267 | China vaults ahead: SeeDance 2.0 leaves Sora & Veo in the dust, and starts a deep-fake tsunami, Harvard: AI usage increases labor intensity, ReantAHuman.AI allows AI agents to rent human employees, and other big AI news for the week of Feb 13, 2026

The podcast explores the rise of China in the AI race, particularly ByteDance's C-Dance 2.0 video model, which surpasses U.S. models in performance and technology. This advancement raises concerns about the proliferation of indistinguishable-from-reality deepfakes and their potential misuse, including fraud and manipulation, with global losses from AI-enabled fraud projected to exceed $600 billion by 2027. The podcast further examines the impact of AI tools on knowledge workers, noting a productivity treadmill effect where increased AI usage leads to higher output targets, longer working hours, and burnout, despite initial expectations of easier workloads.