Google Gemini reclaims #1 spot (again)

Welcome, AI enthusiasts.

Google DeepMind just revealed a brand new Gemini model that claimed the #1 spot on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard in all domains — while remaining completely free.

With OpenAI recently raising its top-tier AI pricing from $20 to $200/mo, it looks like Google is taking the exact opposite approach. Let’s get into it…

In today’s AI rundown:

• Google’s recent Gemini model reclaims #1 spot

• Meta launches leaner, efficient Llama 3.3

• Customize Claude to match your writing style

• xAI debuts recent Aurora image generator in Grok

• 5 recent AI tools & 5 recent AI jobs

• More AI & tech news

Read time: 4 minutes

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

GOOGLE

🏆 Google’s recent Gemini model reclaims #1 spot

The Rundown: Google DeepMind’s recent gemini-exp-1206 model has reclaimed the highest spot on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, surpassing OpenAI across multiple benchmarks — while remaining completely free to make use of.

The small print:

• Released on Gemini’s one-year anniversary, the model has climbed from second to first place overall on the Chatbot Arena.

• The model can process and understand video content, unlike competitors reminiscent of ChatGPT and Claude, which might only soak up images.

• The model maintains its impressive 2M token context window, which allows it to process over an hour of video content.

• Unlike many competing models, Gemini-exp-1206 is freely available through Google AI Studio and the Gemini API.

Why it matters: While OpenAI has raised its top-tier o1 pricing from $20 to $200 monthly, Google is taking the alternative approach by making its top AI free. Though the performance edge on the Chatbot Arena could also be slim, the mixture of competitive capabilities and 0 cost is a game-changer for AI accessibility.

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• Native apps in browser: Construct Flutter/React Native apps with a built-in Android Emulator

• Pre-loaded environments: One click to start out with popular frameworks

Start with as much as 5 workspaces.

META

🦙 Meta launches leaner, efficient Llama 3.3 

The Rundown: Meta just released Llama 3.3, a brand new 70B open text model that performs similarly to Llama 3.1 405B, despite being significantly faster and cheaper than its predecessor.

The small print:

• Llama 3.3 incorporates a 128k token context window and outperforms competitors like GPT-4o, Gemini Pro 1.5, and Amazon’s Nova Pro on several benchmarks.

• The model is 10x cheaper than the 405B model, at $0.10 / million input tokens and $0.40 / million output tokens, and nearly 25x cheaper than GPT-4o.

• Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta AI has nearly 600M lively monthly users, and is “heading in the right direction to be probably the most used AI assistant on the earth.”

• Zuckerberg also said the following stop is Llama 4 in 2025, with training happening at the corporate’s $10B, 2GW data center in Louisiana.

Why it matters: Open AI models aren’t just matching the performance of industry-leading systems — they’re also doing it while being less expensive and more efficient. Meta’s Llama models are continuing to boost the bar, and as Zuckerberg’s adoption numbers show, they’re also being widely adopted across the industry over alternatives.

AI TRAINING

🧠 Customize Claude to match your writing style

The Rundown: Claude’s recent Styles feature lets you personalize AI responses by teaching it to match your unique writing voice and tone.

Step-by-step:

1. Find the “Select style” dropdown next to Claude’s model selector.

2. Click “Create & Edit Styles” and choose “Create Custom Style.”

3. Add a writing sample that represents your required style.

4. Let AI analyze your writing and create your custom style.

Pro tip: Mix this with Web Search capabilities via Claude’s MCP feature to get the most recent information explained in your unique writing style. Learn easy methods to set it up here.

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XAI

🚀 xAI debuts recent Aurora image generator in Grok

The Rundown: X briefly rolled out Aurora, a brand new AI image generator integrated with Grok that appeared to supply more photorealistic images than the previous Flux model, though the feature was pulled after just just a few hours of testing.

The small print:

• Aurora showed significant improvements in comparison with Grok’s integrated Flux model, particularly with landscapes, still-life images, and human photorealism.

• The model also appeared to have minimal content restrictions, allowing the creation of copyrighted characters and public figures.

• Elon Musk called the tease a “beta version” of Aurora that can improve quickly in a reply on X.

• X Developer co-lead Chris Park also revealed that Grok 3 ‘is coming,’ taking aim at OpenAI and Sam Altman within the announcement on X.

• xAI’s Grok became available across the X platform last week, allowing free-tier users as much as 10 messages every two hours.

Why it matters: Although only live briefly, Aurora appeared to be an especially powerful recent image model — with xAI seemingly deciding to create their very own top-tier generator as an alternative of counting on integrations like Flux long-term. It was also wild to see the dearth of restrictions, which tracks with Elon’s vision but could enter some murky legal areas.

NEW TOOLS & JOBS

Trending AI Tools

• 🔎 Sharbo 01 – Effortlessly track and manage competitor intelligence with insights, multi-sourced reporting, and have comparison tracking

• 🤝 ResumeUp AI – AI resume builder and checker to spice up interview probabilities and create ATS-friendly resumes in minutes

• 🤖 Martin – AI personal assistant that manages your calendar, inbox, to-do-lists, and Slack

• 📊 Countless Dev – Discover, compare, select, and calculate costs for each variety of AI model

• ✍️ Agree – Securely send and sign any agreement with AI-powered workflows, free e-signature, automated invoicing, and integrated payments

Recent AI Job Opportunities

• 📊 TaskUs – Senior Manager/Director, AI Data Operations

• 🥽 Meta – Director, Technical Program Management (Reality Labs)

• 🌍 DeepL – Enterprise Account Executive (DACH)

• 🔐 Coreweave – Senior Application Security Engineer

• 🚗 Waymo – Program Manager, Infrastructure and Operations Enablement

QUICK HITS

OpenAI creative specialist Chad Nelson showcased recent Sora demo footage on the C21Media Keynote in London, featuring one-minute generations, plus text, image, and video prompting.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke on the NYT DealBook Summit, saying that 2025 might even see a slowdown in AI development because ‘low hanging fruit is gone,’ with additional major breakthroughs needed before the following acceleration step.

OpenAI unveiled Reinforcement Superb-Tuning, which enables developers to customize AI models for specialised tasks with minimal training data.

Newly discovered code hints at OpenAI introducing a GPT-4.5 model as a limited preview feature for Teams subscribers, which coincides with hints of an upcoming large announcement from CEO Sam Altman.

Apollo Research conducted tests on OpenAI’s full o1, finding that the brand new model revealed some instances of alarming behaviour, including attempting to flee and lying about actions—though the scenarios were unrealistic for the actual world.

Former PayPal exec and enterprise capitalist David Sacks was named the White House ‘AI & Crypto Czar’ for the incoming Trump administration.

OpenAI is reportedly considering removing its AGI exclusion clause with Microsoft, which might pave the way in which for billions in future investments as the corporate goals to transition away from its non-profit structure.

THAT’S A WRAP

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, and Alvaro—aka The Rundown Team