Envelope 39: Living in the Future

Good morning! Andy from Back of the Envelope here.

This week, I got sick 🤧, so I didn’t write as much… but remember last week we talked about DeepSeek and its implications? (link)

I warned about using the official version since the data flows through Chinese servers… but since they’ve kindly open-sourced the model, it’s only a matter of time before it’s widely available in the U.S. (Deploying the full model takes a lot of resources)

Well, looks like Perplexity (an AI-powered search engine) is on it, and it didn’t take them long.

From the founder:

(Right now, they only allow five free uses per day for non-paying users though. Hopefully, more free uses will come as other providers follow through.)

What can you do with it?

Pretty much anything that requires some thought. 

For example, you can prompt something like:

• “What are the broader implications of Trump’s recent executive order on [insert policy you care about]?” (Use this list: Federal Register - Executive Orders)
  

• “Tell me the difference between ASCE 7-16 and ASCE 7-22 wind load provisions and how they impact structural engineers. Present the info in a table if possible.”

And there’s more news on the AI front…

OpenAI just dropped “GPT o3-mini”—an even more capable model (free, logged-in users can try it in limited doses).

They also introduced "Deep Research" (not widely available yet) but essentially, you ask a challenging question, and the AI will go search the internet and think through everything for up to 30 minutes, then develop a detailed research report based on its findings 🤯.

AI is moving fast. It really feels like we’re stepping into the future.

Do you feel the same way? And do you have any burning questions about AI or anything you’d love to learn more about?

Hit reply and let me know.

Andy Lin
Back of the Envelope/Structural Engineer HQ