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Rumor roundup for Monday, November 10.

Not much to publish today. There are, however, lots of rumors on the grapevine:

There’s talk about Google deprecating models like Gemini 2.5 Pro and its whole family by the end of November to make way for the upcoming Gemini 3.0, said by CEO Sundar Pichai to arrive this year. Many say a preview is launching soon.

There is even a purported leak of Nano Bana 2, the next generation of Gemini’s image generator, and a lot of people are blown out of the water by it.

Some people are also claiming to have spotted GPT-5.1 in OpenAI source code, which could mean we are getting closer to release of that model, too.

Then rumor has it that the new Kimi 2 model from China, said to have been developed for a paltry 4.6 million dollars, is going head to head with GPT-5 in a benchmark collection. It’s made by a company called Moonshot that is backed by Alibaba.

None of this is confirmed news, though, and I’ll be closely watching for anything official, which might be coming sooner than we think.

Weekend roundup: Gemini is going to space, Apple chooses Google, and Amazon’s had it with Perplexity

Gemini is launching to orbit
Google’s latest moonshot might almost be literal. They are preparing for sending their TPU processors into low-earth orbit, and maybe then build a proper AI data center in space — where there is ample sunlight to provide it with energy. They have already tested a TPU in orbit conditions in a particle accelerator and it survived, and the next step is the launch of two prototype satellites in early 2027. They call it Project Suncatcher, and say that «in the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute.»
More at: Sundar Pichai’s tweet, Google’s announcement blog

Google close to Apple deal for AI Siri
Apparently, Apple has chosen Gemini for its upcoming AI version of the Siri assistant. They will use what is likely a custom version of the model with 1.2 trillion parameters, running on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. Apple supposedly also tested options from OpenAI and Anthropic, but Anthropic’s fees were too high and Apple already partners with Google for search results. The deal will cost Apple $1 billion a year, far less than the $20 billion Google pays Apple to be their search provider.
More at: Bloomberg, MacRumors, TechCrunch.

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Google to start experimenting with ads in AI content

Robby Stein, of Google Search doesn't see ads going away, and lots of opportunity for them in Google's AI products. — Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search comments on advertising in Google’s AI. (Picture: screenshot).

In a wide-ranging interview on the podcast Silicon Valley Girl, Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search is positive about how advertising could get even more granular with all the extra information people can provide in their AI products, saying;

Ads not going away
— I don’t see them [ads] going away. The way people are using Google Search isn’t really changing, what is happening is that it’s expanding [with AI services], he opines.

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Weekend roundup; expanded Sora, security research and the battle for India

For a limited time, Sora is available without invite codes for select countries, but the 30 generations per day limit may have to go. — No more invite codes for select countries in Sora 2, and bevy of new features. (Picture: generated)

Sora 2 expands, is now available without invite codes
Following the massive success of the Sora 2 video generator, OpenAI is opening up the service for those without invite codes in the USA, Canada, Japan and Korea «for a limited time.» Simultaneously, they are announcing reusable characters that can feature in more than one video and an easier way to stitch videos together. If that wasn’t enough, OpenAI is adding more video generations for power users hitting the 30-per-day generation limits and letting them pay for more gens. They are also musing about letting rightsholders get compensation for the reuse of their characters, as a means of getting paid for your work on the platform. They do warn that 30 gens needs too many GPUs and will be throttled at some stage.
More at: MacRumors and a Twitter announcement, list of available countries.

OpenAI reveals security research agent in beta
The new agent, Aardvark, will look through code repositories at scale almost like a human would, and find errors and exploits before the bad guys do. It will continually analyze your source code and find vulnerabilities. The agent has already been used to find «numerous» vulnerabilities in open source software, and OpenAI will provide pro bono scanning to «select, non-commercial» OSS systems. Aardvark is not being widely released, existing instead as a private beta inside OpenAI’s offices, kind of like Google’s CodeMender.
More at OpenAI’s announcement and ZDNet.

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Sundar Pichai: Gemini 3.0 is going to be released «this year»

With just two months left of the year, it's safe to the release of Gemini 3.0 is imminent. — Google has made «extraordinary progress» and are getting ready to debut Gemini 3.0 soon. (Picture: screenshot)

After many a rumor and speculation as to when Google would reply to OpenAI’s GPT-5 — we now have proof right from head of Google himself.

In a sitdown/interview with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce 2025 conference, that goes long on the future of AI, cloud and innovations, he let this qoute rip:

— We kickstarted Gemini, we brought Google brain and Google deep mind together, and we’ve been rapidly iterating since then, he tells Benioff, then adds some forward looking comments:

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GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro scores Gold at International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro would make excellent research assistants, but are not yet suited for autonomous discoveries, the study finds. — One of the questions on the exams is calculating the distance of quasars. (Picture: screenshot)

Scientists and judges from the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) have given five top AI models a run through the exams from 2022 to 2025 — and top scores were awarded for the models from OpenAI and Google.

The IOAA is a top rated exam for global high school students and is held annually with some 300 participants from 64 countries, and consists of questions to demonstrate deep conceptual understanding, multimodal analysis and multi-step derivations.

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Weekend roundup: ChatGPT Go expands, Gemini Enterprise, reckognition for Genie and a familiar face

Sora 2 reaches a million downloads in five days -- faster than even ChatGPT did it. — Sora 2 has become one of the hottest app on the App Store, shattering previous records. (Picture: OpenAI)

Sora hits 1 million downloads in five days
In what may be the fastest rush to the milestone, OpenAI’s Sora chief, Bill Peebles, just tweeted that they matched it faster than even ChatGPT. This is despite being limited by invites and only being available in North America, he points out. On the other hand, the copyright «slop» shows no signs of abating. California’s Creative Artists Agency, one of the largest around, are now warning of «significant risk» from the app, and saying creators deserve to be paid for their intellectual property.
More at: CNBC, TechCrunch and Engadget.

OpenAI delivers ChatGPT Go in slew of countries
After launching in India in August, and later expanding to Indonesia, the cost-effective new ChatGPT tier now becomes available in 18, mostly Asian, countries. The subscription offers slightly more access and should give 10x more messages, image generations than the Free tier and cost around $4.5 in local currencies.
More at: Nick Turley’s launch tweet, TechCrunch.

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Google launches Computer Use model, CodeMender and AI Mode expansion

It's been a busy 24 hours for Google's AI works. — Google’s CodeMender wont be released just yet, but is being offered to «critical open source software.» (Picture: Google)

It’s been a busy 24-hour stretch for Google, launching two new models and an expansion of AI mode into Europe.

The CodeMender model is based on Google’s own research into finding zero-day vulnerabilities in computer programs, where they found lots of exploits, and stipulated that humans would struggle to keep up with AI scanners once implemented widely.

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Weekend roundup; Chrome gets Gemini, Microsoft goes Claude and Veo comes to Youtube

Google is letting Gemini loose on the world's most popular browser. — While others are still struggling with the AI-based browser, Google is going all-in with Chrome. (Picture: Google)

Google goes nuclear; brings Gemini to Chrome
While OpenAI is still working on a browser and others are cautious or have failed to take off, Google is done waiting. They are now building the Gemini assistant directly into the world’s most popular browser. «Gemini with Chrome» will navigate and summarize your tabs for you, offer helpful suggestions in the URL bar, and should soon help you order stuff online. It can even find your closed tabs and search for references inside Youtube videos. It’s rolling out to Mac and Windows users with language set to English as of this writing. They call it «a new era of browsing.»
More at Google’s launch page, Google’s overview and launch thread.

Hands-on with Meta’s new Ray-Bans
Has Meta found the Goldilocks zone of smart glasses? Their recently launched Ray-Bans with an internal screen seems to have hit the sweet spot with reviewers. The Verge calls them the best smart glasses out there, Tom’s Hardware says it «feels like the future,» and Gizmodo writes that you’re going to want a pair. The consensus seems to be that the in-lens screen is quite useful, just about bright enough and it hits the sweet spot with the new wristband.
More at Mashable’s roundup.

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OpenAI tops ICPC coding contest for students, Google finished second

OpenAI solved 12 of 12 problems with vanilla GPT-5. Google had a custom model and solved 10. — OpenAI says they will now focus on scientific discovery. (Picture: OpenAI)

ChatGPT solved all 12 of 12 problems in the 2025 International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) — an algorithmic programming contest for university students.

That result would have given it first place if it were human, as the best college teams only solved eleven.

Google also participated with a custom Gemini 2.5 Deep Think and earned Gold status, solving 10 of the problems and finishing second, Google claims.

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Friday roundup: OpenAI deals with Microsoft, makes a movie, and Albania gets an AI-generated minister

The first feature length movie made almost entirely by AI is set to debut at next year's Cannes Festival. — Made with «OpenAI resources,» this movie is built from animated uploaded drawings and prompts. (Picture: Screenshot, Critterz)

Microsoft agrees with OpenAI to keep talking
Microsoft is in a complex business relationship with OpenAI, where the early investor gets access to the latest AI tech and OpenAI gets access to computing power. They have just reached a “non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the next phase of our partnership.” This could allow OpenAI to go for-profit, under the control of a non-profit entity said to retain an ownership stake of more than $100 billion. Many takes on this today, but OpenAI has been moving away from Microsoft for funding, operations and cloud computing lately. The final deal will likely include some kind of a new investment in the now $500 billion company, and may unlock further market opportunities for OpenAI.
More at: OpenAI and Microsoft’s joint statement, x.com announcement, Reuters, Axios.

OpenAI goes to the movies
A new animated a-list movie, «Critterz» is under development using «OpenAI’s resources.» It should be ready for the Cannes Film Festival, meaning production time will be drastically sped up to only nine months. The script is written by part of the team from «Paddington in Peru», and it is spearheaded by Chad Nelson, who is a creative specialist at OpenAI. The technique looks to be to feed drawings to a large language model and have it animate them. The movie therefore streamlines animation, but wont skimp on voice actors, Gizmodo writes.
More at: The Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo and Engadget.

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Veo 3 gets vertical video support, 1080p and a price cut in the Gemini API

Finally tiktok an reels ready, veo 3 has opened up a market for virality — Veo 3 is getting some massive API updates today. (Picutre: Screenshot).

In a big day for video generation at Google, the Veo 3 generator finally gets ready for Tiktok and Reels — while also hitting «general availability» in the API, according to a new blog post.

Those are the exact words that Google uses for Gemini 2.5 Flash to describe that you get as much as you can use, so they might be hinting here that there are no usage limits on the API access.

Previously, Gemini Pro users would only get three generations per day, and Ultra would get five. But if you pay as you go in the API, you might get as much as you can chew.

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Finally: Google reveals how many queries you get on Gemini

For the first time, Google is sharing its real usage limits on their website. — Gemini is stingy with its free users, now we know exactly by how much. (Picture: Google)

Google has decided to come clean on the usage limits of its Gemini plans — and it’s a mixed bag for the free tier.

Most people have already concluded that Gemini only gives you a handful of queries per day for free, but, until now, Google wouldn’t say precisely how many.

Now it’s official, and on Google’s website.

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Friday roundup: Unis hiring AI officers, OpenAI on jobs and Nano Banana

Broadcom touts a $10 billion order from a mystery client, believed to be OpenAI. — Not much is known about the custom chips Broadcom will make for OpenAI, scheduled for next year. (Picture: Adobe)

OpenAI will make custom chips with Broadcom
With Nvidia lurking in the background, more companies are working on their custom AI chips. Now OpenAI has entered the fray, said to produce their own chips with Broadcom next year. It will be for internal use, and won’t be released broadly. They have a long history with this, having first entered talks with TSMC last year. Broadcom said on its earnings call this Thursday that it had secured a $10B order for AI chips without naming from whom, and now the Financial Times is reporting that it is, indeed, OpenAI, who has no comment on this.
More at: Financial Times (Paywalled) and Reuters.

Amazon lens lets you shop for anything you can see
The latest feature in the Amazon Shopping app on iOS lets you simply point your camera on anything you like, and shop for the same or similar items in real-time. It partners with Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, to also answer questions about the products in the shop. It should «roll out to more customers in the coming weeks,» meaning there’s likely an Android version in the works.
More at: Amazon’s product page, and The Verge.

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Report: Apple planning an AI search engine for Siri as early as March 2026

The long promised Siri LLM upgrade is slated for March, 2026. — Siri will take on Perplexity and OpenAI with its coming revamp. (Picture: Apple)

World Knowledge Answers, as it is known internally, will be a massive upgrade for their voice search assistant Siri, according to Bloomberg.

Rumor is that Apple will use an underlying, custom model from Google for the brains of the assistant, and Apple has been looking at it for quite a while.

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