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Love it or loathe it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay – and it’s getting harder to ignore. From how we generate and consume content to how industries operate and innovate, AI is reshaping the world around us. It’s making waves across sectors from media to science, transforming not just the headlines, but the way we live and work. Each month, our ‘AI Digest’ breaks down the biggest stories in the sector, exploring their broader impact on brands, industries and everyday life.
Altmann and Ive: The new dynamic duo
San Francisco’s skyline glistens. Streets buzz with movement. In a café, two of tech’s most influential figures share coffee and conversation. This is the cinematic introduction to io – Sam Altman and Sir Jony Ive’s latest project, set to deliver “the coolest piece of technology the world will have ever seen”.
A big promise? Definitely. But with the minds behind ChatGPT and Apple’s most iconic designs teaming up, the world is watching – and expecting nothing short of groundbreaking.
Following OpenAI’s US$6.4 billion acquisition of Ive’s hardware startup io, speculation is swirling as to what exactly the duo is building.
At the heart of it: a plan to create 100 million AI “companions” – intelligent devices designed to blend seamlessly into daily life. Think of it as the third must-have on your desk, right next to a MacBook Pro and iPhone. But unlike either, it’s entirely screen-free. No taps, no swipes – just an always-aware presence that intuitively understands its environment and user.
Ive hasn’t held back in critiquing others who’ve tried and fallen short. Humane and Rabbit have both been called out for missing the mark, fairly or not. With io, he and Altman are aiming higher: not just another device, but a whole new category. Quietly powerful. Practically invisible.
Set for a late 2026 debut, the details are still under wraps. But if history tells us anything, when Altman and Ive say they’re building the future, it’s probably worth paying close attention.
Cloudy with a chance of surprise: AI weather forecasting and its blind spots
We’ve all been there – standing in the rain in a summer outfit, wondering how the ‘clear skies’ forecast went so wrong. Weather prediction has long relied on complex, physics-based models run on powerful computers. While effective, these systems take years to develop, hours to run, and are difficult to update.
Now, AI is stepping in to change that – offering the promise of faster, smarter and potentially more accurate weather predictions.
One of the latest and most talked about developments in this space is Microsoft’s AI weather model, Aurora. This model can deliver highly accurate ten-day forecasts in seconds. But perhaps more impressively, Aurora can be trained to predict a variety of Earth systems – from air pollution to ocean wave height – and even applied to predict renewable energy markets.
Despite its capabilities, AI-driven forecasting isn’t fully independent. It still relies on traditional physics-based models and, critically, requires human experts to interpret its outputs and make final decisions.
Yet, the real challenge lies in handling the unexpected. AI models learn from historical data – decades of past weather observations. This works well for everyday conditions. But when it comes to extreme weather events, things get tricky. What happens when an AI model encounters a situation it’s never seen before?
According to research, AI systems tend to perform well under typical conditions but often falter during rare or unprecedented events – like a once-in-a-century flood or an unusually intense hurricane. Even when trained on extreme weather datasets, AI models have been shown to underestimate the severity of such scenarios.
And as climate change continues to drive more frequent and severe weather events, the consequences of a flawed forecast could be disastrous.
Still, there’s hope. Scientists believe that by combining AI’s speed and scalability with traditional physics-based models and the experience of human forecasters, we can build more resilient and reliable weather systems. Systems capable of learning and eventually anticipating even the most unpredictable “grey swan” events.
The future is meow: AI pet translation system proposed
And to wrap up the month on a fun note – could AI really translate animal noises into human language? Baidu, the owner of China’s largest search engine, certainly thinks so. They recently filed a patent for a system that collects animal data – like vocal sounds and behavioural patterns – to recognise an animal’s emotional state and translate it into human language.
But Baidu isn’t the first to explore this fascinating area. California-based nonprofit Earth Species Project has also been working on developing AI systems that decode a wide range of animal communications, from birdsong and dolphin whistles to elephant rumbles.
While some experts remain sceptical, there’s growing hope that such technology could bring the human and animals worlds closer than ever before. It might not be quite as seamless as Google Translate, but understanding your pet’s key emotions could soon be within reach.
This month, AI has revealed its impressive adaptability – from discreet devices and intelligent weather systems to innovative animal-translation tools – making waves across multiple industries. There’s still plenty to explore, but the promise and excitement for what lies ahead are clear.
Image: Gerard Siderius / Unsplash
