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Industry

AI funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes, plus regulation, copyright lawsuits and big compute deals.

17 stories in the last 7 days

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    UN study finds women are 3x more likely to face AI job disruption

    A joint study from the UN's ILO and Poland's NASK found that jobs traditionally held by women are three times more likely to be impacted by generative AI than those done by men. In high-income countries, 9.6% of female-held roles face major transformation compared to 3.5% for men, primarily due to automated administrative tasks. Crucially, the researchers stress most jobs will be radically reshaped rather than outright eliminated.

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    Duolingo CEO walks back AI push after user backlash

    Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn just backtracked on his aggressive AI rhetoric following fierce backlash from users. After previously suggesting the company would phase out contract workers and pivot to an AI-first model, von Ahn clarified on LinkedIn that AI is just an accelerator and Duolingo is still hiring humans at its usual pace.

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    AI is turning Amazon coders into warehouse workers

    Amazon engineers are speaking out about how the company's aggressive push into generative AI is degrading their jobs. Instead of crafting code, developers say tighter deadlines and higher output quotas have turned daily work into a frantic, repetitive conveyor belt of reviewing AI-generated drafts. It is boosting speed, but at the cost of turning creative software engineering into digital assembly line work.

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    UAE gives all residents free ChatGPT Plus in mega-deal with OpenAI

    OpenAI just teamed up with Abu Dhabi's G42 on the Stargate UAE initiative, giving every UAE citizen and resident free access to ChatGPT Plus, normally $20 a month. The transcontinental pact also includes plans for a massive 5-gigawatt AI supercomputing campus, with the first data center slated to go live next year.

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    OpenAI and Jony Ive's mystery AI device looks like an iPod Shuffle

    OpenAI and design legend Jony Ive are reportedly working on a screenless, neck-worn AI wearable inspired by the classic iPod Shuffle form factor. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the compact device uses cameras and microphones to perceive context while relying on smartphones or PCs for compute, with mass production slated for 2027 outside China.

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    OpenAI and G42 launch Stargate UAE in 1GW AI push

    OpenAI just launched Stargate UAE alongside G42, Nvidia, Oracle, and SoftBank as its first international infrastructure hub under the OpenAI for Countries initiative. The plan involves building a 1GW compute cluster in Abu Dhabi with 200MW arriving in 2026, while the UAE enables ChatGPT nationwide.

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    Jony Ive slams Rabbit and Humane's AI gadgets

    Former Apple design chief Jony Ive just called last year's Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1 "very poor products," citing an absence of new thinking as he readies an OpenAI-backed gadget for 2026. Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu replied that being mentioned by his hero is an honor, but bristled at being lumped in with Humane, which got acquired and shut down.

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    OpenAI's $6.5B bet on Jony Ive's screenless AI device

    OpenAI just spent $6.5B to acquire io, a secretive device startup founded by legendary Apple designer Jony Ive. The duo is developing a pocket-sized, screen-free companion pitched as a third core device alongside laptops and smartphones, aiming for a late 2026 launch and 100M units shipped.

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    Meta offers startups $6,000 a month to build on Llama

    Meta just launched the Llama Startup Program to help early-stage companies build generative AI products. Selected US startups can receive up to $6,000 a month in cloud API reimbursements for up to six months, alongside direct technical guidance from Meta's Llama team. Applications for the first cohort close on May 30, 2025.

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    Google launches $249.99/mo AI Ultra plan with Veo 3 and Flow

    Google just introduced Google AI Ultra, a premium $249.99/month subscription offering its highest usage limits and top-tier models. Subscribers get early access to Veo 3, the new Flow filmmaking tool, Project Mariner agent, and 30 TB of storage, while existing AI Premium plans are rebranded to Google AI Pro.

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    Google brings Gemini to Android XR glasses and headsets

    Google just shared a closer look at Android XR, bringing Gemini directly onto headsets and lightweight smart glasses. The glasses use cameras and microphones to match your vantage point, demoing live in-person translation and hands-free directions with an optional in-lens display. Google is partnering with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker for consumer frames, with developer access opening later this year.

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    ChatGPT read her coffee grounds, now she's divorcing her husband

    A Greek woman filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years after ChatGPT interpreted her coffee grounds and claimed he was cheating with a younger woman. What started as a joke fortune-telling trend quickly turned into a real-life lawsuit, triggering national debate in Greece over people blindly trusting AI advice for complex relationships.

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    Microsoft adds Elon Musk’s Grok 3 to Azure

    Microsoft just officially brought xAI’s Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini to its Azure AI Foundry platform. Hosted and billed directly by Microsoft with full enterprise SLAs, the surprise addition deepens Azure's model lineup—and adds another awkward wrinkle to Microsoft’s increasingly tense alliance with OpenAI.

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    Jensen Huang sees a trillion-dollar boom in AI factories

    NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang just took the stage at COMPUTEX to declare that computing centers are officially turning into token-producing "AI factories." Backing up predictions of a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure boom, NVIDIA unveiled the semi-custom NVLink Fusion architecture, DGX Spark desktop supercomputers, and a physics engine built with DeepMind and Disney. It is a full-stack push to cement NVIDIA as the bedrock of both digital and physical AI.

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    Nvidia's Grace CPU C1 takes on edge and telco

    Nvidia just showcased broad partner adoption for its single-chip Grace CPU C1 at COMPUTEX, drawing support from Foxconn, Supermicro, and Quanta. The processor claims twice the energy efficiency of traditional CPUs, targeting power-tight setups across edge computing, storage, and 5G AI-RAN. Why it matters: Nvidia is pushing Arm-based efficiency beyond hyperscaler data centers into distributed physical infrastructure.

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    NVIDIA teams up with storage giants to feed agentic AI

    NVIDIA just rallied major storage makers and ODMs around its AI Data Platform reference design to power agentic AI. By embedding GPUs and DPUs closer to massive enterprise data stores, the new hardware helps agents index, retrieve, and reason across private docs in real time without bottlenecking.

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    Nvidia opens NVLink to custom chips with NVLink Fusion

    Nvidia just introduced NVLink Fusion, a new silicon interconnect that lets hyperscalers hook up custom ASICs and CPUs directly into Nvidia's AI rack architecture. Heavyweights like MediaTek, Marvell, and Qualcomm are already on board. Why it matters: Big tech no longer has to pick between internal custom silicon and Nvidia's computing fabric—they can now stitch both together in the same AI factory.

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    Google I/O is now an all-AI show

    Google I/O kicks off this week, and Android has officially taken a backseat to Gemini. After quietly dropping Android's biggest design overhaul in years via YouTube the week before, Google is set to focus the keynote almost entirely on AI upgrades across Chrome, Gmail, and XR. Why it matters: The company's premier developer conference is no longer about mobile OS—it's an all-in bet on AI.

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    Cohere buys Ottogrid to supercharge enterprise research

    Cohere just acquired Ottogrid, an automated market research startup, to fold its smart table and document extraction capabilities directly into its workplace assistant North. Ottogrid will sunset its standalone tool, shifting its focus entirely to helping knowledge workers scrape web data and enrich spreadsheets inside Cohere's enterprise ecosystem.

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    World's first AI doctor clinic opens in Saudi Arabia

    Shanghai-based Synyi AI just opened the world's first AI-powered clinic in Saudi Arabia, putting an AI doctor dubbed "Dr. Hua" on frontline duty. Patients report symptoms and share test scans via tablets, while human doctors review and sign off on prescriptions remotely. It currently covers 30 respiratory conditions with an error rate under 0.3%, taking AI from backstage assistant to front desk triage.