Microsoft and OpenAI Grow Apart

Welcome to another edition of AI PlanetX.

Microsoft develops AI to compete with OpenAI; China launches Manus AI after DeepSeek milestone; Foxconn creates FoxBrain with Nvidia.

• Hottest AI News

• Top AI & SaaS Tools

• Top AI & Tech News

• Interesting Uses of AI: Prompts to improve AI-generated code in Cursor

• AI Video Tutorial

• Complimentary AI Course of the Day: Application of AI, InsurTech, and Real Estate Technology

Hottest AI News

Microsoft

Microsoft Builds In-House AI Models to Challenge OpenAI

Microsoft is developing its own AI models, MAI, to rival industry leaders, potentially altering its relationship with OpenAI despite their multi-billion dollar partnership.

Details:

• Microsoft’s MAI models rival OpenAI and Anthropic, with plans to integrate them into Azure and possibly replace OpenAI tech in Copilot. They're also testing models from xAI, Meta, and DeepSeek

• Tensions are rising between Microsoft and OpenAI, with Microsoft’s AI CEO frustrated by OpenAI’s refusal to share details on reasoning models. OpenAI also renegotiated its deal in January, allowing other server providers

• OpenAI counters by signing a five-year, $11.9 billion deal with CoreWeave, a GPU cloud provider, including $350 million in equity as the company plans an IPO

This AI chess match showcases the growing competition between longtime partners. Despite Microsoft's $13 billion investment in OpenAI, both are positioning themselves independently as AI rivalry intensifies.

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Manus

China Unveils Manus AI After DeepSeek Breakthrough

China's Butterfly Effect has unveiled Manus, an autonomous multi-agent AI system that completes complex tasks, generating buzz just months after DeepSeek-R1 surprised Western experts.

Details:

• Manus uses multiple AI models (including Claude 3.5 and Alibaba's Qwen) to handle tasks autonomously. Users can assign tasks and let Manus research, analyze data, generate reports, write code, or manage social media

• It has shown strong performance on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and in Kaggle challenges, outperforming similar tools from OpenAI and others

• Butterfly Effect, the company behind Manus, operates in Beijing and Wuhan with a small team led by 33-year-old Xiao Hong. Despite its size, it has gained significant attention in China’s AI ecosystem

Manus is upgrading to Claude 3.7, boosting its capabilities. In private beta, it shows China’s leadership in AI. For Western leaders, Manus highlights rapid progress in autonomous AI and China’s growing role in innovation.

Foxconn Tech

Foxconn Creates FoxBrain AI With Nvidia Supercomputing Support

Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker and iPhone assembler, has developed its own AI model, FoxBrain. Built in-house and trained in just four weeks, it marks a key step in the company's diversification strategy.

Details:

• FoxBrain was trained with 120 Nvidia H100 GPUs, supported by Nvidia's Taiwan supercomputer and consulting team, using optimized strategies to complete the project in four weeks

• Based on Meta's Llama 3.1, FoxBrain excels in traditional Chinese and features reasoning for data analysis, math, and code generation, with near world-class performance, slightly behind DeepSeek's models

• Originally for internal use, Foxconn plans to open-source FoxBrain for industry collaboration, focusing on manufacturing and supply chain, with more details revealed at Nvidia's March event

Foxconn, facing challenges in electronics manufacturing, is expanding into AI and electric vehicles to secure new revenue streams beyond traditional contract work.

Top AI & SaaS Tools

• Vadoo (Life-time Deal): Create AI-powered, multilingual videos with captions, B-roll, and viral scoring for social media, podcasts, and more

• MiniMax Audio: Text-to-speech tool offering customizable voice options and voice cloning for creating high-quality audio content (11Labs Alternative) [F-R-E-E]

• Uthana: Animate 3D characters with AI-driven motion, easy model application, and smooth editing, clipping, and blending [F-R-E-E]

• IKI 2.0: LLM-native space to save URLs, YouTube videos, PDFs, and more. Use advanced assistants to fetch, analyze, or draft reports, powered by SOTA LLMs [F-R-E-E]

• Muse: AI designed for fiction writing to help authors craft engaging stories, characters, and settings [F-R-E-E]

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Top AI & Tech News

• McDonald's is rolling out AI-powered systems across 43,000 restaurants to improve equipment maintenance and order accuracy

• OpenAI found AI models like o3-mini cheat through "reward hacking," and attempts to stop them may make them hide their intentions

• Tencent's Hunyuan-TurboS outperforms GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and open-source models in math and reasoning benchmarks

• Sam Altman's World is creating a super app with iris-scanning technology for secure user verification, aiming to rival Elon Musk's X

• The Army is developing an AI tool to help medics deliver precise anesthesia during combat

Interesting Uses of AI

AI Art Spotlight

Model: Midjourney

Prompt:

Design a luxury notebook cover in the style of Dior, featuring light colors and intricate patterns. The cover should have a premium, elegant aesthetic with gold accents. The design should evoke sophistication and exclusivity, similar to the high-end packaging of Dior products. Incorporate a classic toile de Jouy pattern with wildlife illustrations such as tigers and elephants. with a subtle, luxurious finish and a refined, minimalistic vibe --ar 3:4 --tile --stylize 500 --v 6.1

AI Prompt of the Day

Top AI Video Tutorial

OpenManus: FULLY F-R-E-E Manus Alternative! First-Ever General AI Agent

Complimentary AI Course of the Day

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