- What's Up in AI
- Posts
- Google Releases Gemma 4, Microsoft’s New In-House AI Models and more...
Google Releases Gemma 4, Microsoft’s New In-House AI Models and more...
And everything else you need to catch up on that happened this week yet!
What's Up in AI
April 04, 2026
In partnership with
Welcome Back, AI Geeks!
It’s time to stay updated with What’s Up in AI.
Microsoft and Google are taking opposite approaches to the AI stack — one going deeper into proprietary, full-stack models, the other pushing open models that can run anywhere.
In today’s issue:
🧩 Google Releases Gemma 4
🧠 Microsoft’s New In-House AI Models
⚡ 5-4-3-2-1 hits you just can't miss
📰 What Else Happened in AI
😂 Your AI-Powered Laugh
Read time: 6 mins
88% resolved. 22% stayed loyal. What went wrong?
That's the AI paradox hiding in your CX stack. Tickets close. Customers leave. And most teams don't see it coming because they're measuring the wrong things.
Efficiency metrics look great on paper. Handle time down. Containment rate up. But customer loyalty? That's a different story — and it's one your current dashboards probably aren't telling you.
Gladly's 2026 Customer Expectations Report surveyed thousands of real consumers to find out exactly where AI-powered service breaks trust, and what separates the platforms that drive retention from the ones that quietly erode it.
If you're architecting the CX stack, this is the data you need to build it right. Not just fast. Not just cheap. Built to last.
#1 LATEST IN AI TODAY📎
What Happened (Apr 2, 2026):
Google DeepMind released Gemma 4, a new generation of open-weight AI models designed for developers and local deployment.
What You Need to Know:
Gemma 4 includes multiple variants optimized for everything from smartphones to data centers, with support for text, image, and audio inputs.
The models are open-weight and can run locally/offline, making them accessible via platforms like Hugging Face and Kaggle.
Built on similar tech as Gemini, they deliver strong performance in reasoning, coding, and agent workflows.
Why It Matters:
While others push closed APIs, Google is betting big on open, local-first AI — and that could reshape who gets to build with it.
#2 LATEST IN AI TODAY📎
What Happened (Apr 2, 2026):
Microsoft just launched three new AI models — MAI-Transcribe-1, MAI-Voice-1, and MAI-Image-2 — directly inside its Foundry platform.
What You Need to Know:
The models cover speech-to-text, voice generation, and image creation, competing directly with OpenAI tools like Whisper and DALL·E.
Microsoft claims state-of-the-art accuracy, faster speeds, and better price-performance, with features like custom voice creation and 2× faster image generation.
All models are native to Microsoft’s ecosystem (Azure Foundry), signaling a push toward building its own full-stack AI capabilities.
Why It Matters:
Microsoft is no longer just OpenAI’s biggest partner — it’s becoming a direct competitor.
BRAIN BOOST 🧠
If you were building today, you’d choose: |
QUICK HITS 💥
It’s time for some quick hits that you’ll love. Let’s go in…..5-4-3-2-1 👇️
5- TOP AI TOOLS OF THE DAY
🤖 Viktor is an AI coworker in Slack that connects to your tools, builds apps, and runs reports for you. Try now!
☑️ Atoms turns your ideas into products that are built to sell. Try now!
🗣️ PodShrink converts long podcasts into short, narrated audio summaries so you get the key insights fast. Try now!
👧 Arcloop lets you chat with characters, build worlds, and turn your ideas into short anime-style episodes. Try now!
👨🏫 StoryMotion transforms your docs, diagrams, or ideas into animated visuals for courses and videos in minutes. Try now!
4-AI JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Want us to search for tech related jobs in your country/city ? Post a request 🔍
3-THINGS IN TREND
Learn how OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy deeply researches interesting topics by setting up "LLM Knowledge Bases.”
Developers built a Claude alternative that has Cowork-like abilities, works with any LLM, and runs locally.
These 7 prompts can help you create a personal wealth plan that analyzes your paycheck, identifies insurance needs, and builds an investment ladder.
2-USEFUL LINKS
Researchers at Durham University are testing “Alan,” a humanoid robot designed as a common platform for AI and robotics experiments. By giving teams a shared system to build on, the project aims to speed up research, collaboration, and real-world testing of intelligent robot behaviors.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED IN AI 📰
🎬 Seedance 2.0 Tops Video Rankings
ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 is now widely available across platforms. It leads the Artificial Analysis video leaderboards.
💻 Cursor 3 Runs Agent Fleets
Cursor launched Cursor 3 with a rebuilt interface. Developers can run multiple local and cloud coding agents across repos in one workspace.
🧠 Alibaba Pushes Qwen Forward
Alibaba released Qwen3.6 Plus. The model rivals top coding systems with strong reasoning, 1M token context, and multimodal support.
🎙️ Microsoft Debuts New Transcription Model
Microsoft launched MAI Transcribe 1 in public preview. It leads benchmarks for speech to text accuracy across 25 languages.
🇯🇵 Sakana AI Tests Autonomous Research Agent
Sakana AI opened beta for Marlin. The assistant can work up to 8 hours continuously on business and research tasks.
Funding 💰️
Chinese Robotics Startup Galaxea AI Raises $290M USD in Series B+ Funding, Valued at $29B USD
GET AN AI-POWERED LAUGH 😁
Acquire new customers and drive revenue by partnering with us
What’s Up in AI is one of the most engaged & loved newsletter for professionals, AI enthusiasts & business owners with ~90,000+ working at the world’s leading startups and enterprises. Companies like Hubspot, Artisan, Guidde & Gamma etc. feature their products in What’s Up in AI. You can learn more about partnering with us here.
And that’s a wrap!
Do drop a comment to tell us👇️
We’ll be back soon with more spicy takes on What’s Happening in AI, so stay tuned & share our newsletter with a friend using this link!
Stay Tuned! 🤖
Team What’s Up in AI