This week in artificial intelligence models and tools, Microsoft announced that DeepSeek R1 is available on Azure AI Foundry, and Alibaba released a model that it said is better than DeepSeek. Meanwhile, Meta launched a memory feature, and Google announced new Gemini Live capabilities.
Microsoft Azure Adds DeepSeek
Microsoft is making an AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek available to its Azure cloud customers. The software giant said that DeepSeek R1, the startup’s reasoning model, is joining the Azure AI Foundry, a one-stop-shop platform for designing, customizing, and managing AI solutions. R1 will be among the more than 1,800 models available for use in the foundry.
DeepSeek R1 on Azure resides on a “trusted, scalable, and enterprise-ready platform” backed by the tech giant’s reliability. “R1 offers a powerful, cost-efficient model that allows more users to harness state-of-the-art AI capabilities with minimal infrastructure investment,” wrote Asha Sharma, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI platform.
Alibaba Releases Model
Chinese tech giant Alibaba released the latest version of its AI model, Qwen2.5-Max, and said that it outperforms DeepSeek and other top AI models on key benchmarks. Alibaba said that Qwen2.5-Max held its own against various benchmarks testing knowledge, coding capabilities, and general capabilities.
Qwen2.5-Max was pre-trained on 20 trillion tokens. Alibaba is letting users try out its latest model through Qwen Chat. Most foundation AI models add a chatbot user interface to make it easier to use. Qwen2.5-Max’s API is available through Alibaba Cloud, one of the largest cloud computing platforms in China and Asia Pacific.
Meta Introduces Memory Feature
Meta is rolling out a new feature in Meta AI that lets it remember details when users interact with it one-on-one. Users can provide personal preferences, and Meta AI will remember them for future interactions. The memory feature is coming to Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp for iOS and Android devices in the United States and Canada.
Meta AI is also getting more personalized on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. The AI assistant can recommend activities based on user interests and interactions.
Google Enhances Gemini Live
Google announced that Gemini Live will now be able to accept images, files, and YouTube videos. The AI chatbot allows users to have free-flowing conversations and upload media to deepen the interaction. Gemini Live is reminiscent of OpenAI’s advanced voice mode for ChatGPT.
Users can now engage with Gemini Live in a more interactive manner, similar to other advanced AI chatbot services available.
