Nothing brings Essential Voice to turn speech into clean text: How it works

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 24, 2026 | Technology

Nothing has introduced a new software feature called Essential Voice, expanding its Essential AI tools with a focus on voice-based input. According to Nothing, instead of typing everything on your phone, users can just speak and get properly formatted text in real time. The company is positioning this as a step towards making interactions more natural, since speaking is faster and more intuitive than typing for most people.

What is Essential Voice?

Essential Voice is a voice-to-text feature developed by Nothing that turns spoken input into clean, usable text in real time. Instead of simply transcribing speech word-for-word like traditional dictation, it refines what you say by removing filler words, fixing sentence structure and making the output look like properly written text. The feature can be activated by long-pressing the Essential Key or directly from the keyboard on supported Nothing smartphones and it works inside apps where users typically type, so there’s no need to switch between tools.

Essential Voice: How it works

With Essential Voice, the system automatically cleans up what the user says. It removes filler words like “um” or “uh,” improves sentence structure and turns spoken input into text that feels ready to send. Nothing said that Essential Voice only works when you actively turn it on and does not run in the background. When used, your audio is encrypted and processed on the server, after which the final text is sent back to your device. The audio or text is not stored on the servers.

The feature includes auto-correction tools that improve clarity and flow, making the output more usable. There is also support for personal mappings, which act like shortcuts for commonly used words, phrases or links. For example, a user can assign a spoken phrase to automatically insert a specific format or address.

Another addition is a translation tool that allows users to speak in one language and generate text in another. Nothing said that Essential Voice supports over 100 languages with auto-detection, along with options for regional variations. The company said that it makes the feature useful for multilingual communication without needing separate apps.

Availability

Essential Voice is currently available on Nothing Phone 3 and will roll out to Phone 4a Pro later this month and Phone 4a in early May. According to Nothing, future updates will bring context awareness, allowing the feature to adjust its output based on where it is being used, such as messaging or emails. The company is also looking to expand this across its ecosystem, suggesting a broader shift towards voice-first interaction across devices.

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Meta rolls out parental monitoring of kid's AI chats on FB, IG, Messenger

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 24, 2026 | Technology

Meta has introduced new supervision tools that allow parents to view the topics their teens have been discussing with Meta AI across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger over the past seven days. According to Meta, this is designed to offer greater visibility into how teens are interacting with AI, while also equipping parents with expert-backed conversation prompts and additional safeguards aimed at making these interactions safer and more transparent.

The feature is now available in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It will be released for supervising parents globally in the coming weeks.

What insights will parents now see

According to Meta, parents supervising Teen Accounts will now have access to a dedicated Insights tab, available both in-app and on the web. This section shows a summary of topics their teen has asked Meta AI about over the last week.

These topics are broad and categorised, ranging from:

School

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Travel

Writing

Health and Wellbeing

Parents can tap into each topic to explore more specific categories within it. For instance, “Lifestyle” may include fashion or food, while “Health and Wellbeing” could cover fitness or mental health.

How will this work

The feature is built into Meta’s existing parental supervision tools across its apps. Once enabled, parents can access the Insights tab to get a weekly snapshot of their teen’s AI interactions.

To make these insights more actionable, Meta says it has partnered with the Cyberbullying Research Center to develop conversation starters. These are open-ended questions designed to help parents initiate discussions about AI use in a non-judgmental way.

Each prompt is accompanied by guidance explaining:

What the question is intended to uncover

How parents can approach the conversation constructively

These conversation starters are available through Meta’s Family Center and are also linked directly within the Insights tab. As per the company, this will make it easier for parents to move from observation to engagement.

What protections and tools already existed

Meta positions these new insights as an extension of its existing safety framework for Teen Accounts.

The company states that its AI experiences are designed around standards inspired by 13+ movie rating guidelines, aiming to ensure responses remain age-appropriate. In cases where a query crosses those boundaries, Meta AI may:

Decline to answer

Redirect teens to appropriate resources

In addition to AI-specific safeguards, Meta’s supervision tools already allow parents to:

Set screen time limits

Schedule breaks

View who their teen has interacted with over the past seven days

The company also reiterated that it is working on proactive alerts that would notify parents if a teen attempts to engage with Meta AI on sensitive topics such as suicide or self-harm. More details on this feature are expected to be shared later.

What is the AI Wellbeing Expert Council

Alongside the new parental insights, Meta has also introduced its AI Wellbeing Expert Council, a group of specialists tasked with guiding the development of AI experiences for teens.

The company said that the council includes members from Meta’s existing advisory groups covering areas such as suicide prevention, youth safety, and body image as well as new experts focused on responsible and ethical AI.

As per Meta, these members are affiliated with organisations and institutions, including:

National Council for Suicide Prevention

University of Michigan

University of Texas

University of Southern California

Meta added that the council will meet regularly with its internal teams to review upcoming AI features, provide feedback, and help ensure that its products remain safe and age-appropriate. The company also confirmed that the council has already contributed to shaping the parental insight tools being rolled out now.

How to set up supervision

Visit the Meta Family Center or open the Meta Horizon app on your phone

Click on Menu, then tap on Family Center

Click on “add family member” and select “invite a teen” to generate a link

Send the link to your teen via email or text

The teen must click the link and follow the prompts to allow supervision

Adjust privacy and safety settings, such as who can message them, who can follow them, and what content they can see

Set up limits and boundaries, such as how much time they will spend online and when they should take breaks. After that you will start gettings alerts on their activity

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DeepSeek rolls out new flagship AI model a year after breakthrough

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 24, 2026 | Technology

By Saritha Rai and Luz Ding

DeepSeek rolled out preview versions of a new flagship artificial intelligence model a year after upending Silicon Valley, calling it the most powerful open-source platform in a challenge to rivals from OpenAI to Anthropic PBC.

The Chinese startup unveiled the V4 Flash and V4 Pro preview series, touting top-tier performance in coding benchmarks and big advancements in reasoning and agentic tasks. They come with several architecture upgrades and optimization improvements, and can operate with a million-token context length, the startup said on Hugging Face. DeepSeek singled out a technique it dubbed Hybrid Attention Architecture, which it said improves the ability of an AI platform to remember queries across long conversations.

The V4 arrives more than a year after the Hangzhou-based startup ignited a trillion-dollar stock market selloff with the release of the R1, an open source model that mimics the process of human reasoning. The R1 rivaled the performance of cutting-edge AI systems from companies like OpenAI but was purportedly built for a fraction of the cost.

Almost overnight, some tech firms and investors began rethinking the wisdom of pouring billions of dollars into AI development. Those outlays have since sprung back, as American technology giants are projected to invest around $650 billion in 2026 on AI infrastructure and data centers.

DeepSeek also sparked a frenzy in China, as tech leaders from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to Baidu Inc. flooded the market with low-cost AI services. Rivals from ByteDance Ltd. to Zhipu and Minimax raced to update their models in the weeks leading up to April, hoping to steal a march on DeepSeek.

With stardom also came scrutiny. American tech leaders and government officials have accused DeepSeek of using illicit techniques and hardware to develop its models. One focus is so-called distillation, through which one AI model relies on the output of another for training purposes to develop similar capabilities. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have alleged they detected such attacks from DeepSeek, a concern OpenAI began privately raising shortly after the R1 model’s release.

The other concern is that DeepSeek may have access to banned Nvidia Corp. AI chips, a possibility US officials began probing last year.

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Meta, Microsoft plan job cuts, buyouts that may affect up to 23,000 roles

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 24, 2026 | Technology

By Kurt Wagner and Brody Ford

Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are planning cuts or announcing buyouts that could affect as many as 23,000 jobs, part of an effort to streamline operations and offset heavy spending on artificial intelligence.

Meta told personnel in an internal memo on Thursday that it planned to cut 10 per cent of workers, or roughly 8,000 employees, starting on May 20. The social-media company also said it wouldn’t fill 6,000 open roles.

Earlier in the day, Microsoft issued its own memo offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its US employees. About 7 per cent of the US workforce will be eligible for the buyouts, according to a person familiar with the planning. The company has never previously done buyouts of this scale, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal matter.

Microsoft had 125,000 employees in the US as of June 2025. That would make about 8,750 workers eligible for the program.

Big tech companies have been looking for ways to trim their expenses as they pour billions into data centers and other infrastructure to meet demand for artificial intelligence services.

Record Spending

Microsoft is racing to construct data centers around the world and this month announced new AI investments in Japan and Australia. Meta, meanwhile, has projected record capital expenditures this year and has announced several multibillion-dollar deals with AI partners over the past few months. Both companies have instituted several rounds of layoffs in recent years.

Meta alluded to its AI spending in the memo, which was written by Janelle Gale, chief people officer. “We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” she wrote in the note, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.

Meta employees have spent much of the year fretting about job cuts, which already hit the Reality Labs division and other teams. Gale said that the company was announcing the layoffs early since details of the plan had already leaked. Reuters first reported on Meta’s planned workforce reductions earlier this month.

“I know this is unwelcome news and confirming this puts everyone in an uneasy state, but we feel this is the best path forward, given the circumstances,” Gale wrote.

Microsoft’s buyout program is being offered to workers whose years of service plus their age totals 70 or more, excluding some senior roles or those on sales incentive plans, according to the memo from Chief People Officer Amy Coleman.

“I’ve never seen the company move with this level of urgency and pace, and I see the intensity and agility you bring every day,” Coleman wrote in the memo, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. “To sustain this pace, we have to stay focused on doing great work, trusting and empowering our managers and simplifying to support everyone.”

Both companies are scheduled to report quarterly earnings on April 29.

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Gemini-powered Siri arrives in 2026: Can Apple catch up to Android AI?

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 23, 2026 | Technology

Apple is set to roll out a revamped Siri powered by Google’s Gemini models later this year. The update, confirmed by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at Google Cloud Next 2026 on April 22, builds on an earlier joint announcement by Google and Apple that Gemini would support future Apple Intelligence features.

While the move signals a shift in Apple’s AI strategy, the larger question remains: can this new Siri help Apple catch up with Android in the AI race?

For years, Apple has focused on privacy, on-device processing, and tight ecosystem control. That approach remains, but the inclusion of Google’s models suggests a stronger push towards capability and competitiveness, particularly in areas where rivals have moved faster.

What Gemini-powered Siri is expected to bring

Apple first outlined its AI direction for Siri at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. The upcoming version is expected to build on that vision and deliver a more integrated experience.

At the core is context awareness. Siri is expected to understand what is on screen, track activity across apps, and suggest relevant actions. This marks a shift from command-based interaction to a more situational model.

Cross-app functionality is another key upgrade. Instead of manually switching between apps, users should be able to issue natural requests that span multiple applications, combining actions into a single workflow.

Voice interaction is also expected to become more conversational. Users may be able to interrupt, refine queries, and engage in a more fluid exchange, similar to current AI systems on Android.

Apple is also expected to expand multimodal capabilities, allowing Siri to process visual inputs alongside text and voice.

Together, these upgrades point towards a system where AI acts as a continuous layer across the device, rather than a set of isolated features.

What Apple Intelligence offers today

Apple Intelligence already includes several AI-driven features:

Writing tools and text summarisation

Notification summaries

Contextual understanding within Apple apps

Integration across services such as Photos, Messages, and Notes

Apple’s approach remains privacy-first. Much of the processing happens on-device or within controlled cloud environments, differentiating it from more cloud-heavy models used by competitors.

There is also flexibility in some cases. Users can route certain queries to external models such as ChatGPT.

However, many advanced capabilities demonstrated by Apple remain:

Limited in scope

Inconsistently available

Part of a phased rollout

This creates a gap between what Apple has shown and what users currently experience.

Where Android stands today

Android already offers a more mature, system-level AI experience, particularly on Pixel devices.

Features such as contextual understanding, real-time summarisation, conversational voice interaction, and cross-app workflows are integrated into daily use rather than appearing as standalone tools.

Long-standing capabilities like call screening, spam filtering, live transcription, and structured summaries have evolved into standard expectations.

Beyond Google, other Android brands are also expanding AI capabilities:

OPPO and OnePlus offer AI Mind Space for capturing and recalling information

Nothing provides Essential Space for idea capture

Samsung supports multiple AI assistants, including Bixby and Perplexity

These layers extend Android’s AI ecosystem beyond Google’s own implementation.

The deeper gap: Execution, not features

At a high level, both platforms are moving towards similar capabilities:

Context-aware assistants

Cross-app workflows

Conversational AI

Multimodal understanding

However, the difference lies in execution.

On Android:

Features are already deployed

They are integrated into everyday workflows

They appear consistently and proactively

On Apple devices

The foundation is in place

The approach is more controlled and privacy-focused

The full experience is still evolving

There is also a philosophical divide. Android tends to be more proactive, surfacing suggestions even without user input. Apple remains more restrained, prioritising control and predictability.

The reality in 2026

Android, led by Google’s Gemini integration and supported by multiple manufacturers, currently offers a more continuous AI experience.

Apple’s implementation is evolving, but remains more measured and privacy-centric.

The partnership with Google reflects a shift. It signals that Apple is willing to rely on external models to strengthen its AI capabilities.

The AI race is no longer about feature count. It is about how seamlessly those features work in everyday use.

What happens next

A Gemini-powered Siri could narrow the gap. But matching Android will require more than improved capabilities.

Apple will need to match:

Consistency across apps and tasks

Frequency of AI interaction in daily use

Depth of ecosystem integration

The challenge is not just Google. It is the broader Android ecosystem that has already embedded AI deeply into user experience.

Siri’s overhaul may bring Apple closer. But catching up will depend on how quickly those capabilities translate into everyday use.

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With Workspace Intelligence, Google adds AI tools to Sheets, Meet, Chrome

by Hansraj Agrawal | Apr 23, 2026 | Technology

Google has announced a fresh set of updates for its Workspace platform at the Cloud Next 2026 event, focusing on AI and automation. The new features include interactive dashboards in Sheets, automated meeting summaries in Meet and AI-powered task handling through Gemini. These additions aim to simplify everyday work and improve productivity across apps like Sheets, Meet, Chrome and Gemini.

At the centre of these updates is a system called Workspace Intelligence, which the company said is designed to bring together user data, projects and collaborations across apps into a unified view. According to Google, it can analyse relationships between files, emails and workflows to deliver more useful outputs.

Key updates across Workspace apps

One of the major additions is an upgrade to Sheets. Users can now import data from third-party platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce and create interactive dashboards, heat maps and other visual tools directly within Sheets. These are designed to act like small apps built on top of existing data.

Google is also introducing “skills” in Workspace, which allow users to automate repetitive tasks. For example, a skill can review invoices and detect errors by comparing them with records, reducing manual effort. These can be created and shared across teams.

AI in meetings, videos and browsing

Google Meet is getting expanded AI support with its “Take Notes for Me” feature. It can now generate summaries and action points from meetings, even if they are held offline or on other platforms like Zoom or Teams.

In Google Vids, new AI avatars can be used to create videos with custom branding. These avatars can appear in presentations and support multiple languages, making it easier to produce content without traditional video setups.

Google is also adding auto-browsing capabilities in Chrome Enterprise. This allows AI to complete multi-step tasks across websites and apps while keeping enterprise-level security controls in place.

More control and integrations

The company is introducing new tools for developers and businesses, including a Workspace MCP Server that allows AI apps to connect with Workspace data securely. There are also new governance controls to monitor how AI agents access data. For organisations with strict data requirements, Google is adding options to store and process data in specific regions, along with client-side encryption for added security.

Migration and future direction

The company said that migrating from Microsoft 365 to Workspace is now up to five times faster with a new data import service built into the admin console to move emails, files and conversations. It also added that improved interoperability features, such as Office file editing in Gmail and AI-powered tools, will help teams work more smoothly with users who still rely on Microsoft Office apps.

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