By
Paula ParisiAugust 11, 2025
OpenAI is rolling a new foundation model, GPT-5, via API for developers and enterprise users in three branded sizes — gpt-5, gpt-5-mini and gpt-5-nano — “to give developers more flexibility to trade off performance, cost, and latency.” The company said Thursday that it is also making GPT‑5 available to all ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team and Free tier users. Enterprise and Education tier users are promised access this week. While GPT‑5 in the API platform is the reasoning model that powers maximum performance in ChatGPT, “GPT‑5 in ChatGPT is a system of reasoning, non-reasoning, and router models,” OpenAI explains. Continue reading OpenAI Announces Launch of GPT-5 Model Across All Tiers
By
Paula ParisiAugust 11, 2025
Meta Platforms has launched a war against scammers who have infiltrated its popular messaging service WhatsApp, reportedly taking down more than 6.8 million accounts on the platform and adding features to help people identify fraudulent schemes in group and individual chats. Meta claims the scams go far beyond WhatsApp, involving crime syndicates linked to known fraud communities around the world. These criminal scam centers commonly use forced labor to target people across multiple apps, commonly disrupting WhatsApp, the mobile SMS tree that underpins private text messaging, as well as users of ChatGPT, TikTok, Telegram and blockchain. Continue reading WhatsApp Deletes Scam Accounts and Adds Safety Features
By
Paula ParisiAugust 8, 2025
Feed is a new social platform featured within the Character.AI mobile app, which launched in 2023 and now has more than 20 million active users worldwide. Described as “TikTok-meets-ChatGPT,” the AI-native Feed is populated by AI-generated avatars, called Characters, created by the platform’s subscribers using the company’s tools. Characters can post AI-generated content, including videos, viewed in a scrollable format that invites familiar interactions like sharing, comments, follows and likes. What sets Feed apart, Character.AI says, is its vibe of a “remix playground,” as opposed to the “passive consumption” approach typical of conventional social platforms. Continue reading Character.AI Launches AI-First Social Platform Named ‘Feed’
By
Paula ParisiAugust 6, 2025
OpenAI has reportedly secured another $8.3 billion in funding, for a valuation of $300 billion. The new investment is a major coup for the firm, coming months ahead of schedule in its plan to secure $40 billion in funding by the end of the year. The company previously secured a $30 billion commitment from SoftBank if certain goals are achieved by the start of 2026. The funding news comes as ChatGPT is close to reaching 700 million weekly active users, including a significant jump in new users over the last several months. The company has also experienced an increase in paying subscribers as more enterprises and educators turn to AI. Continue reading OpenAI Raises $8.3B as ChatGPT Nears 700M Weekly Users
By
Paula ParisiJuly 25, 2025
Alphabet reported a 14 percent year-over-year revenue increase to $96.4 billion, propelled largely by growth in the Google Cloud and Google Search divisions. Artificial intelligence had a significant impact across the board, including in spending. Capital expenditure is expected to be roughly $85 billion in 2025, compared to $52.5 billion in 2024. Google Cloud generated $13.6 billion in Q2, up 32 percent from the same period last year. Advertising sales totaled $71.3 billion for the quarter, a 10.4 percent improvement from the year earlier frame. Google Search, which is integral to advertising sales, was up 11.7 percent. Continue reading Q2 Revenue Hits $96B as Google Invests in AI Search, Models
By
Paula ParisiJuly 23, 2025
An increasing number of teens are experimenting with AI companions like chatbots for advice and sometimes even for friendship, according to a new study from Common Sense Media. The survey found that 72 percent of U.S. teens have interacted with a personal, as opposed to a productivity, chatbot at least once. The inquiry characterized either personal AI, or chatbots with recreational settings, as “companions.” Exploring the use of artificial intelligence by children ages 13 to 17 revealed that of the nearly three-quarters who had tried an AI companion, more than half — 52 percent — identified as regular users. Continue reading Study Finds Teens Are Increasingly Turning to AI Companions
By
Paula ParisiJuly 18, 2025
OpenAI is adding Google Cloud to its list of global infrastructure providers for ChatGPT after relying exclusively on Microsoft Azure since the chatbot’s 2022 launch until January 2025 when Stargate was announced. Oracle and CoreWeave are also OpenAI cloud providers. Oracle is a Stargate investor, as is Nvidia, which holds a minority interest in CoreWeave. OpenAI has been active as it heads toward a December deadline for transitioning to a for-profit company. Meanwhile, ChatGPT is integrating a payment system to receive commissions on sales it initiates, and yesterday OpenAI launched a new AI agent that can perform complex tasks within a user’s browser. Continue reading OpenAI Contracts Google Cloud and Debuts ChatGPT Agent
By
Paula ParisiJuly 2, 2025
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has released a new multimodal model called Qwen VLo that can understand and generate images. Available for free in preview through Qwen Chat, it can use image or text prompts to generate pictures, and accepts text in multiple languages, including Chinese and English. It can also edit, change backgrounds and switch styles, handling multiple image edits in sequence. An upgrade over January’s Qwen 2.5-VL release, Qwen VLo uses progressive generation, allowing users to see the image creation in progress, and Alibaba says it’s particularly good at making inline adjustments to fine-tune images. Continue reading Alibaba’s Qwen VLo Generative AI Shows Images in Progress
By
Paula ParisiJune 25, 2025
Google has launched Search Live with voice-input, a two-way conversational query function for exploring online resources. Presently available via the Google app for Android and iOS to U.S. users enrolled in Google Labs’ AI Mode experiment, Search Live is designed to handle complex, multi-part questions. Google suggests the new feature is “perfect for when you’re on the go or multitasking, like if you’re packing for a trip.” The discursive voice feature follows Google’s general rollout of AI Mode, recently launched to compete against products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search and Perplexity AI. Continue reading Google Search Live Features Conversational Voice Capability
By
Paula ParisiJune 25, 2025
Investment firm Goldman Sachs just implemented an AI assistant framework for employees across its entire workforce of about 46,000, marking what the bank says is a major technological leap forward for its global operations. The conversational GS AI Assistant includes a developer copilot for coding, translation tools and a nascent “Banker Copilot” aimed at streamlining investment banker workflows. The conversational GS AI Assistant also lets workers interact with large language models including ChatGPT and Gemini within the firewalled parameters of Goldman’s secure compliance software. The rollout comes after a year of pilot testing involving more than 10,000 employees. Continue reading Goldman Sachs Launches an AI Assistant for Its Employees
By
Paula ParisiJune 24, 2025
The redesigned Firefly AI app Adobe released in April with third-party model support is now available on iOS and Android. Text-to-video and background editing are among the features included in the new mobile package, which Adobe claims will help users capture inspiration as it strikes with “the freedom to generate images and videos wherever you are.” Adobe says those of all skill levels will be able to use the app, which was designed “to complement the ways we already interact with our phones.” The company is also rolling out its AI-powered online moodboard creator — Firefly Boards — in public beta, now with video functionality. Continue reading Adobe Unveils Firefly Generative AI App for iOS and Android
By
Paula ParisiJune 13, 2025
Snap Inc. announced it will launch a “lightweight, immersible” consumer line of AR smart glasses called “Specs” in 2006 (breaking from its “Spectacles” branding). Announcing the sixth-generation of its glasses at the Augmented World Expo conference this week, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said the eyewear offers “an ultra-powerful wearable computer integrated into a lightweight pair of glasses with see-thru lenses.” Spiegel explained the glasses will be untethered, which suggests they may be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 chip, also announced at AWE. Coming a decade after Snap’s first attempt at consumer AR glasses, Specs leverage a $3 billion investment in 11 years of R&D. Continue reading Snap to Launch Specs Consumer Smart Glasses Line in 2026
By
Paula ParisiJune 11, 2025
Determined to rebound from the Llama 4 Behemoth delay, Meta Platforms is swinging for the fences in its artificial intelligence efforts, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally supervising creation of a new AI lab focused on superintelligence. Meta has reportedly reached a deal to pay up to $15 billion for a stake in a startup called Scale AI that would bring its 28-year-old co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang in-house to lead the effort. Other leading Scale AI staff would also come aboard, and Meta is said to be recruiting researchers from OpenAI and Google by dangling “seven- to nine-figure compensation packages,” reports indicate. Continue reading Meta Said to Be Planning Major Push into AI Superintelligence
By
Paula ParisiJune 10, 2025
At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled new features for Apple Intelligence including upgrades to Genmoji and Image Playground arriving with iOS 26 and other updated operating systems. Apple integrated ChatGPT into its Image Playground, allowing for the creation of generative AI images within the feature. In Messages, Image Playground will be able to generate new backgrounds for group chats. Apple is also adding live translation to its Phone app, as well as Messages and FaceTime. On audio-only calls, Apple Intelligence will generate a real-time voiced translation, while FaceTime will display live captions. Apple Intelligence updates span the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. Continue reading WWDC: Apple Intelligence Gets Updates, iOS 26 Is Unpacked
By
Paula ParisiJune 9, 2025
Chatbot platform Character.AI is rolling out its video generator, AvatarFX, in general release after a month in closed beta. It’s also adding a sharing feature called Scenes and Streams that will serve content to Character.AI’s community feed, coming soon to mobile. Users can now tap AvatarFX to create up to five videos per day, starting by uploading a photo, choosing a voice and writing dialogue for the character. Character.AI started as 1:1 text chat in the summer of 2023. Now the company is “expanding into a multi-modal world” with “more ways for creators to build immersive narratives and dynamic experiences.” Continue reading Character.AI Goes Wide with AvatarFX, Adds Mobile Features