Microsoft is gearing up to launch a groundbreaking computer control feature within their Microsoft Copilot Studio. Although not yet available, the company plans to showcase this exciting new capability in more detail during the upcoming Microsoft Build event next month.

This new feature will tap into OpenAI's advanced computer control capabilities, allowing Copilot to directly interact with your computer and perform tasks on your behalf. This represents a significant step forward in AI-powered hands-on assistance, empowering users to leverage the full potential of their digital tools.

If you're eager to be among the first to try this innovative feature, you can sign up for the early access program by visiting the official announcement page. This will give you the opportunity to become a tester and experience the power of Copilot's computer control capabilities firsthand.

Google has recently launched Gemini 2.5 Flash, a lighter and faster version of their popular Gemini 2.5 Pro language model. This new model offers developers and users a versatile option with the ability to toggle its reasoning capabilities on or off.

When reasoning is turned off, Gemini 2.5 Flash provides a faster and more responsive experience, making it ideal for applications that prioritize speed. However, when reasoning is enabled, the model becomes comparable to more advanced models like GPT-4 Mini or DeepSeek R1, offering more thoughtful and nuanced responses.

In terms of performance, Gemini 2.5 Flash holds its own in a variety of tasks, including science, math, coding, and visual reasoning. In head-to-head comparisons, such as LM Arena blind tests, the model has outperformed competitors like Claude 3.7, Sonnet Gro 2, and 03 Mini, all while being more affordable when reasoning is turned off.

Developers can try out Gemini 2.5 Flash and other Gemini models for free on the Google AI Studio platform. The platform provides access to a range of tools, including structured output code execution, function calling, and Google search grounding, allowing users to explore the full capabilities of these language models.

Overall, Gemini 2.5 Flash represents a significant advancement in Google's language modeling efforts, offering developers and users a versatile and powerful tool that can be tailored to their specific needs.

Google's Dolphin Gemma is a groundbreaking large language model designed to help scientists understand and decode dolphin communication. This open-source AI model is a major leap towards potential interspecies communication, blending marine biology and advanced AI.

Dolphin Gemma is a foundational model trained to learn the structure of dolphin vocalizations and even generate new dolphin-like sound sequences. Unlike Google's closed-source Gemini models, Gemma is open and available for researchers and developers to experiment with, build upon, and improve.

This open-source approach means anyone in the field can potentially use Dolphin Gemma to push the boundaries of how we understand and connect with the animal world. Researchers can leverage Gemma to decode the complex patterns and meanings behind dolphin sounds, opening up new avenues for interspecies communication and collaboration.

The availability of Dolphin Gemma as an open-source model is a significant step forward, allowing the scientific community to collectively advance our knowledge and understanding of dolphin language and cognition. This groundbreaking project demonstrates Google's commitment to supporting scientific research and fostering innovation in the field of animal communication.

Google has expanded the reach of their V2 video generation model, making it available on more platforms, including Gemini and Whisk. If you're a Gemini Advanced user, you now have access to the V2 option, which allows you to generate videos directly within the chat interface.

The process is straightforward - simply type in your prompt, and the model will generate and display the video inline with your conversation. While the current implementation is text-to-video only, without an image input feature, the potential for future enhancements, such as editing or refining elements of the generated videos, is promising.

For developers, the V2 model is now available through the Gemini API, enabling you to integrate it into your own tools and workflows. This opens up new possibilities for creating and incorporating AI-generated video content into a wide range of applications.

Overall, the expansion of Google's V2 video generation model represents a significant step forward in the capabilities of AI-powered video creation, offering users and developers alike new opportunities to explore the potential of this technology.

Google has announced that college students in the U.S. can now access Gemini Advanced, including features like Notebook LM, LM Plus, and 2 TB of storage, completely free for this school year and the next. This is a great opportunity for students looking to leverage Google's powerful AI tools for their academic and personal projects.

Gemini Advanced offers a range of advanced capabilities, including the ability to generate text, code, and even videos directly within the chat interface. With the addition of the V2 video generation model, students can now create videos by simply typing in their prompts, without the need for any additional software or expertise.

The free access to Gemini Advanced also includes the Notebook LM and LM Plus features, which provide students with a more structured and collaborative environment for working with large language models. These tools can be particularly useful for tasks such as research, analysis, and project planning.

To take advantage of this offer, eligible students can sign up for Gemini Advanced through the official Google AI Studio platform. This is a fantastic chance for students to explore the cutting-edge capabilities of AI and incorporate them into their academic and personal pursuits.

Anthropic's Claude AI assistant has recently received a solid update, introducing a new research feature and Google Workspace integration. The research tool taps directly into your Google services, allowing Claude to search your Gmail, calendar, Google Drive, and the web to gather relevant information and assist with tasks like planning a trip. In the demo, Claude is shown scanning emails, calendar events, and Drive files, then pulling all the information together into a cohesive response, providing a powerful productivity boost.

However, it's important to note that this research feature is currently in early beta and is only available to users on the Max team and enterprise plans. Users on the $20 per month tier will not have access to this feature just yet.

On the other hand, the Google Workspace integrations are available to all paid users, even those on the lower-tier plans. Users can find a "Connect Apps" button inside Claude, where they can link up Gmail, Calendar, Drive, GitHub, and more, further enhancing their productivity by seamlessly integrating Claude within the Google ecosystem.

Additionally, Anthropic is also working on introducing a voice mode for Claude, according to a recent Bloomberg report. This feature is expected to launch later this month, starting with a limited rollout, most likely to Max plan users first, before eventually expanding to everyone else. The addition of a voice mode will make Claude one of the last major AI players to offer this capability.

Grock from Z and I has dropped a couple of noteworthy updates this week. First up is Gro Studio, a new interface that introduces code execution and Google Drive support. If you've used OpenAI's Canvas, this will feel familiar. It shifts the chat to the left and opens a working panel on the right. You can now prompt Gro to create documents, reports, code, and even browser games. For example, if you ask it to create a snake game, it opens up a code editor, writes the code, and then auto-switches to a live preview mode so you can immediately play the game, all from a single prompt.

The second major update is memory support. Similar to OpenAI's recent memory rollout, Grock can now remember past conversations, allowing it to offer more personalized responses over time. The memory is fully transparent, and you can see exactly what Grock has remembered about you and choose to delete or edit that information at any time. This feature is currently in beta and available at grock.com.

Both Gro Studio and the new memory feature are live now if you want to try them out.

Cling 2.0 represents a significant leap forward in video generation technology. The headline feature, "multimodal visual language," allows users to express complex creative ideas by combining text prompts with images and video clips. This feature provides users with unprecedented control and enables richer storytelling.

Compared to Cling 1.6, the 2.0 Zero model showcases remarkable improvements in various areas. Action tracking has been massively enhanced, enabling seamless transitions, such as a character going from a smile to slamming a table in anger. The camera movements are now smoother, with the ability to follow objects like a bee through the air. The sequential logic has also been improved, resulting in more realistic progressions, like an apple falling naturally.

The visual quality of the generated content is cinematic, with lifelike motion and dramatic expressions that feel incredibly real. The example videos shared on social media are truly jaw-dropping, showcasing the model's capabilities in creating scenes like a fighter jet flying through various angles, a visually stunning desert backdrop with Native Americans on horseback, and a hilarious Titanic spoof.

One of the standout features of Cling 2.0 is the actor swapping functionality. Users can now replace any actor in a film scene, seamlessly integrating the new actor with realistic facial expressions and emotional nuance.

Overall, Cling 2.0 is shaping up to be one of the most advanced text-to-video models available today, blending creativity with high precision. The model's ability to capture emotional depth and generate visually stunning content is truly remarkable.

Arcads.ai introduces a fascinating new tool that allows you to control digital avatars with gesture-driven emotions. With this platform, you can prompt avatars to express specific emotions, such as crying, laughing, celebrating, showing surprise, and more. The demos showcased by Arcads.ai are quite compelling, featuring AI-generated avatars displaying natural emotional responses.

The key aspect of this tool is that the emotions are not recorded or animated manually, but rather generated entirely through AI. This opens up new possibilities for creating dynamic, emotion-driven content. However, it's important to note that the avatars are based on real human images, which means there is an ethical and creative responsibility in how the tool is used.

While the technology looks promising, the pricing structure may be a deterrent for some users. The lowest tier starts at $110 per month for just 10 videos, and there is no free trial or single test video available. This can be frustrating for those who want to try the tool before committing to a subscription.

Overall, Arcads.ai's gesture-controlled AI avatars present an intriguing development in the world of emotion-driven content creation. If you're interested in exploring this tool further, it may be worth considering the potential benefits and limitations before making a decision.