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

Databricks is once again attracting major attention from investors as the company reportedly enters talks to raise new capital at a valuation exceeding $130 billion (TechCrunch; VARINDIA; TipRanks). If completed, the round would mark a significant leap from its previous $100 billion valuation just a few months earlier and position the company among the most valuable private tech firms globally. The surge in valuation reflects not only Databricks’ rapid financial growth but al

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

Google’s latest move in the race to dominate artificial intelligence marks one of the most ambitious infrastructure investments in U.S. tech history. The company has announced a sweeping $40 billion commitment to build three new data centers across Texas, a state rapidly emerging as the epicenter of AI infrastructure thanks to its vast land availability, relatively low energy costs, and business-friendly climate (Pequeno IV). With this development, Texas is poised to host mor

Google’s latest announcement signals a major shift in how advanced AI features will be delivered to everyday users. With the debut of Private AI Compute, the company is introducing a cloud-based processing system built to offer the intelligence of its most powerful Gemini models while preserving the privacy traditionally associated with on-device computing. The move closely mirrors Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, highlighting how both tech giants are rethinking the balance bet

As artificial intelligence continues to redefine the landscape of modern business, one digital marketing agency is taking a significant step toward helping organizations adapt and thrive. Iconic Digital, a London-based firm known for its award-winning marketing strategies, has launched stevepailthorpe.com , a new AI hub designed to equip business and government leaders with the tools and insights they need to navigate the rapidly evolving world of technology (The Globe and Ma

mimik, a global pioneer in device-first Continuum AI and agentic software, has taken a major step toward redefining artificial intelligence infrastructure by launching mimik UAE in partnership with Next71 Ltd and ASK Holding LLC. Announced during Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week, this strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) marks a significant milestone in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) journey to become a world leader in AI and sovereign technology development (Financial Post)

Baidu’s latest push into artificial intelligence hardware marks a significant step in China’s drive toward technological self-sufficiency as geopolitical tensions continue to reshape the global chip landscape. At its annual developer conference, the company unveiled two new AI processors, the M100 and M300, positioned as powerful, low-cost, domestically controlled alternatives for Chinese enterprises seeking to reduce reliance on U.S. technology. The M100, designed primarily

Cash App is taking a major step forward in personal finance technology with the debut of Moneybot, a new AI assistant designed to help users analyze their finances, interpret spending habits, and make more informed financial decisions. Launched as part of Cash App’s extensive fall update, Moneybot is initially available to select users, with a broader rollout scheduled in the coming months (TechCrunch; TechBuzz; Yahoo Finance). The AI assistant can respond to direct, conversa

Chubb, a global insurance leader, has announced the launch of an AI-powered optimization engine within Chubb Studio, its global technology platform for embedded insurance distribution. Revealed at the Singapore Fintech Festival, the innovation marks a significant milestone in the evolution of digital insurance solutions, offering partners and consumers a more personalized, data-driven approach to protection (Reinsurance News). The optimization engine leverages proprietary ar

A German court has ruled that OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT, violated copyright law by using song lyrics from well-known musicians to train its language models, a decision that could have wide-ranging consequences for how artificial intelligence systems handle creative works. The Munich regional court sided with Germany’s music rights society GEMA, which represents around 100,000 composers, lyricists, and music publishers, finding that OpenAI’s models had ingested protect

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

Snap Inc. has announced a groundbreaking $400 million partnership with Perplexity, the AI startup behind a popular conversational answer engine. The agreement, revealed alongside Snap’s Q3 2025 earnings, will integrate Perplexity’s AI directly into Snapchat, giving its massive user base a new way to access real-time, research-oriented answers without ever leaving the app (TechCrunch). Under the terms of the deal, Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million in cash and equity over

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

Small businesses in Northwestern Ontario are getting a major boost in their efforts to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations, thanks to a new initiative from the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre (NOIC) in Thunder Bay. The centre has launched the Building Blueprints for AI Adoption (BBAA) program, a structured five-session training and funding initiative designed to help entrepreneurs gain hands-on experience and practical strategies for integrating AI

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