Today, we are going to discuss a rather absurd side of AI, digital human habits, and courts going into a showdown with the government over your privacy. An AI company launched a test to see how users can orgasm with an AI partner, and what effect it has on their mental health. Volunteers were paid up to two thousand dollars for it. The result? Joi AI says the experiment resulted in a 25% drop in stress, a 17% boost in focus, and a 19% reduction in mental restlessness. Elsewhere, the convenience of online shopping has made us needlessly extravagant. The solution could be fake shopping apps, and for many, it’s working. And finally, the US courts plan to disclose instances of the US government using spyware attacks for surveillance. It’s a slippery slope.

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Joi AI, an AI companion platform that lets users chat and engage in explicit video calls with digital characters, paid ten men $2,000 each to masturbate every day for 28 days as part of what the company framed as a wellness research project. The participants, dubbed "masturbation consultants," logged their mood, energy, focus, and cravings for vices like alcohol and junk food before and after each session. Twice a week, they used Joi AI's digital companions, interactive characters capable of explicit conversation and simulated sex acts, while relying on their own preferred methods the rest of the time.

Preliminary analysis of 134 session reports showed self-reported stress levels falling by 25 percent and focus rising by 17 percent, while cravings for nicotine, alcohol, junk food, and doomscrolling dropped by 44 percent following orgasm. The company also reported that AI-guided sessions produced satisfaction scores comparable to other methods, leading it to conclude there is "no one best way to masturbate." The results are surprising, but an increasingly high number of people are now using AI bots as romantic partners, even the non-specialized ones such as ChatGPT. In China, the situation got so bad that the government banned romantic AI bots a few weeks ago.

For the first time, the American public will have hard numbers on how often federal authorities deploy spyware and hacking tools to intercept people's communications. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts confirmed this week that it will add a dedicated spyware and hacking category to its annual Wiretap Report, beginning with the 2028 report to be published in 2029. The FBI has used hacking techniques since at least 1998, yet no public accounting of that surveillance has ever existed, leaving privacy advocates and lawmakers to estimate the scope of the practice in the dark.

The change closes a gap in the existing Wiretap Report, which has for nearly two decades broken down court-authorized wiretaps by jurisdiction, crime type, and interception method, audio calls, in-person microphones, and electronic messages, but has never separately counted the use of what the government calls network investigative techniques. The new category will cover instances where spyware is used to intercept live communications such as Signal or WhatsApp calls and messages, though it will not capture cases where authorities remotely hack a device to extract stored data like photos or files, a legally distinct process governed by search warrants rather than wiretap orders. Senator Ron Wyden, who first pushed for this disclosure in 2017, welcomed the move, while experts say it’s a meaningful tool for holding the government accountable when spyware is misused.

A new category of websites originating in South Korea lets you browse luxury goods, add items to a cart, enter your shipping address, and track a delivery that will never arrive, all without spending a cent. Sites like Dopamine Shop and FoodNeverComes replicate every step of the online shopping ritual, from product searches and reviews to order confirmations, then simply stop short of any actual transaction. Researchers who study digital consumption say the underlying behavior is far from uniquely Korean. The underlying idea is rather simple — shopping is not the same as purchasing, but the dopamine hit and joy are somewhat real.

Researchers describe such dopamine sites as a formalization of something already embedded in ordinary e-commerce. The browsing, wishlist-building, and cart-filling that millions of people do with no immediate intention to buy. Think of it as retail therapy. These sites make visible the fact that shopping is an emotional experience, not just a transactional one, letting people collect the psychological rewards of anticipation, choice, and curation without any financial consequence. As the concept spreads beyond South Korea, it raises real questions about what e-commerce platforms are actually selling. Is it the goods themselves, or the feeling of wanting them?

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