AI News - May 2025

A quick overview of interesting AI News for the Yate and Sodbury U3A's monthly AI News meeting held on May 8th 2025 (meetings are second Thursday of month, 1400-1545, St John's Church Centre, Wickwar Road, Chipping Sodbury, UK - all welcome). Note that this is very much a summary to act as background as the topics are discussed in detail at the meeting itself. We also discuss and demonstrate other AI products and services and much more.

From now on the 'Introduction to AI' course we run in Chipping Sodbury uses these News sessions to replace classes 5 and 6 as the topics in them (humanoid robots, self driving cars, ethics, futures) are now relevant to each month's discusions.

[1] Make AI video for free on your laptop

From Stanford an open source tool for making AI video on a laptop. In time, most AI people use will be 'local' rather than in the cloud.



[2.1] Meta Ray Ban AI Glasses work for the visually impaired

Our local trial has shown that Meta Ray Bans really are useful to someone who is visually impaired. The fact that it is now also affordable to add prescription lenses is a bonus. We are extending the local trial to our second user.


[2.2] Mark Zuckerberg is convinced about AI glasses


[2.3] AI glasses startup aids language learning



[3.1] Waiting for the 'Intelligence Explosion'


[3.2] Google Gemini already making much web development trivial

Draw your idea on the back of a napkin then let Gemini make it real.


[3.3] xAI's Grok is making very rapid progress



[4.1] Tesla's Full Self Driving survives Amsterdam's complex traffic

The big test for Tesla's self driving comes next month with the launch of RoboTaxi/Cybercab in Austen, Texas. Meanwhile the capability is being rolled out to new locations.


[4.2] Tesla's drive themselves off the end of the line to the parking lot.

Soon Tesla cars will drive themselves from the production line straight to the customer home.


[4.3] Waymo provides an Uber service - without the need for a driver


[4.4] In London Wayve handles complex road situations


[4.5] Electric Cars become ever more practical

This is a nearly full charge in 17 minutes. Battery technical is improving fast.


[4.6] Comparing the leading competitors

Elon Musk sas that humans drive perfectly well just using vision, so cars can too!



[5.1] NHS uses Palantir AI to improve cancer care

Often mentioned here, Palantir have a powerful AI powered system for large organisation.


[5.2] Neuralink helps Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients chat

A direct brain implant for ALS shows the potential for great advances in aiding patients of all such neurodegenerative diseases.



[6] AI Companionship is here to stay

With unlimited AI companion audio and video calls real relationships will come under challenge.



[7.1] Humanoid Robots becoming house trained

Expect smaller humanoid robots to enter the home and start to do basic housework.


[7.2] Careful testing of Humanoid Robots will be essential

An out of control humanoid robot could cause a lot of harm


[7.3] Humanoid Robot (and Dog) stores will soon be commonplace

Picking your home robotic devices will soon be like selecting your next car.


[7.4] Humanoid Robot based sports will become great entertainment

After the Beijing Marathon which had 30 robotic runners, other sports will soon follow



End of part 1. Link to May 2025 part 2

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