Superbugs meet their AI match

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. Superbugs have been evolving faster than we will develop drugs to fight them, but MIT just put AI on the case to explore chemical territories humans never even knew existed.

With the system designing two brand-new antibiotics that attack in ways we have never seen before, AI’s recent approach could take humanity into what researchers call a “second Golden Age” of drug discovery.

In today’s AI rundown:

• AI’s recent antibiotics to fight superbugs

• Google’s recent Gemma model is smaller than ever

• Automate web monitoring with AI agents

• HTC’s recent AI glasses take aim at Meta

• 4 recent AI tools, community workflows, and more

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

AI & DRUG DISCOVERY

💊 AI’s recent antibiotics to fight superbugs

The Rundown: MIT researchers just used AI to design two recent antibiotics able to killing drug-resistant gonorrhea and MRSA bacteria, potentially opening a brand new front against infections that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths annually.

The small print:

• Scientists trained AI models to generate 36M theoretical compounds, then screened them for bacteria-killing potential and human safety.

• The algorithms produced two promising drugs (named NG1 and DN1) that attack bacterial cells through mechanisms never seen in existing antibiotics.

• Each compounds cleared infections when tested in mice, with DN1 eliminating MRSA skin infections and NG1 combating drug-resistant gonorrhea.

• The MIT research team said that AI advances within the drug sector could create a “second golden age” for the invention of antibiotics.

Why it matters: Bacteria are evolving faster than our current drugs, but MIT’s study shows that AI can navigate unexplored chemical territories that human researchers might never consider, potentially unlocking approaches that move antibiotic discovery from a game of catch-up to more proactive design.

TOGETHER WITH FREEPIK

💡 Creative AI tools for big teams

The Rundown: Freepik Enterprise gives your team access to AI-powered tools for creating and editing images, videos, and more—using multiple models tailored for various creative needs. Enjoy legal peace of mind, flexible admin controls, and unlimited users—trusted by 700K paying customers.

The whole enterprise package includes:

• All AI tools in a single place, with access to models like Runway, Veo, Kling, and more

• Unlimited users with credit-based pricing that scales efficiently with usage

• Legal indemnity included, protecting against IP claims on business AI content

• SSO and admin controls with enterprise-grade security and compliance standards

Learn more in regards to the platform trusted by 700,000 paying customers.

GOOGLE

🤏 Google’s recent Gemma model is smaller than ever

The Rundown: Google released Gemma 3 270M, a fair smaller version of its open-source model family, which may run directly on smartphones, browsers, and other consumer devices while remaining efficient and capable at the identical time.

The small print:

• Gemma 3 270M outperforms similarly small AI systems at following instructions, despite being a fraction of the dimensions of most current models.

• In internal tests, the model handled 25 conversations on a Pixel 9 Pro while consuming lower than 1% of the battery, demonstrating extreme efficiency.

• Developers also can fine-tune it in minutes for specific tasks, with Google demoing a Bedtime Story Generator for example of an offline creative task.

Why it matters: As intelligence continues to scale, so do the capabilities of ultra-efficient, small models, making AI capable of run on any consumer device. With Liquid AI’s LFM2 release also pushing the on-device model competition forward, some massive gains are being seen within the smallest corner of the AI world.

AI TRAINING

🔗 Automate web monitoring with AI agents

The Rundown: On this tutorial, you’ll learn use Yutori Scouts, an AI web monitoring agent that watches for specific updates online and alerts you via email. No more refreshing pages or manually checking for changes.

Step-by-step:

1. Enter your request within the Yutori homepage input box (e.g., “Latest releases from OpenAI or Anthropic or Gemini or xAI”) to create your Scout

2. Select how often you wish alerts — fast, every day, or weekly — then click Start scouting to activate it

3. View and manage all of your energetic Scouts from the “My Scouts” dashboard, where you may edit, pause, or delete them anytime

4. Check reports sent to your email or in-app, each with clear findings and a direct link to the source for quick motion

Pro tip: Use Scouts for time-sensitive opportunities like reservations, product restocks, or industry news, and pair with automations to get updates.

PRESENTED BY FIDDLER

🎧 The blueprint for production-ready enterprise AI agents

The Rundown: Fiddler AI’s 13-minute podcast breaks down construct agentic systems that deliver real value – sharing the observability patterns that separate demos from production-ready enterprise deployments.

Within the episode, you’ll learn:

• Easy methods to improve agent performance and diagnose the foundation causes of agent failures

• Key patterns to watch, from reflection loops to tool usage and planning accuracy

• Examples of enterprise agentic systems and applications

Listen now.

HTC

😎 HTC’s recent AI glasses take aim at Meta

The Rundown: Taiwanese giant HTC introduced Vive Eagle, a brand new line of AI glasses that allow users make a choice from AI assistants and have strong battery life, advanced translation capabilities, and other features to challenge Meta’s Ray-Ban dominance.

The small print:

• Users can switch between AI models from OpenAI and Google for the wearable’s assistant, activated via a “Hey Vive” voice command.

• Built-in real-time photo-based translation works across 13 languages through an embedded camera, with all data processed locally for privacy.

• Other features include a 12 MP ultra-wide camera, prolonged battery life, video recording capabilities, music playback, and more.

• The wearable will currently only be available in Taiwan, with a starting price of $520 in comparison with Meta’s $300 Ray-Bans.

Why it matters: Zuck pointed to “personal devices like glasses” because the computing devices of the longer term, and competitors are emerging to compete with Meta’s successful Ray-Ban (and now Oakley) lines. With styles gravitating towards normal, subtle integrations, it seems like a product near breaking through to the mainstream.

QUICK HITS

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• ⚡️ Gemma 3 270M – Google’s compact, hyper-efficient recent open model

• 🤖 Anything – An AI agent for making products without coding

• 🌎 Hunyuan Gamecraft – Create interactive game worlds from a single image

• ✈️ Flight Deals – AI-powered search tool inside Google Flights to seek out bargains

📰 Every thing else in AI today

DeepSeek’s long-awaited R2 model is reportedly being delayed attributable to training issues with Huawei’s Ascend chips, after rumors of an August release circulated earlier.

Meta’s Superintelligence Lab added three more OpenAI researchers, with Alexandr Wang revealing Edward Sun, Jason Wei, and Hyung Won Chung have joined the team.

Cohere announced a brand new $500M funding round at a $6.8B valuation, also adding Meta’s VP of AI Research, Joelle Pineau, as its recent Chief AI Officer.

T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telecom officially launched its AI phone and tablet in European markets, which come integrated with Perplexity’s assistant.

Meta is facing backlash after a report revealed an internal document that outlined permitted AI outputs, which included romantic conversations with kids.

Google announced that its Imagen 4 image generation model is now GA in the corporate’s AI studio, with as much as 2k resolution and a brand new fast model for quicker outputs.

Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal launched Parallel, a brand new startup creating an internet API optimized for AI agents as users.

COMMUNITY

🤝 Community AI workflows

Every newsletter, we showcase how a reader is using AI to work smarter, save time, or make life easier.

Today’s workflow comes from reader Michael C. in Phoenix, AZ:

“As a Creative Marketing Manager, AI has turn into a part of my every day toolkit: ChatGPT Pro, and Grok for market research; 4o, Ideogram, Imagine, and Magnific for images; Higgsfield for video, and more. What’s been most surprising is the range of reactions from colleagues. Some are curious, just a few are beginning to experiment, but many remain hesitant and even resistant. I see the potential each day in how much faster and more polished my work has turn into, and I hope more of the team will discover those self same advantages in their very own roles.”

How are you using AI? Tell us here.

🎓 Highlights: News, Guides & Events

• Read our previous newsletter: Apple plots AI comeback with home robots

• Today’s AI tool guide: Automate web monitoring with AI agents

• Watch our last workshop: AI agents for Customer Service

See you soon,

Rowan, Joey, Zach, Shubham, and Jennifer—the humans behind The Rundown