AI Goes Mainstream

Ollie Carter

Alright, welcome back to The AI Intelligence Podcast, folks! Ollie here, and I gotta say, this week has been absolutely wild for AI models. Llew, did you see the Gemini 2.5 expansion from Google? I mean, they're not just updating search anymore—it's like they're trying to be the AI backbone for, well, everything.

dc590eef

Yeah, mate, it’s a proper flex from Google. The Gemini 2.5 family is everywhere now—search, robotics, even genomics. And that Gemini CLI for devs? That’s a game-changer. But what really got me was AlphaGenome. AI digging into the human genome, that’s not just tech, that’s science fiction stuff becoming real.

Ollie Carter

Totally. And then you’ve got Amazon, right? One million robots in their fulfillment centres. I had to double-check that number. And now DeepFleet, this generative AI that coordinates all those bots and boosts efficiency by ten percent. It’s like, we’re not talking about one clever robot, we’re talking about a whole army working together.

dc590eef

It’s wild. And Apple’s doing their own thing, as usual. DiffuCode-7B-cpGRPO—try saying that three times fast. But seriously, this diffusion-based code model, generating code out of order, that’s a new one. Usually, code generation is left to right, line by line, but Apple’s just gone, “Nah, let’s do it all at once.”

Ollie Carter

Yeah, I actually played around with it last weekend. It’s open source, so I could just spin it up. The way it understands the structure of code, not just the next line, is pretty impressive. But, Llew, I’m curious—do you reckon open-source models like this are the future, or is the closed approach from OpenAI and Google still gonna win out?

dc590eef

That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I mean, Baidu just open-sourced Ernie 4.5, and that’s a big move. China’s not just catching up, they’re setting the pace in some areas. And then Tencent’s Hunyuan-A13B—256,000 tokens of context, mate! That’s like feeding it a whole book. But, look, open source means faster adoption, more eyes on safety, but the closed models have the resources and the polish. I dunno, I reckon we’ll see both for a while.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, I’m with you. I love the flexibility of open models, but sometimes you just need the reliability and support you get from the big, closed ones. Oh, and before I forget—Microsoft’s new diagnostic AI? Four times faster than traditional methods. That’s not just a tech demo, that’s real impact, especially in healthcare.

dc590eef

Absolutely. That’s the sort of thing that’ll get AI into the mainstream, not just for techies but for everyone. When you see AI diagnosing patients faster and more accurately, it’s hard not to get excited—or a bit nervous, depending on your job, I suppose.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and with LM Studio’s new context protocol, plugging models into real business data is getting easier. It’s like, every week, the bar for what’s possible just gets higher.

dc590eef

Speaking of the bar getting higher, let’s talk about the money, Ollie. xAI just raised ten billion dollars. Ten. Billion. That’s not a Series A, that’s a moonshot. Five billion in debt, five in equity. It’s like, if you want to play at the top table in AI now, you need a war chest the size of a small country’s GDP.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and it’s not just xAI. Apple’s sniffing around Perplexity AI for a fourteen billion dollar acquisition. That’s a huge bet, even for Apple. And then you look at the VC numbers—AI startups got 53% of all global venture funding in the first half of this year. That’s more than half of all the money out there, just pouring into AI.

dc590eef

It’s a feeding frenzy, mate. And it’s not just the money, it’s the people. OpenAI and Meta are in this full-on talent war. Meta’s poached four senior researchers from OpenAI, and now Sam Altman’s apparently recalibrating comp packages. I mean, these researchers are getting paid like rockstars, and honestly, they probably deserve it.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and Character.AI’s got a new CEO, Karandeep Anand, who’s all about safety for kids and teens. That’s a sign the industry’s maturing, right? It’s not just about building cool stuff, it’s about making sure it’s safe, especially for younger users.

dc590eef

Spot on. And then you’ve got Apple, who—get this—might swap out Siri’s AI for Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. That’s Apple, the company that never lets anyone else touch their core tech, maybe outsourcing their AI. That’s a big admission that even the giants can’t do it all themselves anymore.

Ollie Carter

It’s a bit of a reality check, isn’t it? Even the best can’t keep up with the pace sometimes. And, Llew, you’ve been through a few funding cycles—what do you reckon all this capital and talent movement means for the pace of innovation? Are we gonna see even crazier breakthroughs, or is it just gonna get more competitive?

dc590eef

Look, I’ve seen a few bubbles, but this feels different. The sheer amount of money and talent means we’ll see more moonshots, but also more failures. The stakes are higher, but so are the rewards. And with companies like Salesforce and Google bragging about how much of their work is now done by AI—30, 40, even 50 percent—it’s clear the pace isn’t slowing down. If anything, it’s accelerating.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and it’s not just the big names. Grammarly’s buying Superhuman, ElevenLabs is planning an IPO, and Tata Consultancy is reorganising around AI-first. It’s like, if you’re not all-in on AI right now, you’re already behind.

Ollie Carter

Alright, let’s get into the fun stuff. AI isn’t just changing business, it’s changing culture. Did you see The Velvet Sundown? That AI band has over 900,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and they just admitted they’re fully AI-generated. I mean, does it even matter if it’s not a real band if people love the music?

dc590eef

It’s a bit mind-bending, isn’t it? I reckon we’re gonna see more of this—AI-generated art, music, even films. China’s using AI to modernise old martial arts movies with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. It’s controversial, but it’s also a way to keep those classics alive for new generations. Where do you draw the line between enhancement and changing the original, though?

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and H&M’s latest campaign—AI-generated digital twins of human models. Not just touched-up photos, but full-on artificial models. It’s a whole new world for fashion, but also raises some big questions about representation and what it means to be a model now.

dc590eef

And it’s not just entertainment and fashion. Ford’s CEO is out there saying AI’s gonna mean fewer white-collar jobs, and companies are openly talking about 30 to 50 percent of their work being automated. That’s not a hypothetical anymore, that’s happening right now.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and on a lighter note, I tried out one of those AI-powered dating apps. I gotta say, the conversations were... weird. Like, everyone sounds super charming and clever in the chat, but then you meet up and it’s like, “Wait, you’re not the same person at all.” It’s almost like we’re all outsourcing our personalities to AI now.

dc590eef

That’s classic. I’ve heard stories of people getting totally mismatched because the AI just, I dunno, over-optimises for banter. It’s a bit surreal, but it shows how AI’s creeping into every part of life, not just the stuffy business side.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, and honestly, it’s only gonna get weirder from here. But that’s what makes this space so exciting. Alright, that’s a wrap for this week’s episode. Llew, always a pleasure mate.

dc590eef

Cheers, Ollie. And thanks to everyone for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with more AI news, more breakthroughs, and probably a few more AI-powered dating disasters. Stay curious, stay informed, and we’ll catch you next time on The AI Intelligence Podcast. See ya, Ollie.

Ollie Carter

See ya, Llew. Bye everyone!