The field notes
The Daily AI Drop - Morning Edition, October 15, 2026
Alex and Jordan break down 2 fresh overnight AI videos: Fahd Mirza's local test of Liquid AI's LFM2.5 24B-A2B against Qwen, and Nate B Jones on whether AI is actually making us more productive.
Two fresh videos dropped overnight. Alex and Jordan break down Liquid AI's new local model going head-to-head with Qwen, and a reality check on whether AI is actually making any of us more productive.
Videos covered
Fahd Mirza — LFM2.5 24B-A2B: Did Liquid AI Manage to Beat Qwen? Tested Locally
Fahd installs and tests Liquid AI's LFM2.5 24B-A2B entirely on local hardware — no cloud, no API keys. The A2B mixture-of-experts design activates roughly 2B parameters per token, which is what makes it fast enough for agentic work on consumer-grade machines. Why it matters: local agents only work at scale if they're cheap and private — no latency, no per-call bills, no data leaving the building. Whether or not it dethrones Qwen outright, having multiple credible open options in the fast-local-agent category is the real story.
AI News & Strategy Daily | Nate B Jones — Is AI making us really productive?
Nate argues AI can make distraction look extremely productive: by 5 PM you have prototypes, plans, and test versions of ideas you weren't even pursuing that morning — but little that got far enough to make a difference to anybody. Why it matters: when starting projects becomes nearly free, finishing becomes the scarce skill. Taste and follow-through, not output volume, are the premium career skills in the AI era.