Interactive podcasts
Picture having your own AI-powered podcast, complete with articulate hosts and in-depth discussions on topics that you want to know more about.
Google’s Gemini has recently allowed its free tier users to create AI-generated podcasts using its recently launched ‘Audio Overviews’ feature. The tech giant has expanded the feature to generate podcasts with AI hosts using Deep Research.
Audio Overview enables users to create comprehensive, 10-minute podcast shows using Google Docs, PDFs or YouTube videos. One can also interrupt and ask questions from the host who responds based on the data fed to it. It is particularly helpful for students and those who want to learn more in a limited time. The learning process becomes more interactive than reading, at the same time, one can clear their doubts or get their queries resolved while listening to the podcast.
Helping blind navigate
A wearable prototype has been developed that can help blind people navigate and avoid obstacles with ease. In a new study published in Nature Machine Intelligence, researchers analysed 20 people with visual impairments to test the devices. It was found that their walking distance and navigation time improved by 25% compared to using a cane when completing a 25-metre-long indoor maze.
“Artificial intelligence-powered wearable electronic systems offer promising solutions for non-invasive visual assistance, they wrote.
The system has a pair of glasses mounted with a camera that captures live images of the wearer’s surroundings and a tiny computer attached to it processes these images using machine-learning algorithms to detect the presence of obstacles and people. It then gives the user audio cues about their surroundings every 250 milliseconds and produces a beep in either the right or left earphone to help them move in the right direction. They have also created flexible ‘AI skin’ patches that users can wear on their wrist or fingers for additional navigational help. They too have a camera system which helps the bracelets to vibrate and alert the user when an obstacle is between 40 centimetres and 5 centimetres away. Not just that, they also vibrate and alert the user to help them grasp when they are trying to reach for an object.
Choose Netflix shows
How many times have you opened Netflix only to get overwhelmed as to what to watch? The platform is currently testing an AI-powered search tool which enables users to find movies and TV shows using natural language, moods, and highly specific queries. This feature is currently available to some iOS users in Australia and New Zealand and Netflix is reportedly planning to expand to other markets as well.
Communicate with dolphins
Google DeepMind’s latest AI model DolphinGemma is delving into the complex world of dolphin
communication. In collaboration with Georgia Tech researchers and Wild Dolphin Project (WDP), the innovative model can decipher dolphin vocalisations and even generate ‘dolphin like’ sound sequences.
“Trained extensively on WDP’s acoustic database of wild Atlantic spotted dolphins, DolphinGemma functions as an audio-in, audio-out model, processes sequences of natural dolphin sounds to identify patterns, structure and ultimately predict the likely subsequent sounds in a sequence, much like how large language models for human language predict the next word or token in a sentence,” Google said. The innovation is said to be efficient enough to run on smartphones and has the potential to transform our understanding of dolphin behaviour and social interactions. The WPD will now use Google’s Pixel 9 smartphone to power a platform that creates synthetic dolphin vocalisations and responds to dolphin sounds with matching ‘replies’ — research slated for summer 2025.
Create music
YouTube is bringing an AI music-making tool to its creators. It allows them to generate custom background music for their videos without worrying about copyright issues. They can simply type in their desired music style, mood, or instruments and the AI will generate tracks accordingly.
For example, one can give prompts like happy acoustic tunes for a travel vlog or dramatic orchestral background for a short film.
The new tool AI Music Assistant Feature is being launched to a limited number of creators in the US at present.
The news feature is part of its Creator Music marketplace.
The platform has been releasing a slew of AI-powered features like remix tool launched last year for Shorts and Dream Track feature by Google
DeepMind’s AI model that turns tunes into tracks sung by some select artistes.