It's AI Time

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 319 OpenAI announces GPT-4.5, warns it's not a frontier AI model: OpenAI has launched GPT-4.5 as a research preview for ChatGPT Pro users. The model offers enhanced writing capabilities and improved world knowledge but is not considered a frontier model. It will roll out to Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users in the coming weeks. GPT 4.5 System Card: The newest model from OpenAI is their largest yet. It was trained on the same recipe as 4o, which means it is a multimodal model. It is likely the last large pre-training run that OpenAI releases. They claim it isn't a frontier model, but don't provide much explanation. They do show that it has significantly reduced hallucinations compared to previous model generations. Meta Plans Standalone AI Chatbot App: eloping a standalone AI chatbot app for Meta AI, expected to launch in the next fiscal quarter. The company also plans to introduce a paid subscription with additional features. It's t...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 318 OpenAI Deep Research Available to Paying Users: OpenAI has rolled out deep research to paying ChatGPT users. This system card details its safety protocols, including external red teaming, risk evaluations, and key mitigations implemented. Claude's Extended Thinking Mode: Anthropic's extended thinking mode, introduced in Claude 3.7 Sonnet, allows the model to allocate more cognitive effort to complex problems and make its thought process visible for greater transparency and trust. Qatar signs deal with Scale AI to use AI to boost government services: Qatar signed a five-year deal with Scale AI to implement AI tools for improving government services, focusing on predictive analytics and automation. Scale AI plans to develop over 50 AI applications for Qatar to aid in streamlining operations. This move positions Qatar as a rising AI hub in competition with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. When AI Thinks It Will Lose, It Sometimes Cheats: A study fr...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 316 Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code: Claude 3.7 Sonnet is Anthropic's latest hybrid reasoning model. It delivers enhanced real-world coding capabilities with options for instant responses or extended, step-by-step thinking. The model supports API integration and offers fine-grained control over processing time, maintaining competitive pricing across various platforms. Meta AI Expands to the Middle East: Meta AI is now available in Arabic across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger in 10 MENA countries. Users can access text and image generation, animation, and soon, multimodal tools like dubbing for Reels, AI image editing, and 'Imagine Me'. Apple's $500B US Investment: Apple plans to invest $500 billion in U.S. manufacturing, engineering, and education over the next four years. Key projects include an AI server facility in Houston, expanding the Advanced Manufacturing Fund to $10 billion, and opening a training academy in Mi...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 315 OpenAI's Shift from Microsoft to SoftBank: OpenAI plans to source most of its computing power from SoftBank's Stargate project by 2030, marking a significant departure from its reliance on Microsoft. Meta's DINOv2 for Cancer Research: Orakl Oncology uses Meta's DINOv2 model to accelerate cancer drug discovery, improving efficiency by quickly analyzing organoid images to predict patient treatment responses. DeepSeek to open source parts of online services code: Chinese AI lab DeepSeek plans to open source portions of its online services' code as part of an “open source week” event. Microsoft prepares for OpenAI's GPT-5 model: Microsoft is preparing to host OpenAI's GPT-4.5 model as early as next week, with a more significant GPT-5 release anticipated by late May. The GPT-5 system will integrate OpenAI's new o3 reasoning model, aiming to create a unified AI functionality. Both releases align with key tech events, suc...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 314 Flybridge & XFactor Ventures are spotlighting AI’s top female innovators founders, researchers, investors & leaders. Know a game-changer? Nominate her (or yourself!) by Feb 24. DeepHermes 3 is your AI, your way . This model lets you switch between quick answers & deep reasoning and gives you more control - customizing personality, logic, and decision-making like never before. Forget complex instructions, OpenAI says simpler is better for its o-series reasoning models. The new exclusive guide shows how direct prompts lead to better AI responses. Sam Altman says testers are having "feel the AGI" moments with GPT-4.5. The buzz is growing could a big launch be around the corner? Humane is shutting down the AI Pin and selling its tech and team to HP for $116M. Cloud features stopped working Feb 28 - refunds are available for recent buyers. HP’s new AI lab incoming. AI is going local, and Mistral AI just dropped Mistral Saba a 24B...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 313 China is making AI a national priority, pouring more capital into the race. DeepSeek’s low-cost models are now matching or even outperforming some Western rivals. With fresh funding and momentum, OpenAI has real competition. The world’s smartest AI (Grok 3) is now free to use - at least until the servers can’t handle it. If you’re on X Premium+ or SuperGrok, you get more access plus early features like Voice Mode. Enjoy it while it lasts. Microsoft has built the world’s first topological superconductor, making qubits more stable and scalable. Majorana 1 claimed that they can fit a million qubits on a single chip a huge leap forward. ChatGPT-powered conversational hypnosis is a low-cost alternative to therapy. One user and their friend quit nicotine and alcohol, with 120+ others reporting success—proving AI can drive real behavior change. NVIDIA’s Evo 2 AI models DNA, RNA, and proteins across all life forms, scaling to 40B parameters and 1M token cont...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 312 Spotify Collaborates with ElevenLabs to Enhance AI-Narrated Audiobooks: Spotify now allows audiobooks narrated with ElevenLabs' AI voice technology, enabling authors to upload AI-narrated works through Findaway Voices. The feature supports narration in 29 languages, although publishing requires passing a review process. Together AI Announces $305M Series B: Together AI announced a $305 million Series B funding round led by General Catalyst and Prosperity7, with participation from investors like NVIDIA and Salesforce Ventures. This investment will enhance Together AI's position as a leader in AI Cloud solutions, with a focus on supporting open-source AI models and NVIDIA Blackwell GPU deployment. Together AI's platform enables efficient AI application development, offering enterprise-grade inference, training, and model fine-tuning. The company has planned infrastructure expansions to support rapid ecosystem growth. An AI Alchemist and H...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 311 Google's AI Co-Scientist Google has put together a really clever and compelling system that uses test time compute and feedback mechanisms to produce scientific artifacts that can be verified in a number of ways. The Anthropic Economic Index Despite AI handling some coding tasks, understanding coding basics is crucial and creates new opportunities across fields, including healthcare and education. Anthropic launched the Anthropic Economic Index to study AI's impact on labor markets using data from millions of Claude.ai conversations. The initial report shows AI is mainly used for software development and technical writing, with augmentation favored over automation. A dataset is open-sourced, encouraging researchers to further explore AI's influence on employment, productivity, and policy development. Training Robots with Egocentric Data Georgia Tech researchers leveraged Meta's Project Aria to train robots using egocentric video data...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 310 Humane's AI Pin is dead, as HP buys startup's assets for $116M: HP acquired most of Humane's assets for $116M, leading to the discontinuation of Humane's AI Pins. The AI Pins will lose functionality by February 28. Customers are advised to transfer data. Humane's team will form HP's new AI innovation lab, HP IQ. Mira announces Thinking Machine Labs: The former CTO of OpenAI, along with many extremely talented scientists and engineers, have joined to make another AI company. The goals are somewhat vague, but it seems to be a product and foundation model company, with a focus on infrastructure. Meta is Launching LlamaCon: Meta is launching LlamaCon, an open-source AI developer conference, on April 29. The event will showcase advancements in the Llama AI model ecosystem, followed by Meta Connect in September for XR and metaverse developments. Google's Flood Hub Features: Google is introducing new tools for flood experts i...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 309 Mistral Saba: Mistral Saba is a 24B parameter model trained on meticulously curated datasets from across the Middle East and South Asia. The model provides more accurate and relevant responses than models that are over 5 times its size while being significantly faster and lower cost. South Korea Bans DeepSeek: South Korea has temporarily banned new downloads of China's DeepSeek AI chatbot due to data protection concerns. The app, which gained over a million users in a week, will remain unavailable until compliance improvements are made. fal Raises $49M Series B to Power the Future of AI Video: fal has secured $49M in Series B funding led by Notable Capital and joined by a16z and others, totaling $72M in funding to date. The company is focused on expanding its platform for AI-driven generative media, especially video content, catering to industries like advertising and gaming. fal's proprietary technology promises fast, scalable, and reli...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 308 Grok 3 is Set to Be Released on Monday: xAI's Grok 3, trained with 200 million GPU-hours, introduces enhanced reasoning, self-correction, and synthetic data training. It is set to be released on Monday. Anthropic and UK Government Sign AI Collaboration MOU: Anthropic has partnered with the UK government to explore AI applications in public services, emphasizing responsible deployment, economic growth, and scientific research using its Claude model. OpenAI Revises ChatGPT Policies to Promote Intellectual Freedom: OpenAI has updated its AI training policies to reduce content restrictions, emphasizing neutrality, truth-seeking, and offering multiple perspectives on controversial topics. Google and Ireland Celebrate Insight AI Scholarship: Google hosts Irish officials to celebrate the Insight AI Scholarship, supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds in advancing AI and digital skills. Bolt.new introduces AI app generation for iOS and ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 307 OpenAI's Ambitious AGI Goals: OpenAI, under CEO Sam Altman, is intensifying efforts to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) by 2030. Despite challenges like potential job displacement and societal impacts, Altman remains optimistic about AI's benefits. The company is deploying autonomous AI agents, signaling significant advancements in AI capabilities. Amazon Web Services' AI Strategy: Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), discussed the company's AI initiatives, including the launch of Amazon Bedrock, which offers cloud customers access to foundation models from AI companies like Anthropic and Mistral. AWS is also collaborating with Anthropic to build a powerful AI supercomputer using AWS’s Trainium 2 chips. Proposed Changes to the CHIPS Act: President Donald Trump's proposed alterations to the CHIPS Act, including tariffs on foreign chip production, may hinder AI progress in the U.S. Experts warn that such m...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 305 A U.S. judge ruled that Ross Intelligence illegally copied Thomson Reuters' legal content to build an AI tool. The court said this was not fair use a major ruling in AI copyright battles. OpenAI’s Model Spec sets rules for how AI responds . Now, it openly supports intellectual freedom, allowing discussion on complex topics. Plus, it’s open-source, so anyone can use or modify it Musk announced Grok 3 is in final testing and outperforms all chatbots. He also criticized OpenAI’s shift to for-profit, discussed cutting U.S. government spending, and hinted at a Dubai high-speed transport project. Anthropic’s hybrid AI model coming soon. They are launching a new AI that switches between speed and deep thinking. Developers can adjust costs with a sliding scale.  

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 304 AI Crushes Software Design! A Reddit user used O3 Mini to expand a simple question, then O1 Pro turned it into a detailed 10,000-word research plan and the result is better than 99% of tech teams. YouTube AI is making content creation easier with tools like auto dubbing, Dream Screen, and AI-generated thumbnails. Creators get better discovery, translations, and protections Small AI, Big Win! DeepScaleR, a 1.5B AI model, beat O1-Preview in math reasoning using smarter RL training 18x cheaper yet more accurate. At the AI Action Summit, Altman called Musk ‘insecure’ and ‘unhappy,’ claiming Musk’s actions aim to slow AI progress. Adobe launched the first commercially-safe AI video model, solving copyright issues for many companies that have avoided video models due to unclear laws and ethics. Instead of launching O3 (pause), OpenAI will release GPT-5, a unified AI model with voice, search, and deep research. Before that, GPT-4.5 (Orion) arrives soon...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 303 Apple is partnering with Alibaba to bring AI features to iPhones in China. It dropped Baidu due to slow progress. Approval is pending, but this could boost iPhone sales. A new AI tool, DeepRhythmAI, reports ambulatory electrocardiography and detects heart problems better than human technicians. It catches 98.6% of critical cases, reducing missed diagnoses by 17x. OpenAI is designing its first AI chip to cut reliance on Nvidia. TSMC will manufacture it using 3nm tech. If successful, mass production starts in 2026.

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 302 Apple’s self-driving AI learns solo! Apple built a self-driving car AI that learns by practicing against itself - no human data needed. In tests, it drove 17.5 years accident-free in simulations, outperforming human drivers. Google DeepMind's AlphaGeometry2 solves 42 out of 50 IMO geometry problems (2000-2024), up from 54% to 84% accuracy! Now 300x faster, with a new search engine and Gemini AI boost. Now smarter than ever! Cursor Agent can read & write code, search codebases, run terminal commands, and follow custom rules. Huge growth proves devs love it. In the latest blog , Sam Altman argued, “We see no reason for exponentially increasing investment to stop in the near future.” OpenAI may be working on a new coding agent to help developers build faster. At the University of Tokyo, OpenAI’s CEO shared big updates: GPT-5 , the $500B Stargate Project, and AI beating top programmers soon. Over 3,000 artists demand Christie’s cancel its AI ...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 300 Mistral le Chat Blazingly fast new 1,000 words per second chat assistant from Mistral. It uses Mistral's powerful state-of-the-art coding models and a lovely canvas to assist in many tasks. Google's AI Policy Framework for Science Google has outlined a policy framework with actionable steps for policymakers to accelerate scientific discovery using AI that emphasizes responsible deployment and collaboration in the research community. Analyze Feature Flow to Enhance Interpretation and Steering in Language Models This introduces a novel approach to tracking how features discovered by sparse autoencoders evolve across consecutive layers of large language models using a data-free cosine similarity technique that maps feature persistence, transformation, and emergence. The paper demonstrates how the resulting cross-layer feature maps enable direct behavioral control of the models through feature manipulation while providing mechanistic insights i...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 300 Google drops its policy against creating AI that’s “likely to cause overall harm The company updated its ethical guidelines surrounding AI, removing a policy written in 2018 dictating that it wouldn’t pursue AI for weapons, surveillance, or applications that are likely to cause harm. The change comes as the big U.S. AI firms increasingly bid for defense department contracts. Yesterday,  Google also released  Gemini 2.0 to the public after first launching it to developers in December. Read more in the  Washington Post .  DeepSeek’s R1 ranks last in cybersecurity compared to leading models.  LatticeFlow AI, a Swiss firm that measures compliance of AI models, said the model ranks last compared to its competitors and that it’s especially vulnerable to “goal hijacking” and prompt leakage. The firm says that when DeepSeek modified existing open source models to create its own, it may have broken key safety features. You can read more fr...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 299 Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, plans to work with Chinese researchers on AI projects. This comes after DeepSeek built a powerful AI model for much less than U.S. Economist Joshua Gans used GPT-o1-pro to turn his idea into a full academic paper in just an hour—then got it published in a peer-reviewed journal. Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman poached three ex-Google DeepMind researchers, including two who built an AI tool that turns text into podcasts. DeepSeek launched VL2-Small, a model designed to analyze documents and images. Developers can now test it on Hugging Face as a free demo. OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy released a 3.5-hour YouTube tutorial on how LLMs are trained—plus insights on how to understand their "thinking." Mistral launched Le Chat on iOS and Android to compete with ChatGPT and Gemini. It’s fast, offers a Pro plan ($14.99/month), and claims to generate better images than rivals.

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 298 OpenAI Co-Founder John Schulman Leaves Anthropic John Schulman, a key figure behind ChatGPT, has left Anthropic after just five months. While his reasons remain unclear, the departure marks a significant shift in the AI research landscape. Lyft and Anthropic Partnership Lyft is collaborating with Anthropic to integrate Claude-powered AI solutions, reducing customer service resolution times by 87% and enhancing the overall rideshare experience through AI-driven automation and engineering improvements. Does AI need all that money? (Tech giants say yes) DeepSeek's claim of training a top-performing AI model for $5.6m shook the US market, impacting Nvidia's valuation and raising questions about hefty AI infrastructure investments from the likes of Meta and Microsoft. Despite skepticism, leading tech firms including OpenAI remain committed to major spending on AI advancements. Meanwhile, OpenAI plans a new, free ChatGPT version, maintaining high ...

 AI Edition - It's AI Time - 297 OpenAI's Trademark Hints at Robotics and AI Hardware OpenAI's recent trademark application suggests potential AI-powered consumer hardware, including smartwatches, AR glasses, humanoid robots, and custom AI chips, aligning with ongoing partnerships and research into AI-driven robotics. SoftBank-backed billionaire to invest $230M in Indian AI startup Krutrim Bhavish Aggarwal is investing $230 million in his AI startup Krutrim to develop LLMs for Indian languages, aiming to raise $1.15 billion in total. Krutrim has open-sourced its AI models and plans to build India's largest supercomputer with Nvidia. The startup has released Krutrim-2, a 12-billion-parameter model, showing strong performance in Indian language tasks and code generation. DeepSeek Gets an 'F' in Safety From Researchers Cisco tested DeepSeek's open-source model, DeepSeek R1, which failed to fend off all 50 harmful behavior prompts from the HarmBench dataset. Dee...

AI Edition - It's AI Time - 296 Hugging Face Replicating OpenAI's Deep Research Hugging Face attempted to replicate OpenAI's Deep Research, an agentic web-search framework that significantly improved performance on the GAIA benchmark, by running a 24-hour-long experiment aimed at open-sourcing an equivalent system. Google CEO on DeepSeek vs. Gemini Sundar Pichai has downplayed the efficiency of DeepSeek's AI models, arguing that Google's Gemini models, particularly Gemini 2.0 Flash, outperform them despite DeepSeek's disruptive impact on the AI market. US Copyright Office rules out copyright for AI created content without human input The US Copyright Office states that AI-generated works without human intervention cannot be copyrighted. AI tools assisting with creativity, like de-aging actors, won't limit copyright protection, but purely generative AI outputs require further analysis. Open-Vocabulary Detection with LLMs LLMDet is an open-vocabulary detector ...