Microsoft frees Phi-4 💻, Google's daily pods 🎧, SK Telecom targets US 🚀

💻 Microsoft's Phi-4 model goes open-source on Hugging Face

🔑 Key takeaways:

Microsoft releases its small but powerful Phi-4 model with 14 billion parameters as open-source.
Open-sourcing includes downloadable weights, fostering adaptation and customization by others.
The release encourages widespread experimentation and deployment under a permissive MIT License.

The Rede on this: By making the Phi-4 model open-source, Microsoft is advancing AI accessibility and innovation, empowering developers and researchers to leverage its capabilities beyond Microsoft's platforms. This move signals a growing trend towards transparency and collaborative advancements in AI development.

Explore more: Microsoft makes powerful Phi-4 model fully open-source on Hugging Face (venturebeat.com)

🎧 Google's AI brings personalized podcasts to your Discover feed

🔑 Key takeaways:

Google is testing "Daily Listen," a feature that uses AI to create podcast-style summaries in your Discover feed.
These brief audio summaries are generated based on topics and stories you follow, available through Search Labs on Android and iOS.
While these are helpful summaries, Google advises users to treat them as a supplementary tool, acknowledging potential AI errors.

The Rede on this: Google's "Daily Listen" offers a convenient way to engage with news content on the go by providing personalized, AI-curated audio recaps. This innovation aligns with the growing trend of audio content consumption, catering to users who prefer listening over reading. However, as AI technology is used to compile these episodes, users should remain aware of potential inaccuracies.

Explore more: Google's 'Daily Listen' AI generates customized mini podcasts (mashable.com)

🚀 SK Telecom Launches Life-Managing AI Aster in North America

🔑 Key takeaways:

SK Telecom is launching Aster, its AI-powered personal agent, targeting North American markets.
The agent, debuting in beta, is designed to assist in daily tasks, boosting productivity and simplifying decision-making.
It partners with Perplexity for conversational search, enhancing Aster's life-management functionalities.

The Rede on this: With its sights set on North America, SK Telecom's Aster aims to revolutionize how users manage daily routines through AI advancements. This move signifies the growing trend of integrating smarter personal assistants in our lives to increase efficiency and personalization.

Explore more: SK Telecom to launch beta service for AI agent Aster in North America (theinvestor.co.kr)

🎬 Adobe's TransPixar transforms visual effects with AI

🔑 Key takeaways:

TransPixar is a cutting-edge AI system for VFX that can handle smoke and reflections.
It excels in creating transparent effects with high quality, addressing RGBA video challenges.
The system uses a novel approach to extend existing models, needing less training data.

The Rede on this: Adobe's TransPixar is a game-changer for the VFX industry, offering a streamlined method to produce transparent visual effects. This development is crucial as demand rises in entertainment and gaming, promising to enhance production quality and efficiency significantly.

Explore more: Smoke, reflections and portals: Adobe’s TransPixar takes AI VFX to the next level (venturebeat.com)