New features and launches in ChatGPT, Cursor, Perplexity and other AI tools, plus changes to pricing and availability.
ElevenLabs just added AI-recreated voices of iconic stars like Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier to its Reader App. Partnering with their estates, the app lets you hear Garland read The Wizard of Oz or Olivier narrate Sherlock Holmes. Why it matters: It shows a legitimate, estate-approved path for legendary celebrity voices in AI, though they're strictly limited to personal listening and can't be exported.
Perplexity just upgraded Pro Search to handle complex questions using multi-step reasoning. The search assistant can now break down queries, trigger follow-up web searches automatically, and run code or tap Wolfram|Alpha for advanced math and data analysis. Free accounts get limited access, while Pro subscribers get higher daily limits.
Solos just unveiled the AirGo Vision, taking direct aim at Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The new eyewear features a temple-mounted camera powered by GPT-4o for visual search, with the freedom to swap to Gemini or Claude. It uses a modular design with swappable frames, though it only takes photos and skips video. It launches later this year.
Meta is testing creator-made AI chatbots on Instagram in the U.S. Built through AI Studio, these characters primarily appear in messaging to help creators interact with fans, clearly labeled as AI. The test starts with around 50 creators, with plans for a full launch by August.
TIME just teamed up with ElevenLabs to bring Audio Native to TIME.com, automatically generating voiceovers for select articles. The integration started brewing back in March 2023 and is now live with voice options like Brian. Why it matters: It gives millions of readers a hands-free listening option and shows how top newsrooms are practical about adopting AI audio tools.
LangChain just rolled out the stable release of LangGraph v0.1 alongside a closed beta of LangGraph Cloud. The framework ditches rigid abstractions to give developers low-level control over multi-agent workflows, complete with human-in-the-loop approvals, time-travel debugging, and dedicated infrastructure for scaling agent fleets reliably.
Character.AI just rolled out a two-way voice calling feature, letting users talk out loud to its AI characters in real time. It supports multiple languages including English, Chinese, and Spanish, with low latency and tap-to-interrupt controls. Why it matters: Turning text bots into voice buddies makes role-play and language practice feel far more personal.
Google just rolled out 110 new languages to Google Translate powered by its PaLM 2 model, marking its biggest expansion ever. The update opens up translation to more than 614 million speakers—around 8% of the global population—spanning from widely requested tongues like Cantonese to reviving Indigenous languages like Manx. PaLM 2 makes it far easier for models to learn closely related dialects without abundant standalone training data.
Figma just introduced a massive interface redesign alongside a suite of generative AI tools that build app prototypes and UI mocks from simple text prompts. The update also adds a native presentation tool called Figma Slides. The AI features are currently in limited beta and free through year-end, though default user data training terms have sparked privacy concerns.
Amazon is reportedly developing a new chatbot codenamed Metis, powered by its upcoming Olympus AI model rather than Titan. The tool leans on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to pull real-time data, with CEO Andy Jassy directly involved in the effort. Insiders say it could launch as early as September, though some within the company worry it may be too late to catch OpenAI and Google.
Video editing app Captions just launched AI edit, a new feature that automatically adds graphics, zooms, transitions, music, and sound effects to vertical talking-head videos. It can also be paired with the app's 12 AI avatars, letting creators generate and fully edit clips from a simple text prompt in minutes.
Opera just launched the developer beta for Opera One R2, bringing its Aria AI assistant right to the center of web browsing. The browser now packs native image and voice generation, image understanding, and a new page-context mode to summarize or query any open site. It also adds split tabs and floating media controls. A broader rollout is scheduled for later this year.
OpenAI just opened its macOS desktop app to all users, expanding beyond early Plus subscribers. Mac users can now hit Option + Space to pull up a Spotlight-style chat interface, take instant screenshots to ask questions, upload files, and talk directly from the desktop. It is a huge leap toward making AI a native part of everyday computer workflows.
ElevenLabs just rolled out its new Reader app on iOS and Android, letting users listen to any article, PDF, or newsletter read aloud by its lifelike AI voices. It is free to use for the first three months. While it currently only supports English, offline mode and 29 additional languages are already on the roadmap.
Anthropic just rolled out Projects for Claude.ai Pro and Team subscribers, giving each workspace a massive 200K context window to ground Claude in internal docs, code, and custom instructions. Team members can also share conversation snapshots in an activity feed. Basically, your team can now stop copy-pasting the same context into every single prompt.
Google just opened up Gemini to teen students using Google Workspace for Education accounts across more than 100 countries, completely free of charge. The teen experience comes with built-in guardrails, automatic fact-checking, and zero chat data used for model training, while teachers get new AI lesson-planning tools in Classroom. Schools finally get a secure, supervised way to introduce GenAI to minors.
Google just rolled out Gemini directly into the Gmail side panel on the web. The assistant can summarize messy email threads, draft replies, and answer specific questions by digging through your inbox and Google Drive files without leaving the page. It is rolling out to Workspace add-on and Google One AI Premium subscribers.
Meta just rolled out Meta AI in India in English across WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Built on Llama 3, the free assistant lets users brainstorm in group chats, pull up details directly from Facebook feeds, and generate or animate images by typing "imagine".
Apple Intelligence will automatically add code to image metadata to flag AI alterations—even for simple fixes like removing a background distraction. Software chief Craig Federighi confirmed the policy, noting Apple has no plans to generate photorealistic people or places. Why it matters: As slop and deepfakes multiply, tech giants are leaning hard on provenance markers.
Ai Build just released Aibuild 2.0, adding an OpenAI-powered assistant named Talk to AI directly into its industrial 3D printing software. Engineers can now type plain text like "slice the part with 2mm layer height" to automatically configure simulations and toolpaths. Bringing natural language prompts to industrial additive manufacturing could slash setup time from days to minutes.
