A smart mattress wets the bed

Hello, it’s Priya in San Francisco. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Vinod Khosla all use a sleep tracker that might have a leakage issue. But [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hello, it’s Priya in San Francisco. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Vinod Khosla all use a sleep tracker that might have a leakage issue. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Google Bard’s trainers [say they’re overworked and underpaid]( • Elon Musk announced his [new company xAI]( • Google says its [AI for medicine]( gives answers that are over 90% accurate How tech’s elite sleep at night Over the weekend, tech Twitter couldn’t stop talking about a bed-wetting. It started after an industry executive posted about his techified mattress made by a company called Eight Sleep Inc., which has raised about $165 million from venture capitalists. The startup offers “intelligent sleep tech” – including slumber tracking, automatic temperature adjustments with heating and cooling for each side of the bed, and a built-in alarm to “wake you up with a gradual temperature change and a subtle, chest-level vibration on your side.” The problem? Much like a water bed, apparently [sometimes it leaks](. On Saturday, [@ericdwolan posted a photo]( of of a soaked mattress, writing, “The annual ‘my @eightsleep sprung a leak and I need a replacement.’” He added: “I love this product but wish it didn’t break so often.” Others chimed in to say that leakage was a common occurrence for them, too. One Twitter user [said]( the flood of liquid cost him a security deposit for an apartment. These issues have not deterred some of tech’s highest-profile figures from using the products. This year, Elon Musk [responded](to a promotional Eight Sleep tweet with the praise: “It’s good.” Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg [recently posted]( on his new Threads app that he gets seven to eight hours of shut-eye each night, in part thanks to Eight Sleep. And venture capitalist Vinod Khosla [said]( on Sunday that he uses the device. The startup’s investors include big names like baseball player Alex Rodriguez, AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant and Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt. Perhaps the most notable Eight Sleep user, though, is Bryan Johnson, the software entrepreneur who spends $2 million a year [trying to avoid aging](. What about the leakage? “We take all customer issues extremely seriously,” the company said in a statement. “And when we become aware of a leak we promptly take care of our members and ship a warranty replacement as quickly as within 24 hours.” Eight Sleep added that only a “small fraction” of its customers have reported that the products leave their beds wet. Its latest version “has more durable materials, a special waterproof layer, and is rigorously tested to simulate 10 years of use and as a result leaks are rare.” Even with a speedy replacement, the case of a “smart” mattress or mattress cover that sometimes wets itself is a particularly funny example of what happens when Silicon Valley sets out to reinvent a product that may not have needed it (in this case, a bed). The incident calls to mind Juicero, an internet-connected $400 juicer that purported to draw more nutrients out of single-serve packets of fruits and vegetables. It turned out, per a [Bloomberg report](, that the packets could be squeezed just as effectively by hand. Eight Sleep may offer more temperature control than a normal mattress, but there are some downsides to bringing too much technology into the bedroom. Plus, the company’s latest model is priced at over $3,000. As evidenced by its famous devotees, it’s clear that Silicon Valley will continue its inexorable march toward the optimally quantified life; but a cheaper way to control the temperature might be a fan. —[Priya Anand](mailto:panand20@bloomberg.net) The big story AI is making politics easier, cheaper and more dangerous. Voters are seeing AI-generated campaign materials — and [likely don’t know it](. One to watch [Watch the Bloomberg Technology TV interview]( with Raymond Joabar from American Express. Get fully charged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was among the US officials whose emails were breached in a [hack of government accounts]( that Microsoft said originated from China. Microsoft is set for a second shot at winning UK approval of its $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard, but regulators warned that any antitrust fixes would trigger a new probe, potentially further delaying the [biggest gaming deal in history](. The latest sign of investors’ unrelenting demand for all things AI-related: a [record rally in drug discovery firm Recursion Pharmaceuticals]( following an investment from Nvidia. Wipro, the Indian outsourcing provider, plans to spend [$1 billion to train its 250,000 employees]( in AI and integrate the technology into its product offerings. US consumers spent $6.4 billion online in the [first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day](, according to Adobe. That’s up 6% from a year ago but fell short of estimates for even stronger growth. 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