Fast, Cheap Voice AI

PLUS: Google Adds Visual Search to AI Model, IBM Doubles Down on AI Consulting

Leader, welcome back. Today’s updates:

  • Custom AI systems built for your business—accurate, fast, and failure-proof*

  • Amazon launches Nova Sonic, a fast, low-cost voice AI model now powering Alexa+ and available on Bedrock

  • Google adds visual search to its AI mode, letting users upload images to get contextual answers

  • IBM acquires AI consultancy Hakkoda to expand its $5B+ enterprise AI services business

  • Practical tools + must-read resources. Dive in ⬇️

In Partnership

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We combine RAG technology, tailored fine-tuning, and protective guardrails to deliver AI that's fast, fact-checked, and functional - even under pressure.

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From improving internal workflows to launching new ventures, we turn your ideas into AI solutions that actually work.

NEWS UPDATES

Amazon Launches Fast, Cheap Voice AI

Amazon just launched Nova Sonic, a new voice AI model that’s faster, cheaper, and more accurate than rivals from OpenAI and Google. It powers Alexa+ and is now available on Amazon Bedrock for developers. It handles noisy speech better, speaks more naturally, and responds faster — all while costing 80% less than GPT-4o.

Why it matters:

This lowers the cost and complexity of adding smart voice to enterprise apps, customer support, and field ops. It also signals Amazon’s bigger push into AGI.

Insight:

Expect Amazon to open more internal AI tools to developers. Smart leaders should test Sonic now for customer-facing voice workflows

Google Adds Visual Search to AI Mode

Google just upgraded its AI search with a new visual feature. Now, users can upload a photo and get smart, contextual answers based on what’s in the image. This is free and rolling out to millions via Google Labs.

Why it matters:

Search is shifting from keywords to conversation and context. This changes how people find products, ask questions, and make decisions — directly impacting e-commerce, marketing, and customer experience.

Insight:

Watch how this alters SEO and product discovery. Leaders should test visual AI search to rethink how customers find and engage with their brand

IBM Doubles Down on AI Consulting

IBM just bought Hakkoda, a fast-growing AI and data consultancy. This follows IBM’s recent buys of DataStax and HashiCorp. The goal: speed up how it brings AI tools and advice to big clients in finance, healthcare, and government. IBM’s AI consulting is now a $5B+ business and growing fast.

Why it matters:

Enterprise AI is shifting from pilots to scale. IBM wants to own that services layer—and this deal makes it harder for rivals to catch up.

Insight:

Watch IBM’s next moves in Latin America and Europe, where Hakkoda already has deep consulting roots. Expect more regional buys.

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Productivity Tools

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Useful Resources

  • GitHub Copilot adds vibe coding abilities (link)

  • 25 startups using AI to transform healthcare (link)

  • AI negative prompt examples for better content output (link)

  • Kevin Kelly points a new way forward into the Age of AI (link)

  • Why LLaMA 4 models perform differently across 5 providers (link)

  • How to write short stories using AI in 2025: a complete guide (link)

  • 5 ways to manage your team more effectively in the AI-enabled enterprise (link)

  • 5 reasons I turn to ChatGPT every day - from faster research to replacing Siri (link)

  • New AI-powered experiments from Google Arts & Culture Artists in Residence (link)

  • These agentic AI startups raised a combined $52 million. Here's a look at their decks and what made them stand out (link)

P.S. You can still get the Prompting Playbook (free for you)

STRATEGIC AI DECISION

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PROMPT TUTORIAL

Designing an Email Marketing Campaign

Imagine you're crafting an email campaign for a new productivity tool aimed at freelancers and small businesses. Outline the key elements of your campaign strategy, including the target audience segmentation, compelling subject lines, content structure (e.g., promotional offers, feature highlights, testimonials), and the desired call-to-action. Consider how you'll personalize the emails to increase engagement and conversions and outline a timeline for sending these emails to maximize impact.

Stay curious, leaders!

PS. If you missed yesterday’s issue, you can find it here.

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