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WHAT’S AT STAKE TODAY ⚡

• 💻🏆 Carson Center hosting AI hackathon on April 5. Code warriors prepare for battle!
• 🏖️🔍 Google rolls out vacation planning features to Search, Maps and Gemini. AI travel agent enters chat!
• 🧩✨ Cobbai enters the AI tool spotlight. Another helper wants your digital attention!
• 🦸‍♂️⚔️ Open source devs fighting AI crawlers with cleverness and vengeance. Code rebels strike back!
• ♻️🤖 Tomra applies GainNext AI to upgrade aluminum scrap. Recycling gets smart upgrade!
• 🔬💫 Keysight Technologies introduces AI innovations. Testing tools get algorithmic boost!
• 💬🚀 X integrates Grok AI chatbot with Telegram. Elon's bot gets messaging powers!
• 🏥🧠 Rethinking autism diagnosis with AI and clinical expertise. Medical detection gets smarter!
• 💼💍 Siemens and Altair Engineering closing deal. Corporate courtship reaches finale!

⚡ Latest in AI

Carson Center hosting AI 'hackathon' April 5

AI Filmmaking Hackathon at University of Nebraska explores creativity, data, and the future of media arts

The Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is preparing to host its third annual AI Filmmaking Hackathon on April 5, an event that has emerged as a significant educational initiative at the intersection of artificial intelligence and creative storytelling. Running from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the day-long event represents more than just a competition—it serves as a practical exploration of AI's evolving role in artistic expression while addressing widespread concerns about automation in creative industries.

Open to the public and requiring no previous AI experience, the hackathon invites participants to experiment with current machine learning tools for image creation across static, animated, and interpolated media. Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Arts Dan Novy, who leads the initiative alongside colleague Ash Eliza Smith, emphasizes the educational dimension of the event: "The workshops are designed to expose the student, faculty, staff and wider Lincoln community with an overview of what those tool chains actually are, what tools are available, which ones are free, which ones are paid, which ones are more advanced."

This year's hackathon centers on the theme of "Data," partially sponsored by UNL's Grand Challenge Creative Data Visualization team. This thematic focus highlights the potential applications of machine learning beyond conventional artistic creation, extending into data visualization and scientific literacy—areas that Novy identifies as "rife with opportunities" for AI application.

The format follows a structured but flexible approach. Participants arrive with pre-formed teams or join assigned groups at the event, then collaborate to produce approximately three-minute films during an intensive production period from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The day concludes with a dinner and awards program recognizing exceptional projects. For those seeking additional preparation, the Carson Center offers a two-hour deep-dive workshop on April 2 that introduces essential concepts and tools for the hackathon.

Beyond the competitive aspect, the event deliberately addresses growing anxieties about AI's impact on creative professions. "A lot of people are fearmongering, claiming that AI is going to replace movie studios, that the computer is just going to make the movie for you," Novy explains. However, participant experiences consistently challenge these assumptions. "The takeaway that almost every student has had at the end of each hackathon is, wow, this is still really hard, and there's no way this going to take my job. It is simply another tool in the tool set for both conceptualization and visual effects artists."

This perspective resonates with past participants like Nathan Smiley, a junior emerging media arts major who initially approached AI with significant skepticism. "I actually had a strong aversion to AI tools as they were first coming out and thought this event would be a good way to see the practical uses they might have," Smiley recalls. His first participation in 2023 resulted in an analog horror film warning about AI impersonators—a creative way to explore his own technological anxieties. The project ultimately won "Best Film," and the experience transformed his perspective: "AI doesn't have to be a scary thing, and that it can co-exist with the creative process rather than replace it entirely."

Another student, Cade Suing, a senior in emerging media arts, values the event's emphasis on experimentation and dialogue. "It's all about gaining familiarity with the tools and what they actually are," he explains. "There's a big emphasis on experimentation, most of it revolves around wanting to continue the discussion on AI and its place in artistic creation, and it can be very divisive, which is one of the things I like about it."

The hackathon also provides participants with access to computing resources that might otherwise be unavailable. Novy notes that students can utilize tools on the university's Super Computing Cluster, part of a national research project, during the event. This access to advanced computational power allows for more sophisticated experimentation than typical consumer-grade hardware would permit.

The Carson Center's approach positions AI as a component of creative practice rather than a replacement for human artistry. By framing artificial intelligence as "wonderfully experimental" and emphasizing its current limitations, the event encourages participants to engage with these emerging technologies thoughtfully rather than reactively. This nuanced perspective stands in contrast to polarized discourse about AI in creative fields, which often presents technological innovation as either entirely threatening or uncritically beneficial.

As the event enters its third year, it represents a maturing model for AI education in creative disciplines—one that balances technical skill development with critical engagement. Rather than simply teaching software operation, the hackathon creates a space for participants to develop informed perspectives about how these technologies might integrate into their creative practice.

For the broader Lincoln community, the hackathon offers an accessible entry point into complex technological conversations that often seem remote or intimidating. By demystifying AI tools through hands-on experience, the event potentially broadens participation in discussions about technology's role in society beyond traditional tech-focused demographics.

As Novy summarizes the opportunity: "Learn new tools, get access to hardware you wouldn't normally get access to, and be able to experiment in a completely 100% supportive zone." In this educational environment, participants can move beyond theoretical debates about AI's impact to develop practical, experience-based perspectives on how these technologies might reshape—or merely supplement—creative expression in the years ahead.

⚡ The companies of the future

Google rolls out new vacation-planning features to Search, Maps, and Gemini

Google AI Vacation Planning

Google is launching AI-powered vacation planning features across Search, Maps, and Gemini to help users plan summer trips.

Search's AI Overviews can now create travel itineraries when users enter queries like "create an itinerary for Costa Rica with a focus on nature," allowing them to browse photos, reviews, and locations on a map before exporting recommendations to Docs, Gmail, or Google Maps.

The company is also making Gemini's customizable "Gems" feature free for everyone, enabling users to create specialized AI assistants for travel planning. Additional features include hotel price tracking alerts and a new Maps capability that identifies places from screenshots in users' camera rolls to automatically create saved lists of destinations.

Why it matters: By embedding AI across its travel tools, Google is positioning itself as an all-in-one trip planning engine, making it harder for competitors to match its ecosystem-driven convenience.

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⚡ More AI Bites

1. 🛡️🧠 Open source devs are fighting AI crawlers with cleverness and vengeance.
2. 🔄♻️ Tomra applies GAINnext AI technology to upgrade wrought aluminum scrap.
3. 📶🧪 Keysight Technologies (KEYS) introduces AI-powered testing solutions to boost data center performance.
4. 💬📲 X integrates Grok AI chatbot with Telegram.
5. 🧠🧩 Rethinking autism diagnosis with AI and clinical expertise.
6. 🏭🤖 Siemens acquires Altair to create most complete AI-powered portfolio of industrial software.

⚡ Trends for the Future

Twin Debuts AI Agent to Automate Invoice Collection for Qonto Users

Twin AI Invoice Agent in Action

The details:

Paris-based AI startup Twin has released its first automation agent in partnership with Qonto, the European fintech serving over 500,000 business customers. Since emerging from stealth in January 2024, Twin has focused on creating practical AI agents while the concept was still largely theoretical.

The company's debut product, Invoice Operator, addresses a significant pain point for Qonto users who typically spend hours monthly gathering and uploading invoices. Twin's solution automates this process through an AI agent that can navigate websites to retrieve invoices automatically.

When users launch Invoice Operator, it identifies transactions with missing invoices and displays the services it needs to access alongside a browser showing the agent's actions. If login credentials are required, the process pauses for manual entry before continuing automatically. The agent then locates past transactions, downloads relevant invoices, and attaches the PDFs to corresponding transactions in the user's Qonto account.

"When you do that at the scale of Qonto, you basically need to cover a very, very long tail of services. Thousands, tens of thousands and soon hundreds of thousands of different services that everyone is using," explained Twin co-founder and CEO Hugo Mercier during a product demonstration.

This approach differs significantly from traditional automation solutions. Unlike Robotic Process Automation (RPA) which requires custom scripts for each website, or API-based services like Zapier that took a decade to support 8,000 applications, Twin's solution can already handle thousands of applications after just months of development.

The technology runs on a server-based Chromium browser powered by OpenAI's CUA (computer-using agent) model—the same technology behind OpenAI's Operator. Twin was among just 15 companies granted early access to this model.

"We worked a lot on making the experience extremely simple. We are really targeting the end user, maybe people who are not tech-friendly. They don't have to prompt or configure anything. You just log into your accounts, launch it, and it navigates to find the invoices," Mercier said.

What makes this crucial: Twin envisions expanding beyond invoice retrieval to other B2B applications like order management for e-commerce, marketplace catalog classification, and information retrieval for call centers—moving toward a future of general-purpose AI agents tailored for business tasks.

⚡ Women Powerhouse Event

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📅 Date: April 14, 2025

📍 Location: The Moore, Miami

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