As announced in a recent blog post, Google has officially released the stable version of Gemini 2.5 Pro, ending its months-long preview status after numerous iterations since I/O, and unveiled Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, a lean, low-cost experimental model aimed at high-volume AI tasks. Along with the existing Gemini 2.5 Flash, both models feature adjustable "thinking budgets" for cost control, with Flash-Lite running at 1/3 the input and 1/16 the output token cost of Flash. Google is also deploying custom Flash and Flash-Lite variants in AI Overviews and AI Mode for Search, along with real-time voice chat for Labs users.
The ever-popular Midjourney has launched its first-ever AI video generation model called Video V1, transforming a single image into four distinct five‑second video clips via Discord on the web. V1 offers two animation modes, automatic and manual, as well as low or high motion camera settings, and can extend clips up to 21 seconds. Midjourney says that V1 will be priced at eight times the cost of an image generation, meaning users will hit their limits fairly quickly in its $10/mo Basic and $60/mo Pro plans, though the $120/mo Mega plan will come with unlimited video generations in "Relax" mode.
Former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and SSI co-founder Daniel Gross appear to be next on Mark Zuckerberg's shopping list of talent for his new "superintelligence" team, reports The Information. The potential deal would also include acquiring a stake in Friedman's and Gross' venture fund, NFDG, which has invested in or led rounds for companies such as Perplexity, Suno, and Eleven Labs. Meta had attempted and failed to acquire Ilya Sutskever's $32 billion-value SSI earlier this year, sources say, though it would seem that one of its co-founders will do instead.
Intel's manufacturing division is expecting a 15–20% hit to its Intel Foundry headcount, which would affect up to almost 11,000 of its global fab operations personnel. Though unexpected as Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan looks to steer the company back to its roots, the reductions are a result of cost and financial pressures, new business priorities, and individual evaluations, which will span technicians, tool operators, and support roles - critical engineers and high‑NA EUV specialists, however, will be spared. Unlike previous rounds, there will be no voluntary buyouts; Intel will conduct selective terminations to retain top talent and streamline its management layers.
Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy has cautioned its white‑collar staff in a memo that the rollout of AI automation will "change the way our work is done" and likely "reduce our total corporate workforce," which could signal an impending round of layoffs in the next few years. With how many tasks will be automated by AI, he noted that "fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs." With 1.5 million employees globally, including 350,000 in corporate roles, Jassy urged staff to "be curious about AI," pursue training, and help "reinvent Amazon."