Welcome to your daily dose of the fastest-moving stories in artificial intelligence! In the past 24 hours, the AI world has seen heavyweight model updates, a mega no-code hackathon with life-changing prizes, talent wars, open doors for beginners, and hints on how you can ride this wave to build your portfolio or even earn your first AI paycheck. Here’s what matters.
1. Google Gemini 2.5 Pro Drops: Performance Up, Free Access Lives On
- Google DeepMind just announced Gemini 2.5 Pro, rolling out significant performance upgrades and state-of-the-art results on industry benchmarks. The research and product teams are now working closer than ever, and Google claims a 50x increase in AI inference over the last year, turbo-charging both research and user experience[4][2].
- Why it matters: Gemini’s free tier is one of the best ways for students and hobbyists to experiment with multimodal AI. You get powerful text and coding abilities, image understanding, and even the new Gemini CLI for developers—all without paying upfront.
- What to do: Newbies and devs alike should sign up for Google Labs or Colab, play with the free Gemini models, and start building projects with minimal setup. The new Gemini CLI also makes it easy to integrate Gemini into your coding workflows—perfect for hackathons or personal scripts.
2. Bolt’s $1M+ No-Code AI Hackathon: Open for Registration
- Bolt is running a headline-grabbing AI hackathon with over $1 million in prizes, focused on no-code tools. Teams and solo creators can register now via Devpost, with categories for both beginners and experienced builders. The event promises resource kits, workshops, and expert mentorship.
- Why it matters: No-code tools lower the learning curve—so even if you can’t code (yet), you could win big. Prizes are split across idea, execution, and impact categories, meaning creative solutions have a real shot.
- Tips for beginners: Attend the live onboarding workshops, use resource kits provided by Bolt, and work with AI-powered builders like Gemini, Claude, or Grok. Many contestants start with simple automation or content creation use-cases, and resources like Google Colab or Gemini’s free tier let you prototype fast.
3. Meta’s Llama R&D Surge: Talent Wars Heat Up
- Meta has been aggressively hiring top AI researchers, including key talent from OpenAI, aiming to supercharge its Llama model development. This signals Meta’s intent to push open-source weights and developer tools further, making state-of-the-art AI accessible for free or at low cost[3].
- What’s in it for you: Watch for updated Llama models and new open-source releases soon. These often come with free credits or unrestricted local downloads, ideal for custom projects, experiments, or even launching your own AI-powered tools.
4. DeepMind’s On-Device Robotics AI & Offline Use
- DeepMind unveiled a new AI model for robotics that works on-device, bringing high efficiency and reliable offline operation. This is a leap for physical AI applications, from smart home robots to warehouse automation[3].
- Why it matters: Models that run locally open doors for developers building privacy-sensitive apps, or for those without always-on internet. Hobbyists can now try robotics projects at home with fewer barriers.
5. Practical Opportunities and Tips for Beginners
- Try free tiers: Google’s Gemini and Colab offer generous free plans. Meta’s Llama weights are open-source and continually improving.
- Join hackathons: Bolt’s event has space for first-timers, with mentorship and resources provided.
- Explore no-code platforms: Tools like Bolt and Google’s new agentic demos let you build AI agents visually—no deep coding required.
- Build a portfolio: Document every project, even small automations. Share your results on Devpost or Dev.to.
What’s Next?
- Watch out for the next round of model releases from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and xAI, as competition heats up and new features drop fast.
- Stay tuned for more hackathons and open-source releases; subscribe to Google and Meta AI blogs, and check Devpost weekly for new opportunities.
Sources:
- Google Blog
- Devpost
- Dev.to
- Meta AI Blog
- AI News Roundup – June 29, 2025[1]
- Weekly AI News – 29 June 2025 – YouTube[3]
- ThursdAI – The top AI news from the past week – Podcast[4]