👓 Google AI Smart Glasses 👓
Vision meets intelligence

Google demonstrated a prototype of AI-powered smart glasses running on Android XR at TED2025. Led by Shahram Izadi, the demo showcased on-device AI capabilities for real-time object identification, book summarization, and trip planning through computer vision technology. While the demonstration was controlled, it highlighted potential for hands-free AI assistance.

🎨 Cobra 🎨
Bringing color to line art

Researchers have developed Cobra, a novel efficient framework for line art colorization with broader references. This technology enables high-precision transformation of black-and-white line art into vibrant illustrations by effectively integrating extensive contextual references. The system achieves superior efficiency and flexibility specifically tailored for comic colorization applications.

💰 OpenAI Flex Processing 💰
Budget-friendly AI options

In a bid to compete with rivals like Google, OpenAI has launched Flex processing, offering lower AI model prices in exchange for slower response times. Available in beta for o3 and o4-mini reasoning models, Flex processing reduces API costs by exactly half, targeting lower-priority tasks such as model evaluations and data enrichment. The launch comes as frontier AI prices continue to climb and competitors release cheaper, more efficient alternatives.

INTERESTING NEWS

📚 Wikipedia's AI data initiative 📚

Wikipedia is attempting to dissuade AI developers from scraping its platform by releasing a dataset specifically optimized for training AI models. The Wikimedia Foundation has partnered with Kaggle to publish structured Wikipedia content in English and French, designed with machine learning workflows in mind. This well-structured JSON representation offers an attractive alternative to bandwidth-intensive scraping, helping smaller companies and independent data scientists while protecting Wikipedia's infrastructure.

🎓 Columbia's AI Summit 🎓

At Columbia University's first AI Summit, scholars and scientists confronted the central paradox of artificial intelligence. As models grow more capable, they also reveal their limits. Faculty from across disciplines explored AI's expanding role in fields like medicine, energy, design, law, and the arts. Architecture professor David Benjamin spoke of using generative AI for sustainable structures, while economist Joseph Stiglitz questioned whether the economic incentives behind AI align with the public interest. Several experts emphasized the fundamental gap between machine performance and human depth.