OpenAI just rolled out its Advanced Voice Mode to ChatGPT desktop apps on macOS and Windows, bringing human-like, low-latency audio conversations directly to your computer. Users can chat back and forth while coding or brainstorming over uploaded files with five new voices. It is currently limited to paid Plus and Team subscribers, excluding the EU and UK.
Google just pumped the brakes on its advanced AI agents, with CEO Sundar Pichai confirming that Project Astra won't ship until 2025 at the earliest. Despite rumors of a December launch for automated web chores, Google is taking extra time to crack real-time multimodal reasoning.
Apple is quietly prepping an AI-powered system that generates review summaries for apps on the App Store, highlighting the most common customer feedback before you hit download. The summaries update as new reviews roll in and run server-side rather than on-device. Why it matters: You won't have to scroll through dozens of rants to see if an app actually works, though developers will be watching the accuracy closely.
OpenAI just rolled out chat history search for ChatGPT web users. Instead of endlessly scrolling down the sidebar to dig up an old prompt, you can now search directly through past conversations to find what you need.
Meta is reportedly developing its own AI-powered search engine to power conversational news and web summaries inside Meta AI. A dedicated team has spent eight months building the underlying web index to slash the company's reliance on Google and Microsoft Bing. Why it matters: Owning the search layer means Meta can keep its massive user base inside its own ecosystem without paying rivals for web access.
GitHub Copilot just added Anthropic's upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet as a model option directly within VS Code and GitHub.com. Powered via Amazon Bedrock, the top-tier coding model is rolling out in public preview to all Copilot Chat users and organizations over the coming weeks.
Google just announced its biggest AI Overviews rollout yet, expanding search summaries to more than 100 countries and territories. The move pushes the feature past 1 billion monthly users worldwide, alongside broader multi-language support for English, Japanese, Spanish, and more.
xAI just rolled out image understanding to Grok, allowing paid subscribers on X to upload pictures and ask questions about them. Elon Musk noted that the model can even explain jokes and memes, though the feature is still in its early stages. It's the latest step to turn Grok multimodal and give users more reasons to pay for X.
Apple just rolled out its first set of Apple Intelligence features through free updates to iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Users get systemwide writing tools for rewriting and summarizing text, a redesigned Siri that accepts text prompts, and a Clean Up tool in Photos to erase unwanted objects. Why it matters: it marks Apple's first official leap into consumer generative AI, though it's currently limited to US English.
Meta just signed a multi-year content licensing deal with Reuters to power news queries in Meta AI. Rolling out to U.S. users, the chatbot will cite Reuters articles and link back to original stories when answering current events. Financial terms remain undisclosed, and it is unclear if the data will be used to train Llama.
OpenAI is reportedly planning to launch Orion, its next frontier AI model, by December, according to The Verge. Sources say it won't land in ChatGPT right away and will go to close partners first, though Sam Altman called the report fake news and an OpenAI spokesperson denied any plans to release Orion this year.
Meta is rolling out a firmware and app update for its Ray-Ban smart glasses, bringing hands-free visual AI features announced at Connect. Users can now simply ask about objects in front of them to trigger photos, scan QR codes, dial phone numbers spotted by the camera, and set parking reminders. Live translation and video AI aren't live yet, but the glasses are taking another step toward always-on visual assistance.
Google just announced it is adding sponsored ads directly inside its AI Overviews search summaries on mobile in the U.S., alongside links to relevant web pages. The company is also rolling out AI-organized search pages powered by custom Gemini models. It shows Google is racing to monetize generative answers before users switch to ChatGPT or Perplexity.
Google just dropped a major AI update for Search and Lens. Users can now record a short video while speaking a question aloud, letting Gemini analyze the moving scene to generate an AI Overview. The update also brings voice queries for photos, song identification to Circle to Search, and AI-organized search pages. Video search is currently rolling out in English for Search Labs testers.
Elon Musk just hosted an xAI recruiting event at OpenAI's original San Francisco headquarters on the same day as OpenAI's developer conference. Standing on a table, Musk pitched engineers on achieving AGI within a couple of years and promised to open-source xAI's models roughly nine months after release. Why it matters: Musk is aggressively targeting rival talent to challenge OpenAI head-on.
OpenAI just launched Canvas, a dedicated side-by-side workspace for writing and coding projects. Instead of getting stuck in long chat threads, users can highlight specific sections for inline feedback, restore previous versions, and use quick shortcuts to debug code or adjust reading levels. It marks the first major visual interface overhaul for ChatGPT.
OpenAI just closed a massive $6.6B funding round, boosting its post-money valuation to $157B. The company revealed that over 250 million people now use ChatGPT every week, with the fresh cash going toward expanding computing capacity and accelerating frontier AI research.
Bing just expanded its generative search experience to handle informational and complex queries. Instead of a typical list of links, Bing aggregates answers into a cohesive, structured layout with citations. The feature is currently rolling out in beta for US users.
Microsoft just introduced a fresh suite of on-device AI experiences for Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11. Highlights include Click to Do, an interactive overlay suggesting quick actions across any screen, alongside offline natural language file search and 8x photo upscaling. Recall also returns with opt-in defaults and biometric locks, rolling out to Windows Insiders this fall.
Microsoft just gave Copilot its biggest overhaul yet, introducing a natural Voice mode, a Vision feature that sees what you're browsing, and Think Deeper for complex multi-step reasoning. It also launched a morning audio briefing powered by licensed publishers like Reuters and FT. Vision and deeper reasoning are rolling out first via Copilot Labs to select users.
