Hi Synapticians!

Cocorico! Once again.

Mistral is rolling out a new model which, according to the benchmarks (yeah, benchmarks are always debatable), would edge out GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.7. They are also opening Le Chat (the chatbot, not the laundry detergent!) for businesses.

On today’s agenda: OpenAI is snapping up Windsurf, a code-generation outfit, for the modest sum of $3 billion—pocket change, right? Meanwhile, those rascals at Google still aren’t sharing all their data… which, honestly, is kind of understandable.

And finally, there’s a super-interesting new article about how Neuralink is giving generative AI a boost.

Enjoy the read, folks! And don't forget to admire the magnificent meme of the day…

Top AI news

1. Mistral Introduces Cost-Effective High-Performance AI Model
French startup Mistral introduces the Mistral Medium 3, an AI model offering top-tier performance at a competitive price. Priced at $0.40 per million input tokens, it challenges costlier models like Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.7, excelling in benchmarks. Designed for coding and STEM tasks, it's already being tested in finance, energy, and healthcare sectors. Available on Amazon Sagemaker, Mistral plans wider platform availability soon.

2. OpenAI's $3 Billion Move to Dominate Coding AI Tools
OpenAI is set to acquire Windsurf, an AI startup known for its natural language coding tool, for $3 billion. This acquisition marks OpenAI's largest to date, aimed at strengthening its position in the competitive AI-powered coding assistant market, dominated by GitHub Copilot and Claude Code. Windsurf's tool, previously valued at $1.25 billion, will enhance OpenAI's offerings against rising competition.

3. Google Reserves Key Search Data for Its AI Advantage
Google has reserved key search data for its AI service, Gemini, limiting access to other AI firms. This has sparked antitrust concerns, as Google maintains competitive advantages like the Knowledge Graph and OneBox for its service. The U.S. Justice Department proposes changes to promote fair competition. Industry figures like OpenAI and Meta are involved in the ongoing debate, highlighting the challenges in balancing innovation with equitable data access.

Bonus. Neuralink and AI Enhance ALS Patient Communication
The article discusses an ALS patient using a Neuralink brain implant assisted by generative AI to communicate. This combination allows the patient to convey thoughts more quickly but raises ethical questions about the authenticity of AI-generated messages. The patient uses the implant to control a cursor, with AI refining his responses. This technology offers significant possibilities for those with severe disabilities but calls for deeper reflection on human identity and agency in the age of AI.

Meme of the Day

How to create a SoTA report before ChatGPT…

Theme of the Week

AI for neuroscience - The Scientific paper

This article by science journalist Lucy Tu highlights an exciting breakthrough at the intersection of AI and neuroscience. It describes how researchers used machine learning to decode brain activity and reconstruct a recognizable snippet of a Pink Floyd song purely from participants' neural signals. The scientists recorded electrical brain activity from epilepsy patients listening to the classic rock song and then employed an AI model to translate those signals back into sound. The result was garbled but distinct audio matching the rhythm and melody of the original track – marking the first time music has been synthesized from brain recordings.

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