The Daily AI Briefing - 24/03/2025

Welcome to The Daily AI Briefing, here are today's headlines! In today's AI landscape, Anthropic's Claude gets real-time web search capabilities, OpenAI introduces next-gen voice technology with personality customization, Apple reshuffles its AI leadership amid Siri development challenges, and several powerful new AI tools hit the market. Plus, we'll look at how Gemini can bring your old photos to life and catch up on other significant developments across the industry. Let's dive into Claude's major upgrade. Anthropic has just equipped Claude with web search capabilities, giving the AI assistant access to real-time information. This closes a significant feature gap between Claude and competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini. The new functionality integrates directly with Claude 3.7 Sonnet and automatically determines when to search the internet for current or accurate information. A standout feature is Claude's direct citation system for web-sourced information, enabling users to verify sources and fact-check responses easily. Currently available to all paid Claude users in the United States, Anthropic plans to expand access internationally and to free-tier users soon. Users can activate the feature by toggling on the "Web Search" tool in their profile settings. Speaking of voice technology, OpenAI has launched its next-generation API-based audio models for text-to-speech and speech-to-text applications. The new gpt-4o-mini-tts model introduces a fascinating capability: customizing AI speaking styles via text prompts. Developers can now instruct the model to "speak like a pirate" or use a "bedtime story voice," adding personality and contextual appropriateness to AI voices. On the speech recognition front, the GPT-4o-transcribe models achieve state-of-the-art performance across accuracy and reliability tests, outperforming OpenAI's existing Whisper models. For those curious to experience these capabilities firsthand, OpenAI has released openai.fm, a public demo platform for testing different voice styles. These models are now available through OpenAI's API, with integration support through the Agents SDK for developers building voice-enabled AI assistants. Here's a practical AI application gaining popularity: colorizing old photos with Gemini. Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash now offers native image generation that can instantly transform black and white photos into vibrant color images. The process is remarkably simple: users visit Google AI Studio, select the Gemini 2.0 Flash model with Image Generation, upload their black-and-white photo, and type "Colorize this image." Beyond basic colorization, users can make creative edits with additional prompts like "Add snow on the trees" or "Change the lighting to golden hour." This accessible tool provides a new way to breathe life into historical photographs and personal memories with just a few clicks. Apple appears to be in crisis mode with its AI strategy, particularly regarding Siri. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company is making significant leadership changes, with Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell taking over Siri development. The move aims to accelerate delayed AI features and help Apple catch up to competitors. Notably, Siri's most significant AI upgrades, including personalization features highlighted in iPhone 16 marketing, have faced delays with no clear release timeline. In a major restructuring, Rockwell will now report directly to software chief Craig Federighi, completely removing Siri from current AI leader John Giannandrea's oversight. An internal assessment reportedly found substantial issues with Siri's development, including missed deadlines and implementation challenges. These changes follow discussions at Apple's exclusive annual leadership summit, where AI strategy emerged as a critical priority. In other AI news today, several noteworthy developments deserve mention. OpenAI released its o1-pro model via API, setting premium pricing at $150 and $600 per