Google looks ready to lock its smartest model behind a paywall. Newly discovered code reveals a "Bard Advanced" tier powered by Gemini Ultra, likely bundled into a paid Google One subscription. The leak also hints at custom bots and prompt-polishing tools designed to take the fight directly to ChatGPT Plus.
Researchers at Global Fishing Watch just used deep learning models and Sentinel-1 satellite radar imagery to map human activity across the world’s oceans, revealing that 75% of industrial fishing vessels aren’t tracked by public systems. The AI sifted through massive radar data to spot hidden boats and offshore energy platforms through clouds and darkness. Why it matters: With nations aiming to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030, you can't protect what you can't see.
Samsung just announced an in-person event on Jan. 17 in San Jose to unveil its next generation of Galaxy smartphones, promising an "all-new mobile experience powered by AI." The devices are expected to leverage Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips to run generative AI models directly on the phone without an internet connection. Why it matters: Samsung wants on-device AI features to give it an edge over Apple in the high-end smartphone race.
Microsoft just quietly rolled out a dedicated Copilot app on Android via the Google Play Store, dropping the need to go through the Bing mobile app. It delivers a standalone ChatGPT-like interface with DALL-E 3 image generation and free access to OpenAI's GPT-4, which normally requires a paid subscription. An iOS version has yet to arrive.
Google just introduced VideoPoet, a multimodal model that ditches the prevailing diffusion approach in favor of a large language model architecture for video generation. It produces coherent 10-second clips featuring large motion and minimal artifacts, while handling text-to-video, image animation, and audio within a single unified model. It suggests LLMs could become a serious contender against diffusion in coherent video synthesis.
Apple just detailed how it plans to fit heavy AI models onto everyday devices without blowing past hardware limits. In a paper titled 'LLM in a flash', researchers store parameters on flash memory and stream them to DRAM on demand, running models twice the size of available RAM while speeding up GPU inference by up to 25x. Why it matters: It lays the technical groundwork for reliable on-device generative AI.
Google just announced plans to restrict election-related queries on its generative AI tools, including Bard and SGE, rolling out early next year. The company is also requiring YouTube creators and political campaigns to clearly disclose AI-altered content. Why it matters: Facing a massive global election year, Google would rather pull its AI off the field than risk bot hallucinations swaying voters.
Google just expanded its AI code assistance features to all Colab users, including those on the free tier in eligible regions. Users can generate Python code from plain English prompts and use an AI chatbot to explain and fix runtime errors. Why it matters: Bringing free AI pair programming to over 10 million active Colab users levels the playing field for students and researchers worldwide.
Google just launched the Gemini Pro and Gemini Pro Vision APIs for developers and enterprise customers. The models feature a 32K context window, function calling, and support across 38 languages. Devs can experiment for free via Google AI Studio with up to 60 requests per minute before paid tiers arrive next year.
Google just launched MusicFX, an experimental tool that whips up custom music tracks from simple text prompts. Powered by MusicLM, the tool bakes DeepMind's SynthID watermarks directly into the audio to flag AI origin. To steer clear of legal trouble, it outright refuses to generate vocals or mimic specific artists. It is rolling out first to users in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Kenya.
Anthropic just launched Claude for Sheets, an official add-on that lets you run Claude directly inside spreadsheet cells using formulas like =CLAUDE(). It allows developers and data analysts to batch-process text, test prompts, and tweak model parameters directly in their rows, though you will need an Anthropic API key to plug it in.
A developer just rebuilt Google's heavily edited Gemini video demo using OpenAI's GPT-4V to prove real-time multimodal interaction is already possible. The custom setup correctly handled hand gestures, live drawings, and rock-paper-scissors in real time, with the open-source code now shared on GitHub.
Google just opened its experimental note-taking tool NotebookLM to all U.S. users aged 18 and up, upgrading its engine with Gemini Pro. The update brings over a dozen new features, including a dedicated noteboard, dynamic in-line suggestions for reading and writing, and one-click structured exports to Google Docs. Best of all, your private notes are kept strictly off training sets.
Google just got caught exaggerating the coolest part of its Gemini launch. The viral hands-on video showing real-time, snappy multimodal interaction was actually stitched together using still image frames and hidden text prompts. Why it matters: Google needs a win against OpenAI, but staging demos only poisons trust in its real capabilities.
Google just rolled out its new Gemini model to Bard, giving the chatbot its biggest boost yet. English users across 170+ countries can now tap a tuned version of Gemini Pro for text prompts, which Google claims outscores GPT-3.5 on key reasoning benchmarks. Next up: early next year, Bard Advanced will unlock the flagship Gemini Ultra.
Google DeepMind just expanded humanity's catalog of stable crystals nearly tenfold with GNoME, an AI tool that predicted 380,000 stable materials published in Nature. An autonomous lab at Berkeley already synthesized 41 of them over 17 days. Why it matters: It could massively speed up breakthroughs in batteries and solar cells, though DeepMind is keeping the actual model under wraps for now.
Google just upgraded Bard's YouTube extension, allowing the chatbot to analyze individual video content and pull specific details like recipe measurements or step-by-step instructions without you ever hitting play. The opt-in Labs feature saves serious time, but also sparks fresh worries for creators who rely on actual video views and ad impressions.
Google Meet just rolled out an AI-powered gesture detection feature that automatically raises your virtual hand when you raise your physical hand on camera. You need to keep your hand away from your face for a couple of seconds to trigger it, and it automatically disables while you're speaking so hand-talkers won't accidentally chime in. Why it matters: It saves you from scrambling for your mouse across the room when you want to speak.
Amazon just announced it is laying off hundreds of employees in its Alexa and Fire TV unit to refocus resources on generative AI. An internal memo stated the cuts span the U.S., Canada, and India, as the company prioritizes smarter conversational features over legacy smart-assistant investments.
Google just pushed the release of its flagship AI model Gemini to early 2024, after previously telling cloud customers it would roll out in November. Positioned by DeepMind as its true competitor to GPT-4, the delay shows Google is still having a tough time catching up with OpenAI.
