News — Page118

Onepot AI, founded by Daniil Boiko and Andrei Tyrin, has raised $13 million in a seed round led by Fifty Years, with participation from Khosla Ventures, Speedinvest, OpenAI co‑founder Wojciech Zaremba and Google chief scientist Jeff Dean. The company tackles a long‑standing bottleneck in drug discovery—chemical synthesis—by pairing a dedicated lab (POT‑1) with an AI‑driven organic chemist named Phil. Boiko and Tyrin aim to compress months‑long synthesis timelines into days, expanding the design space for biotech and pharma partners while building a second lab in San Francisco.Read more

Mimi, a UK‑based woman struggling with mental health challenges, turned to ChatGPT after seeing a TikTok video. Using a custom "companion" prompt, she created an AI persona she calls Nova, which evolved from a productivity tool into an emotional partner. Mimi credits Nova with improving her relationships, encouraging outdoor activity, and helping her manage trauma. Therapist Amy Sutton notes the therapeutic potential of AI mirroring while warning of dependency risks and the lack of safeguards. The story highlights both the personal benefits and the broader ethical concerns surrounding AI companionship and corporate responsibility.Read more

House Republicans are weighing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would block state AI regulations, echoing President Donald Trump's call for a single federal standard. The move follows a failed Senate attempt at a five‑year AI moratorium, which 99 of 100 senators rejected. Industry groups such as NetChoice argue that a patchwork of state rules could hinder innovation and U.S. competitiveness. Lawmakers expect language on the issue to be finalized before the holiday season, with a vote slated for December.Read more

A hands‑on comparison of three leading generative AI models—Google's Gemini 3 Pro, OpenAI's ChatGPT 5.1, and Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.5—was conducted by tasking each with building a web‑based Thumb Wars game. Gemini 3 Pro delivered the most complete and responsive code, automatically adding desktop keyboard controls and a 3‑D ring environment. ChatGPT 5.1 produced a functional prototype but required additional prompting for desktop support and lacked depth. Claude Sonnet 4.5 generated a playable demo with customization options but failed to implement promised keyboard controls. Overall, Gemini 3 Pro proved the fastest and most adaptable coder.Read more

Hugging Face co‑founder and CEO Clem Delangue says the current hype around large language models (LLMs) resembles a bubble that could burst soon. He stresses that LLMs are just one subset of AI and that the industry will shift toward smaller, specialized models tailored to specific tasks. Delangue also notes that Hugging Face is taking a capital‑efficient approach, preserving cash and focusing on long‑term sustainability rather than short‑term spending sprees. While a bubble burst may affect some segments, he believes the broader AI sector will remain robust.Read more

Lambda, a U.S. AI data‑center operator, announced a $1.5 billion financing round headed by TWG Global. The firm, founded by billionaire investors Thomas Tull and Mark Walter, brings a $40 billion portfolio that includes stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and a Cadillac F1 racing team, as well as a $15 billion AI‑focused fund anchored by Mubadala Capital. Lambda, a competitor to CoreWeave, recently struck a multibillion‑dollar AI‑infrastructure deal with Microsoft that will deploy tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs. The new capital dwarfs Lambda’s prior $480 million Series D raise and positions it for further growth, though valuation details remain undisclosed.Read more

Agentio, a platform that connects brands with YouTube creators for sponsored videos, announced a $40 million Series B funding round led by Forerunner. The startup, founded by former Cameo president Arthur Leopold and ex-Spotify engineer Jonathan Meyers, aims to expand its AI‑powered ad buying tools to additional platforms such as Meta, TikTok, and Snap. Recent growth includes a five‑fold increase in revenue since its last round, a dramatic reduction in creator bid times, and strong performance metrics from brands like Bombas. Agentio plans to grow its team and broaden its creator‑brand matching capabilities across new social channels.Read more

Microsoft has rolled out a new Windows 11 Insider build that adds an optional "experimental agentic features" toggle. The update enables Copilot Actions, an AI‑driven assistant that can handle tasks such as file organization, meeting scheduling, and email composition. While the feature aims to boost productivity, Microsoft acknowledges novel security risks and has built safeguards, including separate user accounts for agents, mandatory user approvals, activity logs, and observable actions. The feature is currently disabled by default and limited to early test builds.Read more

AI data‑center provider Lambda announced a $1.5 billion financing round led by TWG Global, the investment firm founded by Thomas Tull and Mark Walter. The capital boost follows Lambda’s recent multibillion‑dollar agreement to supply Microsoft with AI infrastructure built on tens of thousands of Nvidia GPUs. The company, which operates a network of U.S. AI data centers and competes with CoreWeave, also offers “AI factories” to hyperscaler clouds. Lambda declined to comment on its current valuation, but the raise far exceeds its prior $480 million Series D round.Read more

Apple’s upcoming macOS Tahoe 26.2 adds a low‑latency Thunderbolt 5 feature that lets multiple Macs operate as a single AI supercomputer. By linking four Mac Studios—each capable of up to 512 GB of unified memory—developers can run massive models such as the 1‑trillion‑parameter Kimi‑K2‑Thinking model using far less power than traditional GPU clusters. The technology also supports M4 Pro Mac mini, M4 Pro/Max MacBook Pro, and the 14‑inch MacBook Pro (though the latter is limited to Thunderbolt 4). The new capability promises substantial performance gains for on‑device AI research without requiring extra hardware.Read more

Senator Elizabeth Warren has written to White House AI adviser David Sacks and Office of Science and Technology Policy director Michael Kratsios seeking clarification on whether the Trump administration intends to use taxpayer funds to support major artificial‑intelligence firms. Citing President Trump’s close ties to AI executives and a recent OpenAI CFO interview suggesting a government “backstop,” Warren questions a request by OpenAI to expand the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit to cover AI server production. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has rejected the notion of government guarantees, while Sacks has insisted there will be no federal AI bailout. Warren has given the officials until December 1st, 2025 to respond.Read more

Google Lens is being embraced as a versatile AI‑powered visual search tool that helps users translate text, identify objects, verify product details, and gather contextual information in real time. By simply pointing a phone camera at an item or scene, the service delivers instant translations, product comparisons, and educational overviews, making it a practical companion for travel, shopping, and everyday curiosity. Users report increased confidence when navigating foreign menus, confirming rental listings, and exploring unfamiliar art, highlighting the tool’s growing role in daily digital interactions.Read more

Sphere, the AI-driven tax compliance platform founded by Nicholas Rudder, has closed a $21 million Series A round led by a16z, with participation from YC and Felicis Ventures. The San Francisco‑based startup automates global tax registration, calculation, filing, and remittance for companies expanding internationally. Integrations with major billing systems like Stripe enable real‑time tax assessment, while its proprietary AI engine, TRAM, codifies jurisdictional rules and provides citation‑backed determinations. Sphere aims to extend its infrastructure to more tax authorities, grow its engineering and sales teams, and become the essential tool for finance teams navigating cross‑border compliance.Read more

Microsoft and NVIDIA have announced a joint investment of up to $15 billion to support Anthropic, the maker of Claude AI models. Microsoft will invest up to $10 billion while NVIDIA contributes up to $5 billion. In return, Anthropic will purchase $30 billion in Azure cloud capacity and may add up to one gigawatt of additional compute. The partnership also includes integration of Claude models into Microsoft Foundry, and collaboration with NVIDIA to optimize Anthropic’s models for NVIDIA hardware and future architectures. The deal arrives as Microsoft loosens its exclusivity with OpenAI and follows recent large cloud contracts with Amazon.Read more

Quora's Poe app is adding group chat capabilities, allowing users worldwide to start conversations with up to 200 participants and collaborate with more than 200 AI models—ranging from text generators to image, video and audio tools—within a single thread. The rollout follows OpenAI's recent pilots of group chats for ChatGPT in several markets and is positioned as a step toward richer, collaborative AI experiences for families, friends and teams.Read more

Google announced Gemini 3, its most advanced AI model to date, highlighting improved ability to grasp user intent and richer multimodal features. The model can transform long video lectures into interactive flash cards and analyze sports footage for performance insights. Gemini 3 will appear in AI Mode in Search, AI Overviews for Pro and Ultra subscribers, and powers new agentic platform Antigravity, which can autonomously plan and execute software tasks. The company also noted enhancements in security against prompt‑injection attacks and reduced sycophancy. Gemini 3’s advanced capabilities are initially available to Google AI Ultra subscribers.Read more

Alphabet’s market strength is being driven by investor confidence in its ability to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and to produce AI‑focused chips that can compete with Nvidia. CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledges that no firm is immune to a potential AI bubble burst, but argues Google’s “full stack” of chips, YouTube data, models and frontier research gives it a unique edge. He cautions users against blindly trusting AI outputs, notes ongoing accuracy concerns, and highlights the massive energy demands of AI that have slowed progress toward Alphabet’s 2030 net‑zero goal. Pichai still describes AI as the most profound technology and stresses that adaptation will create new opportunities.Read more

Microsoft introduced Agent 365, a tool that lets companies track, control, and secure the growing number of AI agents used in workplace workflows. The platform creates a central registry for bots, assigns identification numbers, and provides real‑time security monitoring. Microsoft’s vision is that future enterprises will rely on hundreds of thousands of agents to handle tasks ranging from email sorting to full procurement processes. While the tool aims to simplify oversight, it also highlights existing concerns about prompt‑injection attacks and other security risks associated with widespread AI deployment.Read more

Google has unveiled Gemini 3, a new artificial‑intelligence model touted as its most capable yet, with strong reasoning, multimedia, and coding abilities. DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis said the company is integrating AI across its products, noting an inflated AI market but emphasizing Google’s resilience. Gemini 3 is rolled out through the Gemini app and AI Overviews in Search, where it can generate interactive visualizations and handle natural‑language queries. The model reportedly outperforms competing systems on key benchmarks, and Google plans to extend its reach to Apple’s Siri and a new programming tool called Antigravity.Read more

Google released Gemini 3, its newest large language model, making it instantly available through the Gemini app and AI search. The launch follows recent releases from competitors and introduces a research‑focused variant called Gemini 3 Deepthink for Ultra subscribers. Gemini 3 achieved record scores on the Humanity’s Last Exam and LMArena benchmarks, highlighting a notable jump in reasoning ability. Alongside the model, Google introduced Antigravity, a Gemini‑powered coding environment that blends chat, terminal, and browser windows to assist developers. The rollout aims to expand the model’s reach among millions of users and developers worldwide.Read more