AI funding rounds, acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes, plus regulation, copyright lawsuits and big compute deals.
Neuralink just successfully implanted its brain-computer interface into a human patient for the first time, with Elon Musk confirming the patient is recovering well. Dubbed "Telepathy," the device aims to let people with severe paralysis control devices using only their thoughts. While it's a huge step toward letting patients type with their minds, commercial rollout still faces a long FDA approval roadmap.
Samsung just tapped Baidu's Ernie model to power its Galaxy AI features on the Galaxy S24 in China, ditching Google's Gemini. Baidu will handle live translations, summarization, and local search features. Why it matters: As Samsung struggles to regain lost ground in the Chinese smartphone market, relying on local AI champions is a necessary compromise.
Prophetic just introduced Morpheus-1, an AI model designed to induce and stabilize lucid dreams on demand. Built on a transformer architecture, it takes brain activity as a prompt and generates targeted ultrasound holograms via a wearable headband called The Halo. If the upcoming beta pans out, exploring your subconscious could soon feel like an open-world video game.
Hugging Face just partnered with Google Cloud to make training and deploying open-source AI models seamless across Google's infrastructure. Developers can now run Hugging Face models directly inside Vertex AI and Google Kubernetes Engine, with support for Google hardware like TPUs. Why it matters: It bridges the world's biggest open model repository with enterprise cloud infrastructure, giving companies an easier route to build custom AI without proprietary lock-in.
The International Energy Agency just warned that booming demand from AI and crypto mining could double global data center electricity use by 2026. Reaching up to 1,050 TWh, that growth is roughly equivalent to adding Germany's entire electricity demand to the grid, with AI alone forecasted to consume ten times more power. Why it matters: Computing appetites are outpacing local infrastructure, making clean power buildouts more urgent than ever.
A fake robocall mimicking President Biden just urged New Hampshire voters to skip the primary, and experts say it is almost certainly an AI deepfake. Media detection firm Reality Defender confirmed the audio was likely manipulated. Anyone can now clone political figures with minimal audio and cheap tools, highlighting a massive gap in election regulations.
Sam Altman is reportedly in talks with SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's G42 to raise roughly $100 billion to fund a global network of semiconductor fabrication plants. Codenamed Project Tigris, the venture aims to take OpenAI beyond chip design into direct manufacturing, taking on Nvidia's monopoly and easing the AI hardware crunch.
Rabbit just teamed up with Perplexity to bring live, real-time web search to its $199 R1 pocket companion, eliminating knowledge cutoff dates entirely. Even better, the first 100,000 buyers get a free one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro, which normally runs $20 a month. It basically turns the quirky handheld into a real-time answer engine right out of the box.
OpenAI just struck its first-ever higher education partnership with Arizona State University, giving the school full access to ChatGPT Enterprise starting in February. ASU plans to build personalized AI tutors for STEM and freshman writing, while OpenAI promises student data won't train future models.
Samsung just unveiled the Galaxy S24 lineup, packing Google's Gemini models directly into its latest flagships. The devices feature Circle to Search, real-time call translation, and generative photo editing powered by both on-device and cloud AI. It is a major push to put everyday generative AI tools into the hands of millions.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman just said future AI products will require heavy personalization, giving different answers depending on a user's values and cultural background. Altman admitted this shift will make many people uncomfortable, while noting his current top priority remains launching GPT-5.
Vay just launched its commercial teledriving service in Las Vegas, taking an alternative route to autonomous transportation. Instead of an AI driver, remote human operators steer an electric car directly to your curb, you hop in and drive yourself, and they remotely park it when you are done for $0.30 a minute. It is a pragmatic, low-cost fix while self-driving tech works through its growing pains.
Security firm Trail of Bits just disclosed a vulnerability dubbed LeftoverLocals impacting GPUs from Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm, allowing attackers to siphon up to 180 megabytes of data directly from local GPU memory. The flaw exposes user queries and model weights from locally run LLMs. Apple patched it on M3 and A17 chips, but millions of older devices remain vulnerable.
OpenAI just shared the findings and open-source code from its Democratic Inputs grant program, which funded 10 global teams exploring how everyday people can shape AI rules. To turn these lessons into reality, the company is now building a dedicated 'Collective Alignment' team to directly feed public input into future model training.
Companies at CES just slapped the AI label on almost everything, from Rabbit R1 to home robots and car dashboards. But analysts warn that rebranding traditional algorithms and computer vision as AI muddles the field, creating false expectations of ChatGPT-like intelligence. Why it matters: Overhyping every feature sets the stage for consumer disillusionment.
OpenAI is offering news publishers between $1 million and $5 million a year to license copyrighted articles for training its models, according to The Information. That falls short of Apple's reported multiyear offers topping $50 million. With web scrapers getting blocked and copyright lawsuits piling up, paying publishers directly is fast becoming the industry's cost of doing business.
Futureverse just partnered with Ready Player One creator Ernest Cline to launch Readyverse Studios, bringing the iconic franchise to an open metaverse platform. Backed by exclusive Web3 rights from Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio plans to roll out The Readyverse in 2024 using Futureverse's infrastructure and AI-generated content creation tools. Why it matters: It marks Hollywood's biggest push yet to turn interconnected virtual worlds into a real consumer platform.
Microsoft just unveiled a dedicated Copilot key for Windows 11 keyboards, marking the first major layout tweak in nearly 30 years. Tapping the button instantly launches Windows Copilot, putting everyday AI assistance right next to the spacebar. The new key starts rolling out this month across partner laptops and upcoming Surface devices.
Intel just spun out a new enterprise generative AI company called Articul8 AI with backing from data center investor DigitalBridge. Originating from an internal project with Boston Consulting Group, the platform lets clients run multimodal AI within their own security perimeters. Why it matters: It gives Intel a dedicated software wedge to drive enterprise hardware sales against Nvidia.
Samsung just announced an in-person event on Jan. 17 in San Jose to unveil its next generation of Galaxy smartphones, promising an "all-new mobile experience powered by AI." The devices are expected to leverage Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips to run generative AI models directly on the phone without an internet connection. Why it matters: Samsung wants on-device AI features to give it an edge over Apple in the high-end smartphone race.
