Google wakes up: Gemini 2.0 et al

**Google DeepMind** launched **Gemini 2.0 Flash**, a new multimodal model outperforming Gemini 1.5 Pro and o1-preview, featuring vision and voice APIs, multilingual capabilities, and native tool use. It powers new AI agents like **Project Astra** and **Project Mariner**, with Project Mariner achieving state-of-the-art **83.5%** on the WebVoyager benchmark. **OpenAI** announced ChatGPT integration with **Apple** devices, enabling Siri access and visual intelligence features. **Claude 3.5 Sonnet** is noted as a distilled version of Opus. The AI community's response at **NeurIPS 2024** has been overwhelmingly positive, signaling a strong comeback for Google in AI innovation. Key topics include **multimodality**, **agent development**, **multilinguality**, **benchmarking**, and **model releases**.