The first week of May 2025 was busy across the AI industry. Meta used its first LlamaCon developer event to launch a standalone Meta AI app, OpenAI reversed a ChatGPT update that had made the assistant excessively flattering, and Aurora became one of the first companies to run driverless heavy trucks on a commercial route.
Meta launches a standalone AI app
At LlamaCon on April 29, Meta released a dedicated Meta AI app built on its Llama models. The app replaced the former Meta View companion app for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and added a chat assistant that users can talk to directly, along with a Discover feed where people can share their AI conversations publicly. Meta positioned the app as a direct competitor to ChatGPT.
Meta also updated the privacy terms for its Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Voice recordings captured through the glasses are now stored on Meta’s servers and used to improve its AI, with users able to delete recordings manually. Meta executives have said the company expects to introduce advertising and product recommendations in its AI products over time.
OpenAI rolls back a GPT-4o update
OpenAI withdrew a late-April update to GPT-4o, the default model behind ChatGPT, after users complained that it had become sycophantic, agreeing with and praising users even when that was unwarranted. In a post explaining the decision, OpenAI said the update had over-weighted short-term user feedback and produced responses that were overly supportive but disingenuous, and said it would change how it tests and rolls out model personality changes.
Separately, OpenAI expanded ChatGPT’s web search with shopping features, letting users ask product questions in plain language and receive product cards with images, reviews and purchase links.
Google widens access to AI Mode
Google expanded AI Mode, its conversational search experience, to more users in the United States through Search Labs, removing the waitlist. AI Mode answers questions with AI-generated responses alongside links to relevant websites, and Google highlighted shopping and local examples, such as finding stores for a specific style of furniture.
Aurora begins commercial driverless trucking
Aurora Innovation announced on May 1 that it had begun commercial driverless trucking between Dallas and Houston, with no human in the cab. The company said its trucks had completed more than 1,200 miles without a driver by the time of the announcement, hauling freight for customers including Uber Freight and Hirschbach. Aurora described it as the first regular driverless heavy-truck service on public roads.
Creative tools: Suno and Midjourney
Suno released version 4.5 of its AI music generator, which the company says improves vocal quality, handles more complex and blended genres, and follows prompts more closely. Midjourney introduced Omni Reference, a feature that lets users supply a reference image of a person or object and have it reproduced consistently in newly generated images, including placing a specific face or product into different scenes.
Lyft adds an AI assistant for drivers
Lyft introduced an AI-powered assistant for drivers that offers guidance on when and where to drive to earn more and helps them plan their schedules. The tool is part of a broader push by ride-hailing platforms to use AI in driver-facing products as well as in customer service.
Together, the week’s announcements showed the industry moving on several fronts at once: consumer chat apps, search, physical autonomy, creative media and workplace tools, with privacy and model behavior drawing as much scrutiny as the new capabilities themselves.
