Welcome to The Daily AI Briefing, your daily dose of AI news. I'm Marc, and here are today's headlines. Today, we'll explore xAI's major move with Grok's standalone app, Google's innovative AI podcast feature, a breakthrough in genetic research, and several notable developments from leading AI companies. Let's dive into these exciting stories that are shaping the future of artificial intelligence. First up, xAI is making waves by launching a standalone app for its Grok AI assistant. This significant move breaks Grok free from its X platform exclusivity, positioning it as a direct competitor to ChatGPT and Gemini. The new iOS app provides access to Grok 2, their latest AI model, without requiring an X account. Users can now log in through various methods, including Apple, Google, X accounts, or email. The app comes with both free and premium tiers and introduces impressive features like image generation, text summarization, and real-time information access through web and X data. Perhaps most notably, Grok has enhanced its search capabilities, now able to reference historical posts from any user across the X platform. Moving on to Google's latest innovation, the tech giant is testing an intriguing AI-powered feature called 'Daily Listen'. This experimental tool transforms users' search interests and browsing data into personalized five-minute podcasts. Available through Search Labs, the feature creates AI-voiced podcasts based on users' Google Search history and Discover feed preferences. Currently limited to U.S. users who opt into Search Labs, Daily Listen appears in the Google mobile app's homepage, complete with real-time transcripts and related story links for those wanting to dig deeper into topics. In a groundbreaking scientific development, Columbia University researchers have created the General Expression Transformer (GET), an AI model revolutionizing our understanding of gene activity in human cells. Trained on an impressive dataset of over 1.3 million cells from normal human tissues, GET can predict gene expression with 94% accuracy, even in previously unseen cell types. The model has already proven its worth in real-world applications, helping researchers investigate mechanisms behind pediatric leukemia and identifying complex long-range genetic interactions. The AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with major companies announcing significant developments. OpenAI has enhanced ChatGPT with a new Custom Instructions interface, while Microsoft's rStar-Math technique is enabling smaller language models to tackle complex mathematics. Alibaba has launched a new web interface for its Qwen models, and Cohere has introduced its North enterprise AI platform. In the video AI space, Hailuo AI and ByteDance have both released innovative tools for video enhancement and character consistency. As we wrap up today's briefing, it's clear that AI continues to push boundaries across multiple sectors, from consumer applications to scientific research. These developments showcase the industry's rapid pace of innovation and its potential to transform how we interact with technology. Thank you for tuning in to The Daily AI Briefing. I'm Marc, and I'll see you tomorrow with more AI news and updates.