Here’s a new episode of The Reddy Rundown, crafted so you don’t have to frantically follow every headline in the AI news space wondering what you’re missing as an exec in 2025 trying to keep up.

I'm Shawn Reddy — Founder and CEO of AI Advantage Agency. At my core, I’m a marketing systems architect. In this AI era, the stack you build isn’t just operational infrastructure. It’s your entire growth engine.

And this week, a new wave of AI updates dropped — from Microsoft cutting out the middleman to OpenAI pushing the limits of voice agents. But beneath the surface? These announcements tell us something bigger about what the future of marketing looks like when AI becomes both the producer and the distributor.

Let’s break it down.

Microsoft Wants the Narrative Back

After years of riding shotgun with OpenAI, Microsoft just dropped its own models — MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview — built fully in-house. No surprise this move comes after months of tension over who really owns the customer relationship.

MAI-Voice-1 is already live inside Copilot apps and pushes out speech faster than human real-time. The text model is still in preview, but it’s aimed at lightweight reasoning and everyday prompts — trained with fewer GPUs but promising big.

My take: This isn’t just a tech update — it’s a marketing power move. Microsoft is tired of being seen as OpenAI’s wallet. By releasing its own models, they’re repositioning themselves as a creative engine, not just a distributor of someone else’s content.

Marketing angle: If you’re building with Copilot, keep an eye on how Microsoft starts favoring their own models in results and personalization. It’s a reminder that your marketing systems should be modular — don’t get locked into someone else’s roadmap.

OpenAI’s Voice Agents Just Got Seriously Good

OpenAI rolled out gpt-realtime, their most advanced voice agent model yet. It now detects nonverbal cues, switches languages fluidly, and processes image inputs like screenshots mid-convo. They also added Model Context Protocol (MCP) support — which means these agents can now tap into external tools and data on command.

My take: This is OpenAI’s loudest signal yet that voice is about to go mainstream. And for marketing? This goes beyond assistants. We're talking about fully agentic customer journeys — where AI can handle onboarding, upsells, and support without sounding robotic.

Marketing angle: Think beyond chatbots. Imagine your FAQ page is now a fully voiced sales rep that references CRM data, pricing sheets, and past tickets — and can interpret screenshots. That’s where this is heading.

Tutorial of the Week: AI Handling Your Inbox

A no-code workflow dropped this week showing how to build an AI email triage assistant using Zapier Agents. It classifies inbound emails, tags relevant team members in Slack, and drafts responses — all on a daily schedule.

Why this matters: This is what AI-native marketing operations look like. You’re not hiring another VA to sort DMs. You’re building a system that keeps the pipeline clean, fast, and context-aware.

Stack I’d plug in: Gmail + Slack + Notion (for support docs) + Claude via Copilot for nuanced language.

Cohere’s Translation Tool Is a Trojan Horse for Global Brand Voice

Cohere just released Command Translate — and it’s outperforming GPT, DeepSeek, and even Google Translate on key enterprise benchmarks. It can be trained on custom terminology (think pharma or finance), and — crucially — deployed offline.

My take: This tool is less about translation and more about controlled localization. If you’ve got global brand standards, you need more than raw language conversion. You need nuance, tone control, and security — especially if you’re sending legal docs or regulated content across borders.

Marketing angle: Finally, a secure way to translate campaigns, legal pages, and multi-language ads without dumping sensitive data into the cloud. Big win for global brands and compliance-heavy industries.

Tools Worth Testing (With a Marketing POV)

Auggie CLI AI coding assistant for your terminal - Devs can ship marketing tools faster. Plug into your dev stack to debug tracking pixels, forms, or build marketing landing pages

Stack AI Drag-and-drop AI agent builder with enterprise compliance - Spin up compliant lead gen bots, gated content flows, or smart intake forms — all with SOC2-ready security

Zapier Agents No-code autonomous agents with Copilot AI - Automate lead follow-up, content repurposing, and inbox triage with contextual tagging

Cohere Translate Customizable enterprise-grade translation model - Maintain tone and brand consistency across international ad campaigns or customer comms

Final Thought

The AI race is no longer about which model is smarter — it’s about who controls the storytelling layer.

Microsoft is trying to reclaim it. OpenAI is pushing agents to become the storyteller. And smart companies? They’re building systems where marketing isn’t just plugged into AI — it’s orchestrated by it.

Looking for a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in AI and Entrepreneurship? Join our free community here to get started: The AI Advantage Community Thank you for reading! -Shawn