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Welcome to this month's round up which is actually two months' worth of news because I was on holiday last month at newsletter time. I wanted to share a fun thing that I did with AI while away which was getting ChatGPT to interview me (in voice mode on my phone) about funny things that have happened to me in my life and then, in voice mode gave it feedback until it structured them into well-written chapters which will eventually become a book.
This month, Fambirai's Julianne Hickey is attending the Builders AI Forum at the historic Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and will share a summary when she returns.
In the past two months, enterprise adoption surged, models advanced, and policy activity intensified. Creative tools reached mainstream scale in weeks.
Top stories
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Deloitte rolls out Claude to 470,000 staff
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The consulting giant deployed Anthropic's AI assistant across its entire workforce on 6 October 2025, marking the largest single enterprise AI deployment to date.
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Claude Sonnet 4.5 sets new coding bar
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Anthropic's latest model, released 29 September 2025, can code autonomously for up to thirty hours and ship production ready applications, raising the standard for AI assisted development.
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Sora app launches with TikTok style feed
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OpenAI released its consumer video generation app on 30 September 2025, featuring celebrity cameos and a social media style interface for sharing AI created content.
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California passes SB 53
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The new law, passed 5 October 2025, establishes transparency requirements for frontier AI developers while protecting innovation, setting a precedent for balanced AI regulation.
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Microsoft expands Copilot creation tools
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New App Builder and Workflows features, launched 28 October 2025, let users build custom tools and automate tasks through conversational interfaces, no coding required.
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Meta releases Llama 4 family
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Meta's new open weight models, released 6 October 2025, include Scout (17B parameters, 10M token context) and Maverick (17B, 1M context), with a larger Behemoth model in training. The release broadens developer access to advanced multimodal AI.
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Policy and governance
- Italy becomes first EU country with comprehensive AI law, 19 September 2025. The new legislation promotes human centred, transparent AI use and introduces prison sentences of one to five years for harmful misuse like deceptive deepfakes. It also limits AI access for under 14s. Read more
- UK announces AI regulation blueprint, 21 October 2025. Tech Secretary Liz Kendall outlined plans for AI Growth Labs, regulatory sandboxes where companies can test AI solutions in sectors like healthcare and transport with relaxed rules under supervision. Read more
- DeepMind strengthens safety framework, 22 September 2025. Google's AI lab expanded its Frontier Safety Framework to cover new risk domains including manipulation and misalignment. Read more
- White House seeks input on AI hindering regulations, 26 September 2025. The Office of Science and Technology Policy opened a request for information to identify regulatory barriers to AI innovation. Read more
- Senator signals federal AI action coming, 15 October 2025. Senator Marsha Blackburn indicated Congress will move on federal AI legislation, though states will continue acting until comprehensive federal rules arrive. Read more
Enterprise and investment
- Mistral raises $2B led by ASML, 7 September 2025. Chipmaker ASML invested $1.5B to become the largest shareholder in French AI startup Mistral, valuing the open source model developer near $11.7B. Read more
- Google launches Gemini Enterprise, 9 October 2025. The $30 per seat offering lets companies build custom workplace agents on Google's AI platform. Read more
- Salesforce unveils Agentforce 360, 13 October 2025. The company introduced Agent Script and Builder tools with 12,000 customers already signed up. Read more
- Governance budgets rise sharply, 29 September 2025. Research shows 98% of enterprises plan to increase AI oversight and risk management budgets. Read more
- Microsoft debuts MAI 1 preview, 2 September 2025. The company's new mixture of experts model signals deeper investment in proprietary AI development. Read more
Creative and media
- AI generated actress sparks Hollywood backlash, 29 October 2025. A tech studio's virtual film star Tilly Norwood drew immediate condemnation from SAG-AFTRA and prominent actors including Whoopi Goldberg and Emily Blunt. Read more
- AI singers hit Billboard charts, 29 October 2025. Virtual R&B vocalist Xania Monet reached number one on an R&B sales chart and signed a multimillion dollar record deal. Read more
- Universal Music settles with Udio, 30 October 2025. The music giant resolved its copyright lawsuit with AI music generator Udio, announcing plans for a joint platform using licensed recordings. Read more
- World's first AI art museum announced, 27 October 2025. Artist Refik Anadol's Dataland will open in Los Angeles in spring 2026, featuring immersive AI driven installations. Read more
- NPR examines Sora's social media impact, 3 October 2025. Analysis covers content watermarking, platform guardrails, and potential misuse risks. Read more
- Google enables photo editing in Search, 13 October 2025. The Nano Banana feature brings generative editing capabilities to Google Search, NotebookLM, and Photos. Read more
- OpenAI develops music generation tool, 25 October 2025. The company is building technology to add music to videos or create accompaniment for vocals. Read more
FYI
- Wharton study shows strong AI ROI, 28 October 2025. Research found 82% of large enterprise leaders now use generative AI weekly, with 75% reporting positive return on investment. Read more
- TripAdvisor adds conversational planning, 27 October 2025. The travel platform integrated ChatGPT for personalised trip planning with direct booking capabilities. Read more
- Anthropic economic index update, 15 September 2025. AI adoption among US firms doubled to 9.7%. Read more
- Aid agencies adopt AI imagery, 21 October 2025. Humanitarian organisations increasingly use AI generated images instead of real photographs. Read more
- Reddit data access dispute, 23 October 2025. Major AI companies challenged Reddit's restrictions on accessing user generated content. Read more
- Microsoft 365 Copilot updates, October 2025. The productivity assistant now defaults to GPT 5 and includes session persistence. Read more
- Gap adopts Google Cloud AI, 10 October 2025. The retailer deployed Gemini and Vertex AI across design, marketing, and pricing operations. Read more
- Australia sues Microsoft over Copilot, 27 October 2025. Regulators allege the company misled 27 million customers about pricing and bundling. Read more
- Pinterest launches AI shopping assistant, 30 October 2025. The platform's new tool provides real time personalised recommendations. Read more
- Channel 4 debuts AI presenter, 27 October 2025. A generative AI anchor fronts a new documentary series. Read more
- AI transforms higher education, 6 October 2025. A MidwestCon panel revealed 90% of students now use AI tools. Read more
Good news
- AI helps doctors respond to patients, 16 October 2025. New York University research showed AI draft responses saved doctors 7% of messaging time whilst making replies more empathetic. Read more
- AI enhances mental health training, 30 October 2025. University of Illinois researchers used generative AI to create detailed client case studies, allowing social work trainees to practise interventions in risk free environments. Read more
- AI empowers people with disabilities, 11 October 2025. At Purple Fest in India, entrepreneurs showcased assistive technologies including Picstry AI, which turns photos into audio memories for blind users. Read more
- AI improves flu vaccine selection, 2 September 2025. The VaxSeer model outperformed World Health Organisation picks by analysing genomic data. Read more
- Rural heart failure detection expands, 2 September 2025. West Virginia University developed AI models to identify heart failure signs in underserved communities. Read more
- Childhood cancer research funding doubles, 2 October 2025. The US Department of Health and Human Services increased funding for AI supported detection and treatment research. Read more
- AI advances heart disease detection, 13 October 2025. New automated echocardiography systems can identify subtle cardiac markers, supporting more personalised cardiovascular care. Read more
- Strategies emerge to cut AI's climate impact, 30 September 2025. MIT researchers outlined efficiency improvements and renewable energy approaches. Read more
- AI accelerates drug discovery, 23 October 2025. Cellarity and MIT developed DrugReflector, an AI model that proved 17 times more effective than random screening in finding compounds that promote blood cell growth. Read more
Thanks for reading!
If there's something specific you'd like us to cover next month, or if you have any feedback on this edition, please let us know - we'd love to hear from you! We're always looking to make these updates more useful for our community.
Please get in touch if you'd like help with your AI strategy or to learn more about the training courses we run for our clients (check out some of our past clients and testimonials here).
Cheers,
The Fambirai Team
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