Hey Conscious Church Fam

The AI assistant race keeps heating up with massive developments this week. Apple's struggling with Siri delays while newcomers like Sesame and Manus push the boundaries of what's possible. Plus, we're seeing the first true "AI-first" phone emerge and Amazon making strategic moves to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.

In today's recap:

⏱️ Siri's troubling multi-year delay
🗣️ Speech AI that sounds eerily human
📱 The first true AI Phone arrives
🧠 Amazon's ambitious reasoning AI
📄 Document processing gets supercharged
🤖 China's autonomous AI agent breakthrough

Let’s dive in 👇

This newsletter is in its infancy. Would you be up for sharing it with a friend or on social media if you think it's helpful? 🙂 

💭 Josh’s Musings

Typing? Overrated.
Thinking too hard? A waste.
ChatGPT has a mic. Use it.

This week has been non-stop.
Client work. Websites. Graphics. Proposals.
Barely had time to breathe, let alone research AI.
But I’ve been using it more than ever.

How?
Talking. Not typing.

I almost exclusively use the transcribe feature now.
Even at my desk, I grab my phone.
Tap the mic. Speak my thoughts. Copy and paste.
Done.

Way faster.
Way more detail.
Way better prompts.

Typing? You overthink it.
Speaking? You just say what you mean.

It’s the difference between:
"Help me write an Easter campaign."
vs.
"We want this year to feel different—not just another flyer or event. We want people to feel welcomed, seen, and celebrated. There are so many families in the area—how do we actually serve them? What’s something unexpected that would make them say, ‘Wow, this church really cares’? Give me ideas beyond the usual."

See the difference?
One is a request. The other is a conversation.

It just flows much easier when you’re speaking.

This week, I’ve used voice prompts for:

• Tracking time

• Writing taglines

• Helping craft image prompts for Midjourney

• Brainstorming

• Drafting THIS section

And you can too.

Next time you’re writing an email newsletter, sermon recap, or social post…
Talk it out.
Let your ideas flow. Let your heart come through.
Then ask ChatGPT to clean it up.

Pastors:
"Hey church! This Sunday we talked about [topic]. Here’s a recap and a few questions to think on [add in your talk details/theme etc]. Also, prayer night is Tuesday at 7 PM. Youth on Friday at 7.30pm for ages 11-17. See you there!"
Then say:
“Format this into a polished email for the church this week in a clear, engaging and easy to read style.”

Done in five minutes.

Ministry leaders:
Instead of typing out a dry “Give me ideas for an Easter campaign”…
Talk it through.
Share your vision for what you want people to experience.
Let it hear your passion.

And here’s the crazy thing…
Your responses will be better.

More thoughtful. More tailored. More you.

Try it this week.
Stop typing. Start talking.
Then hit reply and tell me if it made a difference. (Or if you already use it like that).

✌️ Josh

LATEST NEWS

🍎 SIRI'S STUCK IN THE STONE AGES

Recap: Apple's ambitious plans to completely overhaul Siri with advanced AI capabilities have been significantly delayed, with a new Bloomberg report suggesting the assistant won't be fully modernised until 2027, putting Apple far behind competitors in the rapidly evolving AI assistant space.

The Details:

• The current Siri architecture operates as a fragmented system, with traditional functions and newer AI features working separately

• Apple's plan to merge these into a unified architecture has fallen significantly behind schedule

• Usage data shows consumers aren't widely adopting current Apple Intelligence features, finding them limited compared to competitor offerings

• Apple's AI division faces multiple challenges including talent poaching, leadership changes, and difficulties securing necessary AI chips

Conscious Take: They've always prioritised perfection over speed, but this time the gap feels different. 2027 is practically an eternity in AI terms! (But what do I know lol)

While Tim Cook and team polish their approach, Amazon and others are racing ahead with genuinely useful assistants.

I haven’t used Siri for years outside of ‘what song is this’ and ‘when are Manchester United next playing’ (although the latter is a waste of time at the moment haha).

This isn't just another feature delay—it's starting to look like Apple might miss the AI revolution entirely. For a company that transformed how we interact with technology, that would be a stunning reversal of fortune.

🗣️ AI SPEECH GETS EERILY HUMAN

Recap: Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe's startup Sesame has unveiled a groundbreaking AI voice technology designed to cross the (current) wide gap of artificial speech, demonstrating a model capable of responding with authentic emotions and natural speech patterns that closely mimic human conversation.

The Details:

• Sesame's Conversational Speech Model analyses entire conversation context in real-time rather than processing individual sentences in isolation

• The system incorporates emotional intelligence, allowing it to adjust tone and rhythm based on conversation mood and content

• Early demonstrations show impressive capabilities including natural speaking pace adjustment, conversational pauses, and maintaining threads when interrupted

• The company is also developing AI glasses that integrate this voice technology, creating an always-available AI companion that can observe and assist in real-time

Conscious Take: This feels like a genuine inflection point. After years of awkward interactions with robotic assistants that barely understand basic commands, we're suddenly on the cusp of truly natural conversations with AI.

I can't help but wonder how this might transform relationships for people experiencing loneliness or isolation. I’m imagining it as the AI tool reading the morning news, ebook, answering a question or a conversation around what to make for dinner based on what’s in the fridge.

At the same time, I'm mindful of the ethical questions this raises. When does helpful become intrusive? When does companionship become dependency? As these technologies enter our lives, we'll need wisdom to navigate the boundaries. But one thing's certain—the era of clunky, mechanical AI voices is rapidly coming to an end.

📱 AI-FIRST SMARTPHONE: TELEKOM x PERPLEXITY

Recap: T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom has announced the development of an "AI Phone" in collaboration with Perplexity, representing one of the first major carrier-led initiatives to create a smartphone specifically optimised for AI-centric experiences rather than traditional app-based interactions.

The Details:

• The device will feature Perplexity Assistant as its core experience, accessible directly from the lock screen without navigating between apps

• Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas describes evolving their technology from an "answer machine to an action machine" capable of handling daily tasks

• The phone will integrate multiple AI partners including Google Cloud AI for real-time translation, ElevenLabs for podcast creation, and Picsart for avatar generation

• Expected to launch later this year at under £800, with DT also offering an app version of its Magenta AI starting this summer

Conscious Take: 

Now this is fascinating! I've been following Perplexity closely since their launch, and this partnership feels like a genuine step toward what I believe is the inevitable future—moving beyond the app-centric model we've lived with since 2008.

Just imagine a device that proactively helps throughout your day rather than waiting for you to open the right app.

Could this be the beginning of a post-app era?

🧠 AMAZON'S AMBITIOUS PUSH INTO REASONING AI

Recap: Amazon is reportedly developing an advanced reasoning AI model under its Nova brand, scheduled for a June release, marking the company's most ambitious effort yet to compete directly with AI leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google while potentially undercutting them on price.

The Details:

• The company aims to create a "hybrid reasoning" system offering both quick responses and methodical, multi-step problem-solving through a unified model

• Cost-effectiveness is a primary focus, with Amazon looking to deliver top-tier performance at lower prices than competitors

• The company has set ambitious performance targets to rank among the top five models, particularly excelling in software development and mathematical reasoning

• This project falls under Amazon's AGI division led by Rohit Prasad, indicating a strategic direction despite Amazon's massive $8B investment in Anthropic

Conscious Take: 

I find Amazon's dual strategy fascinating—investing billions in Anthropic while simultaneously building what could become a direct competitor.

With Alexa+ also in development, we're seeing Amazon position itself to be a serious contender across every front in the AI race.

📄 MISTRAL BREAKS SPEED BARRIERS WITH NEW OCR

Recap: Mistral AI has launched Mistral OCR, a powerful new API designed to extract and comprehend complex information from documents with unprecedented speed and accuracy, potentially transforming how organisations process and leverage their document archives.

The Details:

• The API accurately analyses documents containing images, equations, tables, and advanced formatting, converting them to markdown outputs optimised for AI processing

• Mistral OCR processes up to 2,000 pages per minute and supports thousands of languages including Hindi and Arabic

• Benchmark tests show Mistral OCR significantly outperforming competitors like Google's Document AI, Azure OCR, and GPT-4o across multiple document analysis categories

• Organisations handling sensitive information can deploy the technology on-premises, making it suitable for classified or highly regulated data environments

Conscious Take: 

This might not be the flashiest AI announcement of the week, but I think it could be among the most impactful.

So much of humanity's knowledge and wisdom remains locked away in formats that aren't accessible to modern AI systems. Just imagine all the medical journals, legal archives, historical texts, and institutional knowledge that could suddenly become searchable, analysable, and actionable.

🤖 CHINA'S MANUS AI AGENT WORKS INDEPENDENTLY

Recap: Chinese startup Manus has unveiled what it claims is the world's first fully autonomous AI agent, capable of handling complex real-world tasks independently without human intervention, reportedly achieving new state-of-the-art performance on agentic benchmarks.

The Details:

• The demonstration shows Manus handling sophisticated tasks like resume screening and property research by accessing its own independent computer instance

• The agent demonstrates advanced capabilities including web browsing, coding, and creating visuals, reportedly able to complete tasks on freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr

• It has outperformed leading general-purpose assistants including ChatGPT and Gemini on the GAIA benchmark, a comprehensive evaluation of agentic AI performance

• Manus currently operates on an invite-only basis, with the team committing to open-source the models behind the agent later this year

Conscious Take: 

I'm watching this space with a mix of fascination and caution. Just a year ago, autonomous agents were clunky experiments that needed constant human supervision.

Now we're seeing relatively unknown labs like Manus push the boundaries of what's possible.

If Manus truly delivers on its promise of handling complex workflows autonomously, we could be approaching the inflection point where AI transitions from assistive technology to truly independent worker.

🔗 Trending Tools

• Ideogram 2a - Fast image generation AI, optimized for graphics and text

• Pika 2.2 - Upgraded video AI with transition and transformation capabilities

• Findaway Voices by Spotify - Create AI audiobooks and publish to Spotify

• AI Reframe - Resize any video in one click

Father, as technology races forward, help us pause and seek wisdom. May we use these tools to serve others, not just ourselves. Give us eyes to see beyond capabilities to consequences, and hearts that value connection over convenience.

Stay conscious,

Josh

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