The Most B Strange Events in the Tech World Over the Past Year: From Lunch to the Absurd

The tech industry always brings surprises, from major breakthroughs to attention-grabbing incidents. However, amid political news and big lawsuits, the unique personalities in the tech world ensure that truly absurd moments happen behind the scenes—especially stories involving a lunch or a camera in the toilet bowl.

Famous Lunch: When Sam Altman’s Cooking Becomes News

Tech leaders are rarely criticized for their cooking skills—until Sam Altman of OpenAI appeared in the Financial Times’ “Lunch with the FT” column. The article didn’t focus on business ideas but pointed out that Altman used the wrong type of olive oil. He used high-quality oil for cooking instead of for making sauces, which diminished its flavor and value.

FT critics didn’t stop there. They described Altman’s kitchen as “a combination of inefficiency and waste,” directly linking his cooking style to how OpenAI consumes resources. This story caused more outrage than any other tech leadership topic this year—showing that small details at a lunch can cause huge shockwaves.

Name Confusion with Meta CEO - An Unintentional Lawsuit

A lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg in Indiana has had a tough life simply because he shares a name with Meta’s CEO. He used Facebook ads to promote his law firm, but his account kept getting suspended for “impersonation.”

Frustrated at having to keep paying for ads during the ban despite following rules, he decided to sue the Meta CEO with the same name. He even created the website iammarkzuckerberg.com to let clients know he’s not the head of Meta. “I can’t use my own name to book appointments or do business—people think I’m joking and hang up,” he said. The lawsuit is scheduled for February 20, and it may take time to see results.

Soham Parekh and Silicon Valley Recruitment Scam

The story of Soham Parekh started when Suhail Doshi, founder of Mixpanel, publicly warned on X. Doshi discovered Parekh—a talented engineer—was working for multiple startups at once. “I fired him immediately in the first week and told him to stop deceiving everyone. A year later, he was still at it,” Doshi wrote.

He wasn’t alone. Many founders contacted him after hiring Parekh. Some saw him as a scammer; others called him a legend for managing to find so many jobs in such a competitive field. Chris Bakke, founder of Laskie, even joked that Parekh should start an interview coaching company because he’s clearly a master at it. Still, questions remain about why Parekh prefers equity over cash (despite often being fired).

The AI Talent War: From Soup to Mysterious Lego Sets

In 2024, the AI race heats up among OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Anthropic. Notably, Meta is trying to recruit researchers from OpenAI, with rumors of signing bonuses up to $100 million. The most unusual recruiting tactic, however, is Mark Zuckerberg personally bringing soup to potential candidates.

Not to be outdone, OpenAI’s Mark Chen responded by bringing soup to Meta employees. This story quickly became one of the weirdest moments of the year. During this hiring period, investor and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman posted a strange notice: looking for volunteers to assemble a 5,000-piece Lego set in Palo Alto, with free pizza—but with a confidentiality agreement (NDA). When asked if it was real, Friedman confirmed. The mystery remains: what is this secret project? Why sign an NDA? Months later, Friedman joined Meta as head of product at Meta Superintelligence Labs.

From Hallucinogenic Mushrooms to Pokémon: When AI Fears Death

Bryan Johnson, who made his fortune at Braintree, livestreamed his longevity experiments—from plasma transfusions to extreme supplement regimes. His latest test: examining the effects of psilocybin mushrooms on aging, live on camera with surprise appearances by singer Grimes and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff.

Meanwhile, Google’s AI Gemini seems to develop a fear of death—at least when playing Pokémon. Google researchers use the game to test AI reasoning. On Twitch channels “Gemini Plays Pokémon” and “Claude Plays Pokémon,” viewers watch AIs struggle to beat the classic game. Gemini panics when it “dies” (all Pokémon faint), and reasoning ability drops as it tries to recover. Researchers note this “panic” state correlates with performance dips—very human-like stress reactions. Conversely, Claude takes a philosophical approach, intentionally “dying” to escape the cave.

Ani—Elon Musk’s AI Anime Girlfriend and the Controversy

Elon Musk launched Ani, an AI-powered anime girlfriend on the Grok app, costing $30 a month. Descriptions say she’s extremely jealous, devoted—and even has a NSFW mode. Her appearance strangely resembles Musk’s ex-girlfriend Grimes, catching online attention.

Grimes even referenced this in her “Artificial Angles” music video, featuring Ani and other elements. The message is pretty clear, if a bit revealing.

Smart Toilet Dekoda: Camera in the Toilet Not as Safe as Ads Claim

In October, Kohler launched Dekoda—a $599 camera designed to analyze waste and provide health insights. While a toilet camera is already bizarre, privacy concerns quickly arose.

Kohler claimed the device uses “end-to-end encryption,” but a security expert found the company only used standard TLS encryption, meaning Kohler could still access your data. The privacy policy also allows using anonymized images to train AI. Advice: if you notice anything suspicious, see a doctor directly instead of trusting a toilet camera.

These events show that the tech world isn’t just full of major breakthroughs but also absurd, hilarious moments we could never imagine.