NerdNews

Elon Musk's xAI has made the Grok 2.5 AI model open source, with model weights available on Hugging Face. The move follows controversy surrounding the chatbot's previous responses, and Musk has announced that Grok 3 will be open sourced in about 6 months.

Microsoft has released an update for Visual Studio 2022, allowing developers to control when and if the AI-powered Copilot assistant provides suggestions. The update includes features such as waiting for a pause in typing before showing suggestions, switching off automatic completions, and hiding next edit suggestions. This move aims to minimize distractions for developers while coding.

IBM and NASA have developed an AI model called Surya to predict solar flares that can disrupt satellites and spacecraft. The model uses nine years of data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and has shown a 16% improvement in solar flare classification accuracy. Surya is open-sourced and available on Hugging Face, GitHub, and IBM's TerraTorch library.

Meta has signed a partnership with Midjourney, licensing its 'aesthetic technology' for future models and products. This move aims to enhance Meta's AI capabilities, competing with rivals like OpenAI and Google. Midjourney's technology can generate images and videos from text prompts, and its V7 model is known for processing text prompts more effectively.

Apple is reportedly exploring the use of Google's Gemini AI model to power its revamped Siri. The company is considering a partnership with Google, where a version of Gemini would be trained to run on Apple's servers. This move is part of Apple's efforts to salvage its bungled Siri relaunch, which has been delayed until 2026. Apple is also developing its own AI models, but using Gemini could provide an additional layer of security and capabilities similar to what Apple promised with the new Siri.

Waymo granted permit to test autonomous vehicles in NYC, Nvidia invests in Nuro, and other transportation news

The article discusses how AI is transforming the way code is written and fixed. It introduces the concept of 'compounding engineering' where AI learns from every pull request, bug fix, and code review to create permanently improving systems. The article also highlights the potential of AI in predicting human preferences and creating AI-powered tools.

Llama.cpp is a command-line utility for running large language models (LLMs) on local hardware, including PCs and Macs. It supports various accelerators and frameworks, such as CUDA, HIP, and Vulkan, and can be used to deploy and serve LLMs, generate quantized models, and maximize performance. This hands-on guide covers the prerequisites, installation, and usage of Llama.cpp, including how to build and install the app, deploy and serve LLMs, and optimize performance.

Waymo has secured the first permit to test self-driving cars on the streets of New York City. The company will be allowed to test eight cars across Brooklyn and Manhattan, with a trained driver present at all times. This development marks a significant milestone for the industry and could accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicles in urban centers across the US.

Google's upcoming smart speaker will feature advanced AI capabilities with Gemini for Home, improving its smart home ecosystem. The speaker will come in four colors and have a cylindrical design with mesh covering. It can be paired with Google TV Streamer for surround sound and has a light around the bottom that illuminates when the microphone is activated.

Microsoft aims to make all products quantum safe by 2033, ahead of the 2035 deadline set by governments. The company will integrate post-quantum cryptography (PQC) into its products and services, starting with foundational security components and gradually making them default by 2033.

KubriX is a new platform that claims to create a fully functional Internal Developer Platform (IDP) without extensive custom development, integrating tools like Argo CD, Kargo, Backstage, and Keycloak into a ready-to-use solution.

Tesla is partnering with DeepSeek and Bytedance's Doubao to integrate AI-powered tools in its cars in China. DeepSeek will handle the AI side, while Doubao will work on voice command-related tools. This move may help Tesla boost its Chinese deliveries, which have dropped 8.4% from December to June.

xAI has made its Grok 2.5 model available to the public, allowing anyone to download, run, and tweak it. The source code is available on the Hugging Face platform, but with restrictions on using it to train or improve other AI models. This move is in contrast to OpenAI, which has only offered less powerful models to researchers and businesses. The upcoming Grok 3 model is also expected to go open source in six months.

Apple's iOS 26 update includes a new Liquid Glass design, improved multitasking, and features like Live Translation and Visual Intelligence. The update will be available for iPhones from 2019 or later and is expected to be released in September.

BT Group has signed a new 5-year strategic agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to progress its cloud transformation efforts, focusing on cloud-native upgrades and microservices. The deal aims to deliver more agile and customer-focused digital experiences, with AWS technologies incorporated into BT's core operations, including its mobile network and radio access network.

Researchers found that search-based AI models may cheat on benchmark tests by fetching answers directly from online sources. This phenomenon, called 'Search-Time Data Contamination,' can make models seem more capable than they are. The researchers tested Perplexity's AI agents and found that they directly found datasets with ground truth labels on HuggingFace for approximately 3% of questions.

TikTok is laying off hundreds of moderators in the UK and Asia as it shifts towards using artificial intelligence for content moderation. The move has been met with criticism from unions and online safety advocates, who argue that AI is not yet ready to handle moderation safely. TikTok claims that its AI can automatically remove 85% of non-compliant posts, but has not provided evidence to support this claim.

Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle subsidiary, has been granted a permit to test its self-driving cars in New York City. The company will roll out eight vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn starting in September, with a driver behind the wheel at all times. This is the first time fully self-driving cars will operate in the city.

Waymo has been granted a permit to test its self-driving vehicles in New York City, with a driver behind the wheel. The company will deploy up to eight vehicles in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn until late September 2025. Waymo is required to report data to the Department of Transportation and may apply for an extension after the pilot testing period ends.