- The Rundown AI
- Posts
- Apple's newest AI features
Sign Up | Advertise | Podcast | AI University
Welcome, AI enthusiasts.
Apple just unveiled its first set of long-awaited AI features — but if you were expecting a groundbreaking shift, you might need to wait a bit longer.
Is this initial Apple Intelligence rollout just an appetizer for what’s to come, or is the company’s AI hype about to fizzle? Let’s get into it…
In today’s AI rundown:
Apple unveils first wave of Apple Intelligence features
Meta builds AI Google Search rival
Create AI-powered study sessions
UMG, Klay Vision partner on ‘ethical’ AI music model
6 new AI tools & 4 new AI jobs
More AI & tech news
Read time: 4 minutes
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
APPLE
Image source: Apple
The Rundown: Apple just officially launched its highly-anticipated AI system, Apple Intelligence, with the latest iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates — introducing a suite of new features focused on productivity, creativity, and privacy enhancements.
The details:
The initial release brings systemwide writing tools for rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text, as well as enhanced photo search capabilities.
A redesigned Siri features new typing support, better context understanding, and upgraded product knowledge to answer questions about Apple devices.
Only newer devices with the M1 / A17 Pro chips or later can access the AI features, with some users also facing a waitlist system after opting in.
The next update, expected in December, will include more advanced features like ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and Genmoji.
Why it matters: The long-awaited Apple Intelligence is finally here… sort of. This first wave of integrations is a far cry from the hyped AI phone revolution expected with the new iPhones. While substantial features should arrive in only another month, this initial release feels much more like a soft launch than a revolutionary upgrade.
TOGETHER WITH SONAR
The Rundown: Sonar complements your AI coding assistants by improving the quality and security of every AI-generated line of code — allowing you to boost productivity while maintaining high standards.
Sonar allows you to:
Accelerate development cycles with AI-generated code
Ensure quality and security standards are met, reducing rework
Gain peace of mind through comprehensive code reviews
META
Image source: Midjourney
The Rundown: Meta is reportedly developing its own AI-powered search engine, hoping to reduce its dependence on Google and Bing to power real-time information in Meta AI conversations.
The details:
Meta is developing proprietary web crawling tech to power its AI’s real-time knowledge of current events and web info without relying on competitors.
Internal teams have reportedly been quietly building the search infrastructure since early 2024.
Meta also recently partnered with Reuters for news content, suggesting a broader strategy to control its AI information sources.
The development comes as Meta AI reaches 185M weekly active users across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Why it matters: The AI race is turning to a new battleground — search. With Meta’s quest (🥁) to build a self-sufficient AI ecosystem and tech giants increasingly viewing AI as their core business, the race for search independence could spark new competition in how the top models access and deliver real-time info.
AI TRAINING
The Rundown: NotebookLM's new customizable Audio Overview feature lets you transform your study materials into specific discussions between AI hosts, making exam preparation more efficient and enjoyable.
Step-by-step:
Create a new notebook in NotebookLM and upload your study materials (PDFs, notes, slides).
Find the Audio Overview feature and click the customize icon.
Enter a detailed prompt, e.g., "Create a [topic] exam review focusing on [subjects]. Explain as if teaching a new student, include memory tricks and potential exam questions."
Generate and listen to your personalized study session, taking notes as you go.
Pro tip: Use the chat feature to ask follow-up questions and reinforce your learning.
PRESENTED BY IBM
The Rundown: Meet IBM’s new third generation of Granite with new open, compact, and efficient 2B and 8B language models.
Designed to give enterprises more ways to embed and scale AI in their businesses, these new 2B and 8B compact models are:
Trained with carefully curated data;
Cost-efficient;
Designed to run high-performance solutions.;
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
Image source: Ideogram
The Rundown: Music industry giant Universal Music Group is partnering with AI startup Klay Vision to develop an ethical AI music generator, which comes as the company still actively fights lawsuits filed against Suno, Udio, and Anthropic.
The details:
The partnership aims to create AI music models that ‘lessen the threat to human creators’ and open ‘new avenues for creativity and future monetization.’
Klay Vision is actively working on a Large Music Model called KLayMM for commercial use that respects copyright and artist likeness rights.
Klay Vision is led by former Sony Music and Google DeepMind execs, with the partnership following past AI deals with YouTube's AI Incubator and SoundLabs.
The deal comes as UMG continues legal action against AI companies like Anthropic, Suno, and Udio for alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted material.
Why it matters: The music industry's largest label is taking a ‘control the narrative’ approach to AI, partnering with those willing to play by its rules and aggressively pursuing those who don't. But Hollywood and media firms have accepted that AI isn’t just a passing fad and are now quickly re-positioning for the new era of creation.
NEW TOOLS & JOBS
⚙️ APIPark - Open-source AI gateway to easily manage, integrate, and deploy AI services
🐝 SwarmStack - AI agent for product planning with tailored recommendations to take your idea to market efficiently
🗣️ Canonical AI - Improve voice agents with audio metrics, conversational metrics, and caller journeys
📚 ReadKidz - One-stop AI multimedia children’s story creation platform
🧠 Chat2DB - Write SQL and analyze data with AI
🚀 Palantir Technologies - Deployment Strategist
🧩 Cohere - Senior Annotation Operations Lead (Modeling)
💼 Superannotate - Vice President of Sales
🎨 Imbue - Product Designer
QUICK HITS
A new mysterious ‘red_panda’ model surged to the top of the Artificial Analysis Text-to-Image Arena Leaderboard, beating out models like Flux, Ideogram, and Midjourney.
AI startup Sierra raised $175M, with OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor’s customer service chatbot company now valued at $4.5B just a year after its launch.
Google announced the expansion of its AI Overviews in Search to over 100 countries and more languages, aiming to reach more than 1B users each month.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar revealed that 75% of the company's revenue comes from paying ChatGPT subscribers, with a 5–6% conversion rate from free users and 250M weekly active users.
xAI’s Grok chatbot gained new vision capabilities, with Elon Musk sharing an example of the AI model breaking down a joke after being given a meme as input.
Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA signed a deal with AI company Ethovox to build a foundational voice model for digital replicas, ensuring performer compensation through session fees and revenue sharing.
THAT’S A WRAP
That's it for today!Before you go we’d love to know what you thought of today's newsletter to help us improve The Rundown experience for you. |
See you soon,
Reply