Each week we’ll gather headlines and tips to keep you current with how generative AI affects PR and the world at large. If you have ideas on how to improve the newsletter, let us know!
What You Should Know
OpenAI Pulls Back Ahead in AI Race with New Model, Research Assistant
Last week was all about DeepSeek, the Chinese AI platform that put ChatGPT on blast with its supposedly cheaper operating costs and powerful model. Initially, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was impressed with his new competitor, but the company has since changed its tune and gone on the offensive.
OpenAI told the Financial Times it has evidence that DeepSeek distilled its model in training, which could partially explain how the Chinese company was able to build such a powerful model with lower-grade chips and at a fraction of the cost OpenAI spent. OpenAI also launched multiple new products over the past week to win back some headlines.
On Friday, it released a new model, o3-mini, a cost-efficient reasoning model. Two days later, it announced “deep research,” an AI agent that uses a version of the o3 model to automate multi-step research on the internet and “accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours.” Deep research is available for Pro users with up to 100 queries per month. OpenAI says Plus and Team users will get access next, likely in early March.
Altman admitted DeepSeek’s emergence would lead OpenAI to “pull up some releases,” making AI’s dizzying evolution move even faster. We’ve established that communications pros have a lot to gain by staying on top of these developments, but as more models and tools go to market it’s important to focus on where each tool excels and what best fits your needs. Deep research probably won’t be your go-to tool for content creation, for example, but it can give you a 16,000-word rundown on the state of your industry. Curating your AI toolbox will help you work quicker with the appropriate tools as AI progresses.
Elsewhere …
- AI-assisted Works Can Get Copyright with Enough Human Creativity, Says US Copyright Office
- Cloudflare Makes it Easier to Track Authentic Images Online
- Beatles Nab First Grammy for an AI-Assisted Song
- Oura’s AI Plan Keeps Health Data Local — and Private
Tips and Tricks
Are you asking Gemini?
What’s happening: Google recently rolled Gemini out to all its Workspace customers, directly integrating its AI platform into everyday tools like Gmail and Docs.
Why it matters: The capabilities are quite similar to offerings from ChatGPT or Claude but are now within all the Workspace apps. In Docs, Gemini can suggest how to rephrase or refine a paragraph or build out your thoughts.
In Gmail, Gemini can summarize emails, help you catch up on entire threads, or locate a particular message. You can also ask questions like “Which emails do I need to respond to?” or reference files from your Google Drive. As always, be sure to double check for accuracy.
Have you tried it?: If Gemini has helped make your work easier, let us know how.
Quote of the Week
“I think these research tools represent a leap forward in our use of AI for journalism, possibly even more than multimodal models. However, to truly get the most out of them, users need to get two things right: structured prompting, and a human-driven (but AI-assisted) process for verification of the results.”
— Pete Pachal, author of The Media Copilot, in a story on how deep research will change investigative journalism
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