Mistral AI has released a new family of AI models that it claims will clear the path to seamless conversation between people speaking different languages.On Wednesday, the Paris-based AI lab released two new speech-to-text models: Voxtral Mini Transcribe V2 and Voxtral Realtime. The former is built to transcribe audio files in large batches and the latter for nearly real-time transcription, within 200 milliseconds; both can translate between 13 languages. Voxtral Realtime is freely available under an open source license.At 4 billion parameters, the models are small enough to run locally on a phone or laptop—a first in the speech-to-text field,…
There’s a particular kind of sci-fi nerd who equates fusion tech with utopia. If we could only harness the engine of the stars, it would uncork near limitless energy and neatly sweep away a whole mess of humanity’s problems. But how would that work exactly? What would the transition look…
Well, it’s happened. A robotaxi hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California. It’s not the first case of an autonomous vehicle striking a pedestrian, and it won’t be the last. In this case, a car from Google’s sibling company Waymo was involved in the accident.Waymo is…
As Meta heads to trial in the state of New Mexico for allegedly failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation, the company is making an aggressive push to have certain information excluded from the court proceedings.The company has petitioned the judge to exclude certain research studies and articles around social…
Updated Jan. 28 with more details of what’s in the release, and what’s not. Plus a feature that has come to light since the release of iOS 26.2.1.Apple’s latest iPhone update is not, as had been predicted, iOS 26.3 — though you can read here why I thought it had…
The big AI companies promised us that 2025 would be “the year of the AI agents.” It turned out to be the year of talking about AI agents, and kicking the can for that transformational moment to 2026 or maybe later. But what if the answer to the question “When…
The big January Arc Raiders update is live today, and it comes with new quests, a new Trophy Display Player Project, new map conditions, quests and much more. One of the stealth additions to the game, however, is a pair of new MK.3 Augments. Augments are the core of a…
Engineers in Silicon Valley have been raving about Anthropic’s AI coding tool, Claude Code, for months. But recently, the buzz feels as if it’s reached a fever pitch.Earlier this week, I sat down with Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code, to try to understand how the company is meeting this…
A recent Strava app update has unlocked a feature people have wanted for years, offline route guidance for the Apple Watch app. And it’s not alone either. Reddit users have noticed the feature has begun rolling out. And while the post describes the feature having arrived as a beta, folks…
The rate at which artificial intelligence is developing is astounding. Unprecedented investments, infrastructural innovations, and new capabilities are driving the AI landscape of today, changing research, commercial models, national security, and society as a whole. Tech behemoths like Google, OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are spearheading this shift with audacious technological…
THE symbolism was clear last June when Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by factory workers, held up a sleek lithium battery in his right hand and a mining lamp in his left. He was in Douai, a northern French city with a coal mining history dating back to the 1700s. The city…
Every week, millions of people check their horoscopes — not necessarily because they believe the stars control their destiny, but because they’re searching for direction, validation or a fresh perspective on their lives. The appeal is understandable: horoscopes offer a structured way to reflect on who we are and what…
Villages looked for niches they could fill in the global market. The town of Xuchang, for instance, capitalized on its legacy of making hairpieces for opera performers—and on the willingness of rural women to sell their black ponytails—and turned itself into a hub for wigs. Zhuangzhai became the largest supplier…
We have incredibly wonderful tools through generative AI that could potentially take creativity and innovation to new levels. Yet, despite all the technology, we’re not seeing significant changes. A group of researchers think they know why. The key to AI-boosted creativity is the mindfulness of people using the technology, according…
Elon Musk’s X has introduced new restrictions stopping people from editing and generating images of real people in bikinis or other “revealing clothing.” The change in policy on Wednesday night follows global outrage at Grok being used to generate thousands of harmful nonconsensual “undressing” photos of women and sexualized images…
Spotlight
Silicon Valley giants like Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI are racing to develop…
When Sam Altman said one year ago that OpenAI’s Roman Empire is…
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says that the company’s next-generation AI superchip platform,…
At around 2 am local time in Caracas, Venezuela, US helicopters flew…
