Amazon is rolling out a new AI-powered feature for Kindle readers that promises to make following books easier, especially for those tackling dense classics or complex novels with sprawling casts.  The feature, called Ask This Book , is now available to users in the US through the Kindle iOS app and allows readers to highlight any passage and ask questions directly within the book. Instead of leaving the page to search for explanations, readers can instantly ask about plot p

The Walt Disney Company has entered a major three year partnership with OpenAI that signals a turning point for how generative artificial intelligence and Hollywood’s most valuable intellectual property may coexist.  Announced on December 11, the agreement includes a $1 billion US equity investment from Disney into OpenAI and grants permission for OpenAI’s Sora tool to generate AI videos using licensed Disney characters (TechCrunch). The deal reflects Disney’s effort to shap

Google is expanding its experimentation with AI in news delivery, rolling out a pilot program that brings AI-powered article overviews to select publications’ Google News pages.  Participating outlets include major international publishers such as Der Spiegel, El País, Folha, Infobae, Kompas, The Guardian, The Times of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Post, all of whom have agreed to test how AI might surface more context for readers before they click throu

Alibaba’s newly relaunched Qwen AI app has rapidly become one of the most talked-about developments in the global artificial intelligence landscape, recording more than 10 million downloads within its first week of public beta. The surge marks one of the fastest early adoption curves seen in the consumer AI market, surpassing the initial momentum of tools like ChatGPT, Sora, and DeepSeek (Artificial Intelligence News). The explosive uptake reflects a strategic shift in how m

Alibaba is making its most determined push yet into China’s consumer AI market with the launch of its newly upgraded Qwen chatbot, a move that signals a significant strategy shift for the tech giant. For years, Alibaba focused its artificial intelligence efforts primarily on enterprise clients through its cloud business, leaving consumer-facing AI tools underdeveloped compared with its biggest rivals. The debut of the new Qwen app, now available for free through a mobile app

Jeff Bezos is stepping back into a hands-on leadership role for the first time since leaving Amazon in 2021, taking on the position of co-CEO at a new artificial intelligence startup called Project Prometheus. The venture, which has already secured an extraordinary $6.2 billion in funding, is shaping up to be one of the most heavily financed early-stage startups ever launched ( Investing.com ; Forbes; TechBuzz). Bezos is contributing part of the investment himself, signaling

SoftBank Group Corp. has once again made headlines with its decision to sell its entire stake in Nvidia Corp. for $5.83 billion, a move aimed at fueling its growing investments in artificial intelligence. The sale, though surprising to some investors, reflects founder Masayoshi Son’s ambition to position SoftBank as a dominant player in the expanding AI ecosystem (Bloomberg; Wall Street Journal). Son’s vision extends beyond software and into large-scale infrastructure, from S

In an ambitious effort to dominate one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets, major technology companies like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity AI are offering free access to premium generative AI tools in India. Starting this week, millions of Indians can use ChatGPT’s new low-cost “Go” chatbot at no charge for an entire year (BBC). Google and Perplexity AI have followed similar paths, partnering with the country’s leading telecom providers, Reliance Jio and Airtel, to

Google’s latest innovation in artificial intelligence hardware marks a significant step toward the future of computing, as the company unveils its seventh-generation Tensor Processing Unit, dubbed Ironwood . These custom-built chips are designed specifically for artificial intelligence workloads and signal a major shift toward what Google calls the “age of inference.” Unlike Nvidia’s general-purpose GPUs, Google’s TPUs are application-specific integrated circuits, meaning the

The Ohio State University is making a major move to position itself at the forefront of artificial intelligence by launching an ambitious plan to hire 100 new tenure-track faculty members specializing in AI over the next five years. The initiative, called the AI Faculty Hiring Initiative, represents one of the largest academic expansions in the university’s history and is a cornerstone of its broader Education for Citizenship 2035 strategic plan. This plan, introduced by Pres

A team of researchers from University College London (UCL) has developed an advanced AI-assisted brain atlas that allows scientists to visualize the human brain in unprecedented detail, marking a major milestone in neuroscience and neuroimaging ( News-Medical.net ; Medical Xpress; Mirage News). Named NextBrain , the atlas provides a comprehensive map of the adult human brain, enabling the analysis of MRI scans in just minutes while offering a level of resolution that was prev

Energy technology giant SLB has taken a major step forward in its digital transformation strategy with the launch of its new artificial intelligence tool, Tela. Designed to automate processes and streamline workflows, Tela represents SLB’s continued effort to integrate advanced AI into energy operations to unlock growth and improve efficiency across the sector (Somasekhar; Channel News Asia; Reuters). The tool, unveiled on Monday, is set to be embedded within SLB’s portfolio

OpenAI’s Sora has once again captured global attention with the launch of its Android app, which saw an estimated 470,000 downloads on its first day, a remarkable figure that nearly quadrupled its iOS debut (TechCrunch). The Android rollout, available in seven markets including the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, represents a significant expansion for OpenAI’s viral AI video app. Unlike the earlier iOS version, which was invite-only and limite

Apple is preparing a major overhaul of its Siri voice assistant, and to get there, it’s turning to an unexpected ally, Google. According to Bloomberg and Reuters, Apple plans to use Google’s 1.2 trillion-parameter Gemini artificial intelligence model to power a reimagined version of Siri, marking one of the tech giant’s most significant partnerships in recent years (Reuters; Bloomberg; Financial Post). The deal, which is expected to cost Apple about $1 billion per year, is de

Snowflake and SAP have joined forces to launch a groundbreaking collaboration that unites the Snowflake AI Data Cloud with SAP’s Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC), marking a new era in enterprise artificial intelligence and data integration. This strategic partnership aims to empower organizations to harness semantically rich business data with the scalability and intelligence of Snowflake’s platform, enabling faster innovation, more informed decision-making, and enterprise-grade

OpenAI is urging the United States government to dramatically expand its electricity generation, warning that without a massive increase in power supply, America risks losing its lead in artificial intelligence to China. In a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the company called for the construction of 100 gigawatts of new energy capacity each year, nearly double the total that the U.S. added in 2024, to meet the growing demands of AI infrastru

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI have entered a monumental $38 billion, multi-year partnership that underscores both companies’ growing ambitions in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The agreement enables OpenAI to run its most advanced AI workloads on AWS’s high-performance infrastructure starting immediately, marking one of the largest cloud deals in history and a major shift in OpenAI’s cloud strategy ( Investing.com ). Under the deal, OpenAI will gain acce

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