The Fresh Prince of Pasta Google’s Will Smith double is better at eating AI spaghetti … but it’s crunchy? Veo 3 is a major leap in AI video synthesis, but the sound effects need more cooking time. Benj Edwards – May 23, 2025 1:57 pm | 58 A still frame of "Will Smith eating spaghetti" in Google's Veo 3 AI video generator. A still frame of "Will Smith eating spaghetti" in Google's Veo 3 AI video generator. Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more On Tuesday, Google launched Veo 3, a new AI video synthesis model that can do something no major AI video generator has been able to do before: create a synchronized audio track. While from 2022 to 2024, we saw early steps in AI video generation, each video was silent and usually very short in duration. Now you can hear voices, dialog, and sound effects in eight-second high-definition video clips. Shortly after the new launch, people began asking the most obvious benchmarking question: How good is Veo 3 at faking Oscar-winning actor Will Smith at eating spaghetti? First, a brief recap. The spaghetti benchmark in AI video traces its origins back to March 2023, when we first covered an early example of horrific AI-generated video using an open source video synthesis model called ModelScope. The spaghetti example later became well-known enough that Smith parodied it almost a year later in February 2024. Here's what the original viral video looked like: One thing people forget is that at the time, the Smith example wasn't the best AI video generator out there—a video synthesis model called Gen-2 from Runway had already achieved superior results. But the ModelScope result was funny and weird enough to stick in people's memories as an early poor example of video synthesis, handy for future comparisons as AI models progressed. AI app developer Javi Lopez first came to the rescue for curious spaghetti fans earlier this week with Veo 3, performing the Smith test and posting the results on X. But as you'll notice below when you watch, the soundtrack has a curious quality: The faux Smith appears to be crunching on the spaghetti. On X, Javi Lopez ran "Will Smith eating spaghetti" in Google's Veo 3 AI video generator and received this result. It's a glitch in Veo 3's experimental ability to apply sound effects to video, likely because the training data used to create Google's AI models featured many examples of chewing mouths with crunching sound effects. Generative AI models are pattern-matching prediction machines, and they need to be shown enough examples of various types of media to generate convincing new outputs. If a concept is over-represented or under-represented in the training data, you'll see unusual generation results, such as jabberwockies. We tried running the prompt ourselves in Veo 3 and "Will Smith" was blocked by Google's content filters, but upon requesting "A black man eating spaghetti," we got a similar crunchy sound result. AI-generated video from Google Veo 3: "A black man eating spaghetti." Veo 3 is remarkable in its ability to generate coherent dialog and music, and it's already led to many interesting examples you can find on X. Some are wildly realistic. Not content to merely enjoy a video of a man eating very al dente noodles, we thought we'd see if the man could sing and eat at the same time with the prompt, "A man singing an English language comedy opera about spaghetti at a kitchen table while eating it." AI-generated video from Google Veo 3: "A man singing an English language comedy opera about spaghetti at a kitchen table while eating it." We have come quite a long way since 2023, and AI video generators are only going to get more realistic and capable over time. If it weren't for the celebrity filter on Veo 3 at the moment, we could likely make Smith appear to do the singing—and to do just about anything else, which is the potentially troublesome part of AI video. The cultural singularity is upon us. AI-generated video from Veo 3: A man in a shark costume rapping about Ars Technica on stage. Speaking of which, we recently ran our own extended battery of video generation tests in Veo 3 and will have those for you soon in a separate feature. But for now, we thought we'd briefly update you on the Fresh Prince of noodle consumption. Bon appétit! Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards Senior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 58 Comments #googles #will #smith #double #better

Mistral AI, the French company behind AI assistant Le Chat and several foundational models, is officially regarded as one of France’s most promising tech startups and is arguably the only European company that could compete with OpenAI. But compared to its billion valuation, its global market share is still relatively low.  However, the recent launch of its chat assistant on mobile app stores was met with some hype, particularly in its home country. “Go and download Le Chat, which is made by Mistral, rather than ChatGPT by OpenAI — or something else,” French president Emmanuel Macron said in a TV interview ahead of the AI Action Summit in Paris. While this wave of attention may be encouraging, Mistral AI still faces challenges in competing with the likes of OpenAI — and in doing so while keeping up with its self-definition as “the world’s greenest and leading independent AI lab.” What is Mistral AI? Mistral AI has raised significant amounts of funding since its creation in 2023 with the ambition to “put frontier AI in the hands of everyone.” While this isn’t a direct jab at OpenAI, the slogan is meant to highlight the company’s advocacy for openness in AI. Its alternative to ChatGPT, chat assistant Le Chat, is now also available on iOS and Android. It reached 1 million downloads in the two weeks following its mobile release, even grabbing France’s top spot for free downloads on the iOS App Store. This comes in addition to Mistral AI’s suite of models, which includes:  Mistral Large 2, the primary large language model replacing Mistral Large. Pixtral Large, unveiled in 2024 as a new addition to the Pixtral family of multimodal models. Mistral Medium 3, released in May 2025 with the promise of providing efficiency without compromising performance, and best for coding and STEM tasks. Devstral, an AI model designed for coding and openly available under an Apache 2.0 license, meaning it can be used commercially without restriction. Codestral, an earlier generative AI model for code, but whose license banned commercial applications. “Les Ministraux,” a family of models optimized for edge devices such as phones. Mistral Saba, focused on Arabic language. In March 2025, the company introduced Mistral OCR, an optical character recognitionAPI that can turn any PDF into a text file to make it easier for AI models to ingest. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Who are Mistral AI’s founders? Mistral AI’s three founders share a background in AI research at major U.S. tech companies with significant operations in Paris. CEO Arthur Mensch used to work at Google’s DeepMind, while CTO Timothée Lacroix and chief scientist officer Guillaume Lample are former Meta staffers. Co-founding advisers also include Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werveand Charles Gorintin from health insurance startup Alan, as well as former digital minister Cédric O, which caused controversy due to his previous role. Are Mistral AI’s models open source? Not all of them. Mistral AI differentiates its premier models, whose weights are not available for commercial purposes, from its free models, for which it provides weight access under the Apache 2.0 license. Free models include research models such as Mistral NeMo, which was built in collaboration with Nvidia that the startup open sourced in July 2024. How does Mistral AI make money? While many of Mistral AI’s offerings are free or now have free tiers, Mistral AI plans to drive some revenue from Le Chat’s paid tiers. Introduced in February 2025, Le Chat’s Pro plan is priced at a month. On the purely B2B side, Mistral AI monetizes its premier models through APIs with usage-based pricing. Enterprises can also license these models, and the company likely also generates a significant share of its revenue from its strategic partnerships, some of which it highlighted during the Paris AI Summit. Overall, however, Mistral AI’s revenue is reportedly still in the eight-digit range, according to multiple sources. What partnerships has Mistral AI closed? In 2024, Mistral AI entered a deal with Microsoft that included a strategic partnership for distributing its AI models through Microsoft’s Azure platform and a €15 million investment. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authorityswiftly concluded that the deal didn’t qualify for investigation due to its small size. However, it also sparked some criticism in the EU.  In January 2025, Mistral AI signed a deal with press agency Agence France-Presseto let Chat query the AFP’s entire text archive dating back to 1983. Mistral AI also secured strategic partnerships with France’s army and job agency, shipping giant CMA, German defense tech startup Helsing, IBM, Orange, and Stellantis. In May 2025, Mistral AI announced it would participate in the creation of an AI Campus in the Paris region, as part of a joint venture with UAE-investment firm MGX, NVIDIA, and France’s state-owned investment bank Bpifrance. How much funding has Mistral AI raised to date? As of February 2025, Mistral AI raised around €1 billion in capital to date, approximately billion at the current exchange rate. This includes some debt financing, as well as several equity financing rounds raised in close succession. In June 2023, and before it even released its first models, Mistral AI raised a record million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Sources at the time said the seed round — Europe’s largest ever — valued the then-one-month-old startup at million.  Other investors in this seed round included Bpifrance, Eric Schmidt, Exor Ventures, First Minute Capital, Headline, JCDecaux Holding, La Famiglia, LocalGlobe, Motier Ventures, Rodolphe Saadé, Sofina, and Xavier Niel. Only six months later, it closed a Series A of €385 million, at a reported valuation of billion. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from existing backer Lightspeed, as well as BNP Paribas, CMA-CGM, Conviction, Elad Gil, General Catalyst, and Salesforce. The million convertible investment that Microsoft made in Mistral AI as part of their partnership announced in February 2024 was presented as a Series A extension, implying an unchanged valuation. In June 2024, Mistral AI then raised €600 million in a mix of equity and debt. The long-rumored round was led by General Catalyst at a billion valuation, with notable investors, including Cisco, IBM, Nvidia, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and others. What could a Mistral AI exit look like? Mistral is “not for sale,” Mensch said in January 2025 at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Of course,the plan.”  This makes sense, given how much the startup has raised so far: Even a large sale may not provide high enough multiples for its investors, not to mention sovereignty concerns depending on the acquirer.  However, the only way to definitely squash persistent acquisition rumors is to scale its revenue to levels that could even remotely justify its nearly billion valuation. Either way, stay tuned. This story was originally published on February 28, 2025 and will be regularly updated. #what #mistral #everything #know #about

In 2023, IBM made its mark by announcing the redundancy of almost 8,000 employees, mainly in human resources, to automate these functions using artificial intelligence. But against all odds, this strategy led to a wave of new hires… again because of AI. AI upsets the employment balance at IBM In early 2023, IBM made a radical decision to replace thousands of jobs, mainly in support functions, with artificial intelligence solutions. The stated objective was clear: to automate up to 30% of repetitive tasks, particularly in human resources, and thus achieve significant productivity savings. This strategy, far from being isolated, was part of a worldwide wave of rationalisation in which other tech giants, such as Google and Spotify, were also making massive redundancies. But IBM has taken its experimentation further than its competitors. Thanks to the AskHR solution, an AI-powered conversational agent, 94% of routine HR management tasks have been automated, from holiday processing to payroll management and employee documentation. This automation has enabled the firm to generate billion in productivity across more than 70 different business lines. However, what followed surprised even IBM’s top management. Far from reducing its workforce permanently, the company saw its total number of employees rise again after the wave of redundancies. Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, explained it to the Wall Street Journal, “While we’ve done a tremendous amount of work to leverage AI, our total employment has actually increased because it’s allowed us to invest more in other areas.” In fact, automation has freed up financial and human resources, which have been redeployed in high value-added sectors. IBM has massively recruited software engineers, sales people and marketing specialists, professions where creativity, critical thinking and human interaction are irreplaceable by machines. Repetitive and predictable tasks have been entrusted to AI, but the need for human skills has exploded in strategic areas. Towards a transformation of the labour market IBM’s example illustrates a fundamental trend: AI is not just eliminating jobs, it is creating new ones, often with higher qualifications and better pay. But this transformation is not without its problems. The jobs most exposed to automation, such as support functions, are being replaced, while demand is exploding for profiles capable of managing, designing and selling AI solutions. IBM is not an isolated case. Other companies, such as Duolingo and certain customer service platforms, have also tried to massively replace their staff with chatbots, sometimes with mixed results, forcing them to rehire specialists to compensate for the limits of automation. The success of automation at IBM is based on the company’s ability to reinvest the savings made in growth sectors. The case of AskHR is emblematic: in 2024, the platform handled more than 11.5 million interactions, with a customer satisfaction ratethat rose from -35 to +74 in just a few years. But despite these successes, only 6% of requests still require human intervention, proof that the transformation is not complete and that certain skills are still essential. The IBM case raises the question of the future of work in the age of AI. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, almost 92 million jobs could disappear by 2030 as a result of automation, but new professions are already emerging at high speed. The challenge for companies and employees will be to anticipate these changes, train and adapt to an ever-changing labour market. At IBM, AI has not only eliminated jobs: it has forced the company to rethink its HR strategy in depth and reinvent the contours of modern employment. Share This With A Friend : #ibm #laid #off #employees #replace

OverviewBacked by Craig Zingerline, Growth Minded is a boutique micro-agency focused on helping early stage through growth startups grow. We're looking for a Director of Lifecycle Marketing & Growth Strategy to help us increase our client engagement capacity, as well as work on internal projects. To learn more about Craig, please visit his Growth Mentor profile, or check him out on LinkedIn.What we doClients hire us to help them find, convert, and retain customers. We work from high level strategy down into channel level tactics, and every layer in-between. As a company and team we care deeply about solving the challenging problems our customers face, and typically own major components of the marketing side of their business. We focus first on growth strategy development, then deliver tactics through a thoughtful, experiment driven approach. Our customers trust us with their business - and we take our work seriously.The roleWe are looking for a talented growth marketing with deep experience running lifecycle marketing programs and building growth strategies. Our ideal candidate has a blend of in-house client-side experience plus agency experience, but candidates with strong lifecycle marketing and growth strategy chops will be considered regardless of exact background. We care deeply about partnering with hardworking, thoughtful, and intellectually curious individuals who are strong lifecycle marketing experts, have world class growth strategy chops, are talented at writing and content framework development, are strategic thinkers, and who have the ability to go deep into the weeds, helping execute campaigns for our clients.Strong client facing skills are a must - you must present well, be able to take feedback and think on the fly, and bring thoughtful, actionable work to the company each day.Job OverviewAs the Director of Lifecycle Marketing & Growth Strategy, you will own the growth strategy and execution of lifecycle marketing campaigns across various channels, focusing on customer acquisition, activation, retention, and monetization. You will work closely with client product, marketing, sales, and analytics teams to drive user growth, create scalable strategies, and optimize conversion pathways to help our clients achieve and exceed their growth goals.Key Responsibilities- Develop comprehensive lifecycle marketing strategies for clients- Lead client relationship management, serving as the primary strategic point of contact- Design and optimize multi-channel customer journeys to maximize engagement, conversion, and retention- Analyze customer data to identify segmentation opportunities and personalization strategies- Write, design and implement email marketing campaigns- Oversee push notification, SMS, and in-app messaging strategies- Implement automated flows with sophisticated triggers- Monitor campaign performance, conduct A/B testing, and provide data-driven recommendations- Set up reports and dashboard on performance- Monitor and identify deliverability issues, as well as implement both technical and content steps to improve deliverability- Build strategies around list cleaning and list hygiene- Ideate and implement ideas on list growth- Present campaign results and strategic insights to clients with clear ROI measurements- Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies in lifecycle marketing- Develop client proposals and participate in new business pitchesData-Driven Decision Making:- Analyze data to understand the effectiveness of growth initiatives, measure KPIs, and make informed decisions.- Use customer segmentation and cohort analysis to uncover opportunities to increase user engagement and LTV.Nice to have's include:- Deep understanding and audit of the client’s current state of growth.- Design and execute growth strategies that cover the entire customer lifecycle, including acquisition, conversion, retention, and expansion.- Identify new growth opportunities for our clients through data analysis, customer insights, and market research.- Rank the opportunities and present evidence as to the order in which execution of the strategy should follow.- Lead A/B testing initiatives and growth experiments to improve customer acquisition and conversion rates.- Develop an experimentation framework to quickly validate ideas and scale winning initiatives.Collaboration and Leadership- Collaborate with both internal and client teams across marketing, product, and sales to ensure alignment in growth efforts.- Act as an owner within our small company, doing what it takes to help our clients succeed.-Ability to diplomatically assess tradeoffs between competing objectives.Requirements-Proven experience in a growth role, preferably at a startup or fast-paced environment within an agency.-Strong understanding of growth metrics and KPIs, including CAC, LTV, churn, and conversion rates.-Deep experience with lifecycle marketing-Deep experience with one or more of the following platforms: Kit, Hubspot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Iterable, Customer.io, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, etc.- STRONG copywriting and content skills. Almost everything we do requires great content. We have an in-house editor that you can leverage but you'll need to be leading efforts on content for multiple clients. - Deep interest and/or experience in leveraging AI tools to boost your productivity. We are a high output company even though we're small in size. We prefer candidates who are already deeply leveraging AI, but at a minimum, you should have the desire to learn new tools to increase your productivity. -Strong ability to learn as you go.-Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.-Analytical mindset with strong experience using data to drive decision-making.-Hands-on experience with marketing tools and analytics platforms.-Excellent communication skills and the ability to work cross-functionally.-Passionate about user experience, data-driven decision making, and continual learning.-Hardworking, thoughtful, and intellectually curious—a self-starter who values continuous improvement and collaboration.Why Join Us?-Be a part of an exciting growth journey at a dynamic company that is in growth mode ourselves.-Work with a talented, passionate, and collaborative team.-Enjoy opportunities for professional growth, creativity, and autonomy.To apply, fill out the form below. About the roleWe're going to offer a strong starting salary with a monthly bonus plan. Benefits are included.Base Compensation: to USD or local currency equivalent based on experience in this type of role. Bonus: Profit share to be reviewed as part of job offer. We're profitable and growing, and profit share potential is high.Potential for equity in the company will be considered after an initial evaluation period. #growth #minded #director #lifecycle #marketing

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: One of Microsoft's latest AI models can accurately predict air quality, hurricanes, typhoons, and other weather-related phenomena, the company claims. In a paper published in the journal Nature and an accompanying blog post this week, Microsoft detailed Aurora, which the tech giant says can forecast atmospheric events with greater precision and speed than traditional meteorological approaches. Aurora, which has been trained on more than a million hours of data from satellites, radar and weather stations, simulations, and forecasts, can be fine-tuned with additional data to make predictions for particular weather events. AI weather models are nothing new. Google DeepMind has released a handful over the past several years, including WeatherNext, which the lab claims beats some of the world's best forecasting systems. Microsoft is positioning Aurora as one of the field's top performers -- and a potential boon for labs studying weather science. In experiments, Aurora predicted Typhoon Doksuri's landfall in the Philippines four days in advance of the actual event, beating some expert predictions, Microsoft says. The model also bested the National Hurricane Center in forecasting five-day tropical cyclone tracks for the 2022-2023 season, and successfully predicted the 2022 Iraq sandstorm. While Aurora required substantial computing infrastructure to train, Microsoft says the model is highly efficient to run. It generates forecasts in seconds compared to the hours traditional systems take using supercomputer hardware. Microsoft, which has made the source code and model weights publicly available, says that it's incorporating Aurora's AI modeling into its MSN Weather app via a specialized version of the model that produces hourly forecasts, including for clouds. of this story at Slashdot. #microsoft #says #its #aurora #can

As part of its Memorial Day Sale, Adorama is offering an outstanding deal on a very highly rated pair of noise cancelling headphones. Right now you can get a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 noise cancelling wireless headphones for just with free shipping after you apply off coupon code "MEMO0523" during checkout. Note that only the Silver/White model is eligible for this code, NOT the Black model. This is the best noise cancelling headphones you'll find for under % Off Sony WH-1000XM4 Noise Cancelling HeadphonesSony WH-1000XM4 Noise Cancelling Wireless HeadphonesThe Sony WH-1000XM4 isn't the newest model in its series - the WH-1000XM5 was released in 2022 and the WH-1000XM6 just came out on May 15 - but headphone technology moves at a snail's pace. Even 5 years after its original launch, the WH-1000XM4 is still an excellent headphone that performs admirably. It offers great sound quality, effective active noise cancellation, and comfortable ergonomics. It features USB Type-C charging with up to 30 hours of battery life, Bluetooth Multipoint for simultaneous pairing with up to two devices, and a compact profile thanks to its foldable, swiveling design.Can't find the promo code field?Adorama's promo code field isn't in the most visible spot, so it's easy to overlook it. You'll find it during Step 4 of Checkout under "Payment". At the very top of this section you'll see a little gift box icon with clickable text that reads "Do you have a gift card or promo code?" Click on that to reveal the coupon code box.The Sony WH-1000XM6 was released a few weeks agoNew 2025 ModelSony WH-1000XM6 Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphonesat AmazonIt is a truth universally acknowledged that Sony’s XM-series headphones are the best in class for most people. They’re just exemplary wireless, Bluetooth, noise-canceling, over-ear headphones. At they’re not cheap, but this is a case where you get what you pay for. The latest model, the XM6, is now available to purchase at all the usual retailers.More Memorial Day sales are already liveSeveral retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Dell, and Wayfair have launched their sale early. We've rounded up all of the biggest retailers that have pushed their Memorial Day sales live with deals worth checking out.The Biggest SaleAmazon Memorial Day SaleSee it at AmazonTech and AppliancesBest Buy Memorial Day SaleSee it at Best BuyRetailer SaleWalmart Memorial Day SaleSee it at WalmartFurnitureWayfair Memorial Day saleSee it at WayfairPC and LaptopsHP Memorial Day SaleSee it at HPAppliances and FurnitureHome Depot Memorial Day SaleSee it at Home DepotClothing and Outdoor GearREI Anniversary SaleSee it at REIRetailer SaleTarget Memorial Day SaleSee it at TargetAppliances and FurnitureLowes Memorial Day SaleSee it at LowesSelect DealseBay Memorial Day SaleSee it at eBayRetailer SaleCostco Memorial Day SaleSee it at CostcoMattressesCasper Memorial Day SaleSee it at CasperMattressesDreamCloud Mattress SaleSee it at DreamCloudPC and LaptopsDell Memorial Day SaleSee it at DellPC and LaptopsLenovo Memorial Day SaleSee it at LenovoGaming chairs and desksSecretlab Memorial Day SaleSee it at SecretlabShoes and SportswearAdidas Memorial Day SaleSee it at AdidasFurniture and KitchenwareCrate&Barrel Memorial Day SaleSee it at Crate&BarrelKitchenwareWilliams Sonoma Memorial Day SaleSee it at Williams SonomaTuft & Needle Memorial Day SaleSee it at Tuft & NeedleMattressesSleep Number Memorial Day SaleSee it at Sleep NumberAppliancesLG Memorial Day SaleSee it at LGClothingMacy's Memorial Day SaleSee it at Macy'sSportswear and Outdoor GearDick's Sporting Goods Memorial Day SaleSee it at Dick'sOffice FurnitureFlexiSpot Memorial Day SaleSee it at FlexiSpotGaming ChairsAndaSeat Memorial Day SaleSee it at AndaSeatWhy Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time. #save #off #sony #wh1000xm4 #noise

In this tutorial, we demonstrated how Microsoft’s AutoGen framework empowers developers to orchestrate complex, multi-agent workflows with minimal code. By leveraging AutoGen’s RoundRobinGroupChat and TeamTool abstractions, you can seamlessly assemble specialist assistants, such as Researchers, FactCheckers, Critics, Summarizers, and Editors, into a cohesive “DeepDive” tool. AutoGen handles the intricacies of turn‐taking, termination conditions, and streaming output, allowing you to focus on defining each agent’s expertise and system prompts rather than plumbing together callbacks or manual prompt chains. Whether conducting in‐depth research, validating facts, refining prose, or integrating third‐party tools, AutoGen provides a unified API that scales from simple two‐agent pipelines to elaborate, five‐agent collaboratives. !pip install -q autogen-agentchatautogen-extnest_asyncio We install the AutoGen AgentChat package with Gemini support, the OpenAI extension for API compatibility, and the nest_asyncio library to patch the notebook’s event loop, ensuring you have all the components needed to run asynchronous, multi-agent workflows in Colab. import os, nest_asyncio from getpass import getpass nest_asyncio.applyos.environ= getpassWe import and apply nest_asyncio to enable nested event loops in notebook environments, then securely prompt for your Gemini API key using getpass and store it in os.environ for authenticated model client access. from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClientWe initialize an OpenAI‐compatible chat client pointed at Google’s Gemini by specifying the gemini-1.5-flash-8b model, injecting your stored Gemini API key, and setting api_type=”google”, giving you a ready-to-use model_client for downstream AutoGen agents. from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent researcher = AssistantAgentfactchecker = AssistantAgentcritic = AssistantAgentsummarizer = AssistantAgenteditor = AssistantAgentWe define five specialized assistant agents, Researcher, FactChecker, Critic, Summarizer, and Editor, each initialized with a role-specific system message and the shared Gemini-powered model client, enabling them to gather information, respectively, verify accuracy, critique content, condense summaries, and polish language within the AutoGen workflow. from autogen_agentchat.teams import RoundRobinGroupChat from autogen_agentchat.conditions import MaxMessageTermination, TextMentionTermination max_msgs = MaxMessageTerminationtext_term = TextMentionTerminationtermination = max_msgs | text_term team = RoundRobinGroupChatWe import the RoundRobinGroupChat class along with two termination conditions, then compose a stop rule that fires after 20 total messages or when the Editor agent mentions “APPROVED.” Finally, it instantiates a round-robin team of the five specialized agents with that combined termination logic, enabling them to cycle through research, fact-checking, critique, summarization, and editing until one of the stop conditions is met. from autogen_agentchat.tools import TeamTool deepdive_tool = TeamToolWE wrap our RoundRobinGroupChat team in a TeamTool named “DeepDive” with a human-readable description, effectively packaging the entire multi-agent workflow into a single callable tool that other agents can invoke seamlessly. host = AssistantAgentWe create a “Host” assistant agent configured with the shared Gemini-powered model_client, grant it the DeepDive team tool for orchestrating in-depth research, and prime it with a system message that informs it of its ability to invoke the multi-agent DeepDive workflow. import asyncio async def run_deepdive: result = await host.runprintawait model_client.closetopic = "Impacts of Model Context Protocl on Agentic AI" loop = asyncio.get_event_looploop.run_until_complete) Finally, we define an asynchronous run_deepdive function that tells the Host agent to execute the DeepDive team tool on a given topic, prints the comprehensive result, and then closes the model client; it then grabs Colab’s existing asyncio loop and runs the coroutine to completion for a seamless, synchronous execution. In conclusion, integrating Google Gemini via AutoGen’s OpenAI‐compatible client and wrapping our multi‐agent team as a callable TeamTool gives us a powerful template for building highly modular and reusable workflows. AutoGen abstracts away event loop management, streaming responses, and termination logic, enabling us to iterate quickly on agent roles and overall orchestration. This advanced pattern streamlines the development of collaborative AI systems and lays the foundation for extending into retrieval pipelines, dynamic selectors, or conditional execution strategies. Check out the Notebook here. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Asif RazzaqWebsite |  + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Microsoft AI Introduces Magentic-UI: An Open-Source Agent Prototype that Works with People to Complete Complex Tasks that Require Multi-Step Planning and Browser UseAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Anthropic Releases Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4: A Technical Leap in Reasoning, Coding, and AI Agent DesignAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Technology Innovation Institute TII Releases Falcon-H1: Hybrid Transformer-SSM Language Models for Scalable, Multilingual, and Long-Context UnderstandingAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Google DeepMind Releases Gemma 3n: A Compact, High-Efficiency Multimodal AI Model for Real-Time On-Device Use #comprehensive #coding #guide #crafting #advanced

After three seasons, Amazon’s live-action take on Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson’s Wheel of Time series is coming to an end. Though The Wheel of Time‘s third season was hailed by fans as the show’s strongest chapter yet, Deadline reports that Amazon has decided not to bring it back due to its relatively high production costs and flagging viewership numbers. Similar to Amazon’s Rings of Power series, The Wheel of Time was clearly a play to produce another Game of Thrones-style hit. When the series first debuted in 2021, it managed to capture an impressively large audience and become one of Amazon’s most-watched programs. But those numbers dwindled in subsequent seasons, leading Amazon to call it quits. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter back in April right after The Wheel of Time‘s third season concluded, showrunner Rafe Judkins said that when when he and his team were first shopping the series around to studios, they ultimately chose Amazon as a production partner because it “felt like a place where they do want to invest in shows for the long term.” “There are not a lot of places doing that anymore,” Judkins said. “For Wheel of Time, it’s really important for us to be somewhere that does want to invest in shows for the long term and not just for the splash and leave.” #amazon #has #canceled #its #wheel

Memorial Day Weekend means the official start of summer and the start of summer sales events. We're seeing tons of Memorial Day tech deals, and that includes big discounts on popular Apple products. From the latest and greatest Apple watches to high-performing tablets and Beats headphones, you can score hundreds in savings right now. We've gone ahead and rounded up the best Memorial Day Apple deals. Let's take a closer look, so you can start saving now. Don't forget to check out our round-up of theBest Memorial Day tech sales for all of the best deals out there.Apple Watch DealsAlready off in anticipation of Memorial Day, Apple's flagship smartwatch, the Apple Watch Series 10, is our Editor's Choice pick for iPhone users. It's powered by the fast and efficient S10 chip and boasts tons of health, fitness, and lifestyle features, including GPS workout recording, ECG, sleep and cycle tracking, music, podcast, and third-party app support. It also has the newly added audio playback mode. Plus, the new depth gauge and water temperature sensors also make it an excellent choice for snorkeling and other shallow-water activities. The latest Apple Watch SE that we reviewed hits the sweet spot in terms of balancing performance with price thanks to this discount. It's marketed as the "budget-friendly" model in the Apple Watch line-up, but still boasts many of the same core features, including fall detection, irregular heart rate and rhythm notifications, and pretty much the same access to apps and connectivity features. Basically, if you can forgo an always-on display and some of the more specialized health metrics, like body temperature and ECG, then the Apple Watch SE offers the most bang for your buck, especially on sale.iPad DealsAlthough small, the latest iPad Mini is powerful and capable with the new ability to support Apple Intelligence. In terms of design, it has the same sleek aesthetic of other iPads, only it's a lighter, more portable size that's ideal for traveling while leaving your bulky tablet or laptop at home. Plus, the bright LCD screen features anti-reflective and fingerprint-resistant coatings, so you can use it outside with little glare and clear visibility. In our testing, it performed notably well across gaming, productivity, and media streaming with a solid 7-plus hour battery life — and right now, it's off.Recommended by Our EditorsBeats DealsWhen it comes to noise-cancelling earbuds, the sleek Beats Studio Buds+ are among the best value you can find right now. On sale for just they boast some of the best noise cancellation you can find in the under-price range. The overall audio quality doesn't disappoint either with deep bass and crisp highs. They're compatible with both Apple and Android devices, offering an impressive nine-hour battery life plus an additional 27 hours when you use the charging case. We gave them a rating of "Excellent" in our 2023 review, and that was without a 41% discount.Powered by the Apple H1 chip, the sweat-proof Beats Powerbeats Pro deliver the iconic deep bass sound signature the brand is known for, only in Bluetooth earbud form. In contrast to the Beats Studio Buds+ or AirPods, these feature a sleek design that hooks over the ear and can even be adjusted to ensure an extra secure grip. The nine-hour battery life is also noteworthy, with the case offering an additional 24 hours of playback time. Per our 2019 review, they earned a rating of "Excellent" with one of the big downsides being the price – but with nearly a discount, these are well worth it for fans of the Beats aesthetic and acoustics.The Beats Studio Pro are wireless, over-ear headphones that offer a rich, well-balanced sound complete with head-tracking spatial audio. You can listen to your favorite tunes via wired headphonesor through Bluetooth in either noise-cancelling or transparency mode. We found their seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem to be especially noteworthy along with their comfortable, cushiony fit and premium accessories. While we originally rated them as "Good," at a sale price of they're a more than good pair of noise-canceling headphones, particularly for iOS users. We’re finding Memorial Day Deals everywhere, from retailers like Amazon and Walmart to top brands like Dell and HP. And don’t forget to check out all of the Memorial Day Deals Under and Under  But, if you’re looking for something more specific, we’ve rounded up the following holiday deals for you: #best #way #save #apple #products

Cult of the Lamb was a breakout success this summer, selling more than a million copies in its first week. Through its unique premise, Massive Monster’s dungeon-crawling, base-building, rogue-lite hybrid casts you in the role of a possessed, cult-leading lamb.Your mission? Indoctrinate woodland creatures, perform dark rituals, and hunt down bosses – all to appease an eldritch being, The One Who Waits, and become leader of “the one true cult.” A major factor in the game’s success is its compelling gameplay loop, which reviewers have described as “addictive,” “satisfying,” and even “perfect.”We sat down with Jay Armstrong, Massive Monster’s design director and lead programmer, to discuss how the team chose which genres to combine, what they did to balance a two-genres-in-one-game approach, and their top tips for overcoming challenges to keep development focused.The Massive Monster team – Jay Armstrong, Julian Wilton, and James “Jimp” Pearmain– is spread out across Singapore, Australia, and the UK. How did you all meet and start making games together?We all started making Flash games individually. We first met through the Flash game scene, forums, and events. We all worked together on different games, and when Flash games fell away, we decided to team up and make games for desktop and console.The first game that Julian and I created together was called Super Adventure Pals, and almost exactly 10 years later, we released Cult of the Lamb. So the three of us have been collaborating together for a long time.What was your source of inspiration for Cult of the Lamb? How did you develop the idea?Funny enough, the cult stuff didn’t come until much later. The game actually started with the idea of combining the genres of a roguelike with a colony sim/base builder. I noticed that games like RimWorld and Enter the Gungeon created so many interesting emergent narratives – stories that spring out of the game’s mechanics – that made it so everyone’s experience with the game was unique. I was excited about the idea of combining those two genres to create something that would become more than the sum of its parts, so I created a prototype that I planned to show to the other guys at an upcoming PAX.When I took it to Jimp and Julian, they loved it, but we immediately found that it was a really hard game to pitch when talking to publishers. At this point we still hadn’t come up with the cult theme. We knew we had to figure out a way to market the game in one sentence. We needed a player fantasy we could explain easily and that people would immediately understand. It took around nine months of experimenting with different themes before we finally landed on the idea of the cult.Once we had that, everything for the next three years was about making sure we kept hitting the “promise” the game’s theme created. The game had to feel like you were leading a cult, which meant we had to have rituals and sermons. But figuring out how to make those game mechanics took a lot of iteration and experimentation. We got very used to cutting ideas that didn’t achieve that goal, and “listening” to what the game wanted to be. Having a clear goal for what we wanted the experience to be meant we were all on the same page, and it was obvious when something was or wasn’t working.Cult of the Lamb is your first Unity project. Why did you choose Unity to develop it?Yes, Cult of the Lamb is our first Unity project. We chose it because of the great tools it offers for iterating, quick testing, and allowing designers to lay out levels. In the past, we’ve created our own editors, but the tools that are available for Unity and on the Asset Store are such timesavers. We also have the flexibility of building whatever tools we want for ourselves.How did Unity enable you to manage the game’s combination of 2D and 3D assets to create a 2.5D look?One of the reasons we picked the 2.5D look was because we were moving to Unity and it was our first time using a 3D engine. It felt like a waste if we just stuck to normal 2D, so we decided to take advantage of that extra axis!It was great being able to move the sprites around and create faux-3D structures; to use the Editor to decide on the best angles for our characters and the camera.Why did you choose the top-down perspective? What were some challenges you encountered during implementation and how did you solve them?The main problem with our perspective was that we had to keep the camera relatively fixed, which restricted our options for combat and the placement of things in the world. While it is sort of top-down, we had to arrange things so that the important stuff was all at the top/back of the screen. It was fine once we got the hang of it: Creating restrictions forces you to come up with creative solutions.What benefit did Unity’s lighting provide for creating the look of Cult of the Lamb?The lighting is such a big part of what makes Cult of the Lamb look so cool! We had some support from our extremely talented friend Jonathan Swanson, who helped us set up all the lighting. Because of our 2.5D setup, we had to create some custom solutions. But once we got it all up and running, it really elevated the game massively.Did your artists work directly in Unity?Yes, everyone was working directly on the project at once, which saved us huge amounts of time. Having an artist or designer implement something directly is so great. This not only saves the programmers time, it also allows the artist or designer to get it looking exactly how they want it to.Back when we started in Flash, everything had to be implemented into the project by one person, and we’d send assets over email. This created a huge bottleneck. It’s such a relief to be able to put the tools in the hands of talented artists and let them do their thing!How did you iterate on what are essentially two different game concepts, while maintaining the scope of your project?It was definitely a challenge. Cult of the Lamb only works when both sides of the game feed into the other – when one side is broken or not as good as it should be, the whole game falls apart. It really didn’t come together until quite soon before the release. We just kept working as hard as we could and dragged the game kicking and screaming over the finish line.We still have loads of ideas for the game – but it just came to a point where we had to stop adding new stuff and focus on making it as cohesive as possible and the game loop itself as compelling as it could be. That’s where the real magic of the game is. We plan to keep adding more stuff to the game post release.How did you test features as you added them?Everyone on the team would do regular playtests. Later in development, our publisher helped us to connect with a focus group who gave us feedback. Ordinarily we would have exhibited the game to get player feedback, but due to COVID, we were essentially making this game alone in the dark. We had no idea what people would think of it!Thinking about the roguelike elements, how did you implement randomization? What was most difficult to balance here?Our team has a huge range of skill levels when it comes to gaming. We balanced “easy” to Julian, “medium” to me, and “hard” to Jimp.The other nice thing about dungeon crawlers is that you don’t really need the randomization to be very balanced. It’s actually more fun when you have a run where you get lucky, and sometimes you get really unlucky. It’s that variety that makes it fun!Balancing was mostly focused on enemy and boss HP against the level of your character’s starting weapon. Then there was experimentation with faith and hunger levels.We also have a lot of things under the hood of the game that adjust to the player if you’re struggling. For example, if you’re low on health, you’re much more likely to find a heart in the grass or to loot one from a chest.During our Twitch stream at GDC, you and the team talked about how taking advantage of the cult members is central to the game. How did you ensure that your players would feel like they were making difficult yet impactful choices when managing the cult?That was a decision we made very early on, and it pervades the entire DNA of the game. Really, it was part of almost every design decision we made.One thing that took us a while to figure out was how to make sacrificing a follower feel valuable. You originally just got gold for it, but it never felt valuable enough, so we knew we needed to make it more tempting for a player. That’s why we changed it to an instant level-up. Suddenly we found players were sacrificing their followers all the time!Another idea that we had from almost the beginning was being able to consume a follower to bring yourself back to life. That was originally a core mechanic of the game, but we decided to bring it in a bit later instead. Making leveled-up followers give more hearts is a great example – the cult members you care about more, and have invested in more, we make more tempting to kill. Basically, anything you care about, we try to make it tempting for you to do something horrible to it.What are the most important things you learned during the making of Cult of the Lamb that will impact how you approach your next project?Pick a theme and then create three design pillars; that will be how you fulfill the promise that the theme creates. For example, if it’s a game about cults, then you need a sacrifice ritual – even if you don’t yet know how it will be used mechanically.Once you have those pillars, absolutely every design decision must directly feed back into them. You might come up with a really cool idea, but if it doesn’t support that pillar, then you have to scrap it or your game will become unfocused.Start with a concept – it’s X meets Y – don’t just make another metroidvania or Stardew Valley clone. Even if you do decide to make another metroidvania, do something to elevate it so that you’re offering something new and exciting. It will make things much easier to get your foot in the door with publishers, socials, and press. Plus, while it might be more demanding, it’s incredibly rewarding to challenge yourself.Cult of the Lamb is available now on Nintendo Switch™, PC, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Follow @MassiveMonsters on Twitter for updates and visit our Indie Innovation hub for more stories featuring Unity creators making waves in the games industry.Answers attributed to Jay Armstrong.Nintendo Switch is a registered trademark of Nintendo. #creepy #cute #compelling #recipe #smash