Artificial Intelligence

Dec 24, 2025

Qwen has released an improved version of its image editing model that better maintains facial identity during edits. The Chinese AI company published Qwen-Image-Edit-2511 on Hugging Face, an upgrade to the earlier Qwen-Image-Edit-2509. The biggest improvement is how the model handles people. It can now make creative changes to portraits while keeping the subject recognizable, the company claims. Group photos with multiple people also work better now.

The updated model can combine separate portrait images and edit group photos while preserving each person's (or cat's) identity. | Image: Qwen

The update also brings improvements to lighting control, camera angles, industrial product design, and geometric calculations. Qwen has baked popular community LoRAs (small add-on models) directly into the base model. The model ships under the Apache 2.0 license. A demo is available on Hugging Face, and users can test the model for free via Qwen Chat.

Comment Source: Hugging Face

Matthias Bastian

Dec 24, 2025

AI and society

Authors sue six AI giants for book piracy

Pulitzer Prize winner John Carreyrou and other authors are suing OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, xAI, and Perplexity for book piracy. The AI companies allegedly stole their works from illegal online libraries. The lawsuit has a strong case, and this time the plaintiffs are going after the big bucks instead of the “pennies” of a class action settlement.

Read full article

Comment

Matthias Bastian

Dec 24, 2025

AI in practice

A Zelda puzzle proves AI models can crack gaming riddles that require thinking six moves ahead

Matthias Bastian

Dec 23, 2025

Short News

A comprehensive collection of "Claude Skills" is now available on GitHub. These skills are customizable workflows that teach Anthropic's AI assistant Claude to perform specific tasks repeatedly and in a standardized way. The collection includes more than 50 skills across nine categories: Document Processing (Word, PDF, PowerPoint), Development Tools (Playwright, AWS, Git), Data Analysis, Business and Marketing, Communication, Creative Media, Productivity, Project Management, and Security.

Users can add skills in Claude.ai through the settings, store them in Claude Code's configuration folder, or integrate them via API. Each skill consists of a folder with a SKILL.md file. The repository is under Apache 2.0 license and accepts contributions.

Since skills are essentially just a collection of prompts in a folder, getting the most out of AI means customizing these prompts to fit your needs. That said, the repository is a solid source of inspiration. And as skills seem to be becoming the standard approach, it's worth exploring the topic beyond Claude.ai.

Comment Source: Github

Jonathan Kemper

Dec 23, 2025

Short News

Zhipu AI has introduced GLM-4.7, a new model specialized in autonomous programming that uses "Preserved Thinking" to retain reasoning across long conversations. This capability works alongside the "Interleaved Thinking" feature introduced in GLM-4.5, which allows the system to pause and reflect before executing tasks. The model shows a significant performance jump over its predecessor, GLM-4.6, scoring 73.8 percent on the SWE-bench Verified test. Beyond writing code, Zhipu says GLM-4.7 excels at "vibe coding" - generating aesthetically pleasing websites and presentations. In a blog post, the company showcased several sites reportedly created from a single prompt. Benchmark comparisons show a tight race between GLM-4.7 and commercial Western models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. | Image: Zhipu AI

A table with benchmark results comparing the GLM-4.7 AI model with competitors; the model shows leading values in categories such as Reasoning, Code Agent and General Agent. — Benchmark comparisons show a tight race between GLM-4.7 and commercial Western models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic.

The model is available through the Z.ai platform and OpenRouter, or as a local download on Hugging Face. It also integrates directly into coding workflows like Claude Code. Z.ai is positioning the release as a cost-effective alternative, claiming it costs just one-seventh as much as comparable models.

Comment Source: Zhipu AI

Jonathan Kemper

Dec 23, 2025

Short News

The Qwen team at Alibaba Cloud has released two new AI models that create or clone voices using text commands. The Qwen3-TTS-VD-Flash model lets users generate voices based on detailed descriptions, allowing them to precisely define characteristics like emotion and speaking tempo. For example, a user could request a "Male, middle-aged, booming baritone - hyper-energetic infomercial voice with rapid-fire delivery and exaggerated pitch rises, dripping with salesmanship." According to the manufacturer, the model outperforms the API for OpenAI's GPT-4o mini-tts, which launched earlier this spring.

The second release, Qwen3-TTS-VC-Flash, can copy voices from just three seconds of audio and reproduce them in ten languages. Qwen claims the model achieves a lower error rate than competitors like Elevenlabs or MiniMax. The AI is also capable of processing complex texts, imitating animal sounds, and extracting voices from recordings. Both models are accessible via the Alibaba Cloud API. You can try demos for the design model and the clone model on Hugging Face.

Comment Source: Qwen

Matthias Bastian

Dec 23, 2025

AI in practice

Ex-Tesla AI chief Andrej Karpathy shares four tips for AI startups competing with OpenAI

Matthias Bastian

Dec 23, 2025

AI in practice

OpenAI admits prompt injection may never be fully solved, casting doubt on the agentic AI vision

OpenAI is using automated red teaming to fight prompt injections in ChatGPT Atlas. The company compares the problem to online fraud against humans, a framing that downplays a technical flaw that could slow the rise of the agentic web.

Read full article

Comment

Matthias Bastian

Dec 22, 2025

AI research

GPT-5 allegedly solves open math problem without human help

GPT-5 solves an open math problem for the first time, and the mathematician behind it shows exactly which line came from which AI. Does science really need this level of transparency?

Read full article

Comment

Matthias Bastian

Dec 22, 2025

AI in practice

Google is ramping up its AI infrastructure with a major energy acquisition. Parent company Alphabet is buying clean energy developer Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash, plus assumed debt.

Alphabet is acquiring Intersect's energy and data center projects that are currently under development or construction. The company holds assets worth $15 billion. By 2028, projects with roughly 10.8 gigawatts of capacity should be online—more than twenty times the electricity output of the Hoover Dam, as Reuters reports. Intersect will continue to operate separately from Alphabet. Existing plants in Texas and California aren't part of the deal.

The deal reflects a broader trend: big tech companies are pouring money into energy assets as US power grids struggle to keep pace with soaring electricity demand from artificial intelligence. Google says it plans to double its AI capacity every six months, aiming for a thousandfold increase in output within four to five years. To hit those targets, Google is also investing in advanced reactor technology.

Comment Source: Alphabet