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Google launches open-source model Gemma 4: How to try it

Google launches open-source model Gemma 4: How to try it

Tech-news

Google just released the latest version of its open AI model, Gemma 4, on Thursday. Crucially, Gemma 4 is a fully open-source model licensed under Apache 2.0, which is typically not the case with frontier models.

Open models can be run locally on users’ devices, and Google says Gemma 4 can be run on “billions of Android devices” and some laptop GPUs.

“This open-source license provides a foundation for complete developer flexibility and digital sovereignty; granting you complete control over your data, infrastructure, and models,” a Google blog post reads. “It allows you to build freely and deploy securely across any environment, whether on-premises or in the cloud.”

Most people have likely heard of Google’s popular Gemini AI model, thanks to the ubiquitous AI chatbot that’s been integrated into many of Google’s products.

Gemma is also a large language model (LLM) and was developed from the exact same technology and research that Google DeepMind used to build Gemini 3.

Google is calling Gemma 4 its “most capable” open AI model yet.

Gemma vs. Gemini?

So, how is Gemma different from Gemini?

Gemini is Google’s proprietary subscription AI product, and the name of Google’s family of multimodal AI models. Gemini has been integrated into virtually all of Google’s core products, including Google Search, Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Cloud.

Gemma 4, however, is an open AI model, meaning that the code and data that it’s trained on are shared with its user base. Gemma AI models can be run off of a user’s local hardware, even without an internet connection. Anyone can download Gemma 4 and run it off their device for free. These open AI models provide a more private and secure experience, as none of the chats, uploaded files, or answers are shared with a third party.

Developers could use open AI models like Gemma 4 in order to integrate AI into their own applications without the need for any recurring subscription costs.

What is Gemma 4?

Gemma 4 brings some advanced capabilities to Google’s open AI model family.

According to Google’s announcement, Gemma 4 is now capable of advanced reasoning, which includes multi-step planning and deep logic. Google says it has made “significant improvements in math and instruction-following benchmarks that require it” with Gemma 4.

Gemma 4 now also supports processes that are required for agentic workflows and localizes AI coding assistance. In addition, Gemma 4 can process audio and video for speech recognition and interpreting visuals such as charts. 

Gemma 4 is available in four sizes based on the number of weights used to power the model: two billion, four billion, 26 billion, and 31 billion.

Hugging Face reports that these open-weight models are available in pre-trained and instruction-tuned variants, offering even more flexibility for developers.

The AI model has been trained on more than 140 languages and has a context window up to 256,000 tokens, according to Google. (The smaller E2B and E4B variants have a context window of 128,000, however.)

Gemma 4 is now open and open source

Now, open doesn’t mean open source when it comes to AI models.

Previous iterations of Gemma were open-weight (meaning the training datasets are publicly available) but were still bound by Google’s terms, even if users were allowed to download the model onto their device. While users could modify the local LLM, they still had to operate under Google’s rules on its use and redistribution.

With Gemma 4, Google has now made the model open and open source.

Google is distributing Gemma 4 under the popular open source software license Apache 2.0.

Under this license, anyone can download and modify Gemma 4 and use it for any purpose, whether for personal or commercial use cases. Gemma 4 can be redistributed without any royalty requirements as well. Basically, the only requirement under the Apache 2.0 license is attribution, and the license must be distributed alongside the AI model.

Looking for Gemma 4? Hot to try it.

Gemma 4 can be found in Google AI studio and can be downloaded from third-parties such as  Hugging Face, Kaggle, or Ollama.

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#Google #launches #opensource #model #Gemma

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year.

While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring.

Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.  

In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games.

‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Creator’s New Manga Series Is a Love Letter to ‘Inception’ and Soulsborne Games In the time before Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year. While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring. Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.   [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01qvd0J-6Fc[/embed] In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night. Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts. “I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.” © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out. You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night.

Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break.

Brain Alive manga page of Daniel slashing a yokai.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is.

As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts.

“I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.”

Brain Alive manga panel of Daniel reading to his son.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out.

You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki">‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Creator’s New Manga Series Is a Love Letter to ‘Inception’ and Soulsborne Games In the time before Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year. While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring. Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.   [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01qvd0J-6Fc[/embed] In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night. Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts. “I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.” © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out. You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki

‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year.

While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring.

Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.  

In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games.

‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Creator’s New Manga Series Is a Love Letter to ‘Inception’ and Soulsborne Games In the time before Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year. While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring. Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.   [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01qvd0J-6Fc[/embed] In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night. Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts. “I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.” © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out. You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night.

Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break.

Brain Alive manga page of Daniel slashing a yokai.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is.

As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts.

“I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.”

Brain Alive manga panel of Daniel reading to his son.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out.

You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki">‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Creator’s New Manga Series Is a Love Letter to ‘Inception’ and Soulsborne Games

In the time before Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year.

While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring.

Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.  

In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games.

‘Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Creator’s New Manga Series Is a Love Letter to ‘Inception’ and Soulsborne Games In the time before Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2‘s imminent arrival on Netflix this fall, I’ve been living it up, rewatching the anime and re-reading manga from the folks responsible for its first season being Crunchyroll’s 2023 Anime of the Year. While I’ve already waxed poetic about writer Bartosz Sztybor‘s Rebecca-centric prequel manga showcasing Night City as having plenty more stories to tell, season one creator Rafał Jaki has spun the block off the momentum of being one of Manga Plus’ first Western manga creators post-Edgerunners with an inventive new manga series that’s giving Inception meets Elden Ring. Coming off the heels of his refreshingly imaginative sci-fi series No\Name, in which folks’ powers were derived from the meanings of their given names, Jaki and artist Machine Gamu‘s newest series, Brain Alive—which he announced on his official X/Twitter account with a Google Drive link to read its first chapter for free—looks poised to carry that energy forward with a dark fantasy premise geared toward cinephiles and gamers alike.   [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01qvd0J-6Fc[/embed] In patented Edgerunners heart-shattering fashion, Brain Alive opens with a father named Daniel awakening from a car crash to the news that his wife didn’t survive and his son is in a coma. To keep his son company, Daniel reads him new volumes of the dark fantasy novel that inspired the Soulsborne video games they used to play together as a family. After falling asleep by his son’s bedside, Daniel finds himself stark naked inside a dungeon. Turns out, his dreams run on a kind of Kamen Rider ZETZ rule where he enters his son’s dreamscape influenced by his mind’s imaginings of their favorite video game series. But things are far from fun and games. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night. Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is. © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts. “I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.” © Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out. You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

Fortunately, if Daniel dies in the dream, he doesn’t die in real life. Any progress he makes in the dream follows a roguelike-meets-Soulsborne rule, with bonfire checkpoints featuring the dream-eating yokai, Baku, as a save state statue, and he returns a bit stronger as he retraces his steps in his son’s dreams. Unfortunately, Daniel can’t honk shoo-mimimi into his son’s dreams willy-nilly. He’s got a limited number of times he can go into his son’s dreams to make as much progress as he can and inch closer to saving his son’s life. Meaning, runs can’t be redone by closing his eyes and diving into his dreams multiple times a night.

Think Persona 3 dungeon runs where, instead of planning dates and going to school in the interim of making doubly sure if you want to get your shit rocked in Tartarus, Daniel dedicates every waking moment to “git gud” at Soulsborne games to save his son’s life. Buddy can’t catch a break.

Brain Alive manga page of Daniel slashing a yokai.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As Soulsborne enemies are wont to do, everything from skeleton warriors and giant yokai to poisonous snakes wants to run the dozens with Daniel for keeps, leaving the weary father with nothing but his Soulsbourne techniques, like perfect dodges, attacking enemy weak points, and real-life sword lessons, to keep himself alive. It also doesn’t hurt that Daniel’s got the boon of a fire sabre with the spirit of his dead wife guiding him through his son’s lucid dark fantasy dreams. If the dead wife of it all isn’t the most Christopher Nolan-ism of all time, I don’t know what is.

As is evident from its first chapter, Jaki owes a lot to both anime and the video games he’s played and helped bring into fruition in the stories he crafts.

“I create in order to give back even a small fraction of what I have received from loving the work of other creators,” Jaki told IGN. “My hope is to provide someone else with that same moment of awe that I have experienced myself, offering a glimpse into another person’s mind and sharing thoughts and feelings.”

Brain Alive manga panel of Daniel reading to his son.
© Rafał Jaki/Machine Gamu

As a wary fan of the diminishing returns of isekai-adjacent storytelling, what Jaki and Machine Gamu have put forward in Brain Alive‘s first chapter feels far from the derogatory sameness I’ve encountered from manga and anime that take gamified RPG rules for the sake of power fantasy wish-fulfillment while handwaving their many icky implications. It probably helps that Jaki is no stranger to expansive video game scripts, as the writer of Dark Horse’s The Witcher 3: Ronin comic and The Witcher: Old World board game. Like Former Destiny writer Frank Barbiere and Swamp Thing: Twin Branches artist Morgan Beem’s Image Comics series The Author Immortal (which I also strongly recommend folks check out), Brain Alive is a story with stakes and teeth I can’t wait to see pan out.

You can read the first chapter of Brain Alive here ahead of its English release coming later this year, and Jaki’s first-ever manga series, No\Name, on MANGA Plus.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Cyberpunk #Edgerunners #Creators #Manga #Series #Love #Letter #Inception #Soulsborne #GamesCyberpunk: Edgerunners,Manga,Rafal Jaki
“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.

During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk">The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk

one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk">The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting

“I have no idea how they got my contact information,” says the engineer. Unlike other interviews for government jobs, the engineer says, there was no recruiter present—only Coristine was on the interview call. “Normally initial screenings are done over the phone, rather than video, to reduce bias in the process,” they say.

During the engineer’s NDS interview, they say, Coristine didn’t seem to know the skill set he was looking for. “I generally don’t know if this person is capable of evaluating a full-stack engineer,” they say, “because they themselves aren’t aware of the skill sets, tools, and things needed in this profession.” Coristine did not reply to a request for comment. (In January 2025, Coristine was one of several DOGE members who interviewed workers at the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, who were required to defend their jobs and justify their projects. At the time, employees who spoke to WIRED described meetings in which the DOGE members were not familiar with their work.)

Coristine told the engineer that the role was geared toward supporting what would become Rampart, a tool released in late June to prevent personally identifiable information (PII) from leaving a user’s browser, particularly if they’re using something like a chatbot. In an interview with the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN) podcast, Coristine described the project as a “side quest ” and told the engineer that the NDS team of about 30 people did not include a machine-learning engineer.

The tool is similar to OpenAI’s browser-based “privacy filter,” which can detect things like a personal email, address, or account number, and mask them automatically. But exactly how this tool is meant to be used in the context of government services is unclear. In the interview with TBPN, Coristine did not offer any particular examples, though he noted the tool is significantly smaller than OpenAI’s, making it potentially more accessible in lower-bandwidth environments.

“It feels very counterintuitive because in most instances, when you are asking for PII, you want PII,” says the engineer, noting that in government work, a user might need to provide PII like their social security number or address in order to access government benefits. “You don’t want that information redacted.”

In many cases, developers can choose to encrypt certain fields that an API sends to the backend of a website, and websites that use HTTPS connections to communicate with their backends also encrypt their requests.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has tried to reinvent the wheel of government technology. Last year, as DOGE promised government efficiency through technology, its members fired technologists who were already working on exactly the kinds of projects it purported to want, even killing a flagship product in the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax filing tool. An OPM memo published last week instructed agencies to prioritize hiring technical talent.

“This does feel superfluous. My most optimistic speculation is that this is indicative of an organization that has no goals,” the engineer says, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regularly supports the creation of tools to solve complex technical problems around issues like privacy. “Why are these guys who are so closely associated with the White House wasting tax money on this little hacker project?”

#National #Design #Studio #DOGE #Landing #Pad #Big #Balls #Recruitinginner loop,politics,government,doge,elon musk

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