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Google is expanding its shopping experience with a suite of artificial‑intelligence features. Users in the United States can now engage in conversational searches, have an AI agent call local stores to ask about inventory and promotions, and let the system automatically purchase items when price targets are met. The tools, rolled out through AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, draw on billions of product listings and integrate with Google Pay. Early partners include Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and select Shopify merchants, while the AI calling feature initially covers categories such as toys, health and beauty, and electronics.Read more

Companion chatbots are increasingly becoming a source of marital strain as couples confront emotional attachments to artificial intelligence. Divorce attorneys report a rise in cases where AI infidelity is cited as a factor, while surveys show a majority of singles view such relationships as cheating. State lawmakers are responding with varied approaches, from California's new AI‑companion regulations to Ohio's restrictive legislation. Legal experts warn that financial dissipation, custody considerations, and evolving state laws could shape the future of family courts as AI companionship becomes more sophisticated.Read more

Israeli startup Milestone, which builds a data platform to link generative AI tool usage with engineering outcomes, announced a $10 million seed round led by Heavybit and Hanaco Ventures. The round also saw participation from Atlassian Ventures and a group of high‑profile angels, including GitHub co‑founder Tom Preston‑Werner. Milestone’s customers such as Kayak, Monday and Sapiens will gain visibility into AI‑driven productivity, feature‑delivery speed and bug attribution, helping enterprises measure return on AI investment. The company’s team blends founders Liad Elidan and Stephen Barrett with a focus on enterprise‑scale solutions.Read more

OpenAI has released open-weight models that can run locally, giving the U.S. military and defense contractors a new option for secure, air‑gapped AI applications. Companies such as Lilt and EdgeRunner AI are testing the models for translation and virtual assistant tasks, while the Pentagon has signed multi‑year deals with major AI firms to prototype generative‑AI tools. Experts note the benefits of customizability and privacy, but also warn of higher hallucination rates and infrastructure costs.Read more

Microsoft is turning to its AI partner OpenAI to address challenges in its chip strategy. Under a revised agreement, Microsoft will gain full access to OpenAI’s custom AI chip designs, which are being co‑developed with Broadcom, and secure intellectual‑property rights to those designs. The deal also preserves Microsoft’s access to OpenAI’s models through 2032 while excluding OpenAI’s consumer‑hardware initiatives. Executives describe the move as a pragmatic response to the high cost and complexity of building cutting‑edge AI chips, positioning OpenAI’s expertise as a key accelerator for Microsoft’s semiconductor ambitions.Read more

Neal Shah, driven by personal experiences with insurance denials during his wife's cancer treatment, founded Counterforce Health, a free AI‑driven service that creates customized appeal letters for denied claims. The platform lets users upload denial notices and medical records, then generates evidence‑based appeals in minutes. Counterforce aims to level the playing field as insurers increasingly use AI to reject claims swiftly. Backed by grants and venture funding, the tool remains free, safeguards user data, and has already helped thousands overturn denials, offering a practical countermeasure to the growing automation of claim rejections.Read more

OpenAI introduced its newest model, GPT‑5.1, as the default engine for ChatGPT. The update offers two variants—Instant for fast responses and Thinking for more deliberative tasks—while adding real‑time personality and tone controls that let users adjust the chatbot’s style on the fly. The rollout follows criticism of the previous GPT‑5 release, with OpenAI keeping older models available for comparison and planning a phased deployment over several months.Read more

OpenAI has launched GPT‑5.1, a two‑model system that pairs an Instant model for everyday requests with a Thinking model for more complex tasks. The update adds six new tone‑presets—Default, Friendly, Efficient, Professional, Candid and Quirky—plus the existing Cynical and Nerdy options, letting users tailor ChatGPT’s personality. OpenAI says the new models are “warmer, more intelligent, and better at following your instructions.” The rollout will start with paid users before extending to free accounts, while legacy models remain available for a limited period.Read more

OpenAI has introduced two updated versions of its flagship model, GPT-5.1 Instant and GPT-5.1 Thinking, now available in ChatGPT. The rollout adds eight preset personality styles—Professional, Friendly, Candid, Quirky, Efficient, Cynical, Nerdy, and Default—and incorporates adaptive reasoning that lets the model allocate extra compute time when needed. OpenAI says the new models outperform previous versions on technical benchmarks such as AIME and Codeforces. The release follows user complaints about earlier model tone and comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny. Paid subscribers receive access first, with broader availability and API integration planned shortly.Read more

A German court has ruled that OpenAI’s ChatGPT breached national copyright law by training its language models on licensed musical works without permission. The lawsuit, filed by GEMA, the German music rights society, resulted in an order for OpenAI to pay undisclosed damages. OpenAI has expressed disagreement with the decision and is considering its next steps. GEMA hailed the ruling as a landmark precedent that reinforces authors' rights, while noting that OpenAI faces additional lawsuits from other creatives over similar concerns.Read more

Apple is set to pay Google $1 billion each year for a custom Gemini AI model that will power the next generation of Siri. The model, featuring 1.2 trillion parameters, will run on Apple’s private cloud while on‑device models remain for personal data processing. Apple evaluated Anthropic as an alternative, which would have cost $1.5 billion per year. The partnership aligns with Apple’s privacy‑first approach and its existing $20 billion annual search‑engine agreement with Google. Neither company provided comment on the deal.Read more

OpenAI announced that a sample of 20 million ChatGPT conversations from December 2022 to November 2024 does not include business customers and is stored under a legal hold. The company offered the New York Times privacy‑preserving alternatives such as targeted searches and high‑level usage classifications, but the newspaper rejected them and filed a motion demanding the entire data set on a hard drive. OpenAI says the request exceeds the original scope, which was limited to logs related to Times content, and vows to fight any attempts to make the user conversations public.Read more

A recent survey commissioned by Deezer reveals that most listeners cannot distinguish AI-generated songs from human-made tracks, leading to widespread discomfort and a strong demand for clear labelling. While curiosity about AI music exists, many fear it could lower quality, threaten artists' livelihoods, and flood streaming platforms with generic content. Major services such as Spotify are already partnering with record labels to develop AI music products, intensifying the debate over transparency and the future of music creation.Read more

Google Maps has rolled out a suite of AI‑driven tools that can ease the hectic Thanksgiving travel season. Users can navigate busy airports with a Directory tab, check real‑time crowd levels, make restaurant reservations without a phone call, and download offline maps for areas without signal. Location sharing keeps families coordinated, while curated lists and a new screenshot‑scanning feature help organize trip ideas. The Gemini chatbot now offers personalized itinerary suggestions, making the holiday travel experience smoother and more predictable.Read more

Hero, a productivity startup founded by former Meta employees, announced an invite‑only autocompletion SDK that fills in AI prompts based on context. The SDK can populate travel details, image‑generation parameters and other fields, reducing back‑and‑forth interactions. Co‑founder Brad Kowalk said the technology finishes tasks "10 times faster" and opens use cases from travel to ads. Hero, which recently secured additional funding, is testing the feature in its own app and exploring partnerships with ad‑tech firm Koah Labs.Read more

Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist and founder of the FAIR research lab, announced plans to leave the company and start his own venture. LeCun, a 2018 Turing Award winner, will retain his professorship at New York University while departing a Meta organization that has recently shifted its AI focus toward rapid commercial deployment. The move comes amid internal tension, leadership changes, and high‑profile hires aimed at accelerating large‑language‑model development under Mark Zuckerberg's revised AI strategy.Read more

During an OpenAI livestream, CEO Sam Altman asked chief scientist Jakub Pachocki how meaning will look in a future shaped by artificial intelligence. Pachocki responded that meaning will arise from the human desire to engage with processes, crafts, and analog experiences that AI cannot replicate. He highlighted the value of hands‑on activities, imperfect creations, and personal connections—such as glass‑blowing demonstrations, handwritten notes, and physical pursuits—as sources of fulfillment in an increasingly automated world.Read more

California‑based 1X has unveiled Neo, a humanoid robot priced at $20,000 that aims to handle chores like laundry, vacuuming and door opening. Neo moves with a soft, tendon‑driven gait, can lift up to 154 pounds, and runs for about four hours on a charge. While it features built‑in AI similar to ChatGPT and Gemini, most of its actions are currently teleoperated by a human using a VR headset. The company says full autonomy is planned for 2026, and it emphasizes privacy controls such as voice‑activation and camera blurring.Read more

Anthropic announced a $50 billion partnership with U.K.-based Fluidstack to build custom data centers in Texas and New York, slated for completion through 2026. The facilities are designed to support the compute‑intensive Claude models and reflect Anthropic’s push for dedicated infrastructure alongside existing cloud ties with Google and Amazon. The move positions Anthropic among rivals such as Meta and the SoftBank‑OpenAI‑Oracle consortium, whose infrastructure spending dwarfs the new project. Fluidstack, a rising neocloud provider, gains a high‑profile client and further credibility in the rapidly expanding AI‑hardware market.Read more

WisdomAI, the AI data analytics startup founded by former Rubrik executives, has closed a $50 million Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Nvidia’s venture arm. The company’s platform lets business users ask natural‑language questions of structured, unstructured, and “dirty” data, using large language models only to generate database queries. Since its launch, WisdomAI has added roughly 40 enterprise customers—including Descope, ConocoPhillips, Cisco and Patreon—and introduced an agentic feature that proactively notifies users of important data changes.Read more