Google Just Made AI Free for Students—Here’s What That Changes for Everyone

HERE’S THE MENU FOR TODAY’S NEWSLETTER

• 🔥 Top News of the WEEK: Google Makes Best AI Free for College Students

• 🎬Marketing Corner: Voice AI Revolution – But Not How You Expected

• 💼 AI News Corner: ow GPT conducts local searches, and how you can leverage them for your own brand

• 🧠 Friday’s Lunch and Learn: Top 5 AI Tools You Should Try This Week

🍹 MOCK MARGARITA : THE ROCKING AI CORNER

🚨 Google Makes Best AI Free for College Students (Yes, ALL of it)

Google just dropped a major flex: U.S. college students now get Gemini Advanced, NotebookLM Plus, and 2TB storage — all free until Spring 2026.

IWhy it matters: If you're building ed-tech products or marketing to Gen Z, expect a wave of AI-native users with zero willingness to pay for basic AI functionality. The differentiation bar just got higher.

• What to Watch: Keep an eye on official announcements from Google for specific details on which tools are included, eligibility criteria, and rollout timelines. The impact on university curricula and student-led AI startups could be profound.

This isn't just about free software; it's about empowering a generation. The implications are massive,

Check it out here

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🌮 TACOS DISH: AI AGENT CORNER

How GPT conducts local searches, and how you can leverage them for your own brand

Google still dominates local search, but ChatGPT's stealth moves deserve your attention. Since integrating Bing's index, its local results have seriously leveled up—and in surprising ways.

What's happening: ChatGPT isn't just mirroring Bing's results. According to Damian Rollison's analysis, it's applying its own logic to rank and present them, sometimes surfacing businesses that rank poorly (or not at all) on Bing itself.

The mechanics behind it:

• ChatGPT scans the top 20-30 Bing results

• It analyzes the most promising sources using proprietary criteria

• It highlights 3-5 "verifiable and linkable" listings

• Map-style results come from OpenAI's front-end, not ChatGPT's internal logic

Industry verdict: Local search expert Mike Blumenthal calls this a "fundamental shift" in how discovery works. "It's not about ranking #1 anymore—it's about being considered relevant enough to mention in conversation."

The counterpoint: SEO consultant Lily Ray warns against overreacting: "Google still drives 90%+ of discovery traffic. Optimize for ChatGPT, but not at the expense of your Google strategy."

Our take: The winners in this new AI-powered search environment will be businesses that focus on being genuinely helpful sources of information—not just SEO optimizers. The old tricks won't work here.

🌮 SALSA DISH: MARKETING CORNER

🎥 Voice AI Revolution – But Not How You Expected

Remember when optimizing for "Hey Alexa" and "OK Google" voice searches was all the rage in 2018-2019? That strategy has officially become outdated in 2025.

The shift: While 35% of American adults express interest in voice shopping, they're not using it the way marketers expected. Instead of voice search, consumers want task-completion – ordering products, booking appointments, and resolving issues through conversation.

What's hot now:

• Voice commerce (v-commerce) that completes transactions, not just searches for products

• Interactive voice-enabled apps that execute specific workflows from start to finish

• Multimodal experiences that combine voice with visual confirmation

The numbers: Studies show 71% of customers prefer brands offering proactive support, and 72% of users experiencing proactive AI support report higher satisfaction levels. By 2025, voice commerce sales are expected to reach $80 billion annually.

The market explosion: According to Andreessen Horowitz, the voice agent market exploded in H2 2024, representing 22% of the most recent YC startups. Voice AI is transforming from an optional channel to a fundamental expectation.

In Deepgram's "State of Voice AI 2025" report, they highlight that "companies who adopt voice AI agents will capture a series of concrete advantages: reduced wait times, higher first-contact resolution, accessibility for customers across language barriers and disabilities."

Action item: Audit your voice strategy. If you're still focused on keyword optimization for voice search, you're fighting yesterday's battle. Instead, map out complete customer journeys that can be executed through voice from start to finish.

🌮 TACOS DISH: TOP 3 AI NEWS CORNER

Beyond marketing hype, the AI world is getting serious. Regulations are tightening, and quantum AI whispers are getting louder.

1. OpenAI recently added a GitHub Connector to Deep Research, launched OpenAI for Countries, and appointed a new CEO of Applications.You can now connect GitHub repositories (i.e., a “repo” stores and manages source code) to Deep Research within ChatGPT, enabling an AI Agent to analyze your codebases.

2: AI Startup "Axe" Raises €1.5M to Unleash AI Teammates for Logistics!

While Google is empowering the next generation, Irish startup Axe is showing how AI can be a game-changing "teammate" right now, Axe is building AI agents that act like human colleagues for logistics teams. Think AI that logs into systems, makes calls, sends emails, and coordinates tasks from end-to-end. Basically, an AI that does the grunt work so humans can focus on the strategic stuff. More on Axe's funding and mission at EU-Startups.

🥑 GUACAMOLE DISH : FRIDAY’S LUNCH AND LEARN

PRODUCTIVITY BOOST: Top 5 AI Tools You Should Try This Week

Alright, hustlers, time to add some new weapons to your AI arsenal. These tools are making waves and can give you a serious edge:

1. Gamma.app (AI Presentation Wizard):

The Magic: Stop fighting with slides! Tell Gamma what your presentation is about, and it whips up a first draft – design, text, even AI images. Freaky fast. Check out Gamma's latest insights.

2. Perplexity AI (The Search Engine That Answers You):

Small Biz Superpower: Quick market research? Understanding a new competitor? Getting a crash course on a new tech? Perplexity is your research intern on steroids. Now with WhatsApp access and live F1 coverage (random, but cool!). See their latest changelog.

3. ElevenLabs (Voice AI That Sounds Eerily Human):

• The Wow: Need a voiceover? Podcast intro? Make your blog posts talk? ElevenLabs generates stunningly realistic AI voices. You can even (ethically!) clone your own. Their latest changelog.

4. Runway (Gen-3 Alpha & Beyond - AI Video Creation):

• The Frontier: Text-to-video is here, and Runway is a major player. Describe a scene, and the AI tries to generate it as a video clip. Still early days, but improving at lightning speed. Reddit has some buzz on upcoming models.

   

Keep crushing it,

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That’s a wrap

👏 THANK YOU

That's a wrap, AI adventurers! 🚀

Keep crushing it (while your AI crushes those token prices),

Neel (@alternativeai9)

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