AI

Rabbit has announced rabbitOS 2, a brand new operating system update for its r1 AI companion device, redesigning the interface and expanding its AI features.

The update, released today, brings a colorful card-based layout and a new system called creations that lets users build tools, games, and experiences directly on the device by talking to it.

There is much to get frustrated about in relation to AI, not least of which is that there are so many AI tools to choose from. But there is also the fact that each AI app and service has its own limitations, and it can be difficult – or impossible – to know what these limits are until you hit them.

It has been this way with Google Gemini. Google has, until now, been a little fuzzy when it comes to telling users about limits. Being told that the company “may have to cap how much you can use some features” is not very helpful, certainly not very specific. But now Google has published much more detailed information to help users know where they stand.

Timekettle has launched the W4 AI Interpreter Earbuds which combine bone-conduction voice sensors with AI translation models to provide near real-time multilingual communication.

The W4’s bone-voiceprint sensor filters out background sounds, improving clarity in crowded or noisy settings and cuts audio leakage, offering more privacy.

Truecaller has announced an AI-powered expansion of its caller ID service, aiming to reveal not only who is on the other end of the line, but also why they are phoning you.

The company says the new feature brings real-time context to incoming calls, with the goal of reducing uncertainty for its 450 million global users. The update comes as scam calls and fraud attempts continue to skyrocket worldwide.

The inescapability of AI continues, and Meta is at the forefront. WhatsApp has already liberally coated itself in features driven by artificial intelligence, and now there are more.

This time around, things are fairly innocuous. The chat platform has now added the option of using AI backgrounds within video chats.

Alibaba has released a new open-source speech-to-video model capable of generating animated digital humans from a single portrait and an audio clip. The tool is aimed at content creators and researchers who are looking for a way to produce lifelike avatars capable of speaking, singing, or performing.

The Wan2.2-S2V release builds on Alibaba’s Wan2.2 video generation series. By becoming open-source, the company is offering developers a system that can animate portraits across different perspectives including close-up, bust, and full-body shots.

Nearly 40 percent of organizations admit they are underprepared for AI-driven threats such as automated attacks, deepfake-based videos, and voice scams, according to new research from LevelBlue.

The new findings show that while awareness of these dangers is growing, many companies remain vulnerable and lack confidence in their ability to defend against them.

LinkedIn says professionals are turning to their colleagues and personal contacts for advice at work, not search engines or AI tools.

New global research released by the company suggests 43 percent of workers rank personal networks above other options when they need clarity, with two-thirds saying that peers help them make decisions more confidently.

Elon Musk ‘s xAI startup is suing both OpenAI and Apple for alleged anticompetitive behavior relating to artificial intelligence.

Musk is focusing on these two firms because of the partnership and collaborative arrangements that exist between them. OpenAI has an agreement with Apple to integrate its ChatGPT tool into iOS and macOS. This is something that troubles xAI.

Many people turn to AI to improve their writing, their photos, or their videos. YouTube has been doing the same, quietly enhancing the look of users’ uploaded videos through the use of artificial intelligence.

So, what is the problem? Many creators are upset not so much that their videos have been “enhanced” (although there is debate over whether what YouTube has done can actually be seen as an improvement) but that it was done without consent.

Cloudflare has launched new Zero Trust tools in its Cloudflare One platform to help businesses adopt artificial intelligence securely at scale. The features aim to give organizations better visibility into how AI is used, as well as protection from unapproved applications, and controls to safeguard sensitive data, all within a centralized system that can support distributed teams.

Generative AI is now being used by employees across departments, from finance to design, to speed up tasks and create new applications. While this can, and does, help improve efficiency, adoption often happens without security oversight.

The head and co-founder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, entered into discussions aimed at striking a deal to bring ChatGPT Plus to everyone in the UK at no cost to end users.

In a meeting between the UK’s technology secretary Peter Kyle and Altman, there was talk of granting UK residents access to a more advanced tier of ChatGPT as standard. The deal – while not definitely dead in the water – appears to have stalled, but the idea is an extremely interesting one.

Many of the concerns about artificial intelligence can be overcome through transparency. And it is in the name of transparency that Elon Musk has announced the open sourcing of its Grok 2.5 model.

More than this, the AI firm will also make the Grok 3 model open source is around six months.

Rokid will unveil its newest wearable, the Rokid Glasses, at a launch event in New York City on August 26. The company says the device is the world’s lightest full-function AI and AR smart glasses, combining translation, navigation, transcription, and a first-person camera in an everyday design.

The glasses run on Qualcomm’s AR1 platform and include features such as real-time multilingual translation, live transcription, a teleprompter function, and object recognition. Rokid is also building around a developer ecosystem that already counts more than 15,000 developers in China, with plans to expand internationally.

There is nothing that technology companies will not try to enhance with AI. Google is no stranger to this with Gemini, and the company has announced an AI-powered fitness coach for the Fitbit platform.

But this is more than just a fitness coach. Google describes it as a “a fitness trainer, a sleep coach and a health and wellness advisor” all rolled into one. The aim is to be the AI coach that is suitable for everyone, so what can it do?