Live translation arrives in Apple's new AirPods

PLUS: Oracle's AI cloud gold rush, a $10B startup, and an AI podcast factory

Author

Jelani Abdus-Salaam
September 10, 2025

In partnership with

Welcome back, AI’ers!

Here’s What’s On The Menu For Today

  • Apple’s new hardware with live translation

  • Oracle’s massive AI cloud gold rush

  • The $10B AI training data startup

  • An AI factory for low-cost podcasts

AI ON MY MIND

Happy Wednesday,

Apple's latest product launch shows a clear focus on hardware-based AI, with features like live translation coming to the new AirPods. The company is embedding intelligence directly into its devices rather than competing on large-scale generative models.

This hardware-first strategy sidesteps the competitive landscape of large language models. But will these practical, device-level features be enough to win over consumers who are increasingly drawn to powerful generative AI chatbots?

By the way, I've been getting questions about how AI works in practice, so I'm launching a separate newsletter that dives deeper into real business applications and practical advice. [Click here if you're interested].

-Jelani Fuel (Co-founder of Best of AI)

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PARTNER

Create How-to Videos in Seconds with AI

Stop wasting time on repetitive explanations. Guidde’s AI creates stunning video guides in seconds—11x faster.

  • Turn boring docs into visual masterpieces

  • Save hours with AI-powered automation

  • Share or embed your guide anywhere

How it works: Click capture on the browser extension, and Guidde auto-generates step-by-step video guides with visuals, voiceover, and a call to action.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Apple's AI-Powered Hardware

The Recap: Apple unveiled its new product lineup, focusing on tangible AI features like real-time translation in the new AirPods Pro 3 and an ultra-slim iPhone Air. The company is strategically integrating intelligence directly into its hardware, sidestepping the generative AI race.

Unpacked:

  • The new AirPods Pro 3 introduce live translation, allowing users to hold conversations across different languages in real-time.

  • The new iPhone Air features a powerful A19 Pro chip specifically tuned for AI tasks, all within an ultra-slim 5.6-millimeter frame.

  • Apple's approach avoids the generative AI "bloodsport" by concentrating on practical AI features that enhance the user experience, a cautious strategy following last year's Siri overhaul.

Bottom line: Instead of competing on large language models, Apple is embedding AI directly into the devices people use daily. This hardware-first strategy aims to deliver useful, reliable AI applications while competitors navigate the complexities of generative AI.

Oracle's Cloud Gold Rush

The Recap: Oracle's shares soared after the company projected its AI-driven cloud business will book over half a trillion dollars in revenue, signaling massive enterprise demand for AI infrastructure.

Unpacked:

  • The company’s booked revenue saw a staggering 359% jump to $455 billion, fueled by several new multi-billion-dollar customer contracts in a single quarter.

  • Oracle's relationship with OpenAI and other AI firms is central to its growth, positioning it as a major player for AI training and inference workloads.

  • A unique strategy of partnering with rivals like Amazon and Microsoft to run its infrastructure inside their clouds is paying off, with revenue from these clients growing 1,529%.

Bottom line: Oracle's explosive growth underscores the immense, industry-wide race to build out the foundational infrastructure for AI. This intense demand is creating significant opportunities for specialized cloud providers that can serve the massive needs of AI model training.

MY FAVORITE AI TOOLS

Relevance is my favorite AI tool right now (even more so than N8N).

Here’s why:

It’s an AI agent building tool that doesn’t require you to build out the logic using nodes. Instead, you use natural language to build out these agents. But the best thing imo is that you can build AI Agent teams.

Like agents talking to each other completing a goal until its done. It’s nuts. No other tool on the market is doing this. You have to check it out.

(Try it out →Link)

👾 AI Tools We Use Everyday

➡️ N8N for AI Agents - Literally use this everyday to write this newsletter (link)

➡️ Axiom AI - AI Browser automation to scrape anything on the web (link)

➡️ GummySearch - AI Reddit research (link)

Tools are sourced from our database and are not sponsored or affiliated.

THE LEARNING CENTER

The step-by-step way you can become a highly paid AI Consultant. Get in touch to learn more.

MORE NEWS

The $10B AI Data Startup

The Recap: AI training startup Mercor is reportedly in talks for a new funding round at a stunning $10 billion valuation, powered by a massive $450 million annualized revenue run rate.

Unpacked:

  • Mercor’s growth is explosive, with its annualized revenue skyrocketing from $75 million in February to approaching $450 million today.

  • The company’s core business connects specialized domain experts—like doctors and lawyers—with top AI labs including OpenAI and Meta to perform critical model training.

  • This rapid ascent isn’t without challenges, as Mercor faces a lawsuit from rival Scale AI over alleged trade secret theft and competes in a crowded market.

Bottom line:

Mercor’s valuation highlights the massive demand for high-quality human data to refine cutting-edge AI. This signals that the market for specialized human feedback is becoming just as critical as the algorithms themselves.

The AI Podcast Factory

The Recap: A new startup from a former Wondery executive, Inception Point AI, plans to use generative AI to produce thousands of podcasts weekly for just $1 per episode. This move could fundamentally reshape the economics of audio content creation.

Unpacked:

  • The company's model automates the entire production workflow—writing, voicing, and editing—to achieve an unprecedented scale of 5,000 new shows and 3,000 episodes per week.

  • This ultra-low cost opens the door for small businesses to launch branded podcasts and create timely, niche content without the traditionally high production overhead.

  • Despite the massive potential, the venture faces significant hurdles, including listener concerns over authenticity and copyright issues from AI models trained on existing work.

Bottom line: Inception Point AI is making audio content production almost universally accessible, potentially flooding the market with new shows. Creators will need to prioritize unique, high-quality narratives to stand out and build genuine audience trust.

OTHER NEWS YOU MAY LIKE

Google spotlighted its Gemini AI capabilities in its latest flagship phones, continuing its strategy of integrating advanced AI directly into consumer hardware.

Mercor appointed former Uber CPO Sundeep Jain as its first president, bringing in experienced leadership to help scale the AI training data company amid its explosive growth.

Thomson Reuters outlined its core Trust Principles, reinforcing its commitment to integrity and independence as AI continues to play a larger role in information dissemination.

JOIN OUR BETA PROGRAM

🚀 Want to Make Money from AI?

We’re quietly launching a private beta program that trains a small group to become AI Implementers — People who help other founders install AI systems and get paid for it.

If you're interested in joining this early group…

👉 Reply with the word “implementer”

AI ON SOCIAL

 AI ART

Can You Spot The AI-Generated Image?

Click "Picture One", "Picture Two", "Both" or "None

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

RANDOM PROMPT OF THE DAY

Copy and paste this prompt 👇

"You are a team head of [project] and have to assign work to your team members. Your team members have different [skill sets]. Consider each team member's skills along with the [tasks] in the [project] and assign work to team members who are best suited to complete the [tasks] and mention the reasons.


Project = [Insert here]

Tasks = [Insert here]

Skill sets = [Insert here]"

Want more prompts?

We have a database of over 8,000 of the best prompts we’ve collected, which you can access by sharing Best of AI using the link below.

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY

Until next time, stay safe.

-Best of AI Team

Remember to click to unsubscribe if you don’t want us to land in your inbox anymore.

What did you think of this issue?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.