Naughty or nice?

Happy Friday and welcome back to the Leaderboard! In this week's final edition, we've got: an AI Santa to keep your kids believing that bit longer, a more educational way to go goblin mode, and Meta's new budget-friendly LLM. Let's dive in.

AI Santa by Tavus: Video chat with Santa anytime and anywhere

This idea is pure holiday magic—Santa sending a personalized message to kids who still believe? It’s hard not to smile at that. But it does make me wonder: as AI gets better at creating moments like these, what happens to platforms like Cameo, where real people do it? There’s something special about a human touch, but when an AI can spark the same joy, does it really matter who—or what—it came from? It’s a fun idea, but also a reminder of how fast the lines are blurring between what feels real and what actually is.

TimeMap: Centuries of history right at your fingertips

As someone who prefers visual learning and regularly takes the time to read informational boards in parks and while exploring the city, TimeMap is something I audibly gasped about when I saw it on the leaderboard. I could easily spend hours and hours zooming into various regions around the world learning about impactful events, rulers, or battles. I’d like to see more large, notable events added in the future, or maybe an option to learn more about the culture of a certain area at a specific point in time. Although, in it’s current state and as it evolves, TimeMap could definitely be a valuable visual resource for students, scholars, and history buffs alike.

Llama 3.3 70B: Meta's latest lightweight, open-source LLM

Who says you need the biggest model to get big results? Llama 3.3 is a 70B model that not only benches close to Meta’s own 405B giant and sometimes even outpaces GPT-4o. That’s wild for something this lightweight. It’s open-source and far more affordable, which means more makers can actually get their hands on it without needing a corporate-sized budget. Sure, it’s not the flashiest, but for most real-world use cases, it’s more than capable—and way easier to justify. Why go big when this little powerhouse can go toe-to-toe with the best?