Revolutionary Breakthrough: Real-Time Inflammation Tracking Becomes Reality
In a groundbreaking development, scientists at CZ Biohub Chicago and Northwestern University have created the first-ever device capable of continuously monitoring inflammation in real-time.
This innovation could revolutionize how we understand and treat numerous diseases, as inflammation is linked to approximately 50% of all human deaths.
The team developed an ingenious solution to a long-standing challenge in medical monitoring.
Their "pendulum" sensors, thinner than three human hairs, can detect inflammatory proteins under the skin continuously – something previously thought impossible due to the strong binding properties of proteins.
The beauty of this breakthrough lies in its elegant simplicity. Rather than relying on new materials or AI, the team created a clever mechanical solution: sensors that literally "shake off" measured proteins to make room for new ones, similar to a dog's toy picking up and releasing balls. This enables continuous measurement of inflammation markers in living tissue.
The implications are staggering. Just as continuous glucose monitors transformed diabetes care, these sensors could revolutionize treatment for conditions like:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Crohn's disease
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Diabetes complications
Initial tests in diabetic rats have shown remarkable accuracy, with the device even detecting minor inflammation from insulin injections. The biocompatible device can safely operate for at least two weeks, bringing us one step closer to a future where inflammation-related diseases could be monitored and prevented before symptoms appear.
In a groundbreaking development, scientists at CZ Biohub Chicago and Northwestern University have created the first-ever device capable of continuously monitoring inflammation in real-time.
This innovation could revolutionize how we understand and treat numerous diseases, as inflammation is linked to approximately 50% of all human deaths.
The team developed an ingenious solution to a long-standing challenge in medical monitoring.
Their "pendulum" sensors, thinner than three human hairs, can detect inflammatory proteins under the skin continuously – something previously thought impossible due to the strong binding properties of proteins.
The beauty of this breakthrough lies in its elegant simplicity. Rather than relying on new materials or AI, the team created a clever mechanical solution: sensors that literally "shake off" measured proteins to make room for new ones, similar to a dog's toy picking up and releasing balls. This enables continuous measurement of inflammation markers in living tissue.
The implications are staggering. Just as continuous glucose monitors transformed diabetes care, these sensors could revolutionize treatment for conditions like:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Crohn's disease
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Diabetes complications
Initial tests in diabetic rats have shown remarkable accuracy, with the device even detecting minor inflammation from insulin injections. The biocompatible device can safely operate for at least two weeks, bringing us one step closer to a future where inflammation-related diseases could be monitored and prevented before symptoms appear.
CZ Biohub
Protein sensors track inflammation
Implantable device provides an impactful new way to monitor health and disease
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Google released PaliGemma 2, a vision language model family that comes in various sizes: 3B, 10B, 28B, based on Gemma 2 and SigLIP, comes with transformers support day-0 .
Model collection.
Model collection.
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NVIDIA introduced NVILA, a family of open VLMs designed to optimize both efficiency and accuracy.
Model arch focuses on scaling up spatial and temporal resolutions, and then compressing visual tokens, allowing for efficient processing of high resolutions.
Also uses "DeltaLoss" data pruning and FP8 training.
Competitive with proprietary VLMs on visual understanding benchmarks.
Model arch focuses on scaling up spatial and temporal resolutions, and then compressing visual tokens, allowing for efficient processing of high resolutions.
Also uses "DeltaLoss" data pruning and FP8 training.
Competitive with proprietary VLMs on visual understanding benchmarks.
arXiv.org
NVILA: Efficient Frontier Visual Language Models
Visual language models (VLMs) have made significant advances in accuracy in recent years. However, their efficiency has received much less attention. This paper introduces NVILA, a family of open...
⚡️OpenAI aims to attract more investment by removing 'AGI' clause with Microsoft
OpenAI is in discussions to remove a clause that shuts Microsoft out of the start-up's most advanced models when it achieves AGI, as it seeks to unlock future investments.
As per the current terms, when OpenAI creates AGI - defined as a "highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work" - Microsoft's access to such a technology would be void.
OpenAI is exploring removing the condition from its corporate structure, enabling Microsoft to continue investing in and accessing all OpenAI technology after AGI is achieved.
The clause was included to protect the technology from being misused for commercial purposes, giving its ownership to OpenAI's non-profit board.
OpenAI's board is discussing the options and a final decision has not been made.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI was working on a plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation no longer governed by its non-profit board
OpenAI is in discussions to remove a clause that shuts Microsoft out of the start-up's most advanced models when it achieves AGI, as it seeks to unlock future investments.
As per the current terms, when OpenAI creates AGI - defined as a "highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work" - Microsoft's access to such a technology would be void.
OpenAI is exploring removing the condition from its corporate structure, enabling Microsoft to continue investing in and accessing all OpenAI technology after AGI is achieved.
The clause was included to protect the technology from being misused for commercial purposes, giving its ownership to OpenAI's non-profit board.
OpenAI's board is discussing the options and a final decision has not been made.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI was working on a plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation no longer governed by its non-profit board
Reuters
OpenAI aims to attract more investment by removing 'AGI' clause with Microsoft, FT reports
OpenAI is in discussions to remove a clause that shuts Microsoft out of the start-up's most advanced models when it achieves "artificial general intelligence", as it seeks to unlock future investments, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
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Zuck just dropped LLAMA 3.3 is a new 70 billion parameter text model that performs about as well as their 405 billion parameter model.
So that is the last LLAMA 3 release. The next stop is LLAMA 4.
Also Zuck announced a 2 GIGAWATT PLUS DATA CENTER in Louisiana.
HF.
So that is the last LLAMA 3 release. The next stop is LLAMA 4.
Also Zuck announced a 2 GIGAWATT PLUS DATA CENTER in Louisiana.
HF.
Industry Leading, Open-Source AI | Llama
Discover Llama 4's class-leading AI models, Scout and Maverick. Experience top performance, multimodality, low costs, and unparalleled efficiency.
A new tutorial on RL by Kevin Patrick Murphy, a Research Scientist at Google DeepMind who also wrote several comprehensive, well-regarded textbooks on ML/DL.
arXiv.org
Reinforcement Learning: An Overview
This manuscript gives a big-picture, up-to-date overview of the field of (deep) reinforcement learning and sequential decision making, covering value-based methods, policy-based methods,...
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Multi_agent_systems_III_beyond_single_agents_1733748286.pdf
876.1 KB
What Comes After AI Agents?
By Dr. Egor Kraev, Head of AI at Wise
Over the past year, we've witnessed a boom in AI agents. Many frameworks have emerged - Langchain, Autogen, CrewAI, and others. New solutions and approaches appear weekly. But what's next? Where is this technology heading?
Why Agents Alone Are Not Enough
The current approach of trying to solve everything with "smart agents" is like trying to build a house using only a hammer. Yes, a hammer is a great tool, but for quality results, you need a whole set of tools.
The Future Lies in Compound Systems
The next stage of development is compound systems, where AI agents become just one component of a larger system.
Think of it as a construction set where each part plays its role:
- Traditional databases for information storage
- Classical algorithms where they're more efficient
- AI agents for tasks requiring "intelligent" analysis
- Standard interfaces for component interaction
Core Benefits
1. Flexibility. Mix and match components based on specific needs
2. Cost-effectiveness. Use expensive AI components only where necessary
3. Risk management. Not putting all eggs in one basket
4. Future-proofing. Easier to adopt new technologies as they emerge
The era of standalone AI agents is coming to an end. The future belongs to integrated solutions where artificial intelligence is an important, but not the only component of the system. This isn't a step backward, but rather a natural evolution of technology, making it truly applicable in the real world.
By Dr. Egor Kraev, Head of AI at Wise
Over the past year, we've witnessed a boom in AI agents. Many frameworks have emerged - Langchain, Autogen, CrewAI, and others. New solutions and approaches appear weekly. But what's next? Where is this technology heading?
Why Agents Alone Are Not Enough
The current approach of trying to solve everything with "smart agents" is like trying to build a house using only a hammer. Yes, a hammer is a great tool, but for quality results, you need a whole set of tools.
The Future Lies in Compound Systems
The next stage of development is compound systems, where AI agents become just one component of a larger system.
Think of it as a construction set where each part plays its role:
- Traditional databases for information storage
- Classical algorithms where they're more efficient
- AI agents for tasks requiring "intelligent" analysis
- Standard interfaces for component interaction
Core Benefits
1. Flexibility. Mix and match components based on specific needs
2. Cost-effectiveness. Use expensive AI components only where necessary
3. Risk management. Not putting all eggs in one basket
4. Future-proofing. Easier to adopt new technologies as they emerge
The era of standalone AI agents is coming to an end. The future belongs to integrated solutions where artificial intelligence is an important, but not the only component of the system. This isn't a step backward, but rather a natural evolution of technology, making it truly applicable in the real world.
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Streamline AI Agent Evaluation with Synthetic Data
Databricks has introduced a new synthetic data generation API to streamline the testing and improvement of AI agents. This feature significantly reduces the time and cost associated with evaluating agent performance.
The synthetic data generation API automates the evaluation process by:
- Automatically generating test questions and answers from company documents
- Creating comprehensive evaluation datasets in minutes
- Enabling rapid quality assessment without SME bottlenecks
- Providing immediate feedback on agent performance
Databricks has introduced a new synthetic data generation API to streamline the testing and improvement of AI agents. This feature significantly reduces the time and cost associated with evaluating agent performance.
The synthetic data generation API automates the evaluation process by:
- Automatically generating test questions and answers from company documents
- Creating comprehensive evaluation datasets in minutes
- Enabling rapid quality assessment without SME bottlenecks
- Providing immediate feedback on agent performance
Databricks
Streamline AI Agent Evaluation with New Synthetic Data Capabilities | Databricks Blog
2025 Crypto Trends: a16z's Vision for Building a Resilient Future
Key takeaway: While these trends showcase technological advancement, they also represent a strategic shift toward building financial infrastructure that's more resilient to centralized control.
Leading VC firm a16z crypto shared their vision for 2025, and it's fascinating how these predictions align with addressing current challenges in the financial system:
1. AI Agents with Wallets
Imagine AI chatbots that can independently own and transact in crypto. This isn't just about technology - it's about creating autonomous financial actors that operate outside traditional banking constraints.
2. Proof of Personhood
In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated content, verifying real human identity becomes crucial. The industry is working on new ways to prove humanity while preserving privacy.
3. Enterprise Stablecoins
Major companies are expected to adopt stablecoins for payments - not just because they're the cheapest way to send dollars globally, but as a hedge against potential banking restrictions.
4. User Experience Revolution
Crypto is finally prioritizing accessibility over infrastructure. New crypto-native app stores will emerge, similar to the App Store but without centralized control.
5. Asset Tokenization
From government bonds to biometric data - more assets will move to blockchain. This creates a parallel financial system less dependent on traditional banking.
Interesting times ahead!
Key takeaway: While these trends showcase technological advancement, they also represent a strategic shift toward building financial infrastructure that's more resilient to centralized control.
Leading VC firm a16z crypto shared their vision for 2025, and it's fascinating how these predictions align with addressing current challenges in the financial system:
1. AI Agents with Wallets
Imagine AI chatbots that can independently own and transact in crypto. This isn't just about technology - it's about creating autonomous financial actors that operate outside traditional banking constraints.
2. Proof of Personhood
In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated content, verifying real human identity becomes crucial. The industry is working on new ways to prove humanity while preserving privacy.
3. Enterprise Stablecoins
Major companies are expected to adopt stablecoins for payments - not just because they're the cheapest way to send dollars globally, but as a hedge against potential banking restrictions.
4. User Experience Revolution
Crypto is finally prioritizing accessibility over infrastructure. New crypto-native app stores will emerge, similar to the App Store but without centralized control.
5. Asset Tokenization
From government bonds to biometric data - more assets will move to blockchain. This creates a parallel financial system less dependent on traditional banking.
Interesting times ahead!
a16z crypto
A few of the things we’re excited about in crypto (2025) - a16z crypto
A list of crypto, blockchains, web3 trends for 2025 -- including AI x crypto, prediction markets, stablecoins, voting, and much more
OpenAI just officially released its Sora AI video generation model
Sora has its own interface, where users can:
— Organize and view their generated videos
— See other users’ prompts and featured content
Much like Midjourney’s web UI, this feed style will lead to some awesome inspiration and discoverability of effective prompts.
Sora can generate up to 20-sec videos, in several different aspect ratios.
Generation time was a previous concern with early Sora versions, and it appears OpenAI has gotten it down significantly.
Sora will be available today to Plus subscribers, with Pro users getting 10x usage and higher resolution.
The rollout looks to exclude the EU, UK, China at launch.
Sora has its own interface, where users can:
— Organize and view their generated videos
— See other users’ prompts and featured content
Much like Midjourney’s web UI, this feed style will lead to some awesome inspiration and discoverability of effective prompts.
Sora can generate up to 20-sec videos, in several different aspect ratios.
Generation time was a previous concern with early Sora versions, and it appears OpenAI has gotten it down significantly.
Sora will be available today to Plus subscribers, with Pro users getting 10x usage and higher resolution.
The rollout looks to exclude the EU, UK, China at launch.
Sora
Transform text and images into immersive videos. Animate stories, visualize ideas, and bring your concepts to life.
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The Willow chip breakthrough is cool!
Google announced that Willow has reached 105 qubits with improved error rates.
This Google’s roadmap from the blog is even more exciting.
A few more years of progress can lead to commercially relevant applications for a quantum computer and maybe even applications we haven't conceived yet.
Google announced that Willow has reached 105 qubits with improved error rates.
This Google’s roadmap from the blog is even more exciting.
A few more years of progress can lead to commercially relevant applications for a quantum computer and maybe even applications we haven't conceived yet.
The cryptocurrency market has entered a transformative phase marked by unprecedented growth and institutional adoption.
Here's a comprehensive analysis of the key developments shaping the industry in 2024.
1. Record-Breaking Bitcoin Performance
Bitcoin has achieved remarkable milestones, shattering previous records with two significant price breakthroughs:
- March 2024: Surpassed $73,000
- December 2024: Exceeded $100,000
2. DeFi Renaissance
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has experienced a remarkable resurgence, demonstrating its resilience and potential. The sector's revival began in late 2023, reaching new heights of activity and showcasing its capacity to reshape traditional financial services. This growth indicates DeFi's transition from an experimental concept to a legitimate financial infrastructure.
3. Stablecoin Dominance
Stablecoins have emerged as the backbone of cryptocurrency transactions, accounting for:
- 50-75% of all on-chain transaction volume
- Crucial financial tools in regions with unstable currencies
- Essential infrastructure for global digital commerce
Historic ETF Breakthrough
The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in U.S. markets marks a watershed moment for cryptocurrency adoption:
- Nearly $10 billion in daily trading volume (March 2024)
- Fastest-growing ETF launch in history
- Unprecedented institutional accessibility to cryptocurrency exposure
Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization
The tokenization of real-world assets represents a quiet revolution in asset management:
- Market capitalization exceeding $100 billion
- Major financial institutions like Franklin Templeton and Goldman Sachs entering the space
- Assets ranging from treasury bills to real estate and art
- Enhanced liquidity and accessibility for traditionally illiquid assets
Ecosystem Maturity Indicators
The cryptocurrency ecosystem shows clear signs of sustained growth:
- Over 400 million active cryptocurrency wallets
- Consistent growth despite market volatility
- Deeper integration with traditional financial systems
- Growing institutional participation and infrastructure development
Here's a comprehensive analysis of the key developments shaping the industry in 2024.
1. Record-Breaking Bitcoin Performance
Bitcoin has achieved remarkable milestones, shattering previous records with two significant price breakthroughs:
- March 2024: Surpassed $73,000
- December 2024: Exceeded $100,000
2. DeFi Renaissance
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has experienced a remarkable resurgence, demonstrating its resilience and potential. The sector's revival began in late 2023, reaching new heights of activity and showcasing its capacity to reshape traditional financial services. This growth indicates DeFi's transition from an experimental concept to a legitimate financial infrastructure.
3. Stablecoin Dominance
Stablecoins have emerged as the backbone of cryptocurrency transactions, accounting for:
- 50-75% of all on-chain transaction volume
- Crucial financial tools in regions with unstable currencies
- Essential infrastructure for global digital commerce
Historic ETF Breakthrough
The launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in U.S. markets marks a watershed moment for cryptocurrency adoption:
- Nearly $10 billion in daily trading volume (March 2024)
- Fastest-growing ETF launch in history
- Unprecedented institutional accessibility to cryptocurrency exposure
Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization
The tokenization of real-world assets represents a quiet revolution in asset management:
- Market capitalization exceeding $100 billion
- Major financial institutions like Franklin Templeton and Goldman Sachs entering the space
- Assets ranging from treasury bills to real estate and art
- Enhanced liquidity and accessibility for traditionally illiquid assets
Ecosystem Maturity Indicators
The cryptocurrency ecosystem shows clear signs of sustained growth:
- Over 400 million active cryptocurrency wallets
- Consistent growth despite market volatility
- Deeper integration with traditional financial systems
- Growing institutional participation and infrastructure development
Chainalysis
Growth Opportunities: Stablecoins, TradFi Engagement, and Tokenization Lead Web3’s Next Wave
With bitcoin prices at all-time highs, we explore how TradFi engagement, stablecoins and tokenization are driving web3 growth opportunities.
OpenAI Canvas (now out of beta and broadly available) can provide line-by-line comments.
It almost looks like an AI-superpowered Google Docs.
Canvas to become a more personalized tutor that you can interact in much richer ways.
You can ask ChatGPT to explain some mathematical concept, write code to plot that will help you learn it in a more visual way.
Canvas is a new way to collaborate with ChatGPT for writing and coding. Today it'll launch to everyone, with built-in python execution and integration with Custom GPTs.
It almost looks like an AI-superpowered Google Docs.
Canvas to become a more personalized tutor that you can interact in much richer ways.
You can ask ChatGPT to explain some mathematical concept, write code to plot that will help you learn it in a more visual way.
Canvas is a new way to collaborate with ChatGPT for writing and coding. Today it'll launch to everyone, with built-in python execution and integration with Custom GPTs.
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Meta researchers introduced COCONUT
It's an interesting new AI reasoning approach that allows AI models to think more naturally rather than through rigid language steps, leading to better performance on complex problem-solving tasks.
It's an interesting new AI reasoning approach that allows AI models to think more naturally rather than through rigid language steps, leading to better performance on complex problem-solving tasks.
arXiv.org
Training Large Language Models to Reason in a Continuous Latent Space
Large language models (LLMs) are typically constrained to reason in the language space, where they express the reasoning process through a chain-of-thought (CoT) to solve complex problems....
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CBInsights just dropped the 2024 Digital Health 50, spotlighting AI and advanced care.
Here are 4 interesting themes:
1. AI is becoming foundational infrastructure: 36 of 50 companies are building AI, from operational AI (Laguna) to LLMs (Hippocratic AI).
2. Workflow efficiency is a key priority
19 of the companies are streamlining admin/clinical tasks, from document tools like Tennr to ambient AI like Abridge.
The rise in automation shows the focus on efficiency, shifting providers from paperwork to patient care.
3. Diagnostic innovations dominate
11 companies comprised this year’s largest category, focusing on imaging (Airs Medical), pathology (Proscia), and non-invasive tests (Alimetry).
They aim to improve access, use non-invasive methods, and enable early detection.
4. More specialized platforms
Virtual and hybrid care representation doubled in this year’s cohort, reflecting the shift from general telemedicine toward condition-specific virtual models in areas like mental health with Talkiatry and cancer care startups such as Resilience.
Here are 4 interesting themes:
1. AI is becoming foundational infrastructure: 36 of 50 companies are building AI, from operational AI (Laguna) to LLMs (Hippocratic AI).
2. Workflow efficiency is a key priority
19 of the companies are streamlining admin/clinical tasks, from document tools like Tennr to ambient AI like Abridge.
The rise in automation shows the focus on efficiency, shifting providers from paperwork to patient care.
3. Diagnostic innovations dominate
11 companies comprised this year’s largest category, focusing on imaging (Airs Medical), pathology (Proscia), and non-invasive tests (Alimetry).
They aim to improve access, use non-invasive methods, and enable early detection.
4. More specialized platforms
Virtual and hybrid care representation doubled in this year’s cohort, reflecting the shift from general telemedicine toward condition-specific virtual models in areas like mental health with Talkiatry and cancer care startups such as Resilience.
Maya is a New Multimodal Multilingual Vision-Language Model.
Maya is completely open source, open weight and open dataset, designed to handle 8 languages, cultural diversity, and nuanced real-world contexts in vision-language models.
Hf.
Maya is completely open source, open weight and open dataset, designed to handle 8 languages, cultural diversity, and nuanced real-world contexts in vision-language models.
Hf.
huggingface.co
Paper page - Maya: An Instruction Finetuned Multilingual Multimodal Model
Join the discussion on this paper page
❗️Google Announces Gemini 2.0: A New Era of AI Agents
What's New in Gemini 2.0?
The new model brings groundbreaking capabilities to the table. Unlike its predecessor, Gemini 2.0 can not only understand multiple types of input but also generate various forms of output. It can create images, produce audio, and seamlessly integrate with tools like Google Search. Perhaps most impressively, it operates at twice the speed of the previous version while delivering superior performance.
3 Groundbreaking Projects
Google is showcasing Gemini 2.0's capabilities through three innovative projects:
1. Project Astra: An enhanced universal AI assistant that can understand multiple languages, remember conversations for up to 10 minutes, and naturally integrate with Google tools like Search, Lens, and Maps.
2. Project Mariner. A browser-based AI agent that can navigate web interfaces and complete complex tasks. Early tests show an impressive 83.5% success rate on real-world web tasks.
3. Jules: An AI-powered coding assistant that integrates with GitHub, helping developers plan and execute coding tasks under their supervision.
Google's ambitions extend beyond traditional computing interfaces. They're exploring applications in gaming, where AI agents can provide real-time guidance by analyzing gameplay, and even in robotics, where Gemini 2.0's spatial reasoning capabilities could revolutionize physical automation.
Understanding the significant implications of these advancements, Google emphasizes their commitment to responsible AI development. They've implemented extensive safety measures, including:
- Comprehensive risk assessments
- AI-assisted red teaming
- Privacy controls
- Protection against potential misuse
What's New in Gemini 2.0?
The new model brings groundbreaking capabilities to the table. Unlike its predecessor, Gemini 2.0 can not only understand multiple types of input but also generate various forms of output. It can create images, produce audio, and seamlessly integrate with tools like Google Search. Perhaps most impressively, it operates at twice the speed of the previous version while delivering superior performance.
3 Groundbreaking Projects
Google is showcasing Gemini 2.0's capabilities through three innovative projects:
1. Project Astra: An enhanced universal AI assistant that can understand multiple languages, remember conversations for up to 10 minutes, and naturally integrate with Google tools like Search, Lens, and Maps.
2. Project Mariner. A browser-based AI agent that can navigate web interfaces and complete complex tasks. Early tests show an impressive 83.5% success rate on real-world web tasks.
3. Jules: An AI-powered coding assistant that integrates with GitHub, helping developers plan and execute coding tasks under their supervision.
Google's ambitions extend beyond traditional computing interfaces. They're exploring applications in gaming, where AI agents can provide real-time guidance by analyzing gameplay, and even in robotics, where Gemini 2.0's spatial reasoning capabilities could revolutionize physical automation.
Understanding the significant implications of these advancements, Google emphasizes their commitment to responsible AI development. They've implemented extensive safety measures, including:
- Comprehensive risk assessments
- AI-assisted red teaming
- Privacy controls
- Protection against potential misuse
Google
Introducing Gemini 2.0: our new AI model for the agentic era
Today, we’re announcing Gemini 2.0, our most capable AI model yet.
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