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We missed last week! This week features two weeks of news, so buckle up.
what to know for now
🎨 OpenAI launches "4o Image Generation" with powerful multimodal capabilities. OpenAI has integrated a new AI image generator directly into its GPT-4o model, making it the default image generator within ChatGPT. The system generates remarkably accurate images with improved text rendering, can edit existing photos, and even create transparent logos, though generation is notably slow taking up to a minute per image. In a significant policy shift, OpenAI now allows generation of adult public figures while giving them the option to opt out, potentially raising new questions about copyright and consent in AI-generated media. Read more
🔍 Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro outperforms competitors in enterprise AI. Google's latest AI model demonstrates superior performance across reasoning, coding, and multimodal tasks while offering a 2 million token context window at a fraction of competitors' costs. The model excels in complex reasoning tasks like multi-step math problems and shows enhanced capabilities in understanding and generating code, positioning it as a compelling option for enterprise applications despite Google's marketing challenges in the competitive AI landscape. Read more
🌍 Microsoft's AI for Good Lab aids Myanmar earthquake response. Microsoft deployed its AI for Good Lab to rapidly assess building damage in Mandalay following Myanmar's 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck on Friday. The team created a customized AI model that analyzed satellite imagery from Planet Labs to identify over 2,000 damaged buildings, despite initial challenges with cloud cover obscuring the view. Read more
🧠 Amazon launches Nova website and Agent SDK. Amazon has introduced nova.amazon.com, a new website allowing developers and tech enthusiasts to easily explore their advanced generative AI models. Additionally, they've released a research preview of the Amazon Nova Act SDK, allowing developers to build agents that can take actions within web browsers. This expansion makes frontier AI capabilities more accessible while enabling the creation of reliable AI agents that can perform complex tasks. Read more
🎬 Runway introduces Gen-4 with consistent character and scene control. Runway has announced its latest AI video generation model that claims to solve a key limitation in AI video synthesis: maintaining consistent characters and objects across multiple shots. The model can preserve a character's appearance across different scenes and environments when provided with a reference image, while also allowing filmmakers to capture the same scene from multiple angles. Read more
🔎 Anthropic adds web search to Claude chatbot. Anthropic has integrated web search capabilities into its Claude AI assistant, allowing the chatbot to access and cite current information from the internet. The feature, available to both free and paid users, enables Claude to provide up-to-date responses on topics ranging from news to product information while maintaining attribution to original sources. Read more
Jake's Take: Anthropic researchers have developed "attribution graphs," a new technique for interpreting how language models process information, essentially peeking into the brain of the model. The methodology traces the flow of attention through a model's layers to identify which input tokens influence specific output tokens. In visualizing these connections, Anthropic is able to better understand how models like Claude make predictions and reason through complex problems, particularly in domains like biology where the model must integrate multiple pieces of information.
This work addresses the "black box" problem of large language models directly. As models continue to be deployed in high-stakes domains, these techniques could become essential for ensuring reliability and building appropriate trust in AI systems.
what to know for later
🤖 OpenAI announces open-weight model coming this summer. Sam Altman revealed that OpenAI will release a powerful open-weight language model with reasoning capabilities in the coming months. The announcement follows the success of DeepSeek's R1 model from China and growing pressure from Meta's Llama models, with Altman acknowledging OpenAI was "on the wrong side of history" regarding open models. Read more
🤝 Elon Musk's megadeal between X and xAI breaks Wall Street's rulebook. Elon Musk has orchestrated an unconventional partnership between his social media platform X and his AI startup xAI, allowing xAI to train its models on X's data while X gains exclusive access to xAI's technology. The arrangement raises concerns about conflicts of interest and potential regulatory scrutiny. Read more
💰 OpenAI closes record 40 billion funding round. OpenAI has secured the largest private tech funding round in history, valuing the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion including the new capital. SoftBank is leading with a $30 billion investment alongside Microsoft and other backers, though SoftBank's commitment could be reduced if OpenAI doesn't convert to a for-profit entity by year's end. This massive infusion comes as ChatGPT reaches 500 million weekly users and the company projects revenue to triple to $12.7 billion this year. Read more
🧪 New challenging AGI test stumps most AI models. Researchers from MIT and Stanford have developed a new benchmark called "Cognitive Reasoning Assessment" (CRA) that tests AI systems on tasks requiring multi-step reasoning, common sense, and abstract thinking. The test revealed significant limitations in current AI models, with even the most advanced systems like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 scoring below 40% on complex reasoning tasks. Read more
🩺 Covera Health launches AI solution for women's health. Covera Health has introduced "Protect Her," an AI-powered solution designed to improve early detection of breast cancer by addressing diagnostic errors in mammography. The technology combines AI with radiologist expertise to reduce false negatives and positives, potentially saving thousands of lives annually while decreasing unnecessary biopsies. Read more
