TimesOfAI

New AI App Lets Burned‑Out Users “Fake” Their Summer Vacations A new iPhone app called Endless Summer, developed by product designer Laurent Del Rey, uses AI to generate photorealistic “vacation” images featuring users in idyllic locations when they’re too drained to travel themselves. The app uses Google’s Gemini Nano Banana image‑generation model to place a user into scenarios like beach towns, European cityscapes, dining scenes or shopping sprees, creating a virtual getaway when “burnout hits”. Users get six free images before hitting a paywall (30 images for US $3.99, 150 for US $17.99, 300 for US $34.99). The app includes an optional “Room Service” mode that auto‑generates two images daily, vintage film‐style aesthetics, and a special Halloween theme. Privacy is addressed: the app doesn’t save your selfies unless you enable auto‑generation, and account deletion is just two taps away. #TOAINews2025 #AI #TechStartups #DigitalWellbeing #TravelTech #Burnout

Wikipedia Reports Traffic Drop, Blames AI‑Driven Search and Social Video Trends Wikimedia Foundation says human‑page views on Wikipedia have declined by approximately 8 % year‑over‑year, following upgrades to its bot‑detection system that revealed earlier spikes were largely driven by automated traffic. The nonprofit attributes the drop in engagement to evolving information‑seeking behaviour: search engines increasingly provide direct answers derived from generative AI instead of linking to external sites, and younger users are turning to short‑form video platforms for information rather than traditional open‑web sources. Wikimedia warns this shift could reduce contributions from volunteer editors and financial support, potentially jeopardising the long‑term health of its free knowledge model. #TOAINews2025 #Wikipedia #Wikimedia #AI #SearchEngines #SocialMedia #InformationConsumption

MENA Industrial AI Startup 1001 AI Raises $9 Million to Tackle Infrastructure Inefficiencies Former Scale AI operations lead Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh is spearheading 1001 AI, a new venture targeting mission-critical sectors in the Middle East and North Africa, aviation, ports, oil & gas, construction, and just secured a $9 million seed round led by General Catalyst, Lux Capital and CIV. The startup aims to reduce over $10 billion in operating inefficiencies by deploying an “AI-native operating system” that ingests real-time data, models workflows, and automates operational decisions. #TOAINews2025 #1001AI #ScaleAIAlum #MENA #IndustrialAI #AviationTech #Logistics #Infrastructure #StartupFunding

OpenEvidence Raises $200 Million at $6 Billion Valuation to Power AI for Doctors OpenEvidence has secured $200 million in new funding at a $6 billion valuation, just months after raising $210 million at a $3.5 billion valuation earlier this year. Positioned as “ChatGPT for doctors,” the platform is trained on top-tier medical journals like JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine, and is reportedly handling around 15 million monthly clinical consultations. Verified medical professionals can use it for free via ad support. #TOAINews2025 #OpenEvidence #HealthcareAI #MedTech #GenerativeAI #VentureCapital #HealthInnovation #AIforMedicine #DigitalHealth

Adobe Launches “Foundry” Service For Enterprise AI Adobe just introduced a Foundry service that lets companies build custom generative AI models tailored to their brand and data. Instead of relying solely on Firefly’s general-purpose AI, businesses can now train private models to fit their tone, style, and security needs. The move strengthens Adobe’s position in the enterprise AI market, helping brands generate on-brand creative content while keeping sensitive data safe. It also highlights Adobe’s strategy to compete with OpenAI’s custom GPTs and Anthropic’s Claude customization tools. #TOAINews2025 #AI #Adobe #GenAI #Firefly #EnterpriseAI #AIMarket #TechNews #Innovation

AI Crypto Trading Showdown: DeepSeek & Grok Outperform as Gemini 2.5 Pro Flounders In a live trading event organized by Nof1, artificial-intelligence models competed in real money trading of cryptocurrency perpetual contracts, each starting with $10,000 capital, making autonomous decisions on assets like Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Solana. The outcome raises important questions about what qualities make an AI trading model successful, and whether specialist models trained for finance may have an edge over broader language models in high-stakes markets. #TOAINews2025 #AITrading #DeepSeek #Grok #GeminiAI #CryptoMarkets #AlgorithmicTrading #DigitalAssets #FintechInnovation

Silicon Valley Publicly Challenges AI‑Safety Advocates Amid Rising Tensions Industry heavyweights from OpenAI and other Silicon Valley firms openly criticised non‑profit AI‑safety organisations last week, accusing them of self‑serving motives and regulatory capture rather than altruistic oversight. David Sacks alleged that Anthropic is orchestrating fear‑driven campaigns to push laws that favour its interests, while Jason Kwon of OpenAI referenced subpoenas issued to safety groups in the context of company‑restructuring litigation as part of a broader concern about hidden agendas. Safety‑focused nonprofit leaders say the mounting public criticism is pressuring them into silence or anonymity, a development they regard as an intimidation tactic. The situation underscores growing friction between the drive to rapidly commercialise AI and the push to regulate its potential systemic risks. #TOAINews2025 #AISafety #SiliconValley #TechRegulation #AIIndustry #StartupCulture

WhatsApp Bans General‑Purpose Chatbots Via Updated Business API Terms WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, announced a policy change this week that will prevent developers of large‑scale AI models and generative assistants from distributing their tools via WhatsApp’s Business API. Meta clarified the policy does not affect businesses using AI for customer care or support. Instead, the aim is to preserve the intended business‑to­‑customer usage of the API, rather than turning the platform into a generic AI‑agent distribution channel. The change follows a surge of high‑volume bot traffic and unanticipated workloads on the system. #TOAINews2025 #WhatsApp #Meta #AIpolicy #Chatbots #BusinessAPI #TechRegulation

Meta’s AI Now Suggests Edits to Your Photos, Right On Your Phone Meta Platforms has rolled out a new feature in its photo apps where its built-in AI can now suggest edits for the photos stored on your device, everything from lighting tweaks and color enhancements to alternative crop suggestions. The feature is currently limited to iOS in the U.S. with an English language rollout, but Meta says wider availability and “creator tools” are on the roadmap. By embedding this capability, Meta is positioning itself as more than just a social network, it’s aiming to become an everyday photo editor with AI inside. Watch for two key angles: one, how users react to AI having access to “stored” images; and two, how this could integrate with monetization (think filters, premium edit packs, or creator marketplaces). #TOAINews2025 #MetaAI #PhotoEditing #MobileAI #AItools #ImageEnhancement #DigitalPhotography #CreatorEconomy