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Google is enhancing Gemini Live with Project Astra to bring real-time visual AI to your devices. OpenAI is reportedly in talks to acquire an AI hardware startup creating a screenless phone concept. Shopify is making AI a core part of its operations, and IBM is launching its next-generation mainframe built for advanced AI tasks.

In today’s Generative AI Newsletter:

• Google’s Gemini gets eyes with Project Astra
• OpenAI plots hardware takeover via screenless AI device
• Shopify makes AI mandatory across all teams
• IBM revives the mainframe for generative AI workloads

Special highlight from out Network

🛡️AI Rules Are Changing. Is Your Business Ready?

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👁️ Google’s Gemini Can Now See: Project Astra

Google has upgraded Gemini Live with Project Astra. The new feature allows Gemini to use live visual input from a device's camera and screen sharing to drive real-time, multilingual conversations about the world around you. This upgrade is a major step toward ambient intelligence and paves the way for next-generation context-aware AI assistants.

What’s New in Astra Vision:

• Live Screen Sharing: Gemini interprets on-screen content in real time and responds with dynamic insights
• Real-Time Camera Integration: The AI now uses live camera feeds to analyze what you see and offer interactive commentary
• Multilingual Interaction: Engage in conversations in multiple languages as Gemini adapts to your spoken input
• Streamlined Interface: A redesigned UI with subtle feedback enhances the overall user experience
• Future Impact: This upgrade sets the stage for ambient intelligence that may soon extend to wearable devices and beyond

This is the first major public rollout of Project Astra, Google DeepMind’s vision for a “universal AI agent.” Initially teased at I/O 2024, Astra was pitched as a real-time, context-aware assistant that sees, hears, and responds like a human. While this release is still early and limited to Pixel 9 and Galaxy S25 users, it marks the first time Google’s AI is allowed to actively process your environment in real time.

📱A Phone Without a Screen? OpenAI Might Be Building It

OpenAI is reportedly in talks to acquire io Products, a stealthy AI hardware startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The deal could value the company at more than $500 million.

What we know:

• Screenless AI device: io Products is developing personal and household devices powered by OpenAI models, including a “phone without a screen” concept.
• The Apple braintrust: Several former Apple executives, including iPhone hardware lead Tang Tan and ex-industrial design head Evans Hankey, are involved.
• Ive + Altman: The two began collaborating over a year ago and have sought to raise up to $1 billion for the venture.
• Design by LoveFrom: Ive’s design firm, co-founded with luxury designer Marc Newson, is building the device.
• High-profile backers: Investors include Laurene Powell Jobs, with reports suggesting OpenAI could pursue an acquisition or a strategic partnership.

Why it matters: This could be OpenAI’s iPhone moment. While the company has denied building a phone, the concept of a screenless, voice-first AI device reflects a growing push to reimagine computing from the ground up. If acquired, io Products could give OpenAI full-stack control models, software, and hardware, all at once

🛍️ Shopify Makes AI Mandatory Across Teams

Shopify just took a major step in its AI strategy. CEO Tobi Lütke issued a company-wide memo requiring all teams to use AI by default and prove that AI can’t do the job before hiring new people or asking for more resources.

The details:

• AI use is now mandatory: "Reflexive AI usage" is expected from every employee, and it’s now baked into performance reviews.

• Tools provided: Teams have access to Copilot, Cursor, and Claude for code-related tasks, with internal forums to share AI best practices.

• Hiring gatekept by AI: Lütke says AI must be ruled out before headcount increases are approved framing it as the first step, not the fallback.

• Productivity gains cited: He claims top performers are using AI to hit "implausible" output levels and complete 100X more work.

Shopify is forcing the AI transformation from the top down. While many companies are still experimenting or banning AI altogether. Shopify is making AI fluency a job requirement. The move puts real pressure on other firms: adopt AI-first practices or risk falling behind. It also reframes AI not as a support tool, but as a replacement for certain roles; a signal that the hiring calculus is shifting industry-wide.

🖥️ IBM Launches AI-First Mainframe for the GenAI Era

IBM just unveiled the z17, its most powerful mainframe computer yet, built to handle advanced AI workloads like fraud detection, chatbots, and medical image analysis — all while keeping enterprise data secure and energy use low. It officially launches in June.

The details:

• Telum II chip powers the z17, with 8 high-performance cores, faster memory, and built-in AI acceleration

• 50% faster AI inference than its predecessor, the z16

• Supports over 250 AI use cases, including real-time financial fraud detection, chatbot agents, and medical diagnostics

• Compatible with IBM’s Granite LLMs and watsonx tools, plus support for custom-built AI agents

• New security upgrades include IBM Vault, a secrets manager from its HashiCorp acquisition

• z/OS 3.2 software update arrives in Q3, optimized for hardware-accelerated AI and hybrid cloud environments

• Energy-efficient performance: 7.5x more AI acceleration using 5.5x less power than traditional systems

Mainframes still run mission-critical systems for 71% of Fortune 500 companies, including top banks, retailers, and telcos. IBM’s z17 gives these enterprises a way to bring AI directly to their core operations without moving sensitive data to the cloud. It’s a major step toward embedding AI in the real-time fabric of global business.

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