Today's stories share a thread: what we expect from the things we hand our everyday decisions to. As the price of EVs goes up in the US, China’s FAW just launched the Bestune Pony priced at just $6,735. The tiny EV packs four seats and five doors into a cheerful little box just 3.35 meters long. And thanks to AI and the cash-grab apps, psychics are promoting themselves as the real deal with a human touch.

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Human psychics are starting to market themselves as the AI-free option. The Guardian found readers responding to round-the-clock chatbot readings with promises of a real person and arguments that software lacks the human connection at the heart of the work. Psychic Vision rejects AI-generated readings across its website and app listing, and its Google Play page shows more than 100,000 downloads. For anyone paying for a reading, the practical takeaway is to check who is actually delivering it, since software can now sound personal. A study presented at CHI 2026 shows the picture is messier than the backlash suggests: 12 tarot practitioners who already used AI for personal readings said they wanted reassurance about their interpretations or perspectives that challenged their assumptions.

They also described hostility toward AI in tarot communities and worried it could weaken their intuitive skills. One treated a chatbot hallucination as meaningful randomness, like a card falling from a deck. It's a small group of existing AI users, so it can't speak for the whole profession. The next twist is a blurred line between the two camps. MysticTwin is recruiting psychics to train AI doubles that could serve clients while they're offline, taking 50% of chat revenue and promising customers will know they're talking to AI. The service is still advertising a planned launch. If it arrives, picking a human psychic's profile may eventually mean choosing which chatbot they've trained.

Amazon has added more than 100 new capabilities to Alexa for Shopping, its AI shopping assistant, just ahead of Black Friday. Customers in the US can now use it to manage subscriptions, build gift lists, change delivery instructions and ask billing questions, all by simply asking. The features are already live, and you can reach the assistant through the Alexa icon in the Amazon Shopping app or on Amazon's desktop website. The most useful additions deal with the less exciting side of online shopping. If you use Subscribe & Save, you can ask Alexa to skip your next delivery, pause a subscription, or change how often an item arrives.

It can also tell you how much you've saved through Prime this year or when your Audible subscription renews. On the gifting side, you can have it create a wish list, add products to an existing one, or check what's left on a wedding registry. Alexa can also update delivery instructions, check a gift card balance, find out where a refund stands, or help you make sense of an unfamiliar charge. Alexa for Shopping could already find products, compare prices, and track discounts, so the update pushes it toward handling the chores around a purchase as well. With the holiday rush starting, expect those tasks to be the first real test of how well it holds up.

FAW's Bestune Pony has launched in China as a five-door city EV starting at 44,900 yuan, roughly $6,735. The little four-seater is just 3.35 meters long, but four passenger doors and a rear hatch mean getting into the back no longer requires folding a front seat out of the way. A limited-time 5,000-yuan launch discount drops the entry model to 39,900 yuan. The new car is 350mm longer than the original three-door Pony, with most of that stretch between the wheels to improve rear legroom. Boot space grows from 81 to 265 liters. The entry model claims 222km (about 138 miles) of range, while a larger battery on higher trims lifts that to 328km (roughly 204 miles).

Both figures use China's CLTC cycle, so real-world range will vary. A 40-horsepower rear motor gives a top speed of around 64mph, and drivers get a seven-inch instrument display, with a 10.1-inch touchscreen available depending on specification. Rivals are close at home: Wuling's four-door Hongguang Mini EV starts at 44,800 yuan, just 100 yuan below the Pony's regular price. The Fiat Topolino and Citroën Ami share the cute styling but are two-seat quadricycles, with the Ami listed from £7,695 in the UK and topping out at 28mph. FAW says overseas deliveries have begun without naming destinations, and US pricing and a launch date remain unconfirmed, so American buyers will have to wait for word.

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