**Apple’s Siri Gets Gemini Boost as OpenAI Lobby for Taxpayer Cash—New Tools Unmask AI Transparency Gaps**
New AI Models & Releases
Gemini 3 Preview Announced by Google: Google has released a preview of Gemini 3 Pro, its next-gen AI model, available this month via Vertex AI. The model features an expanded context window and configurable input/output ratios for text, audio, and video.
Maya1: First AI TTS Model with On-the-Fly Voice Design: Maya-research launched Maya1, a low-latency 3B-parameter TTS model built on a Llama backbone, enabling real-time voice customization via text descriptions.
Partnerships & Integrations
Apple’s Siri to Use Google’s Gemini AI: Apple announced a partnership with Google to power its revamped Siri with the Gemini AI model, aiming to enhance the assistant’s capabilities.
AI Industry & Business Developments
OpenAI Seeks Federal Funding for AI Investments: OpenAI is lobbying for federal financial backstops to support its high-cost AI research, signaling a push for public-private collaboration to sustain its leadership.
AI Tools & Transparency Issues
Perplexity AI Accused of Model Bait-and-Switch: Users report Perplexity is rerouting queries from premium models (e.g., Claude Sonnet 4.5) to cheaper alternatives (e.g., Gemini 2 Flash) without consent, raising transparency concerns.
New Extension Detects Model Mismatches in Perplexity: The open-source Perplexity Model Watcher Chrome extension alerts users when their selected AI model doesn’t match the actual response model.