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- [00:05]
Brian McCullough
Welcome to the Techmeme write home for Wednesday, March 26th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough. Today it's all AI today, basically. New Gemini thinking models, new deep reasoning agents for copilot. But the really big news is the new image generator from OpenAI. Fidelity wants to get in on the stablecoin business, and if Europe wants to create its own Starlink, it's got some serious hurdles to overcome. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech Foreign okay, as I said, this is going to be a day of AI model announces. There are a bunch of them, but they're all pretty significant. First up, OpenAI has rolled out GPT4O image generation natively inside ChatGPT across all subscription tiers and says the Omni Model model is a step change above previous models. And I've got to say, I've been playing around with it all morning and it's yeah, it's definitely very good. So good in fact, that I'm already considering dropping my Midjourney subscription and my Claude subscription and going back exclusively to ChatGPT. Check my socials on BlueSky or Twitter for my Jack Dorsey image to see why I'm so wowed. I'm Brian McC on Twitter and Ryan Mc, I think on BlueSky. Quoting the Verge OpenAI is integrating new image generation capabilities directly into ChatGPT starting today. This feature is dubbed Images in ChatGPT. Users can now use GPT 4.0 to generate images within ChatGPT itself. This initial release focuses solely on image creation and will be available across ChatGPT Pro, team and Free subscription tiers. The free tier's usage limit is the same as Dall? E spokesperson Taya Christiansen told the Verge, but added that they didn't have a specific number to share, and these may change over time based on Demand. Per the ChatGPT FAQ, free users were previously able to generate three images per day with Dall? E3. As for the fate of Dall? E, Christensen said fans will still have access via a custom GPT. This model is a step change above previous models, research lead Gabriel Go told the Verge, adding that the team used the GPT 4.0 Omni model or a model that can generate any kind of data like text, image, audio and video foundation for this feature. Some of the improvements Go noted include binding, which refers to how well AI image generators maintain correct relationships between attributes and objects. A model with poor binding, for instance, might get a prompt for a blue star plus a red triangle and create a red star and no triangle. Most image models struggle with this, Go said, often mixing up colors and shapes when asked to render multiple items, typically around five to eight, he says. This new image generation tool can correctly bind attributes for 15 to 20 objects without confusion, representing a significant improvement in accuracy and reliability. Users will also notice an improvement in text rendering, which makes it easier to generate coherent text without typos on an image. In existing tools, you'll often notice that text gets garbled pretty easily. Getting text rendering right was a significant challenge, Go said. If small titles or text elements have typos or errors, the entire image can become unusable. This was just like a process of iteration that took many, many months to get right, go said. While not perfect, he said the team reached a point where the text quality is consistently usable. Where it tends to blunder is really small text. It's been just many months of small improvements, he said. The system uses an autoregress approach, generating images sequentially from left to right and top to bottom, similar to how text is written, rather than the diffusion model technique used by most image generators like Dall? E that create the entire image at once. Go speculates that this technical difference could be what gives images and ChatGPT better text rendering and binding capabilities. In a briefing before the feature launch, the team demonstrated several examples showing the system's capabilities, including scientific diagrams like Newton's Prism Experiment with correctly labeled components, multi panel comics with consist characters and text bubbles, and informational posters with accurate text. They also highlighted practical applications like creating transparent background images for stickers, restaurant menus and logos. If I go to draw an image, I do so with the limitation of my own skill, but also with all of the knowledge of the world that I've built up. ChatGPT Multimodal Product Lead Jackie Shannon explained the model brings world knowledge to the equation, so when you ask for an image of Newton's Prism experiment, you don't have to explain what that is to get an image back. The new system does take longer to generate images than before, though. OpenAI suggests this is a worthwhile trade off. While we certainly have room to improve on latency, the quality of these images, the capability, the world knowledge really makes up for the additional seconds that they'll spend waiting, shannon said. End quote. Yes, in my experience it is pretty slow, but click through on the story link to see those images of that correctly labeled diagram for the Newton Prism experiment. It'll tell you why it's so wowing to a lot of us. I did similar things like creating a diagram of the cross section of the earth's core, labeling the various sections for, you know, like a poster you could put up in a classroom, and it got pretty close. I tried to get it to do a map of the D day landings on the Normandy beaches and it kind of failed. But it did have the names of the various beaches right and a decent map of the Normandy peninsula, even if it got the labeling wrong. Seriously, it's that level of stuff that wasn't possible before. Again, check out my socials Jack Dorsey in the style of a Wes Anderson movie poster. It even got the friggin font right. Next Google has debuted Gemini 2.5 thinking models for developers and Gemini Advanced subscribers, starting with Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental, which tops some benchmarks. Quoting 9to5Google Notably, all the models in the Gemini 2.5 family, including future ones, are thinking models capable of reasoning through their thoughts before responding, resulting in enhanced performance and improved accuracy, according to Google. Google is building these thinking capabilities directly into all of its models to allow them to handle more complex problems and support even more capable context aware agents compared to 2.0 flash thinking, which was first revealed in December and got an update this month. Google is no longer explicitly attaching the thinking label. Users can show thinking in the Gemini app to see the train of thought. Gemini 2.5 features a new level of performance by combining a significantly enhanced base model with improved post training. Gemini 2.5 Pro Gemini 2.5 Pro XP0325 and codenamed Nebula is the first model in this family aimed at complex tasks. Google notes how it tops the LM arena leaderboard, which measures human preferences by a significant margin. It also leads on math and science benchmarks without test time techniques that increase costs like majority voting. This is quoting Google. It also scores a state of the art 18.8% across models without tool use on Humanities. Last exam, a data set designed by hundreds of subject matter experts to capture the human frontier of knowledge and reasoning. In addition to native multimodality, Gemini 2.5 Pro has a 1 million token context window with 2 million coming soon. Gemini 2.5 Pro experimental is rolling out first to Gemini Advanced and Google AI Studio with Vertex AI following in the coming weeks. End quote. Not to miss the party, Microsoft unveiled AI deep reasoning agents for 365 copilot researcher based on OpenAI's deep research model and analyst based on O3 mini coming in April. Quoting the Verge, researcher relies on OpenAI's deep research AI model to pull off complex multi step research along with access to third party data via connection to sources like Salesforce or ServiceNow so that business customers can derive insights from across their tools. Analyst is based on the O3 mini reasoning model from OpenAI, and Microsoft claims that with Chain of Thought Reasoning, it's capable of turning raw data into spreadsheets, running Python code that you can view while it's running and operate on the level of a skilled data scientist pulling together reports. Those tools are scheduled to start rolling out in April to Microsoft 365 copilot license holders in an early access program, along with new autonomous agent capabilities that are starting to roll out now in Copilot Studio. Microsoft claims the new agent flows in copilot are powerful enough to automate any task you can imagine with rule based workflows that include AI actions. The LinkedIn announcement describes situations like an agent flow that directs feedback emails to the correct team, but we'll have to see it in action to find out how that's better than adding a checkbox or two, or how well its low code experience really works, and if it can deliver on the promises AI companies are making about agents. End quote. Even if you think it's a bit overhyped, AI is suddenly everywhere from self driving cars to molecular medicine to business efficiency. If it's not in your industry yet, it's coming fast. But AI needs a lot of speed and computing power, so how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? Time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or oci. OCI is a blazing, fast and secure platform for your infrastructure, datab application development, plus all of your AI and machine learning workloads. OCI costs 50% less for compute and 80% less for networking, so you're saving a pile of money. Thousands of businesses have already upgraded to oci, including Vodafone, Thomson Reuters and Suno AI. Right now, Oracle is offering to cut your current cloud bill in half if you move to oci for new US customers with minimum financial commitment. Offer ends March 31st. See if your company qualifies for this Special offer@oracle.com that's oracle.com Techmeme hey freelancers, we know what your days look like. You juggle clients, deadlines and that endless to do list. But when it comes to tax time, let's face it, the stress is real. 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FreshBooks makes migrating your data simple, and their support team is ready if you need help. Don't wait for the stress to pile up. Head to freshbooks.com and try it free for 30 days. No credit card required. Let FreshBooks handle your taxes so you can focus on what you do best. That's freshbooks.com get started today and thank yourself tomorrow. Something, Something Everybody wants in on stablecoins Sources tell the FT that Fidelity Investments is in the advanced stages of testing its own stablecoin, managed by its digital assets arm. You can't get more mainstream Main street finance and investing than Fidelity, so if they're in the Boston based fund firm is in the advanced stages of testing its token, which is designed to act as cash in cryptocurrency markets and will be managed through its digital assets arm, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Fidelity's planned launch is part of its expansion into the nascent market for tokenized versions of US Treasuries, having been involved in digital assets for more than a decade. Late last week it filed to launch a digital version of a US Money market fund at the end of May in direct competition with traditional asset managed rivals BlackRock and Franklin Templeton. Its move comes as Washington begins sweeping changes in the oversight of cryptocurrencies following the election of President Donald Trump. Trump has pledged to promote the growth of lawful and legitimate dollar backed stablecoins to support US Currency and called for supporting legislation to be ready to be signed into law by August. Politicians in Washington are debating rival bills to begin regulation of stablecoins, which are designed to hold a constant value per coin and serve as ready cash reserves outside the regulated banking system. Advocates see tokenized money market funds in contrast to stablecoins as regulated onshore deposits. However, critics have argued that existing tokenized funds lack the deep liquid secondary markets that StableCo typically have tokenization could transform the financial services industry, according to Cynthia Lo Bissette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity Investments. One use case to improve the efficiency of capital markets was using tokenized assets as collateral to meet margin requirements in trading, she added. End quote I guess I need to open a file called something like the Is Europe decoupling its tech stack from Silicon Valley file because here's another example. The FT reports that as the EU considers funding a Starlink rival, experts say no single European network can match Starlink's range right now, likely requiring a patchwork of satellites. Quote the prospect of a new European push for space sovereignty has boosted shares in heavily indebted operators such as Eutelsat and SES in recent weeks. But even with EU funding, success will not come easy. No single European network can replicate such a wide variety of applications, say industry experts. Instead, a European SOL would be made up of a patchwork of satellites in different orbits, offering differing performances and requiring different user terminals for different networks. Today there is no substitute for Starlink, said Panduro. But there may be alternatives that, without being a substitute, can help to alleviate the absence of those capabilities. A senior executive at a rival satellite operator put it more bluntly. Starlink is so disruptive, so cheap, so pervasive, and so excellent. At the heart of the problem lies the failure of legacy operators in Europe and more widely, to match the agility of Starlink. Many assumed the challenges of OPER space would protect them from disruption while they tried to offset declining broadcast revenues with new connectivity businesses. But when Starlink arrived, helped by cheap launch services from parent SpaceX, everything changed completely, said Jean Baptiste Thiopou, principal at space consultancy Nova space. In just five years, Musk's broadband service has launched 7,000 satellites into the relatively unexploited region of space known as low Earth orbit, or leo. It is now the world's biggest satellite operator and has won broadband contracts with airlines, shipping groups and governments. Traditional operators such as SES and Eutelsat had hoped those sectors would give a new lease of life to their satellites and higher geostationary or geo orbits of about 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. Flying at lower altitudes roughly 550 kilometers in Starlink's case requires thousands of satellites and billions in investment for a global service. But by operating in leo, Starlink has delivered lower latency the time it takes for a signal to travel from Earth to a satellite and back and higher speed connectivity to the mass market than many leg Its dense network of satellites had proved to be inherently resilient, said James Trevelyan, executive vice president at Speedcast, which sells capacity on both Starlink and OneWeb networks. Starlink was also designed for the consumer market and heavily subsidized its $2,000 terminals early on, selling them at $500 to $600. In light of the disruption and price pressure, legacy operators have focused on higher performance Geo networks and new orbits. In 2022, Eutelsat announced its acquisition of OneWeb, which operates in LEO but at an altitude of 1,200 kilometers. SES, meanwhile, has expanded in Medium Earth Orbit, or MEO, with its O3B M power network and is acquiring rival Geo operator Intelsat. Both companies took on substantial debt to fund their multi orbit strategies, moves that have yet to bear fruit. OneWeb has struggled to meet initial revenue targets due to slower than expected ground station rollouts. Analysts also believe that heavily indebted Eutelsat will struggle on its own to fund a new generation of OneWeb satellites, widely regarded necessary to be competitive with Starlink's more capable technology. Europe's flagship 10 billion euro IRIS 2 project, which aims to provide secure government communications from 2030 and is its most ambitious space program in a decade, will be critical to unlocking funding for this. Ses, meanwhile, suffered power problems on the first satellites in its MPower O3B generation in 2023, resulting in extra investment and impairment charges. It is impossible to replace Starlink in a day, SES chief executive Adele Al Sella told the Financial Times. However, in the longer term, Europe could do so, he added. A single orbit network is not resilient enough. You need multi orbit for resilience, for backup, for being able to move traffic around. The stakes are now higher as policymakers focus on Europe's patchwork industry. The new landscape repositions Eutelsat and SES as vital components of sovereign defense infrastructure, said Alexander Petrich, head of small and mid cap research at Bernard Bernstein. OneWeb terminals designed for business and government rather than consumers are also bulkier, more complex to configure initially and cost about $5,000 to $10,000 each. The brutal reality is that the terminals remain a big blocker for a European alternative, said Speedcast Trevelyan. Those who know the OneWeb network say it could still work. Smaller terminals are coming to market. The commission's desire for a European alternative to Starlink presented an unexpected opportunity, but it will not be easy and it won't be enough to resolve questions about the long term future of Europe's satellite operators, said Pierre Lyonette, research director at the trade body ASD Eurospace. Amazon's planned LEO Constellation project, Kuiper, will further disrupt pricing and competition when it is eventually operational. When that comes, it could be a real problem for European companies because at the end of the day their current technology is inferior, trevelyan said. Short sellers are estimated to have lost about $150 million on the recent surge in Eutelsat and SES shares over the past month, according to S3 Partners, but analysts question whether the is really sustainable. Starlink has deep pockets and a vertical integration advantage, said Nicholas Kordowski, head of non financial fixed income research at Aberdeen. And that really hasn't gone away, he said. End quote. Finally, just to note this, Apple announced WWDC 2025 for June 9th 9th through the 13th, which will be an entirely online event free for developers with an in person special event at Apple park on June 9th. So mark your calendars, talk to you tomorrow.
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AT&T Business
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