Microsoft just launched Phi-4 Reasoning models

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In today’s post:

• Microsoft: New Phi-4 Reasoning models

• Amazon: Nova Premier model

• Google: New AI image generation tools

• Trending AI tools + Giveaway

What’s Trending Today

Microsoft

Phi-4-reasoning delivers big-league performance from small-scale models

Microsoft just marked one year of Phi small language models with a major upgrade: the release of Phi-4-reasoning, Phi-4-reasoning-plus, and Phi-4-mini-reasoning.

These models are proving that small doesn’t mean simple.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• Phi-4-reasoning is a 14B parameter model that rivals much larger systems on complex math and science tasks

• Phi-4-reasoning-plus takes it further trained with reinforcement learning and 1.5x more data for greater accuracy

• These models outperform OpenAI o1-mini and DeepSeek R1-Distill-Llama-70B on tasks like AIME 2025 and PhD-level benchmarks

• Phi-4-mini-reasoning is a compact 3.8B model designed for high-quality step-by-step problem solving in low-latency or mobile environments

• All models are open-weight and available now on Azure AI Foundry and Hugging Face

• Phi reasoning models now power features in Copilot+ PCs, like Click to Do and Outlook’s offline summarization tools

• Optimized for local inference and NPU efficiency, Phi Silica brings fast, low-power reasoning to Windows 11 devices

Here’s what I think:

Phi-4 isn’t trying to be the biggest model in the room it’s trying to be the smartest one that fits on your device. Microsoft’s push into fast, efficient reasoning models signals a future where intelligence scales down not up. Small models, big capabilities that’s the shift to watch.

Read the complete launch here

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Amazon

Amazon Nova Premier is here and it’s more than just a powerful model

Amazon just launched Nova Premier, the most capable model in the Nova family.

Designed for deep reasoning, multimodal inputs, and complex workflows, it’s built to power both cutting-edge tasks and teach smaller models how to keep up.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• Nova Premier handles long inputs (up to 1M tokens), complex planning, and cross-modal data (text, image, video)

• It outperforms Nova Pro, Lite, and Micro across 17 benchmarks in reasoning, visual intelligence, and agentic workflows

• Nova Premier is also the best teacher it distills its skills into smaller, cheaper models via Amazon Bedrock Model Distillation

• One use case: a multi-agent investment research system where Nova Premier orchestrates workflows, pulling insights from subagents

• Model distillation allows teams to build fast, lightweight versions of Nova models tuned for specific tasks

• Pricing is usage-based and optimized for efficiency Nova Premier delivers best-in-tier performance per dollar

• Already used by Slack, Robinhood, and Snorkel AI to build accurate, production-grade AI apps at speed and scale

Here’s what I think:

Amazon isn’t just building smarter models it’s building a smarter model pipeline. Nova Premier as a teacher unlocks performance without the cost and latency of frontier-scale models. For teams serious about real-world AI deployment, this could be the playbook.

Google

Gemini now lets you edit AI images and your own photos too

Google just upgraded its Gemini chatbot with a full suite of image-editing tools.

You can now modify AI-generated images and edit personal photos—all inside the chat.

• Gemini now supports native image editing with multi-step, context-aware prompts

• You can change backgrounds, add objects, modify styles, and even alter features in uploaded photos

• Think: “What would I look like with red hair?” or “Turn this sketch into a bedtime story with images”

• This builds on Gemini’s AI Studio pilot, which went viral for editing precision and raised ethical concerns

• To address misuse, Google adds invisible watermarks and is testing visible ones across all Gemini images

• The feature is rolling out globally with support for 45+ languages in the coming weeks

• Gemini is now not just a chatbot but a powerful creative assistant for text and visuals

Here’s what I think:

Gemini’s image editing turns AI chat into a creative studio. But it also sharpens the line between magic and misuse. The watermark system is a start but how this evolves will say a lot about how serious Google is about trust in generative media.

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