Google’s new AI builds itself

Meet AlphaEvolve, the Google AI that codes itself

Google’s new AI doesn’t just write code. It discovers new algorithms to make code run faster. This week, DeepMind introduced AlphaEvolve, a self-improving agent that’s already saved millions in costs by optimizing Google’s internal systems.

How it works: AlphaEvolve combines Gemini Pro and Flash models with evolutionary search. It proposes changes to existing code, tests performance, and uses automated feedback loops to evolve better algorithms. 

What’s wild: It doesn’t stop at optimization. AlphaEvolve has improved chip designs for Google’s TPUs, found a faster matrix multiplication method that broke a 56-year-old math record, and accelerated Gemini’s training time by 1%. 

TikTok’s new AI turns photos into videos

AI video tools are coming for your feed. This week, TikTok launched TikTok AI Alive, a tool that animates still images into dynamic video clips using generative AI. It builds on earlier tools like text-to-image filters and face-swapping effects, but this time the motion is smoother, the lip sync more convincing, and the output...harder to distinguish from real.

How it compares: While Meta and Snapchat have been layering in AI-enhanced effects, TikTok is going full generative. Alive lets users animate static selfies into full speaking avatars, not unlike D-ID or HeyGen—but with TikTok’s native virality baked in.

Databricks just dropped $1B on open-source database startup Neon

Databricks is buying Neon for $1 billion to power the future of AI-ready databases. Neon builds a cloud-native Postgres database with high-speed performance and AI agent-friendly access. 

The breakdown: The deal signals Databricks’ bet that we’ll need real-time, open-source, LLM-optimized databases as AI scales across industries.

Introducing Generated Assets, a powerful new tool from Public

Multi-asset investing platform Public has just launched Generated Assets, enabling you to turn your ideas into investable assets with AI.

Just enter your prompt into the chat-based interface in as much or as little detail as you like. In seconds, the AI builds a Generated Asset tailored to your vision. You can analyze its past performance, compare it to the S&P 500, and fine-tune the holdings to your liking.

Then, share your Generated Asset with the world—and see how it stacks up against the rest.

Your second brain just got smarter

Kortex unifies note-taking, knowledge management, and content creation into one interface. The AI-powered tool automatically organizes your inputs, surfaces useful connections, and drafts ideas based on your materials.

How you can use it:

• Capture meeting notes and turn them into shareable summaries

• Build content pipelines from scattered thoughts

• Surface relevant ideas from your knowledge base

Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans start at $10/month

Build internal tools without waiting on dev time

Retool is a low-code platform that lets you create internal apps with drag-and-drop components and JavaScript customization. Connect to your databases, plug in APIs, and launch dashboards, CRMs, workflows, or even AI tools in a fraction of the time.

How you can use it:

• Create a backend CMS for your startup in a day

• Build internal dashboards for customer support or operations

• Set up AI-powered workflows with OpenAI or Cohere APIs

Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans start at $10/month per user