OpenAI's smartest model yet

Good morning, and welcome to a new week of AI updates! Take a deep breath, sip that Starbucks, and let’s get to it.😁 

🤯 MYSTERY AI LINK 🤯

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

🔨 AI FINANCE TOOLS OF THE DAY

📖 SoBrief: Read any book in 10 minutes. → Check it out

🤳 Birdy: Get more followers on social media. → Check it out

🎙️ Shamaze: Tell stories in your own voice. → Check it out

OPENAI RELEASES O3 AND O4-MINI 🤖

There is nothing “fun” about a fun-sized candy bar. But what about fun-sized AI? 🍫

What happened? OpenAI has released two new AI models—o3 and o4-mini. These models significantly improve how ChatGPT thinks, reasons, and solves complex problems using tools like web browsing, Python, and image analysis.

Want the details? The o3 model is OpenAI’s smartest yet, outperforming previous versions on tough benchmarks in coding, math, science, and visual reasoning. It can now decide when and how to use all of ChatGPT’s built-in tools—searching the web, analyzing files, and generating images—to deliver more thoughtful answers. Meanwhile, o4-mini is a faster, more efficient model built for high-volume tasks. Despite being smaller, it performs remarkably well on academic and real-world tasks, especially in math and programming. Both models are also more conversational, making responses clearer and more personalized.

GOOGLE MAKES ADVANCED AI FREE FOR STUDENTS 🙇‍♂️

Newsflash: Google doesn’t care if students use AI to cheat on essays and exams. 🙃

What’s new? Google is offering students free access to powerful AI tools like Gemini Advanced, NotebookLM Plus, and 2 TB of cloud storage through spring 2026 if they sign up before June 30, 2025.

What do students get?

• Gemini Advanced: AI help for studying, brainstorming, and writing.

• Deep Research: In-depth reports and podcast-style summaries on any topic.

• NotebookLM Plus: Turns class notes into study guides, mind maps, and audio overviews.

• Gemini in Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides): Writing help, faster data analysis, and easy presentation building.

• Veo 2: AI that creates detailed 8-second videos from text prompts.

• Whisk: Mix text and images to create and animate new content.

• 2 TB Storage: Plenty of space for projects, media, and personal files.

Why does this matter? OpenAI recently made ChatGPT Plus free for students through May. This mirrored attempt from Google looks to capitalize on the largest demographic of AI users: students. However, most universities have strict guidelines surrounding the use of AI for coursework, which makes these big tech plays all the more interesting and controversial.

NEW STARTUP AIMS TO REPLACE ALL JOBS WITH AI 🦾

Everyone hates their job until AI is about to take it. 🤷‍♂️

What’s going on? AI researcher Tamay Besiroglu launched a new startup called Mechanize, aiming to fully automate all jobs everywhere.

Want the details? Mechanize plans to build the data, testing environments, and evaluations necessary to train AI agents of all kinds. The goal is to automate any job with AI agents, starting with white-collar work. Besiroglu calculated the company’s potential market by totaling all wages paid to human workers: over $60 trillion globally. Supporters argue full automation could drive explosive economic growth, but many worry it could worsen inequality if humans lose traditional sources of income. The launch also quickly triggered controversy because of its radical goal and because Besiroglu also leads Epoch, a respected AI research nonprofit, causing critics to worry that Epoch’s credibility is being compromised. Oh, and one more thing: Mechanize is currently hiring … humans.

MONEY MONDAY 🤑

People are discovering innovative (and sometimes wacky) ways to make money using AI. Check out today’s featured video:

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