In this week’s issue:

• Touch Grass: Open Source in a Barbie World

• It’s Giving: AI’s Dream House Era is Over

• Still Downloading: 4 (Quick) Questions with Swiss Snowboarder Elena Koenz

• Bible: Extra Extra

• Bonus Palate Cleanser: Cheney Chan’s First Show, Dream in Bloom

What to Expect from Babe (the unexpected, obvs)

Every Tuesday, at whatever time the data says is the best time, you’ll find Babe in your inbox. Each issue will look something like the one you’re reading now, only different. To keep things classy and somewhat organized, it will almost always include the following four elements. It will for sure serve.

Let's talk about what happens when you combine the energy of "I'm not like other AI companies" with "I'm leaving the dream house." Because that's exactly what DeepSeek just did by hiring a team of Gen Z newbs, championing (and enforcing) a healthy work environment, and open-sourcing their code—and hon-ey, I’m here for it. Very mindful, very demure, very Weird Barbie.

Both Barbie and AI emerged from these carefully controlled environments designed to maintain certain power structures. Barbie lived in her perfect plastic dream house and AI lives in its proprietary black boxes. But, like, what happens when the script gets flipped?

For Barbie, it was simultaneously a journey of personal liberation and a brilliant corporate strategy by Mattel. Because nothing says "we're disrupting the patriarchy" quite like making a billion dollars doing it, right?

Similarly, DeepSeek's move to open source their code is both genuine democratization and geopolitical strategy. Unlike most popular AI chatbots that closely guard their code as intellectual property, DeepSeek lets anyone view their code and build on top of it (now that I’m reading about the history of Ethereum, I can totally see infrastructure parallels between the two; neat).

As Yale researcher Samm Sacks notes in this NPR article, the overall transparency provides "something of a check on the system," a stark contrast to the usual black-box approach. It's China more or less saying "Why compete in someone else's game when you can change the whole board?"

The parallel gets even juicier when you think about how Barbie didn't just leave the dream house—she questioned the whole damn system that built it. DeepSeek isn't just releasing code—they're challenging the fundamental assumption that AI needs to be locked away in corporate vaults. They’re like “But what if we didn't do it like this?” And that makes some real powerful folks get real fucking nervous.

Kinda like how Barbie's journey made Ken have his whole existential crisis (justice for beach), watching DeepSeek step out of the AI dream house has the tech industry acting like someone just told them they're actually made of plastic. A good number of reactions are radiating “but we run clockwise on this playground" vibes, as if there's only one way to build and share AI.

Speaking of existential crises, maybe Barbie and DeepSeek are playing some kind of 4D chess while waving a don't-hate-the-player-hate-the-game flag. Because there’s this tension between authentic disruption and strategic power moves here—the kind that makes you go "Wait, is this revolutionary or just really good marketing?" (To which I'm pretty sure the answer is: it's both, it's always both.)

Like, sure, Barbie was questioning the patriarchy, but she was also selling tickets. And DeepSeek is democratizing AI, but they're also positioning China as the champion of open-source AI development. While U.S. Representatives are calling for restrictions on semiconductor sales to China to "outcompete" them in AI development, DeepSeek is playing a different game entirely—one where sharing is actually the strategic move.

Though, it's worth noting that DeepSeek's version of "open" has some controversial boundaries. As per the NPR article I linked to above, when asked about the Tiananmen Square massacre or Taiwan's sovereignty, DeepSeek suddenly goes full "Sorry, that's beyond my current scope. Let's talk about something else." 

And watching the tech world react to all this? Peak Ken energy. There's confusion, denial, and that slow realization that maybe, just maybe, the dream house isn't the only way to live—even if the alternatives come with some blood-red flags and their own fine print.

Babe: Tell me about your art-making process?

Elena: When I have an idea I like to do a lot of research, like who did similar stuff before. I also like to experiment with materials, including which materials were maybe used to do this back in the day. I like to work on special backgrounds, sometimes the characteristic of a material helps me to find new ideas.

Babe: Favorite snowboarding film?

Elena: The Eternal Beauty of Snowboarding by Jerome Tanon.

Babe: Hm, the trailer for that is two parts bro-culture, two parts endearing. So… what is snowboarding to you?

Elena: Snowboarding helps me to get out of my bed each morning with a smile on my face.

Babe: Why is this important?

Elena: It’s probably not.

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