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Happy Friday,
What I initially thought was going to be a slow summer week of news all came in last night. Also, an article I’ve been pondering on for a while, I finally published about AI Native.
Let’s dive in!
The Byte’s Bits
🔄 From Cloud-Native to AI-Native: Rethinking AI Architecture
🧰 Google Launches GenAI Toolbox for Developers
🤖 Hugging Face Debuts Reachy Mini: Open-Source Robotics Goes Tiny
🚀 From Zero to AI Agent: Docker Compose Edition
🦟 Pew Pew Mosquitoes: Laser Turret Zaps 30 Bugs Per Second
AI Notetakers Are Quietly Leaking Risk. Audit Yours With This Checklist.
AI notetakers are becoming standard issue in meetings, but most teams haven’t vetted them properly.
✔️ Is AI trained on your data?
✔️ Where is the data stored?
✔️ Can admins control what gets recorded and shared?
This checklist from Fellow lays out the non-negotiables for secure AI in the workplace.
If your vendor can’t check all the boxes, you need to ask why.
🔄 From Cloud-Native to AI-Native: Rethinking AI Architecture
In my latest article, I warn that many AI systems today are repeating past mistakes by becoming too dependent on a single provider. I try to advocate for an "AI-Native" approach that emphasizes flexibility, resilience, and adaptability in AI architectures.
🔌 Avoid Vendor Lock-In: Relying solely on one AI provider can lead to challenges if terms change or services become unavailable.
🧩 Embrace Composability: Design systems that can integrate various AI models for different tasks, enhancing functionality and resilience.
🛡️ Enhance Resilience: Ensure your architecture can reroute or adapt if a particular AI model underperforms or fails.
🧠 BYOM (Bring Your Own Model): Support the integration of self-hosted or open-source models to maintain control and compliance.
This is a timely reminder that as AI continues to evolve, our architectural approaches must also adapt to ensure longevity and effectiveness.
🧰 Google Launches GenAI Toolbox for Developers
Google has just released its GenAI Toolbox on GitHub, a treasure trove for anyone building generative AI applications. This open-source collection provides ready-to-use templates, demos, and tools for a wide range of applications, from text to image generation.
💻 Plug & Play AI: The toolbox supports popular Google models like Gemini and Imagen, letting devs ship AI features faster.
🛠️ Built by Google: Official support and continuous updates from the Google Cloud AI team.
🌐 All About Open Source: Developers can customize, fork, and even contribute their own AI workflows.
📦 Out-of-the-Box Demos: Includes Python scripts and notebooks to get you started in minutes.
The GenAI Toolbox is a win for the AI builder community, offering finally open-source scaffolding that speeds up experiments and real-world applications. Ready to build smarter?
🤖 Hugging Face Debuts Reachy Mini: Open-Source Robotics Goes Tiny
Meet Reachy Mini, Hugging Face’s pint-sized, open-source robot designed for AI tinkering and robotics research. This little bot packs a punch with articulated arms, a camera “face,” and a full Python API—all built for accessibility and rapid experimentation.
🛠️ DIY Friendly: Fully open hardware and software. Print your own parts and hack away.
🎓 Built for Learning: Ideal for schools, labs, and curious coders exploring robotics and AI.
🤝 Hugging Face Integration: Seamlessly connects to Hugging Face’s AI models for instant experimentation.
💡 Community Powered: Developers worldwide can share projects, code, and upgrades.
Reachy Mini shows that powerful robotics can be open, affordable, and community-driven. The future of “AI with arms” is here, and it fits right on your desk.
Of course, I don’t have enough unfinished projects sitting on my desk, but I have a strong desire to purchase this robot…you know, for market research purposes.
🚀 From Zero to AI Agent: Docker Compose Edition
Docker is on a roll lately, and they just announced another significant milestone. My favorite orchestration tool
Docker just dropped a game-changer for AI devs: you can now spin up full AI agents—think LLMs, vector DBs, RAG pipelines—using nothing but Docker Compose. Their new guide walks you through assembling a multi-container AI stack in minutes, no Kubernetes PhD required.
⚡ One Command, Whole Stack: Fire up Llama 3, Chroma, and an embedding model with a single
docker compose up.🧩 Modular by Default: Easily swap models, databases, or frameworks—tinker till you drop.
🖇️ Built for Experimentation: Ideal for prototyping local AI agents and RAG workflows before you go full production.
🆓 Free and Open: The entire workflow is documented and open source for anyone to try.
Docker’s new Compose workflow turns your laptop into an AI playground—now anyone can build, experiment, and scale AI agents without breaking a sweat.
Build, Ship, and Run AI Agents
My good friend Bret Fisher did a great deep dive on his latest live stream
🦟 Pew Pew Mosquitoes: Laser Turret Zaps 30 Bugs Per Second
Have you ever turned the lights out to go to sleep, and then heard the horrible sound of a mosquito flying around your room? Even the Dalai Lama says, "If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
A new invention called PhotonMatrix is turning the war on mosquitoes into a high-tech video game. Using LIDAR and a pinpoint laser, this gadget can spot, target, and shoot down up to 30 mosquitoes per second, no chemicals or swatting required.
🔬 Precision Targeting: Identifies a mosquito’s distance, orientation, and body size in just 3 milliseconds.
🦾 6-Meter Kill Zone: Defends a serious area—perfect for patios, backyards, or the next summer BBQ.
🥽 AI-Powered Detection: Uses real-time LIDAR mapping to lock onto flying pests, not pets or people.
🌱 Chemical-Free Defense: No sprays, no noise, just lasers and clean air.
The PhotonMatrix is proof that sometimes the coolest tech solves the oldest problems, finally, summer nights without the itchy aftermath.
Mosquitos, you’ve been warned! However, I’m always thinking in the back of my mind…what if this develops into Skynet and starts zapping me??
What's your take on cloud repatriation? Reply and let me know in the comments section below!"
…That’s this week’s newsletter!
-Brian