Luis Poveda's AI Newsletter: April 28, 2025

This week marks significant advancements across the AI landscape, with Perplexity AI forming a groundbreaking Motorola partnership, Microsoft's controversial Copilot Recall feature finally reaching users, and Anthropic's CEO setting an ambitious 2027 target for AI transparency. Meanwhile, Chinese innovation accelerates with Baidu unveiling cost-efficient ERNIE Turbo models, Manus AI securing major Silicon Valley funding, and Alibaba's Qwen Chat app launching across mobile platforms.

Anthropic Sets 2027 Target for AI Model Transparency

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has announced an ambitious goal to achieve transparency in AI models by 2027, aiming to make complex systems more interpretable and secure. In a detailed essay titled "The Urgency of Interpretability," Amodei stressed that Anthropic has made early breakthroughs in tracing how models arrive at their answers but emphasized that far more research is needed to decode these systems as they grow more powerful. This push comes amid Amodei's predictions that AI capabilities will continue to advance rapidly, with systems potentially matching "a country of geniuses" by 2026.

• TechCrunch: Anthropic CEO wants to open the black box of AI models by 2027

• Dario Amodei — The Urgency of Interpretability

Baidu Unveils Cost-Efficient ERNIE Turbo Models at Create 2025 Conference

Baidu successfully held its annual Baidu Create 2025 developer conference on April 25 in Wuhan, China, unveiling ERNIE 4.5 Turbo and ERNIE X1 Turbo, along with a comprehensive suite of developer tools. The event attracted over 5,000 developers and technology enthusiasts who witnessed the debut of these models that feature significantly enhanced multimodal capabilities and stronger reasoning while dramatically reducing implementation costs. The conference also highlighted Baidu's commitment to cultivate an additional 10 million AI talents over the next five years and announced the third ERNIE Cup Innovation Challenge with doubled prize amounts, offering up to 70 million RMB in investment for outstanding projects.

• Dimsum Daily: Baidu unveils ERNIE turbo models and suite of AI tools to revolutionise innovation

• PR Newswire: Baidu Launches ERNIE 4.5 Turbo, ERNIE X1 Turbo and New Suite of AI Tools

Perplexity AI Forms Strategic Partnership with Motorola

Perplexity AI has announced a global partnership with Motorola that will pre-install its AI answer engine on millions of smartphones, beginning with the 2025 Razr series. The integration includes optimization for Motorola's hardware, including support for the Razr's unique outer display, providing users with immediate access to contextual search and AI assistant capabilities. This collaboration follows recent revelations during Google's antitrust trial where a Perplexity executive testified that Google had previously blocked Motorola from setting Perplexity AI as a default assistant.

• CNBC: Perplexity AI enters the smartphone market with Motorola partnership

• Perplexity Blog: Announcing Our Global Partnership with Motorola

Microsoft Finally Releases Copilot Recall After Year-Long Privacy Redesign

Microsoft has officially rolled out its Recall feature to Copilot+ PCs via the April 2025 non-security preview update after nearly a year of delays and privacy concerns. The feature, which automatically captures screenshots to create a searchable timeline of user activity, has undergone extensive privacy-focused redesign with all content processed locally on-device and protected by Windows Hello authentication. Users can now search their activity history using natural language or browse visually through a timeline of past interactions with apps, websites, and documents, with the feature being gradually deployed to all Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon, Intel, and AMD processors.

• Windows Central: Microsoft finally ships controversial Windows 11 'Recall' feature after year-long delay

• The Register: Microsoft rolling Windows Recall back into Copilot+ PCs

Alibaba Launches Official Qwen Chat Mobile Apps for iOS and Android

Alibaba has officially released its Qwen Chat mobile application for both iOS and Android platforms during a special launch event in Beijing. The apps leverage the recently released Qwen 3 model while incorporating specialized optimizations for mobile use cases, including voice-first interaction, camera integration for visual queries, and gesture-based commands. A standout feature is the inclusion of on-device processing capabilities that allow certain AI functions to operate without an internet connection, addressing privacy concerns while enabling use in areas with limited connectivity.

• Digital Trends: Alibaba Brings Qwen 3 to Mobile with Dedicated Apps

• Alibaba Cloud: Qwen 3 Goes Mobile: Official Apps Now Available on iOS and Android

Chinese AI Startup Manus Secures $75M Benchmark-Led Funding

Manus AI, the Chinese startup behind the highly publicized Manus artificial intelligence service, has secured $75 million in funding led by Silicon Valley investor Benchmark, reaching a valuation of approximately $500 million. This represents a quintupling of its previous valuation and signals strong international investor confidence in the company's advanced AI agent technology. Manus has recently gained significant attention for its sophisticated capabilities, receiving official recognition through features in Chinese state media and formal registration of its China-facing AI assistant.

• TechCrunch: Chinese AI startup Manus reportedly gets funding from Benchmark at $500M valuation

• Bloomberg: Chinese AI Startup Manus Scores Funding at $500 Million Value

Lovable 2.0 Brings Real-Time Multiplayer Collaboration to AI Development

Swedish AI startup Lovable has officially launched Lovable 2.0, introducing major enhancements to its AI-powered app development platform. The new version features real-time collaborative capabilities, allowing teams to simultaneously work on projects with role-based permissions for owners, admins, and editors. The update includes a significantly enhanced chat agent and a built-in security scanner that proactively identifies potential vulnerabilities in generated code, with team subscriptions supporting up to 20 users in shared workspaces.

• Product Hunt: Lovable 2.0 - Build apps and websites by chatting with AI, in multiplayer

• Lovable Blog: Introducing Lovable 2.0 – now smarter, multiplayer, and more secure

This week's developments highlight the industry's dual focus on consumer accessibility and ethical advancement. Mobile platforms have emerged as the primary battleground for AI implementation, evidenced by Perplexity's integration with Motorola and Alibaba's dedicated Qwen mobile apps. Meanwhile, the push for responsible development intensifies, from Anthropic's transparency initiative to Microsoft's privacy-centered approach with Copilot Recall. With Chinese companies gaining significant momentum through Manus AI's funding and Baidu's cost-efficient models, we're witnessing AI's global evolution from experimental technology to essential infrastructure that balances innovation with responsibility.