The end of Siri?

Good morning—Thursdays are for thick-cut, homemade French fries and AI news! Let’s dig in. 🍟

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(The mystery link can lead to ANYTHING AI-related: tools, memes, articles, videos, and more…)

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GEMINI LIVE PUTS SIRI TO SHAME 🤖

Q: Why did Google break up with the iPhone?

A: It got too SIRIous. 🙃

What’s new? Google introduced Gemini Live, a new voice chat mode for its AI assistant, available exclusively for Gemini Advanced subscribers.

How does it work? Much like ChatGPT's voice feature, Gemini Live offers users a conversational experience with ten voice options and the ability to interact seamlessly—users can interrupt responses mid-sentence or pause and resume conversations without needing to tap a button. The feature supports free-flowing discussions, even running in the background or when the phone is locked.

Why is this significant? For the longest time, we relied on Siri for answers to questions. With the rise of AI-powered voice from OpenAI’s GPT-4o and now Google Live, the tech world is ushering in a new way of interacting with our devices via voice, beyond mere questions and answers. Real-time voice is rapidly becoming a tool we can use to assist our lives in unique and practical ways.

GOOGLE RELEASES GEMINI-POWERED PIXEL AND OTHER GADGETS 🤳

We are not done with Google yet! 🙌

What’s new? Google has launched its latest Pixel smartphones, equipped with cutting-edge AI capabilities.

What does the phone do? The new Pixel 9 series, featuring models like the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, offers an AI-powered Gemini assistant at your fingertips. The Gemini assistant works within various apps like photos and calendar, and offers unique capabilities such as a feature that enables users to search for information within screenshots as well as Gemini overlay capabilities, which allows Gemini to overlay apps for content generation and Q&A sessions.

What’s the significance? This release comes earlier than expected and also follows Apple’s disappointing announcement that Apple Intelligence will not be initially included in the iPhone 16 and iOS 18 drop this fall. Despite holding less than 1% of the global smartphone market, Google aims to attract users with these AI-driven enhancements. Alongside the new phones, Google announced upgraded AI-powered wearables like the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2, signaling a broader push into AI-powered consumer tech.

ELON MUSK RELEASES GROK-2 🤯

Don’t believe anything you see. 😳

What’s new? Elon Musk’s xAI company has unveiled Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini, two enhanced versions of its Grok chatbot.

What is Grok 2? These new models introduce upgraded performance and image-generation capabilities, allowing users to create and share images directly on the X social platform. The image generation is powered by Black Forest Lab’s new FLUX 1 AI model. xAI describes Grok-2 as a major upgrade from its predecessor, Grok-1.5, offering improved chat, coding, and reasoning features. Grok-2 mini, while smaller, balances speed with quality.

Why are people concerned? Grok’s image generation features, though boasting some incredibly impressive results, have exhibited a lack of safeguards, leading to some dangerously deceptive images. Early examples of Grok-generated images, featuring controversial content, have raised alarms about the potential for spreading misinformation, especially in the political arena (above). It’s reasonable to expect safeguards to be put in place as the model’s release progresses.

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