This Week's Most Interesting AI News (Ep. 453)

Want to keep the conversation going?

Join our Slack community at dailyaishowcommunity.com

Intro

In this week’s AI News Roundup, the team covers a full spectrum of stories including OpenAI’s strange model behavior, Meta’s AI app rollout, Duolingo’s AI-first transformation, lip-sync tech, China’s massive new model family, and a surprising executive order on AI education. From real breakthroughs to uncanny deepfakes, it’s a packed episode with insights on how fast things are changing.

Key Points Discussed

OpenAI rolled back a recent update to GPT-4 after users reported unnaturally sycophantic responses. Sam Altman confirmed the issue came from short-term tuning and said a fix is in progress.

Meta released a standalone Meta AI app and replaced the Meta View companion app for Ray-Ban smart glasses. The app will soon integrate learning from user Facebook and Instagram behavior.

Google’s NotebookLM added over 70 languages. New language learning features like “Tiny Lesson,” “Slang Hang,” and “Word Cam” preview the shift toward immersive, contextual language learning via AI.

Duolingo declared itself an “AI-first company” and will now use AI to generate nearly all of its course content. They also confirmed future hiring and team growth will depend on proving AI can’t do the work first.

Brian demoed Fall’s new Hummingbird 0 lip-sync model, syncing Andy’s face to his own voice using a one-minute video clip. The demo showed improvement beyond simple mouth movement, including eyebrow and expression syncing.

Alibaba released Qwen 3, a family of open models trained on 36 trillion tokens, ranging from tiny variants to a 200B parameter model. Benchmarks suggest strong performance across math and coding.

Meta AI is now available to the public in a dedicated app, marking a shift from embedded tools (like in Instagram and WhatsApp) to direct user-facing chat products.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a blog urging more work on interpretability. He framed it as the “MRI for AI” and warned that progress in this area is lagging behind model capabilities.

AI science updates included a Japanese cancer detection startup using micro-RNA and a MIT technique that guides small LLMs to follow strict rules with less compute.

University of Tokyo developed “draw to cut” CNC methods allowing non-technical users to cut complex materials by hand-drawing instructions.

UC San Diego used AI to identify a new gene potentially linked to Alzheimer’s, paving the way for early detection and treatment strategies.

Timestamps & Topics

00:00:00 🗞️ Intro and NotebookLM’s 70-language update

00:04:33 🧠 Google’s Slang Hang and Word Cam explained

00:06:25 📚 Duolingo goes fully AI-first

00:09:44 🤖 Voice models replace contractors and hiring signals

00:13:10 🎭 Fall’s lip-sync demo featuring Andy as Brian

00:18:01 💸 Cost, processing time, and uncanny realism

00:23:38 🛠️ “ChatHouse” art installation critiques bot culture

00:23:55 🧮 Alibaba drops Qwen 3 model family

00:26:06 📱 Meta AI app launches, replaces Ray-Ban companion app

00:28:32 🧠 Anthropic’s Dario calls for MRI-like model transparency

00:33:04 🧬 Science corner: cancer tests, MIT’s strict LLMs, Tokyo’s CNC sketch-to-cut

00:38:54 🧠 Alzheimer’s gene detection via AI at UC San Diego

00:42:02 🏫 Executive order on K–12 AI education signed by Biden

00:45:23 🤖 OpenAI rolls back update after “sycophantic” behavior emerges

00:49:22 🔒 Prompting for emotionless output: “absolute mode” demo

00:51:57 🛍️ ChatGPT adds shopping features for fashion and home

00:54:02 🧾 Will product rankings be ad-based? The team is wary

00:59:06 ⚖️ “Take It Down” Act raises censorship and abuse concerns

01:00:09 📬 Wrap-up: newsletter, Slack, and upcoming shows

The Daily AI Show Co-Hosts: Jyunmi Hatcher, Andy Halliday, Beth Lyons, Brian Maucere, and Karl Yeh