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What's new in AI

What's new in AI: 25 Oct 2026

25 Oct 2026 · All digests

Key launches, policy changes, and research on model bias highlight shifting priorities in AI development and regulation.

Block's new voice model sounds eerily human

Block released a voice model that can run locally on a MacBook M4 Max, delivering human-like speech synthesis.

Understanding on-device speech models helps engineers design privacy-preserving AI applications.

Source: TechCrunch AI

Pennsylvania will require labels on AI-generated ads

Pennsylvania enacted the Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act, mandating disclosures on any AI-generated advertisement.

Compliance with labeling laws is becoming a core requirement for AI product deployments.

Source: The Verge AI

OpenAI says it will no longer train its AI models on the live internet

OpenAI announced it will cut off its frontier models from live internet data, citing significant risks and moving to offline training environments.

Offline training changes data pipelines and risk management strategies for large-scale model development.

Source: TechCrunch AI

Introducing Kimi K3.1 Pro

Moonshot released Kimi K3.1 Pro, a new large language model with promised full weight release by Nov 4 2026 and a high-speed variant.

Access to new model weights enables hands-on experimentation and benchmarking for emerging LLM technologies.

Source: Simon Willison

Forced to pick, Grok's AI model chooses Republicans. OpenAI's picks Democrats.

A study of nearly 500 election races found Grok's model overwhelmingly recommends Republican candidates, while OpenAI's GPT favors Democrats, with disagreement in over 90% of cases.

Detecting political bias in language models is essential for building fair and trustworthy AI systems.

Source: TechCrunch AI

What to learn from this

Turn today's news into a plan

Study techniques for fine-tuning large language models for on-device deployment and for evaluating political bias in their outputs. Then review the new AI labeling regulations to understand compliance requirements for AI-generated content.

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