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Matthias Bastian

Matthias is the co-founder and publisher of THE DECODER, exploring how AI is fundamentally changing the relationship between humans and computers.
Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Aug 24, 2025
AI in practice
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Read full article about: xAI has released Grok 2 as an open model with its weights now available for download

xAI has released Grok 2 as an open model, including the weights. Elon Musk announced on X that Grok 2.5, xAI's top model for 2024, is now open source. The weights for Grok 2 are available on Hugging Face. Musk also said Grok 3 will be released as open source in about six months.

Grok 2 is available under the xAI Community License. Usage is free for research and non-commercial projects, while commercial use must follow xAI's guidelines. The license prohibits using Grok 2 to develop or train other large AI models. If you redistribute the model, you have to credit the source and include "Powered by xAI."

Comment Source: Hugging Face
Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Aug 23, 2025
AI research
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Read full article about: Higher token consumption can reduce the efficiency of open reasoning models

Open-weight reasoning models often use far more tokens than closed models, making them less efficient per query, according to Nous Research. Models like DeepSeek and Qwen use 1.5 to 4 times more tokens than OpenAI and Grok-4—and up to 10 times more for simple knowledge tasks. Mistral's Magistral models stand out for especially high token use.  

Average tokens used per task by different AI models. | Image: Nous ResearchIn contrast, OpenAI's gpt-oss-120b, with very short reasoning paths, shows that open models can be efficient, especially for math problems. Token usage depends heavily on the type of task. Full details and charts are available at Nous Research.

High token use can offset low prices in open models. | Image: Nous Research
Comment Source: Nous Research
Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Aug 23, 2025
AI in practice
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Read full article about: Google offers AI video tool Veo 3 for free trial

This weekend, Google is giving users three free video generations with its AI video tool Veo 3 in the Gemini app. Veo can create short AI videos with sound and is currently the most realistic video model on the market. The promotion runs until Sunday, August 24, at 10:00 p.m. PT.

A humorous 8-second short video portraying a community theater-style play about AI video generation overheating Google's AI chips. | Video: Veo 3 prompted by THE DECODER

Normally, Veo is only available to paid Gemini users, starting at around $20 per month, or through the API for about 50 cents per second. Google could be using this promotion to test the system's stability ahead of a wider release. Since Veo launched, users have generated millions of videos, according to Google, though this activity isn't mentioned in the company's latest AI energy report.

Comment Source: Google via X
Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Aug 21, 2025
AI in practice
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Read full article about: Elevenlabs releases its v3 model with new expression controls and support for unlimited speakers

ElevenLabs has released Eleven v3 (alpha), an updated text-to-speech model now available through the API. The new version adds more expressive options, additional controls, and support for over 70 languages. Key changes include a dialog mode that can handle any number of speakers and new audio tags for controlling emotion and voice.

Video: Elevenlabs

The Eleven v3 (alpha) API works with a free account, though some features may require payment. Technical details and examples are in the official documentation. New users can register for free.

Comment Source: Elevenlabs
Matthias Bastian
Matthias Bastian View the LinkedIn Profile of Matthias Bastian
Aug 20, 2025
AI in practice
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Read full article about: LeCun now reports to Alexandr Wang as Meta reshuffles its top AI leadership

Yann LeCun, Meta's AI icon and longtime head of the FAIR research group, will now report to 28-year-old Alexandr Wang. Wang, who founded Scale AI, was recently tapped to lead the new Meta Superintelligence Lab (MSL), which is focused on building superintelligent AI.

With this shake-up, Meta is shutting down its former AGI department. LeCun's FAIR will continue as the company's main research hub, developing new ideas that can later be used to train larger models.

Alongside FAIR, Meta is setting up three additional teams: a small group focused on large models (TBD Lab), a unit for product-focused research, and a central team for technical infrastructure. According to Wang's internal memo, the goal is to tightly link all these groups to accelerate Meta's research and development.

Comment Source: Business Insider