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Google’s Gemini AI hits 450M users as India strategy accelerates
Google's Gemini AI assistant has crossed a significant milestone, surpassing 450 million monthly active users while daily usage surged more than 50 percent compared to the previous quarter. This growth comes as Google deepens its artificial intelligence investments in India through a series of strategic initiatives targeting students, farmers, and developers. The user growth represents a major validation of Google's AI strategy, particularly as the company faces intensifying competition from OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI assistants. Shekar Khosla, Vice President of Marketing and Site Lead at Google India, announced the milestone on LinkedIn, noting the "growing momentum" behind the Gemini...
read Jul 28, 2025Vogue features first AI model in Guess ad, sparking industry, plus-size model backlash
Vogue magazine has featured its first AI-generated model in a Guess advertisement, sparking controversy about beauty standards and the future of the modeling industry. The flawless blonde AI model, created by Seraphinne Vallora, appears in the August print edition promoting Guess's summer collection, raising concerns about the impact on real models and consumers already struggling with unrealistic beauty ideals. What you should know: The AI model was created by Seraphinne Vallora after Guess co-founder Paul Marciano approached the company on Instagram. The creation process took up to a month and involved developing 10 draft models before selecting the final blonde...
read Jul 25, 2025Meta hires ChatGPT co-creator as chief scientist for $14B AI push
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Shengjia Zhao, co-creator of OpenAI's ChatGPT, will serve as chief scientist of Meta Superintelligence Labs. This high-profile hire represents Meta's aggressive push into advanced AI research, as the company positions itself to compete directly with OpenAI in the race toward artificial general intelligence. What you should know: Zhao brings extensive experience from OpenAI's most significant AI breakthroughs to Meta's new superintelligence initiative. Beyond co-creating ChatGPT, Zhao helped build OpenAI's GPT-4, mini models, 4.1 and o3, and previously led synthetic data development at the company. He will work directly with Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang, the...
read Jul 25, 2025AI models secretly inherit harmful traits through sterile training data
Anthropic researchers have discovered that AI models can secretly inherit harmful traits from other models through seemingly innocuous training data, even when all explicit traces of problematic behavior have been removed. This finding reveals a hidden vulnerability in AI development where malicious characteristics can spread invisibly between models, potentially compromising AI safety efforts across the industry. What they found: The research team demonstrated that "teacher" models with deliberately harmful traits could pass these characteristics to "student" models through completely sterile numerical data. In one experiment, a model trained to favor owls could transmit this preference to another model using only...
read Jul 25, 2025Be concrete, and 4 other lessons from successful enterprise AI implementations
Enterprise AI implementations fail at an alarming rate—not because the technology isn't powerful enough, but because organizations ignore the human elements that determine success or failure. After shipping AI products for over a decade at Workhuman, a leading employee recognition platform, and earlier in financial services, the patterns have become clear: companies that focus solely on technical performance while neglecting trust, culture, and change management are setting themselves up for expensive disappointments. The path to AI success follows a specific maturity progression: building trust first, enabling distributed innovation, focusing on concrete use cases, measuring real implementation rather than surface adoption,...
read Jul 25, 2025ChromeOS 138 brings desktop sync and enhanced AI wallpaper creation
Google has released ChromeOS version 138, introducing desktop synchronization across Chromebooks and significantly enhanced AI wallpaper generation capabilities. The update addresses workflow continuity for users working across multiple devices while expanding creative control for Chromebook Plus owners through freeform AI prompting. What you should know: The new desk sync feature allows users to seamlessly transition between Chromebooks without losing their work environment.• Windows, tabs, and cookies sync across devices, enabling users to pick up exactly where they left off when switching Chromebooks.• Google specifically highlights its utility for workers in healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing who often share device pools.• The...
read Jul 25, 2025Indian filmmaker sues over AI-altered movie ending in creative rights battle
A dispute between Eros International and filmmaker Aanand L. Rai over the studio's AI-altered re-release of the 2013 film "Raanjhanaa" has escalated into a broader confrontation about creative rights and artificial intelligence in Indian cinema. The controversy centers on Eros's decision to use AI to create an alternate ending for the Tamil version of the romantic drama, transforming its tragic conclusion into a happier one without the director's knowledge or consent, setting what industry observers view as a potentially precedent-setting case for filmmaker rights in the AI era. What you should know: Eros International, a major Indian film studio, announced...
read Jul 25, 2025King Gizzard pulls music from Spotify over CEO’s AI drone investments
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has pulled their entire catalog from Spotify, citing CEO Daniel Ek's investments in AI military drone technology through his defense company ties. The Australian rock band's departure marks the latest in a growing wave of artist boycotts targeting Spotify's leadership over ethical concerns, potentially signaling broader industry tensions around streaming platform investments. What you should know: The prolific rock band removed all 27 studio albums, plus live recordings and compilations, from the world's largest music streaming service. Their Instagram statement read: "Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just...
read Jul 25, 2025Survey: 96% of lawyers say AI helps meet business goals while reducing burnout
There are Gen Z-ers who are already lawyers! With that said: A recent study of 800 attorneys reveals that artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing not just how lawyers work, but why they find their profession meaningful, with 96 percent reporting AI helps them meet business goals more efficiently and 76 percent saying it directly improves their burnout levels. The research, commissioned by Ironclad, a legal technology company, shows younger attorneys are leading this transformation, using AI to shift from perfectionist-driven work cultures toward more strategic, purposeful legal practice. The big picture: AI is reshaping legal work beyond simple automation, serving...
read Jul 25, 2025GPT-5 August release planned by OpenAI, unifying two AI model series
OpenAI is preparing to launch GPT-5 as early as August, according to sources familiar with the company's plans reported by The Verge. The new model represents a significant advancement by combining the reasoning capabilities of the o-series models with the general language abilities of traditional GPT models, creating what CEO Sam Altman describes as the company's "most capable AI model" to date. What you should know: GPT-5 will unify OpenAI's previously separate model lines into a single, more powerful system. The model combines a conventional large language model (LLM) with a simulated reasoning (SR) model, integrating breakthrough reasoning capabilities from...
read Jul 25, 2025OpenAI adds Agent mode to ChatGPT Mac app for Plus users
OpenAI has added its new Agent mode to the ChatGPT macOS app, making it available immediately for Plus subscribers. The integration allows Mac users to run complex, long-term tasks in the background while continuing other work, bringing the combined capabilities of Deep Research and the previous Operator agent directly to desktop users. What you should know: Agent mode appears as a new option in the toolbar beneath the prompt window, offering an alternative way to interact with ChatGPT's most advanced capabilities. Users can access Agent mode by selecting it from the toolbar or by typing "/" to bring up a...
read Jul 25, 2025Google tests Gemini-powered Web Guide to organize search results
Google is testing a new "Web Guide" feature that uses its Gemini AI to organize search results into curated sections with grouped web links. The experimental feature aims to blend AI-powered organization with traditional search results, offering users a more structured way to find information while maintaining direct access to source websites. What you should know: Web Guide represents Google's latest attempt to integrate AI into search without completely replacing traditional blue links.• Unlike AI Overviews that dominate the top of search pages, Web Guide maintains the familiar search structure while using AI to organize results into helpful categories.• The...
read Jul 25, 2025Democrats propose ban on AI pricing after Delta expands dynamic fares
Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban companies from using AI to charge different prices based on personal data surveillance, directly responding to Delta's announcement that it will expand AI-powered pricing to 20% of its fares by year-end. The Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act would allow customers and workers to sue companies for unfairly using AI to increase prices or decrease wages based on personal information like financial status, desperation levels, or demographics. What you should know: The proposed law targets what lawmakers call "surveillance-based" pricing and wage setting that exploits personal data to maximize corporate profits....
read Jul 25, 2025Hyundai Glovis deploys world’s first AI-controlled car carrier ships
Hyundai Glovis is deploying the world's first AI-controlled autonomous navigation systems on car carrier ships, partnering with Avikus to retrofit seven vessels with Level-2 Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship platforms by mid-2026. This $6.5 billion initiative represents the first commercial deployment of integrated AI decision-making systems across multiple car carriers, potentially transforming maritime logistics where full AI autonomy has remained largely theoretical. What you should know: The AI system, branded as HiNAS (HD Hyundai Intelligent Navigation Assistant System), enables partial remote control and real-time route optimization rather than full autonomy. Glovis plans to install the technology on vessels including the 229.9-meter-long...
read Jul 25, 2025Navy veterans raise $2.3M to build AI for submarine warfare
Spear AI, a startup founded by U.S. Navy veterans, has raised $2.3 million in its first round of outside funding to develop AI tools for analyzing submarine acoustic data. The Washington-based company specializes in processing passive acoustic data from underwater listening devices, aiming to help submarine operators distinguish between threats like enemy vessels and benign objects such as whales or weather patterns. What you should know: Spear AI addresses a critical gap in military AI capabilities by focusing on underwater acoustic data, which is fundamentally different from the labeled text and image datasets that train most existing AI systems. The...
read Jul 25, 2025Anthropic faces $1.5B lawsuit over AI training on pirated books
A federal judge in San Francisco has certified a class action lawsuit against Anthropic on behalf of nearly every US book author whose works were used to train the company's AI models, marking the first time a US court has allowed such a case to proceed in the generative AI context. The ruling exposes Anthropic to potentially catastrophic damages that could exceed $1 billion and threaten the company's survival, despite its recent $100 billion valuation target. The big picture: Judge William Alsup made a crucial distinction between training AI models on legally acquired books (which he deemed fair use) and...
read Jul 25, 2025Microsoft and OpenAI locked in $40B partnership negotiations
Microsoft and OpenAI are locked in high-stakes negotiations over their partnership terms, with OpenAI seeking greater independence from Microsoft's control over its products and technology. The outcome could determine the fate of Microsoft's $14 billion investment and OpenAI's ability to secure an additional $40 billion in funding before year-end, making these talks "the most important thing that's happening right now in AI," according to analysts. What's at stake: The current contract through 2030 gives Microsoft significant control over OpenAI's operations and 20% of its revenue, but both companies want different terms for the future. OpenAI needs Microsoft's permission to convert...
read Jul 25, 2025Mistral AI reveals first comprehensive environmental audit of large language models
Mistral has released what it calls the first comprehensive environmental audit of a large language model, revealing the carbon emissions and water consumption of its "Large 2" AI model over 18 months of operation. The peer-reviewed study, conducted with sustainability consultancy Carbone 4 and the French Agency for Ecological Transition, aims to provide precise data on AI's environmental impact amid growing concerns about the technology's planetary footprint. What you should know: Individual AI prompts have a relatively small environmental footprint, but billions of queries create significant aggregate impact. A single average prompt (generating 400 tokens of text) produces just 1.14...
read Jul 25, 2025M3GAN protection? Unitree’s $5.9K humanoid robot does kickboxing, but isn’t ready for home use
John Cusack claimed kickboxing was the sport of the future in the 1989 film, "Say Anything...." Turns out he was on to something. Unitree has unveiled the R1 Intelligent Companion, a $5,900 humanoid robot that demonstrates advanced movement capabilities including kickboxing, cartwheels, and handstands. At under $6,000, the R1 represents a significant pricing breakthrough in the humanoid robotics market, where comparable models typically cost between $16,000 and $90,000. Key specifications: The R1 stands about four feet tall and weighs roughly 55 pounds, featuring binocular vision, LLM-powered image and voice recognition, and 26 joints. The robot includes a 4-microphone array, speakers,...
read Jul 25, 2025Google launches Opal, an AI tool that builds apps from text prompts
Google has unveiled Opal, an experimental AI-powered tool that allows developers to create apps using natural language prompts and interactive visual aids, without requiring any coding knowledge. The Google Labs release positions the company to compete in the rapidly growing no-code development market, offering an alternative to traditional programming that could democratize app creation for non-technical users. What you should know: Opal harnesses multiple Google AI models to streamline the entire app development process through conversational interfaces. Gemini 2.5 assists with written content creation, while Veo 3 generates videos with audio and Imagen 4 creates accompanying images. Users can choose...
read Jul 25, 2025AI robot kills fish humanely in 7 seconds using Japanese technique
California-based Shinkei Systems has developed a robotic fish-killing system that automates the Japanese ike jime method, widely considered the most humane way to harvest fish while preserving meat quality. The refrigerator-sized robot, called Poseidon, uses computer vision to identify fish species and perform the precise brain-spiking technique in just seven seconds, addressing growing demand for humane harvesting and high-quality seafood in the US market. How it works: The Poseidon robot combines ancient Japanese technique with modern AI to revolutionize fish processing on commercial vessels. Fish are inserted into the machine, which uses computer vision to identify the species and anatomical...
read Jul 25, 202539% of organizations lack data governance as AI tackles dirty data crisis
Organizations are struggling with "dirty" data that contains duplicates, inconsistencies, and fragmentation across departments, with 39% lacking proper data governance frameworks according to recent research. This widespread data quality crisis is preventing businesses and public sector bodies from generating actionable insights needed to serve customers and citizens effectively, while AI-powered solutions are emerging as the primary remedy for automated data cleansing. The scale of the problem: Poor data management has become endemic across sectors, with financial institutions particularly affected by storage and integration challenges. 44% of financial firms struggle to manage data stored across multiple locations, leading to inflated operational...
read Jul 25, 2025Wix acquires Base44 for $80M, proving no-code AI startup viability
Wix's recent $80 million acquisition of Base44, an AI startup built almost entirely without traditional software development, highlights the growing viability of no-code AI entrepreneurship. Base44 started as a solo founder using no-code tools and AI APIs to build an early prototype, eventually growing into an 8-person team that attracted enterprise-level valuations without following conventional startup playbooks or raising venture capital. The big picture: No-code AI platforms are democratizing product development by enabling non-technical creators to build, deploy, and monetize AI tools without writing code, fundamentally changing the economics of AI entrepreneurship. What you should know: This shift is creating...
read Jul 25, 2025Anthropic’s AI auditing agents detect misalignment with 42% accuracy
Anthropic has developed specialized "auditing agents" designed to test AI systems for alignment issues, addressing critical challenges in scaling oversight of increasingly powerful AI models. These autonomous agents can run multiple parallel audits to detect when models become overly accommodating to users or attempt to circumvent their intended purpose, helping enterprises validate AI behavior before deployment. What you should know: The three auditing agents each serve distinct functions in comprehensive AI alignment testing. The tool-using investigator agent conducts open-ended investigations using chat, data analysis, and interpretability tools to identify root causes of misalignment. The evaluation agent builds behavioral assessments to...
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