🍜 Marvel’s AI denials..

AND: Google unleashes AI power, Big Tech’s $230B bet, social media’s latest AI headache...

February 06, 2025

Welcome, Noodle Networkers.

Google is making a bold move by opening its most powerful AI models to the public 🤖, giving users unprecedented access to cutting-edge technology. Meanwhile, Big Tech is gearing up for a staggering $230 billion in AI spending 💰, but with rising costs and economic uncertainty, some are questioning whether the investment is sustainable. Over in Hollywood, Marvel is denying claims that AI was used for Fantastic Four posters 🎥, even though fans have spotted some suspicious details. At the same time, experts are warning that AI can now alter social media posts with little protection ⚠️, raising serious concerns about misinformation and digital trust.

Are these developments pushing AI toward greater transparency, or are we heading into a future where truth and authenticity are harder to define? Let’s break it all down...

In today’s AI digest:

  • Google opens its most powerful AI models to the public 🤖

  • Big Tech plans $230B in AI spending as costs face scrutiny đź’°

  • Marvel denies using AI for Fantastic Four posters despite odd details 🎥

  • AI can alter social media posts with little protection, experts warn ⚠️

Read time: 5 minutes

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY

Google

The Digest: Google just made its most advanced AI models available to the public, giving businesses and developers access to some serious machine-learning firepower. If you ever wanted a chatbot that could outthink you, now is your chance.

Key Details:

  • Google's Gemini 1.5 models are now accessible through its cloud platform, making advanced AI more widely available.

  • The models promise improved reasoning, multimodal capabilities, and better efficiency than previous versions.

  • Google is positioning this as a way to compete with OpenAI, which has dominated the public AI space.

  • Some experts worry about the risks of making such powerful AI widely available, especially for misinformation and deepfakes.

Why It Matters: More powerful AI in the hands of more people means more innovation—but also more risks. Google is betting that openness will help it win the AI race, but it could also create a whole new level of AI-generated chaos.

BigTech

The Digest: Tech giants are pouring an eye-watering $230 billion into AI development, but some investors are starting to question whether the spending spree will actually pay off.

Key Details:

  • Companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon are leading the AI investment charge.

  • Most of the money is going into AI infrastructure, model development, and data center expansion.

  • Some analysts are worried that companies are burning through cash too quickly without clear monetization plans.

  • Despite concerns, Big Tech is confident AI will drive the next wave of growth.

Why It Matters: AI might be the future, but even the biggest companies need to show profits eventually. If these massive bets don’t start paying off soon, expect some tough investor calls and a lot of “We’re still in the early days” excuses.

Marvel

The Digest: Marvel is on the defensive after fans accused the studio of using AI to generate promotional posters for the upcoming Fantastic Four film. Marvel says it is all human-made, but the internet remains suspicious.

Key Details:

  • The posters feature design elements that look eerily similar to AI-generated art, including unnatural text placement and odd shading.

  • Marvel insists the artwork was created by real designers, not an AI.

  • The controversy comes after Marvel previously faced backlash for using AI-generated sequences in Secret Invasion.

  • Whether AI was involved or not, the debate highlights growing distrust over AI’s role in creative industries.

Why It Matters: AI is making it harder to tell what is real and what is machine-generated. Marvel may have avoided AI this time, but as AI tools get better, the lines between human and machine-made content will only get blurrier.

Social Media

The Digest: AI is making it easier than ever to edit and manipulate social media posts in real-time, and there are few safeguards in place to prevent it from being misused.

Key Details:

  • New AI tools allow users to tweak images, videos, and even written posts instantly.

  • Experts warn that this could lead to a flood of misinformation, making fact-checking even harder.

  • Some platforms are experimenting with AI detection tools, but they are far from foolproof.

  • The concern is that AI-driven content alterations could be weaponized for political manipulation or fraud.

Why It Matters: Social media was already a mess, and AI is about to make it even harder to trust what you see. If AI can rewrite reality in real-time, expect a future where every viral post comes with an asterisk.

THE NOODLE LAB

AI Hacks & How-Tos

The Rundown: With this tutorial, you’ll create a custom AI-powered assistant inside Notion that automates workflows, organizes tasks, and generates content—without expensive third-party tools.

Step-by-step:

  1. Enable Notion AI:

    • Open Notion and go to Settings & Members > Notion AI to activate AI features.

  2. Set Up a Smart Database:

    • Create a new database for tasks, notes, or content planning.

    • Use properties like status, priority, and due dates for automation.

  3. Automate with AI-Powered Templates:

    • Use AI-generated summaries to process meeting notes automatically.

    • Set up smart prompts inside pages like “Summarize this document” or “Generate blog post ideas.”

  4. Integrate with Zapier or Make.com:

    • Connect Notion to Zapier or Make.com to automate repetitive actions (e.g., sending Slack notifications when tasks are completed).

  5. Optimize & Scale:

    • Experiment with AI prompts for different workflows (e.g., “Generate weekly report drafts” or “Prioritize tasks based on deadlines”).

Pro tip: Start with small AI-assisted automations before scaling up to fully automated workflows. We just did a full Notion AI workshop, which you can access here! 🚀

Trending AI Tools

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  • Midjourney: Generates images from natural language descriptions, similar to DALL-E.

  • YouChat: A ChatGPT-style chatbot with live web results, integrated into the You.com search engine.

  • Jasper.ai: An AI writing assistant that helps create content like blog posts and emails.

  • Lensa: An AI-powered photo editing app that enhances images and applies artistic effects.

  • Copy.ai: Assists in generating marketing copy and content ideas using AI.

  • Perplexity: An AI-powered search engine that provides concise answers to user queries.