OpenAI Drops $6.5B on Jony Ive’s “io” as Kurzweil’s Humanoids Hunt for Startup Cash

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Date: 25-May-2025

Hey AI enthusiast,

And just when you think you’ve seen it all…there’s always One More Thing in AI.

In this edition:

• Google DeepMind’s Gemini Advancements

• 🚀 Amazon’s AI Voiceovers: Shopping Just Got a Sou …

• AED 25k for UAE Business owners

• Ray Kurzweil’s Robot Startup Aims for $100M Boost

• Build Web Apps Without Code Using Hostinger Horizo …

• Elton John Calls Out UK Government Over AI Copyrig …

• More News scoured from X.com

  • OpenAI acquires Jony Ive's AI device startup

  • Google launches Flow

  • Shopify launches an AI Store Builder

  • Google's Veo 3

  • Help us Grow and Win AED 30 Amazon Gift card

You are going to enjoy reading this power-packed one. I literally had trouble keeping out news items!

Best,

Renjit

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Google DeepMind’s Gemini Advancements

At Google I/O last week, DeepMind showcased Gemini 2.5, which excels in organizing multimodal information, reasoning, and coding. They also introduced Gemini Diffusion, a text diffusion model for improved coding and math tasks, and SynthID Detector, a tool to identify AI-generated content from Google’s tools

So, what’s a Diffusion Model?
A diffusion model is like a magic eraser that turns a noisy, messy blob into a clear, awesome picture (or sound, or text). It learns how to do this by practicing with lots of examples, like photos or songs, and figuring out how to clean up the mess step by step.

How Does It Work?

Start with a Picture: Imagine a clear picture, like a photo of a cat.

Add Scribbles (Noise): The computer slowly adds random scribbles to the picture until it’s just a blurry mess, like static on an old TV. This is called the "forward process."

Learn to Erase Scribbles: The computer practices taking that messy, scribbly picture and erasing the scribbles step by step until it gets back to a clear cat picture. This is the "reverse process."

Make New Pictures: Once it’s good at erasing scribbles, the computer can start with a random messy blob and turn it into a brand-new picture of a cat (or anything else) that looks real!

Why Are They Cool?

Lots of Uses: They can make music, create cartoon voices, or more importantly, help scientists design new things like medicines.

Fun Creations: You’ve probably seen AI art online, like cool pictures made from words. Many of those are made by diffusion models!

What’s New?

Back to Google's new Gemini Diffusion: Instead of just making pictures, it’s super good at creating text, like helping with math homework or writing computer code. It’s like a diffusion model that learned to “erase scribbles” from messy text ideas to make clear, smart answers.

The point is that the transformer model was invented at Google, and now the diffusion model is being pushed to do things much faster than the transformer models by them.

🚀 Amazon’s AI Voiceovers: Shopping Just Got a Soundtrack 

Ever wished someone could read product details to you while you’re multitasking? Amazon’s new AI feature does just that.

What’s New:

• Amazon is testing AI-generated audio summaries for select products.

• These summaries feature two AI “hosts” discussing key product features, customer reviews, and online information. (remember our post on NotebookLM?)

• Currently, the feature is available for a limited range of items.

• Users can activate the summaries by tapping the “Hear the highlights” button under the product listing in the Amazon mobile app.

Why It Matters:

• This feature aims to make product research more convenient, especially for those who prefer listening over reading.

• It’s particularly useful for products that require more consideration before purchase.

  Closing Thought: With AI voiceovers, Amazon is turning product pages into mini podcasts, making shopping more accessible and engaging.

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Ray Kurzweil’s Robot Startup Aims for $100M Boost 

Ray Kurzweil, a well-known figure in artificial intelligence, is stepping into the robotics arena with his startup, Beyond Imagination. The company is reportedly seeking a $100 million investment to advance its humanoid robot, the Beyond Bot.

Key Points:

• Beyond Imagination’s Mission: Co-founded by Ray Kurzweil and Harry Kloor, the startup focuses on developing humanoid robots for industrial applications.

• Funding Goals: The company is in talks with Gauntlet Ventures for a $100 million Series B funding round, aiming for a $500 million valuation.

• Beyond Bot’s Capabilities: Designed for use in factories, pharmaceutical plants, and semiconductor manufacturing, the robot is equipped with AI models to perform complex tasks.

• Aura Operating System: Beyond Imagination is also developing Aura, a universal operating system intended to facilitate collaboration between humans, robots, and existing machinery.

So what?

With this potential investment, they are entering a competitive field with many players like Figure, Tesla, Engine and others. Age of the humanoid robots is truly upon us.

Build Web Apps Without Code Using Hostinger Horizons

Got an app idea but no coding skills? Hostinger Horizons lets you build functional web apps just by describing them.

What It Is:
Unlike Hostinger’s website builder for blogs and stores, Horizons creates interactive web apps; think habit trackers, book libraries, or custom dashboards.

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My Take: Their advantage is that they already have hosting and deployment built-in. Much like Replit does. They are entering the vibe coding space where Cursor, Lovable, Replit and others play and play well, so it is not going to be an easy ride!

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Elton John Calls Out UK Government Over AI Copyright Plans

Elton John is voicing strong opposition to the UK government’s proposed changes to copyright laws, which could allow AI companies to use copyrighted material without permission.

Key Points:

• Elton John criticized the UK government’s proposal, calling officials “absolute losers” for considering rules that could let AI firms use copyrighted work without creator consent.
• He described the potential changes as a “criminal offence” and expressed concern over the impact on young artists’ income and legacy.
• The controversy arises as the government reviews options, including maintaining the status quo, requiring licenses, or allowing unrestricted AI access unless creators opt out.

So what? The debate highlights the tension between technological advancement and protecting the rights of content creators, with Elton John leading the charge for stronger safeguards, atleast in the UK.

More News scoured from X.com

1. OpenAI acquires Jony Ive's AI device startup “io” for $6.5 billion, their biggest acquisition ever.

2. Google launches Flow, an AI filmmaking tool that combines Veo, Imagen, and Gemini models.

3. Shopify launches an AI Store Builder that creates full e-commerce sites from simple prompts

4. Google's Veo 3 ends the “silent era” of AI video, it’s the first model creating synchronized audio with video.