Maximilian Schreiner@THE DECODER
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Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro is making waves as a top-tier reasoning model, marking a leap forward in Google's AI capabilities. Released recently, it's already garnering attention from enterprise technical decision-makers, especially those who have traditionally relied on OpenAI or Claude for production-grade reasoning. Early experiments, benchmark data, and developer reactions suggest Gemini 2.5 Pro is worth serious consideration.
Gemini 2.5 Pro distinguishes itself with its transparent, structured reasoning. Google's step-by-step training approach results in a structured chain of thought that provides clarity. The model presents ideas in numbered steps, with sub-bullets and internal logic that's remarkably coherent and transparent. This breakthrough offers greater trust and steerability, enabling enterprise users to validate, correct, or redirect the model with more confidence when evaluating output for critical tasks. Recommended read:
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Chris McKay@Maginative
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OpenAI has secured a massive $40 billion funding round, led by SoftBank, catapulting its valuation to an unprecedented $300 billion. This landmark investment makes OpenAI the world's second-most valuable private company alongside TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd, trailing only Elon Musk's SpaceX Corp. This deal marks one of the largest capital infusions in the tech industry and signifies a major milestone for the company, underscoring the escalating significance of AI.
The fresh infusion of capital is expected to fuel several key initiatives at OpenAI. The funding will support expanded research and development, and upgrades to computational infrastructure. This includes the upcoming release of a new open-weight language model with enhanced reasoning capabilities. OpenAI said the funding round would allow the company to “push the frontiers of AI research even further” and “pave the way” towards AGI, or artificial general intelligence. Recommended read:
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Michael Nuñez@venturebeat.com
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OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has announced a significant strategic shift by planning to release its first open-weight AI model since 2019. This move comes amidst mounting economic pressures from competitors like DeepSeek and Meta, whose open-source models are increasingly gaining traction. CEO Sam Altman revealed the plans on X, stating that the new model will have reasoning capabilities and allow developers to run it on their own hardware, departing from OpenAI's cloud-based subscription model.
This decision marks a notable change for OpenAI, which has historically defended closed, proprietary models. The company is now looking to gather developer feedback to make the new model as useful as possible, planning events in San Francisco, Europe and Asia-Pacific. As models improve, startups and developers increasingly want more tunable latency, and want to use on-prem deplouments requiring full data control, according to OpenAI. The shift comes alongside a monumental $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank, which has catapulted OpenAI's valuation to $300 billion. SoftBank will initially invest $10 billion, with the remaining $30 billion contingent on OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit structure by the end of the year. This funding will help OpenAI continue building AI systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education, enhance human creativity, and pave the way toward artificial general intelligence. The release of the open-weight model is expected to help OpenAI compete with the growing number of efficient open-source alternatives and counter the criticisms that have come from remaining a closed model. Recommended read:
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Nishant N@MarkTechPost
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Amazon has unveiled Nova Act, a new AI agent designed to interact with web browsers and automate tasks. Released as a research preview, the Nova Act SDK allows developers to create AI agents capable of automating tasks such as filling out forms, navigating web pages, and managing workflows. U.S.-based users can access the SDK through the nova.amazon.com platform.
Nova Act distinguishes itself by focusing on reliability in completing complex, multi-step tasks by breaking down workflows into atomic commands and integrating with tools like Playwright for direct browser manipulation. Developers can enhance functionality further by interleaving Python code. Early benchmarks suggest Nova Act outperforms competitors like OpenAI’s CUA and Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet on specific web interaction tasks, demonstrating Amazon’s commitment to advancing agentic AI. Recommended read:
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Ryan Daws@AI News
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Anthropic has unveiled a novel method for examining the inner workings of large language models (LLMs) like Claude, offering unprecedented insight into how these AI systems process information and make decisions. Referred to as an "AI microscope," this approach, inspired by neuroscience techniques, reveals that Claude plans ahead when generating poetry, uses a universal internal blueprint to interpret ideas across languages, and occasionally works backward from desired outcomes instead of building from facts. The research underscores that these models are more sophisticated than previously thought, representing a significant advancement in AI interpretability.
Anthropic's research also indicates Claude operates with conceptual universality across different languages and that Claude actively plans ahead. In the context of rhyming poetry, the model anticipates future words to meet constraints like rhyme and meaning, demonstrating a level of foresight that goes beyond simple next-word prediction. However, the research also uncovered potentially concerning behaviors, as Claude can generate plausible-sounding but incorrect reasoning. In related news, Anthropic is reportedly preparing to launch an upgraded version of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, significantly expanding its context window from 200K tokens to 500K tokens. This substantial increase would enable users to process much larger datasets and codebases in a single session, potentially transforming workflows in enterprise applications and coding environments. The expanded context window could further empower vibe coding, enabling developers to work on larger projects without breaking context due to token limits. Recommended read:
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@Latest from Laptop Mag
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Apple is reportedly developing a new AI-powered health app, codenamed "Project Mulberry," aimed at revolutionizing health tracking on iPhones. Expected to launch alongside iOS 19, the app will use AI algorithms to analyze health metrics from Apple devices and third-party sources. This comprehensive approach will enable the app to provide personalized insights and actionable recommendations to improve overall wellness, potentially transforming how users manage their health.
The app's AI coach will look at data from devices such as Apple Watch and potentially AirPods, which may gain future health-tracking features like heart-rate monitoring and temperature sensing. Apple is collaborating with health experts, including doctors, nutritionists, and therapists, to train the AI agents and create educational videos for the service, which may be called "Health+". The goal is to create an AI coach that can give personalized advice on sleep, exercise, mental well-being and other health issues. Recommended read:
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Megan Crouse@eWEEK
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Cloudflare has launched AI Labyrinth, a new tool designed to combat web scraping bots that steal website content for AI training. Instead of simply blocking these crawlers, AI Labyrinth lures them into a maze of AI-generated content. This approach aims to waste the bots' time and resources, providing a more effective defense than traditional blocking methods which can trigger attackers to adapt their tactics. The AI Labyrinth is available as a free, opt-in tool for all Cloudflare customers, even those on the free tier.
The system works by embedding hidden links within a protected website. When suspicious bot behavior is detected, such as ignoring robots.txt rules, the crawler is redirected to a series of AI-generated pages. This content is "real looking" and based on scientific facts, diverting the bot from the original website's content. Because no human would deliberately explore deep into a maze of AI-generated nonsense, anyone who does can be identified as a bot with high confidence. Cloudflare emphasizes that AI Labyrinth also functions as a honeypot, allowing them to identify new bot patterns and improve their overall bot detection capabilities, all while increasing the cost for unauthorized web scraping. Recommended read:
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Maria Deutscher@AI ? SiliconANGLE
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Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet spinout focused on AI-driven drug design, has secured $600 million in its first external funding round. The investment, led by Thrive Capital with participation from Alphabet and GV, will fuel the advancement of Isomorphic Labs' AI drug design engine and therapeutic programs. The company aims to leverage artificial intelligence, including its AlphaFold technology, to revolutionize drug discovery across various therapeutic areas, including oncology and immunology. This funding is expected to accelerate research and development efforts, as well as facilitate the expansion of Isomorphic Labs' team with top-tier talent.
Isomorphic Labs, founded in 2021 by Sir Demis Hassabis, seeks to reimagine and accelerate drug discovery by applying AI. Its AI-powered engine streamlines the design of small molecules with therapeutic applications and can predict the effectiveness of a small molecule's attachment to a protein. The company's software also eases other aspects of the drug development workflow. Isomorphic Labs has already established collaborations with pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and Novartis, and the new funding will support the progression of its own drug programs into clinical development. Recommended read:
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Kara Sherrer@eWEEK
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Runway AI Inc. has launched Gen-4, its latest AI video generation model, addressing the significant challenge of maintaining consistent characters and objects across different scenes. This new model represents a considerable advancement in AI video technology and improves the realism and usability of AI-generated videos. Gen-4 allows users to upload a reference image of an object to be included in a video, along with design instructions, and ensures that the object maintains a consistent look throughout the entire clip.
The Gen-4 model empowers users to place any object or subject in different locations while maintaining consistency, and even allows for modifications such as changing camera angles or lighting conditions. The model combines visual references with text instructions to preserve styles throughout videos. Gen-4 is currently available to paying subscribers and Enterprise customers, with additional features planned for future updates. Recommended read:
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Claire Prudhomme@marketingaiinstitute.com
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OpenAI's ChatGPT 4o has sparked a viral trend of generating Studio Ghibli-style images, transforming personal photos and internet memes into animations reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki's works, such as "Spirited Away" and "My Neighbor Totoro." This new feature, powered by GPT-4o's native image generation, allows users to upload images and easily convert them into the distinct Ghibli style, leading to a surge of these AI-generated artworks across social media platforms like X. The trend has become so popular that it has overwhelmed OpenAI's systems, causing delays for free-tier users.
This trend has also ignited concerns within the art community about copyright infringement and the potential impact on human artists, considering that AI models are trained on copyrighted creative works. Miyazaki himself has expressed strong skepticism about AI's role in animation, even calling it "an insult to life itself." While OpenAI claims to take a conservative approach by implementing refusals for generating images in the style of living artists, users have found ways to circumvent these restrictions, leading to a complex debate about the ethical implications of AI image generation. Recommended read:
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Help Net@Help Net Security
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Microsoft is enhancing Windows 11 roadmap transparency with new initiatives to better inform IT professionals and users about upcoming features. The company has launched a new Windows roadmap website designed to simplify the tracking of new Windows 11 features. This move addresses a key criticism regarding the lack of clarity around the testing and rollout phases of new functionalities. Microsoft aims to provide IT administrators with more insights, enabling them to effectively manage changes across their Windows estates.
The new roadmap consolidates information from various sources, including the Windows Insider Program and Microsoft's support site, offering a unified view of in-development features. Users can filter features based on platform, Windows versions, and rollout status, gaining insights into descriptions, release dates, and compatibility details. While the roadmap currently focuses on the client version of Windows 11, Microsoft plans to expand it to include other Windows versions in the future and is accepting feedback to further improve the tool's utility. Recommended read:
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Michael Nuñez@AI News | VentureBeat
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AiThority
, AI News | VentureBeat
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AI security startup Hakimo has secured $10.5 million in Series A funding to expand its autonomous security monitoring platform. The funding round was led by Vertex Ventures and Zigg Capital, with participation from RXR Arden Digital Ventures, Defy.vc, and Gokul Rajaram. This brings the company’s total funding to $20.5 million. Hakimo's platform addresses the challenges of rising crime rates, understaffed security teams, and overwhelming false alarms in traditional security systems.
The company’s flagship product, AI Operator, monitors existing security systems, detects threats in real-time, and executes response protocols with minimal human intervention. Hakimo's AI Operator utilizes computer vision and generative AI to detect any anomaly or threat that can be described in words. Companies using Hakimo can save approximately $125,000 per year compared to using traditional security guards. Recommended read:
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@cyberalerts.io
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Europol has issued a warning about the escalating use of Artificial Intelligence by organized crime groups, detailed in its EU-SOCTA 2025 report. Criminal networks are increasingly exploiting AI to automate tasks, expand their operations, and evade law enforcement, making their activities harder to detect. The agency highlights how the inherent accessibility, adaptability, and sophistication of AI render it a potent tool for criminals, who are leveraging it for cyberattacks, AI-driven fraud, and the weaponization of digital technologies.
The report emphasizes that nearly every type of serious crime now has a digital component, with the internet becoming the primary theater for organized crime and data serving as the new currency of power. Criminal networks are also increasingly acting as proxies in the service of hybrid threat actors, cooperating with state-aligned entities for mutual benefit. This dangerous trend also weakens the EU’s institutions and social fabric, with Europol revealing how the European criminal underworld is evolving, posing a growing threat to security and stability. Recommended read:
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Matt Marshall@AI News | VentureBeat
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Microsoft Security Blog
, www.zdnet.com
Microsoft is enhancing its Copilot Studio platform with AI-driven improvements, introducing deep reasoning capabilities that enable agents to tackle intricate problems through methodical thinking and combining AI flexibility with deterministic business process automation. The company has also unveiled specialized deep reasoning agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot, named Researcher and Analyst, to help users achieve tasks more efficiently. These agents are designed to function like personal data scientists, processing diverse data sources and generating insights through code execution and visualization.
Microsoft's focus includes securing AI and using it to bolster security measures, as demonstrated by the upcoming Microsoft Security Copilot agents and new security features. Microsoft aims to provide an AI-first, end-to-end security platform that helps organizations secure their future, one example being the AI agents designed to autonomously assist with phishing, data security, and identity management. The Security Copilot tool will automate routine tasks, allowing IT and security staff to focus on more complex issues, aiding in defense against cyberattacks. Recommended read:
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John Werner,@John Werner
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venturebeat.com
, John Werner
OpenAI is making a strategic shift by releasing its first open-weight AI model since 2019, a move influenced by the rising economic pressures from competitors like DeepSeek and Meta. This marks a significant reversal for the company, known for its proprietary AI systems. CEO Sam Altman announced the plan on X, stating the model will allow developers to run it on their own hardware, diverging from OpenAI's cloud-based subscription model. This decision comes after Altman admitted OpenAI was "on the wrong side of history" regarding open-source AI.
Alongside this strategic shift, OpenAI also announced it secured $40 billion in new funding at a $300 billion valuation, the largest fundraise in its history. This infusion of capital will support the company's AI research. The announcement of the open-source model also coincided with the release of image generation capabilities within ChatGPT, enabling users to transform images into various art styles, including the style of Studio Ghibli. This feature has gained popularity online, with users converting personal photos and memes into animated images, sparking both creative expression and ethical considerations. Recommended read:
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Ken Yeung@Ken Yeung
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Google has launched a new feature called "Discover Sources" for NotebookLM, its AI-powered tool designed to organize and analyze information. Rolling out to all users starting April 2, 2025, the new feature automatically curates relevant websites on a specified topic, recommending up to ten sources accompanied by AI-generated summaries. This enhancement streamlines research by allowing users to quickly surface relevant content from the internet.
NotebookLM, initially launched in 2023 as an AI-powered alternative to Evernote and Microsoft OneNote, previously relied on manual uploads of documents, articles, and notes. "Discover Sources" automates the process of pulling in information from the internet with a single click. The curated sources remain accessible within NotebookLM notebooks, allowing users to leverage them within Briefing Docs, FAQs, and Audio Overviews without repeatedly scouring the internet. This enhancement highlights the growing trend of AI-driven research tools shaping how we work and learn. Recommended read:
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Marco Chiappetta@hothardware.com
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hothardware.com
, NVIDIA Technical Blog
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NVIDIA continues to assert its dominance in both AI infrastructure and mobile gaming. The company is blitzing the laptop gaming market with its flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, hailed as the fastest mobile GPU ever tested. This new GPU, based on the Blackwell architecture, promises to deliver enhanced performance and features for gamers and content creators on the go. The RTX 5090 Laptop GPU incorporates updated shader cores, 4th gen RT cores, and 5th gen Tensor cores, supporting DLSS 4 and a new media engine.
Nvidia is taking major steps to promote its open source enterprise AI infrastructure. NVIDIA has announced the open-source release of the KAI Scheduler, a Kubernetes-native GPU scheduling solution, now available under the Apache 2.0 license. Originally developed within the Run:ai platform, KAI Scheduler is now available to the community while also continuing to be packaged and delivered as part of the NVIDIA Run:ai platform. This initiative underscores NVIDIA’s commitment to advancing both open-source and enterprise AI infrastructure, fostering an active and collaborative community, encouraging contributions, feedback, and innovation. Recommended read:
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Ellie Ramirez-Camara@Data Phoenix
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Shelly Palmer
, Data Phoenix
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OpenAI's new image generation tool, integrated into ChatGPT 4o, is experiencing immense popularity, leading to temporary limitations on GPU usage. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue, stating that their GPUs are "melting" due to the overwhelming demand. This surge highlights the significant computational resources required for complex AI image generation, pushing the limits of current infrastructure. The new model within ChatGPT is designed to replace DALL·E as the default image generator and aims to provide superior realism and speed compared to its predecessor.
The company is implementing measures to manage the high demand, including rate-limiting image requests. OpenAI delayed the new GPT-4o image generation feature for free users due to high demand. While there's no word on specific limits for paid users, it's expected they are also experiencing slowdowns. The popularity of Ghibli-style images has even flooded social media, prompting discussions about artistic integrity and the physical constraints of supporting such intensive computational tasks at scale. Recommended read:
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