Instant messaging and VoIP social platform Discord is experimenting with a feature that requires some users to verify their age by scanning their face or a photo ID. The technique is being implemented in Australia and the United Kingdom, where recently passed laws seek to crack down on minors accessing potentially harmful online content. The safeguard applies only to users who haven’t previously verified their age on the chat platform. Discord says age verification aims “to help users manage content filter settings and sensitive content visibility,” explaining it is a one-time process that can be completed when users first adjust their settings. Read more

OpenAI has released two new AI models that use images as part of their reasoning process, “thinking with images.” OpenAI o3 and o4-mini “are the smartest models we’ve released to date, representing a step change in ChatGPT’s capabilities for everyone from curious users to advanced researchers,” the company says. The new entries in the “o” series also have agentic capabilities and can independently “use and combine every tool within ChatGPT, including searching the web, analyzing uploaded files and other data with Python, reasoning deeply about visual inputs, and even generating images.” Read more

Adobe has taken a stake in business avatar firm Synthesia, which creates clones for corporate videos using generative AI. The investment of an undisclosed sum through Adobe Ventures was interpreted by one media outlet as a bet that the UK startup’s technology “will transform video production.” Adobe couched the move as a strategic alliance. The investment became public along with Synthesia’s announcement that it surpassed the $100 million mark for what the privately held company says qualifies as recurring annual revenue. Nvidia is also an investor. Read more

Agentic AI company Moveworks has opened an AI Agent Marketplace that launches with more than 100 pre-built agents, enabling users to discover, install, and deploy AI assistants that automate business processes. Agentic AI is booming, as businesses seek to offload tasks from human workers to software. To support that, new companies and existing ones have started providing pre-built agents that are more convenient than building them from scratch. “What once took weeks to build can now be installed and deployed in mere minutes,” Moveworks says, touting its library offerings. Read more

Anthropic has upgraded its AI assistant Claude, adding Research, an autonomous capability that integrates with Google Workspace. Claude can now search and reference content in Google Docs as well as communications in Gmail and events in Calendar. “With Research, Claude can search across both your internal work context and the web to help you make decisions and take action faster than before,” Anthropic explains, turning the model into a “true virtual collaborator” for enterprise clients. The expansion puts Anthropic into more direct competition with OpenAI and Microsoft as well as Google with Gemini in the AI productivity space. Read more