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Last Week In AI

Google’s Gemini 2.0, Mistral’s Le Chat, and More

Ellis Crosby
Ellis Crosby
AI Expert & Incremento AI Lead
Google’s Gemini 2.0, Mistral’s Le Chat, and More

While last week wasn’t the most eventful in AI, some major releases still flew under the radar. Google dropped Gemini 2.0, improving reasoning and AI-agent capabilities, Mistral introduced Le Chat, claiming to be the fastest AI assistant, and ByteDance unveiled OmniHuman-1, a new AI model that can create hyper-realistic videos of people from a single image.

For businesses, the key questions are: Which of these models should you pay attention to? How do they compare? And can they help you scale AI-powered services? Let’s break it down.

Google’s Gemini 2.0: Smarter AI With Thinking Capabilities

Google quietly launched Gemini 2.0, an update to its AI model lineup, including two standout models:

  • Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking – A reasoning-first AI designed to break down complex questions into structured answers. This model is built to compete with OpenAI’s o1/o3 and DeepSeek’s R1, focusing on enhanced problem-solving rather than just rapid response.

  • Gemini 2.0 Pro – A high-performance AI model designed for advanced reasoning and problem-solving, with improved accuracy and capabilities for coding, mathematics, and enterprise applications.

Both models shot to the top of the LMArena Leaderboard, proving their strong performance, surpassing previous Google models, and standing alongside OpenAI’s leading models in terms of capability.

However, Google’s API limitations and quiet launch strategy may slow adoption. Unlike OpenAI’s more widely accessible APIs, Google’s ecosystem has historically been more restrictive, which could impact developer adoption.

Why It Matters for Businesses

If you rely on Google’s ecosystem (Docs, Search, YouTube, etc.), this could be a game-changer for automation. Gemini 2.0’s reasoning skills also make it valuable for data analysis, AI-powered research, and customer interactions.

Additionally, its integration with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and AI Studio means enterprises can tap into this new intelligence for custom AI solutions with better performance and factual accuracy.

Mistral’s Le Chat: The World’s Fastest AI Assistant?

French AI startup Mistral is shaking up the chatbot market with Le Chat, an AI assistant aimed at competing with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

  • The biggest selling point? It’s blazing fast—Mistral claims it outputs 1,100 words per second using Cerebras inference (making it 10x faster than OpenAI’s GPT-4o). For comparison, Claude 3.5 Sonnet delivers 120 words per second, and GPT-4o outputs 85 words per second.

  • Offers web search, document processing, code interpretation, and multilingual support (French, English, German, Spanish, Italian). This makes it particularly useful for European and international business applications.

  • Free to use, with a $14.99/month Pro tier for more advanced capabilities, including higher inference speed and extended memory for conversations.

Why It Matters for Businesses

If you need an AI assistant that prioritizes speed, Le Chat is worth considering for customer support, internal knowledge management, and AI-powered productivity tools. The multilingual support also makes it ideal for global teams and international businesses.

Additionally, its integration with document processing and coding tools could make it a strong alternative for enterprises that rely on AI for automating workflows, summarizing reports, or interpreting complex documents.

ByteDance’s OmniHuman-1: AI Video Generation Just Got Real

ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) introduced OmniHuman-1, a next-gen AI video model that creates hyper-realistic human videos from just an image, video, or audio.

  • Major upgrade over previous AI video models, with far more natural human movement, improved facial expressions, and accurate lip-syncing to audio inputs.

  • Can generate AI avatars of real people, including historical figures, animated characters, and even musicians.

  • Uses over 18,700 hours of video training data, improving its ability to animate a wide range of human and animal movements with stunning accuracy.

  • Currently not publicly available, but demo videos show near-flawless AI-generated humans speaking and gesturing.

Why It Matters for Businesses

OmniHuman-1 could revolutionize AI-generated content for marketing, training videos, customer support avatars, and entertainment. Imagine creating lifelike virtual brand representatives, historical educators, or even AI-powered influencers.

However, it also raises ethical concerns—deepfake risks are increasing, and businesses using AI-generated humans may need to be transparent to avoid misinformation issues. ByteDance has promised built-in safeguards, but businesses should remain cautious.

What This Means for AI in Business

  • Need better AI-powered reasoning? Google’s Gemini 2.0 is your best bet (but beware of API limitations).

  • Need a lightning-fast AI assistant? Mistral’s Le Chat is leading the speed race and is particularly attractive for multilingual business applications.

  • Want AI-generated human videos? ByteDance’s OmniHuman-1 is setting new standards, though it’s not publicly available yet.

While it was a relatively quiet week in AI, these updates hint at bigger trends—faster, more capable AI models, improved reasoning, and AI’s deeper integration into business operations. With the Paris AI Summit this week, we might see even more regulatory moves and new AI releases.

Stay Ahead in AI

AI is evolving fast, and businesses that understand and implement these innovations early will gain a competitive edge. At Incremento, we help businesses build, integrate, and scale AI solutions—whether it’s brainstorming new AI-powered features, developing an MVP, or deploying AI models at scale.

Want to explore how AI can enhance your business? Let’s chat.