Callista AI Weekly (August 18 - August 24, 2025)
This week, the world of artificial intelligence continued its rapid evolution, with new use cases moving from pilot to production, major vendors racing to integrate the latest models, and governments sharpening their focus on AI governance.
New AI Use Cases
Powering Up Reliability in Brazil
Eletrobras, Brazil’s largest power utility, is expanding its AI-driven grid monitoring system. The technology now oversees hundreds of substations, detecting faults in real time and enabling operators to resolve issues in seconds. The result? Improved reliability for millions of customers and a dramatic reduction in downtime. This is a prime example of AI moving from theoretical promise to operational backbone.
Reinventing the Spreadsheet
Paradigm, a startup in enterprise software, launched a spreadsheet tool with over 5,000 built-in AI agents. Each cell can pull live data from the web, automating updates and freeing business teams from the drudgery of manual data entry. The impact: faster, more informed decision-making and a significant boost in productivity.
Streaming Agents for Real-Time Business
Confluent, a leader in data infrastructure, introduced “Streaming Agents” to its cloud platform. These agents connect directly to live data streams—think sales figures or sensor data—and can take instant action, such as adjusting retail prices in response to competitors. This bridges the gap between AI pilots and real-world production, making AI a true business enabler.
Swiss Precision in Multilingual AI
A Swiss startup has made a breakthrough in business communication: its AI service can now transcribe meeting audio—including Swiss-German dialects—with high accuracy. This is a notable achievement in a country where multilingualism is the norm, and it promises to save professionals hours on meeting minutes while ensuring nothing gets lost in translation.
Major Vendor Updates & New Models
Google’s Global AI Push
Google expanded its “AI Mode” search tool to 180 new countries, adding agent-like features that allow users to book restaurants or find event tickets through multi-step processes. This marks a deeper integration of AI into everyday consumer services, setting new expectations for digital experiences.
OpenAI’s GPT-5 Goes Enterprise
Oracle announced the deployment of OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, across its cloud applications and databases. Business users will now benefit from GPT-5’s advanced coding assistance and reasoning capabilities, directly embedded in their workflows. The model’s increased speed and agentic abilities signal a new era of AI utility for enterprise customers.
Meta and Midjourney Join Forces
Meta (Facebook’s parent company) signed a deal with Midjourney to license its image-generation technology. This partnership is expected to enhance the visual creativity of Meta’s products, from VR scenes to photo filters, leveraging Midjourney’s strengths in generative imagery.
Apple Eyes Gemini for Siri
Reports indicate that Apple is in talks to use Google’s upcoming Gemini AI model to power a smarter Siri, reflecting a willingness to look outside for best-in-class AI capabilities.
Globant’s AI Agent Marketplace
Enterprise services firm Globant launched a marketplace featuring over 50 ready-made AI agents tailored for different industries, making it easier for businesses to adopt AI without starting from scratch.
European Collaboration for Secure AI
Sweden’s Wallenberg industrial group, which includes companies like Ericsson and AstraZeneca, is launching a joint AI company to provide advanced, secure AI infrastructure for Swedish businesses. This move highlights the growing importance of trusted, local AI solutions in Europe.
Breakthrough Research
Stanford’s Virtual AI Research Team
Stanford University scientists created a virtual AI research team to tackle the challenge of designing a better COVID-19 vaccine. The AI agents brainstormed at superhuman speed, running virtual lab meetings in seconds. Their solution: design a nanobody (a smaller, simpler antibody fragment) as the vaccine basis. Human researchers then produced this AI-designed nanobody, which tests showed binds to the virus more strongly than typical antibodies. This demonstrates how AI agents can independently invent creative solutions, potentially accelerating discovery in medicine and beyond.
MIT’s Generative AI for Antibiotics
MIT researchers used generative AI models to discover new antibiotic compounds. The AI system generated and evaluated tens of millions of chemical structures in simulation, identifying several novel molecules capable of killing bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics. These compounds work in ways existing antibiotics do not, opening the door to treating dangerous infections. The process was completed in a fraction of the time traditional labs would require.
AI in Switzerland: Local Developments and Swiss-Made Solutions
Meeting Metrics: Swiss-German AI for Business
A St. Gallen-based startup launched Meeting Metrics, an AI meeting assistant designed specifically for Swiss business culture. The service can automatically transcribe business meeting recordings, including Swiss German dialect—a notoriously difficult task for AI. Importantly, the company emphasizes data privacy by running on local Swiss servers and avoiding reliance on foreign cloud providers. This appeals to Swiss businesses concerned about data sovereignty and privacy, helping professionals save time on meeting minutes while keeping sensitive information within Switzerland.
Zürich Police Pilots AI Voicebot “Tom”
The Zürich city police (Stapo Zürich) began piloting a voicebot named “Tom” to assist citizens. Tom is an AI-driven phone line that answers routine questions about traffic fines and permits, providing instant information and freeing up human staff for more complex cases. While still in the trial phase, early results are promising, though the bot occasionally struggles with off-script questions. This initiative illustrates how AI can enhance municipal services and improve 24/7 public access.
Policy and Infrastructure:
Light Regulatory Touch: As noted, Switzerland is taking a cautious approach to AI regulation, closely observing the EU AI Act but not introducing sweeping new laws.
Prohibition of AI Abuses: Swiss regulators clarified that real-time mass surveillance using AI is not permitted, reinforcing the country’s strong privacy protections.
Focus on Home-Grown AI: Concerns about access to AI chips and infrastructure have spurred interest in domestic AI efforts and collaborations with neutral providers.
Conclusion
This week’s AI news delivers a clear message: AI is becoming more action-oriented and enterprise-ready. From power grids to spreadsheets, real-world use cases are saving time and costs. Major tech vendors are rolling out new models and features, making advanced AI accessible on familiar platforms. At the same time, the need for governance is growing, with new rules emerging in Europe and a patchwork of approaches elsewhere.
Perhaps most exciting is AI’s role in driving innovation itself. When virtual AI “scientists” can propose better vaccine designs or discover new antibiotics, it’s a sign that AI can help solve problems previously out of reach. For businesses, this could mean competitive advantages in research, product development, and strategy—if these new capabilities are leveraged wisely.
Ready to explore how Agentic AI can transform your organization? Visit us at https://www.callista.ch/agentic-ai to discover how we can guide your journey into this exciting new era of AI-powered productivity.
Sources
C3 AI Press Release – “Eletrobras Selects C3 AI to Scale Enterprise AI Across Latin America’s Largest Power Utility” (Aug 18, 2025)
TechCrunch – “Why Paradigm built a spreadsheet with an AI agent in every cell” (Aug 18, 2025)
Confluent Press Release – “Confluent Unlocks Scalable Real-Time Agentic AI With Streaming Agents” (Aug 19, 2025)
TechCrunch – “Google’s AI Mode expands globally, adds new agentic features” (Aug 21, 2025)
Oracle News – “Oracle Deploys OpenAI GPT-5 Across Database and Cloud Applications Portfolio” (Press release, Aug 18, 2025)
Reuters – “Meta partners with Midjourney to license AI tech for future products” (Aug 22, 2025)
Reuters – “Sweden’s Wallenberg groups launch joint AI company” (Aug 22, 2025)
IT-Markt (Switzerland) – “Meeting Metrics lanciert KI-Assistent für Meetings” (Aug 18, 2025)
IT-Markt (Switzerland) – “Stapo Zürich setzt auf Voicebot” (Aug 22, 2025)
