DuckDuckGo saw a significant spike in US app installs after Google unveiled a sweeping AI-focused search overhaul at its I/O conference.
By Alex Rowland Google is rolling out its new text-to-speech model based on Gemini 3.1 Flash. According to Google, it delivers the company’s most natural and expressive speech synthesis so far. A key new feature is so-called audio tags, which let developers control speaking style, pace, tone, and accent through text prompts. The model supports more than 70 languages and can generate multi-speaker dialogues.
By Daniel Mercer Anthropic is bringing its AI model Claude directly into Microsoft Word. Following its previously released add-ins for Excel and PowerPoint, users can now also work with Claude inside Word. Claude for Word is currently in beta for Team and Enterprise plans.
By Chris Borden Google is now giving Ultra users of its AI video service a new video generation option that does not consume any additional credits. The model, called “Veo 3.1 – Lite [Lower Priority]”, complements the existing “Veo 3.1 – Fast [Lower Priority]” option and costs zero credits. Veo 3.1 Lite was recently introduced as Google’s cheapest and fastest video model. It costs less than half as much as Veo 3.1 Fast, while, according to Google, delivering the same speed.
By Alex Rowland Researchers have introduced LPM 1.0, an AI model that can generate a real-time video of a character speaking, listening, or singing from a single image.
By Alex Rowland OpenAI’s revenue chief, Denise Dresser, outlined five priorities for the company’s enterprise business in an internal strategy memo and accused Anthropic of overstating its revenue figures by roughly $8 billion.
By Alex Rowland Google’s new open-source model, Gemma 4, can process text, images, and audio entirely locally on a smartphone. Through so-called Agent Skills, the AI can even use tools such as Wikipedia or interactive maps on its own.
By Alex Rowland AI startup Overworld has released Waypoint-1.5, an updated version of its real-time world simulation system that generates AI-created interactive 3D worlds on consumer hardware. For the first time, the software now runs on both Mac and Windows and comes in two model tiers: 720p at 60 frames per second for higher-end systems, and 360p for a broader range of gaming PCs equipped with NVIDIA RTX graphics cards, with support for Apple Silicon planned as well.
By Chris Borden Anthropic has introduced a new Claude Code feature called Ultraplan, designed to move coding-task planning into the cloud. Developers can launch a planning job directly from the terminal, while Claude generates the plan in the Claude Code web interface. That means the terminal stays free for other work in the meantime.
By Alex Rowland OpenAI has told investors that its early buildout of computing infrastructure gives it a decisive edge over Anthropic. At the same time, the company has put its UK data center project on hold, while Anthropic is reportedly weighing the development of its own AI chips.
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