Isomorphic Labs, a spinoff from Google DeepMind, aims to revolutionize drug discovery using AI, particularly leveraging the protein-structure prediction capabilities of AlphaFold2. Founded by Colin Murdoch and Demis Hassabis, the startup recently raised $600 million to expand its operations into biologics and enhance its AI capabilities, with partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies indicating strong industry interest. The goal is to significantly reduce the time and cost associated with drug development, potentially leading to breakthroughs in treating diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is collaborating with Google's DeepMind to enhance the operation of its Sparc fusion reactor using AI technology. By simulating plasma behavior with DeepMind's Torax software, they aim to tackle the challenges of maintaining fusion reactions, which could lead to a breakthrough in clean energy production. Google has previously worked with other fusion startups, indicating a strong interest in fusion power as a sustainable energy source.

Google DeepMind has unveiled AlphaEvolve, an advanced AI agent capable of writing its own code and developing complex algorithms, resulting in significant computing cost savings. The system has already optimized various aspects of Google's infrastructure, improving efficiency and solving longstanding mathematical problems.

An advanced version of Gemini with Deep Think achieved gold-medal performance at the International Mathematical Olympiad by perfectly solving five out of six problems, scoring a total of 35 points. This marks a significant improvement over the previous year, as the model now operates end-to-end in natural language, producing rigorous mathematical proofs within the competition's time limit. Google DeepMind aims to further enhance AI's capabilities in mathematics through ongoing collaborations and research advancements.

Google DeepMind employees in the UK are aiming to unionize in response to the company's sales of AI technologies to defense firms associated with the Israeli government. Approximately 300 staff members are seeking to join the Communication Workers Union to challenge these decisions.

Microsoft is strengthening its AI division by recruiting top talent from Google’s DeepMind, led by co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. Suleyman is promoting the benefits of a less bureaucratic, startup-like environment at Microsoft to attract former colleagues to join the new AI initiative.

ByteDance has introduced a new AI image model aimed at competing with Google DeepMind's Nano Banana, showcasing advancements in image generation technology. This development highlights the growing rivalry in the AI landscape, particularly among major tech companies.

An AI system named Dreamer has successfully learned to collect diamonds in Minecraft without prior instruction, showcasing its ability to generalize knowledge across different tasks. This achievement represents progress toward developing AI that can apply learning from one domain to new, complex situations.