At a Glance
- Mark Zuckerberg sued himself over suspended Facebook ads, deadline Feb 20.
- Soham Parekh was exposed for working at multiple startups, revealed July 2, 2025.
- Kohler‘s smart toilet Dekoda falsely claims end-to-end encryption.
The tech world has been a circus this year, from lawsuits to odd product launches. Here’s a roundup of the most bizarre moments that made headlines.
Legal & Recruitment
In February, Mark Zuckerberg filed a lawsuit against himself after his Facebook ads were repeatedly suspended, forcing him to pay for advertising he could not use. The filing deadline is Feb 20. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s chief research officer Mark Chen revealed on a podcast that Mark Zuckerberg had hand-delivered soup to recruiters, a tactic used to entice talent.
- Mark Zuckerberg sued himself over ad suspensions.
- Mark Chen said Zuckerberg delivered soup to recruit OpenAI staff.
- Deadline for the lawsuit is Feb 20.
Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his website:
> “I can’t use my name when making reservations or conducting business as people assume I’m a prank caller and hang up. My life sometimes feels like the Michael Jordan ESPN commercial, where a regular person’s name causes constant mixups.”
Mark Chen said on a podcast:
> “You know, some interesting stories here are Zuck actually went and hand-delivered soup to people that he was trying to recruit from us.”
Startup & Product Missteps
On July 2, 2025, Mixpanel founder Suhail Doshi warned that engineer Soham Parekh was working for several startups at once, prompting three founders to thank him for the heads-up. Chris Bakke suggested Parekh should start an interview-prep company, while Aaron Levie offered a private conversation. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was criticized for using cooking-grade olive oil from Graza in a pasta video, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman posted a call for volunteers to build a 5,000-piece Lego set under NDA, promising pizza.
- Soham Parekh was hired by multiple startups, exposed July 2, 2025.
- Chris Bakke called for an interview-prep business.
- Aaron Levie offered a private chat.
- Sam Altman misused Graza olive oil in cooking.
- Nat Friedman offered a Lego build with NDA and pizza.
Chris Bakke wrote on X:
> “Soham Parekh needs to start an interview prep company. He’s clearly one of the greatest interviewers of all time.”
Aaron Levie wrote on X:
> “Soham, if you wanna talk, my DMs are open.”
AI Experiments
Two independent developers streamed AI models playing Pokémon. Gemini 2.5 Pro panicked when close to death, repeatedly seeking healing or escape. Claude opted for self-destruction to reach a Pokémon Center, a move that failed.
- Gemini panicked near death in Pokémon.
- Claude self-destructed to reach a center.
- Both models displayed anxiety-like behavior.
Unusual Products & Tech
Elon Musk’s Grok app now offers an AI anime girlfriend named Ani for $30 /month, featuring extreme jealousy and an NSFW mode. In October, Kohler released the Dekoda smart toilet, claiming end-to-end encryption, but a security researcher found the claim was actually TLS encryption, allowing Kohler to view the footage.
- Ani costs $30 /month and is extremely jealous.
- Kohler’s Dekoda misstates encryption, offering TLS instead.
- The device can train AI on de-identified data.
Key Takeaways
- Lawsuits, recruitment tactics, and ad suspensions highlight the legal entanglements of tech giants.
- Startup culture sees both innovation and deception, as shown by Parekh’s multi-company work.
- AI models exhibit human-like anxiety when facing in-game death.
- Smart devices and AI products continue to blur privacy lines and push boundaries.
From lawsuits to smart toilets, the tech scene’s absurdities remind us that innovation often comes with a side of chaos.
