tested against Claude 3.7 on four coding challenges:

Gemini 2.5 outperformed Claude 3.7 in 3/4 tests, with Claude narrowly winning the simulation of a ball bouncing in a 4D tesseract simply by adding additional features (Gemini did not fail). If you'd like to read about these tests in more detail check out this article.

AI Video Generation Tool

On March 31, 2025, AI startup Runway released a new video generation model called Gen-4. The company has shared what it believes are big advancements, introducing the following capabilities:

Runway

Signing up for the tool is really easy. Like most of the new AI tools, you can signup directly with your Gmail and see what it looks like before you make a purchase. The pricing is not excessive, with the standard plan running you $144 per year for 625 credits. You do get 125 credits for free, but it doesn't give you access to the latest model.

Let me know if you want me to try it out! Here is the website.

More on Critical Mineral Deposits

Earth AI, a mining startup, has made a significant discovery of critical minerals in Australia. If you've been reading my newsletter for a while, you'll remember back to Edition 10 where I discussed the massive deposits recently found in China. I also mentioned startups that have new AI-based capabilities to find deposits. Earth AI is one of those startups.

The discovery in Australia was made in a place which was previously overlooked by other mining companies. Earth AI uses AI algorithms to quickly and efficiently analyze geological data, which helps identify potential mineral deposits. Initially facing skepticism from the mining industry, Earth AI developed its own drilling equipment to validate its AI predictions. This follows the plot of a classic business story, where the incumbent scoffs at the newcomer, ignoring the newcomer until they blow right past them.

The company raised $20 million in a Series B round earlier this year. We'll see what comes of this!

Meme of the week

Meme of the week

Good News

Each generation in the United States faces a lower risk of dementia than the one before it. While earlier projections predicted that U.S. dementia cases would double by 2050, a recent analysis reveals that age-adjusted prevalence has decreased by 67% over the past 40 years. If this trend persists, the total number of cases may increase by only 25% instead of doubling.

Researchers at McMaster have discovered a new class of antibiotics capable of combating drug-resistant bacteria. Called lariocidin, it is the first new class of antibiotics in nearly 30 years and has shown effectiveness against resistant strains. Extracted from soil bacteria found in backyards and successfully tested in animal models, this breakthrough could help address the global antimicrobial resistance crisis, which contributes to 4.5 million deaths annually.

In 2019, Iceland became one of the first countries to adopt a four-day workweek. Today, nearly 90% of Icelandic workers have transitioned from a 40-hour to a 36-hour workweek, with no reduction in pay. Six years later, research shows that productivity either remained stable or increased in some sectors, while workers reported improved mental health. Parents also noted a more equal distribution of household responsibilities.

Finally, a Starlink Competitor

The capabilities that Starlink internet has brought to the world are amazing. High-speed internet almost anywhere. But an incredible new business never goes long without competition.

Amazon is set to launch its first batch of Kuiper internet satellites on April 9, 2025, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This marks a crucial step in Amazon's Project Kuiper, which aims to provide high-speed internet via a constellation of over 3,000 satellites.

The project, launched in 2019, has received significant investment, with $10 billion allocated, though it could cost up to $20 billion to complete. Amazon has already conducted test launches and plans to meet a Federal Communications Commission deadline to have 1,618 satellites in orbit by 2026. The project relies on terminals that connect to Kuiper satellites to provide broadband.

The James Bond of HR

In Edition 12 I highlighted a wild story: HR company Rippling accused its competitor Deel of corporate espionage. The accusation was that Deel obtained a spy inside of Rippling to steal valuable information. The following is an AI-generated retelling of events.

The story of corporate espionage between Rippling and Deel is straight out of a thriller. It all began when Keith O’Brien, an employee at Rippling, was hired in July 2023 to work in their global payroll and compliance department. But in early 2024, after failing to land a job at Deel, O’Brien had an intriguing encounter with Deel’s CEO, Alex Bouaziz, on LinkedIn. This connection would soon take a dark turn.

O’Brien started a payroll consulting business and pitched Deel, eventually telling them he planned to leave Rippling to focus on it. But Deel had a different suggestion. Bouaziz and his father, Deel’s CFO, reportedly asked O’Brien to spy on Rippling instead of quitting. They offered him €5,000 a month to gather information on the company—first in dollars, then in crypto.

O’Brien complied, digging through Rippling’s Slack, Google Drive, and other resources, and handing over everything he found: sales leads, customer data, product roadmaps—anything Deel requested. For four months, he became a corporate mole, all while receiving regular payments from Deel.

But O’Brien’s secret life as a spy unraveled when Rippling set a trap. They sent a legal letter to Deel, claiming their employees were leaking damaging information. O’Brien, suspicious, was instructed to search a Slack channel called “d-defectors.” When he did, Rippling confronted him, showing him a court order to search his devices. In a panic, O’Brien fled to the bathroom, wiped his phone, and then smashed it with an axe, tossing the pieces down the drain at his mother-in-law’s house.

However, in his rush, O’Brien failed to realize that some of his phone’s data had been backed up to iCloud. Rippling used this evidence to confirm their suspicions, and O’Brien was caught. But the drama didn’t stop there. He exchanged messages with Deel’s CEO and others, who advised him to claim he was a whistleblower and falsely accuse Rippling of violating sanctions. O’Brien, feeling the weight of his lies, eventually came clean and decided to cooperate with authorities.

Rippling is now suing Deel, accusing the company of corporate espionage, racketeering, and unfair competition. Deel, on the other hand, is pushing back, accusing Rippling of trying to shift the narrative after facing its own legal troubles. The battle between these two tech giants is far from over, and the world is watching as this corporate spy thriller continues to unfold.

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