Innovation Profs - 8/26/2025

Latest Gen AI News

In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses

From the MIT Technlogy Review article: “Google has just released a technical report detailing how much energy its Gemini apps use for each query. In total, the median prompt—one that falls in the middle of the range of energy demand—consumes 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of running a standard microwave for about one second. The company also provided average estimates for the water consumption and carbon emissions associated with a text prompt to Gemini.” Take a look at the details of the report here.

Netflix spells out generative AI guidelines for moviemakers

If you attended our Back to School event yesterday, you likely heard about the use of generative AI to produce a VFX scene of a building collapse in the Netflix show “The Eternaut.” Now Netflix has released guidelines for future uses of generative AI in any piece of media made available on the platform.

Here are the guidelines, which cover issues of copyright, privacy, security, and the potential displacement of creatives:

• The outputs do not replicate or substantially recreate identifiable characteristics of unowned or copyrighted material, or infringe any copyright-protected works

• The generative tools used do not store, reuse or train on production data inputs or outputs

• Where possible, generative tools are used in an enterprise-secured environment to safeguard inputs

• Generated material is temporary and not part of the final deliverables

• GenAI is not used to replace or generate new talent performances or union-covered work without consent

Upcoming Gen AI Events

Gen AI Boot Camp: Join us in-person at Drake University or virtually for our next Generative AI Boot Camp. This one-day workshop will get you up to speed and using generative AI tools effectively in your work.

When: Friday, Sept. 12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Drake University or on Zoom
Sign up here

Quick Hits

Tool of the week: LM Arena Battle

Want to test out Gen AI image tools without paying for the tools - or even creating accounts? The LM Arena battle option lets you pit two image creation tools against each other and choose the one you like best.

Your selections help with the rankings in the LM Arena. They also give valuable feedback to the various image tools. You can even download the images that are created.

AI-generated image of the week

We heard there was some controversy around (and a lot of money spent on) the new Cracker Barrel logo, so we decided to see if ChatGPT and Google Gemini could take a shot at a redesign. Both kept elements of the original logo, but which one do you like best?

Prompt: create a new logo for Cracker Barrel restaurant based on everything you know about the brand

What we found

Microsoft debuted its open-source AI voice model. The MIT-licensed open-source text-to-speech model is called VibeVoice-1.5B. It can generate up to 90 minutes of continuous speech with up to four voices. It's not currently recommended for commercial or real-world applications without further testing and development. See it in action below: