Beginners in AI

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Welcome to this week's edition of Beginners in AI, where we explore the latest trends, tools, and news in the world of AI and the tech that surrounds it. Like all editions, this is human curated and published with the intention of making AI news and technology more accessible to everyone. 

This week, Google makes another leap forward with Gemini Live, an AI assistant that listens, sees, and thinks more like a human. Meanwhile, Otter.ai is making meetings smarter with a page of NotebookLM’s voice commands, OpenAI is pushing image generation into photorealistic territory, and Earth AI is literally digging up treasure using predictive algorithms. Microsoft enhances office tools with new Copilot features, and Synthesia starts paying actors in shares to train its AI avatars.

AI TOP STORY
Google Rolls Out ‘Gemini Live’ with Astra’s AI Powers

What Happened:
Google has begun rolling out Gemini Live, a new AI assistant experience powered by Project Astra, the company’s ambitious effort to build real-time, multimodal agents. This upgrade, landing in Android’s Gemini app and available through Google Workspace, gives users a fully conversational voice assistant that sees, hears, and understands context — far beyond what Google Assistant could do.

Key Features:
Gemini Live can interpret what your phone’s camera is seeing, respond to spoken commands without lag, and provide intelligent, live feedback based on what it perceives. The system combines voice recognition, visual analysis, and generative AI in real time. It's designed to support everyday tasks like summarizing emails, analyzing surroundings, and suggesting actions — all with a natural back-and-forth conversation flow.

What to Take Away:
This marks a key moment when AI moves from passive assistants to true, ever present, soon to be all knowing, AI companions. With Astra at its core, Gemini Live will redraw the lines of how we interact with devices — turning phones into proactive problem solvers that know everything Google already knows about us, combined with seeing everything you do in real time. The privacy ramifications are endless. Layer has their Personal Intelligent Assistant, Meta’s Orion glasses will have AI incorporated, Humane’s AI Pin had the right idea with inefficient software. This has the capacity to change not only how we interact with our devices, but also how future humans will think too. Humanity is approaching untrodden territory.

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LAST WEEK IN AI AND TECH

Acting Up – Synthesia Offers Equity to Actors Creating AI Avatars
UK-based AI startup Synthesia, currently valued at 2.1 billion, is now offering actors company shares in exchange for their likeness. These digital avatars, created using the actors’ performances and voices, are used in AI-generated corporate videos and training content. With over 55,000 companies using its tools, Synthesia’s move could help build trust with performers while addressing economic concerns about AI-created personas. It’s part compensation, part collaboration — and could shape how talent is treated in the age of synthetic media. Recently, we looked into Fiver's freelancer revenue royalties plan for its workers who use AI to create copies of themselves in Grok 3 Breaks the AI Mold: Elon Musk’s New Model Never Stops Learning 

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Meeting of the Minds – Otter.ai Adds Voice-Activated Assistant
Otter.ai just launched a voice-activated Meeting Agent that can auto-join Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Now, you can say “Hey Otter, join my meeting” and have the AI take notes and summarize discussions without lifting a finger. It can even answer questions mid-call, like “What did Alex say about the deadline?” This pushes Otter beyond transcription into real-time collaboration, making meetings smarter and less exhausting.

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Copilot Gets Brainier – Microsoft Adds Researcher & Analyst Roles to 365 Copilot
Microsoft is supercharging its 365 Copilot suite with new roles: Researcher and Analyst. As outlined in their blog, Researcher can pull key data and summarize articles or documents, while Analyst crunches numbers in Excel, builds charts, and even explains financial models. These features bring enterprise-level data handling to everyday users — no formulas or manual Googling required.

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Pixel Perfect – OpenAI Adds Photorealism to GPT-4o’s Image Generation
OpenAI is now offering photorealistic image generation directly within GPT-4o. The tool can now create lifelike portraits, objects, and scenes that rival DSLR photography. This levels up creative possibilities for marketers, artists, and developers — and positions OpenAI to compete more directly with tools like Midjourney. It also sets the stage for future integrations in video or AR environments. This type of feature closes the gap between OpenAI and its competitors, bringing it closer to becoming the all-in-one AI app.

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Data Mining, Literally – Earth AI Uncovers Mineral Sites with Predictive AI
Earth AI has confirmed six new mineral prospects — including tungsten, cobalt, and gold — using its proprietary AI exploration tech. Their system analyzes geological patterns and satellite data to predict where valuable resources might lie. This reduces costly fieldwork and fast-tracks discovery, giving mining a digital makeover. It’s AI as a treasure hunter, literally reshaping how we find Earth’s hidden resources.

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TECH TERMS TO KNOW

Multimodal AI can process and respond to more than one kind of input — like text, images, audio, or video — at the same time.

Google’s Gemini Live and Project Astra are examples. These tools “see” through your camera, “hear” your voice, and “understand” your questions — all at once.

TOOL SPOTLIGHT (non-sponsored)

Otter.ai is an AI-powered meeting assistant that automatically records, transcribes, and summarizes conversations in real-time. It serves as a comprehensive note-taking solution that eliminates the need for manual note-taking during meetings, allowing participants to focus on the discussion. And don’t forget the newest feature allowing users to ask questions in natural language, not unlike NotebookLM’s new interactive podcast function.

The service can transcribe:

• Live meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams)

• Audio/video files (supporting formats like MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV)

• In-app voice recordings

• Direct or group messages

ROBOTICS AND AI

A new generation of humanoid robots is strutting closer to reality — literally. Researchers at Figure have developed robots that use brain-inspired control systems to walk with a gait similar to humans. These models use neural networks trained on biomechanics to adapt to uneven terrain, balance like people do, and even adjust stride.

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TRY THIS PROMPT (copy and paste into ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity, Gemini)

Mapping a Mental Landscape

Give me a comprehensive landscape of the field of [insert topic]. What are the main branches or categories? Who are the leading voices or organizations? What are the most controversial or evolving areas right now? Include timelines, major breakthroughs, and where the field is going next.

DID YOU KNOW?

Before DALL·E and Midjourney, Harold Cohen’s AI program “AARON” was already making art — with ink and canvas.

It debuted at the San Francisco Museum of Art, and AARON kept creating for over 40 years!

30 Referrals: Lifetime access to all Beginners in AI videos and courses

AI-ASSISTED ARTWORK OF THE WEEK

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Thank you for reading. We’re all beginners in something. With that in mind, your questions and feedback are always welcome and I read every single email!

-James

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