An AI agent is a system that not only generates output but also takes actions to achieve goals (e.g. planning tasks, invoking tools) with limited supervision. In other words, it can “act” in an environment, not just chat. A recent example is ChatGPT’s new agent mode, which can plan trips, run code, and interact with apps on your behalf. AI agents build on large language models by adding workflow logic and tool use, heralding a shift from passive Q&A toward proactive AI assistants.

Text-to-speech startup ElevenLabs launched a mobile app (June 24, 2025) bringing its high-quality AI voice cloning and synthesis to Android and iOS. The new app lets users convert text to natural-sounding speech on their phones using ElevenLabs’ voice library and advanced TTS models, no longer requiring a desktop or web interface. This makes realistic voice generation as easy as tapping a smartphone.

Hugging Face unveiled Reachy Mini, a small, $299 open-source desktop robot kit designed for AI developers (July 2025). It’s an armature robot with an onboard Raspberry Pi that comes preloaded with access to Hugging Face’s AI models and tools. By democratizing robotics development, Reachy Mini lets even hobbyists experiment with AI-driven robots – for example, teaching it to grasp objects using vision models

Microsoft/Hugging Face opened up the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for Visual Studio Code (June 2025). The source code is now public, allowing developers to inspect and contribute to the AI-assisted coding chat plugin built into VS Code. This makes it easier to customize the AI chat experience and integrate it deeper into VS Code’s core

Nvidia confirmed it has applied for U.S. licenses to sell its advanced H20 AI GPUs in China (lifting an April export ban). Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick linked the move to U.S.-China rare-earth negotiations. The reversal of the export restriction means Chinese companies (like ByteDance and Tencent) are scrambling to buy H20 chips, which, despite slightly reduced power under U.S. rules, still use Nvidia’s industry-standard AI software tools.

Chinese startup Moonshot AI released Kimi K2, an open-source LLM with roughly 1 trillion parameters (32B active) that specializes in coding and “agentic” tasks. VentureBeat reports Kimi K2 outperforms GPT-4.1 on key coding benchmarks, positioning it as a free rival to proprietary models

OpenAI introduced Agent Mode for ChatGPT, a powerful new feature that enables the AI to perform tasks on its own using tools like web browsing and code execution. From planning events to building presentations, ChatGPT can now take initiative and deliver complete results with minimal user input.