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YouTube Rolls Out New AI Tools for Creators

YouTube Rolls Out New AI Tools for Creators

YouTube announced a suite of artificial‑intelligence features aimed at helping creators streamline production and improve performance. The flagship tool, Ask Studio, acts as a conversational analytics assistant that can summarize comments, suggest video ideas, and recommend title or thumbnail tweaks. A new A/B testing capability lets creators test combinations of thumbnails and titles to see which drives more watch time. Additional updates include auto‑dubbing with lip‑sync, a multi‑collaborator workflow for shared videos, and expanded thumbnail testing. Early‑access creators say the tools provide helpful guidance while still relying on their own audience knowledge.

YouTube Introduces AI Tagging and New Shopping Tools for Creators

YouTube Introduces AI Tagging and New Shopping Tools for Creators

YouTube announced a suite of features aimed at turning the platform into a more robust shopping channel. The updates include AI‑powered product tagging that can automatically identify and label items mentioned in videos, brand links embedded in Shorts that direct viewers to product pages, and a system for swapping ad segments so creators can resell sponsorship slots. Testing for these tools is slated to begin early next year, with broader rollouts expected through 2026. Additional experiments will let top viewers purchase exclusive merch from creators, and the platform also hinted at upcoming livestream and AI enhancements for content creators.

Groq Secures $750 Million Funding Round Valuing Company at $6.9 Billion

Groq Secures $750 Million Funding Round Valuing Company at $6.9 Billion

AI chip startup Groq announced a $750 million financing that lifts its post‑money valuation to $6.9 billion. The round, led by Disruptive with participation from BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and existing backers such as Samsung, Cisco and Altimeter, more than doubles the company’s valuation from a year ago. Groq’s LPUs – marketed as inference engines – are positioned as a non‑GPU alternative for AI workloads, and the firm now claims to power the AI applications of over two million developers.

India Powers Surge in Google’s Nano Banana AI Image Model

India Powers Surge in Google’s Nano Banana AI Image Model

Google’s Nano Banana image‑generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has become the top driver of the Gemini app’s popularity in India. Indian users are employing the AI to create retro Bollywood looks, AI‑saree portraits, city‑scape selfies, miniature figurines and short videos from old family photos. The surge has propelled the Gemini app to the top of both the iOS App Store and Google Play charts in the country, with monthly downloads far outpacing those in the United States. While the model’s adoption is boosting downloads, in‑app spending remains modest, and Google is rolling out watermarks and a hidden SynthID marker to address privacy and misuse concerns.

Meta Launches Ray‑Ban Smart Glasses with Display and Neural Band Controller

Meta Launches Ray‑Ban Smart Glasses with Display and Neural Band Controller

Meta unveiled a new Ray‑Ban branded smart glasses system featuring a built‑in display on the right lens and a wrist‑worn Neural Band that interprets subtle hand gestures. Announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Connect, the product—called Meta Ray‑Ban Display—will be available for purchase within weeks and is positioned as a consumer‑ready step in Meta’s push to bring AI‑powered wearable technology to the market, complementing its existing VR lineup and aiming to broaden user interaction beyond smartphones.

Voice AI Startup Keplar Secures Seed Funding to Transform Market Research

Voice AI Startup Keplar Secures Seed Funding to Transform Market Research

Keplar, a two‑year‑old voice AI startup, announced a $3.4 million seed round led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from SV Angel, Common Metal and South Park Commons. The company’s platform uses conversational AI to conduct customer interviews, delivering insights faster and at lower cost than traditional market‑research firms. Keplar’s technology can automatically generate interview guides, reach out to participants via a voice assistant, and compile results into reports similar to those produced by human-checked research. Early customers include Clorox and Intercom, and the startup joins other AI‑driven research players such as Outset and Listen Labs.

Macroscope Launches AI-Powered Codebase Understanding Engine

Macroscope Launches AI-Powered Codebase Understanding Engine

Former Periscope founders Kayvon Beykpour, Joe Bernstein, and Rob Bishop have introduced Macroscope, an AI-driven platform that helps developers and product leaders understand code changes, spot bugs, and get real‑time product insights. The tool integrates with GitHub, Slack, JIRA and Linear, leveraging large language models to generate summaries and answer natural‑language queries. Priced at $30 per active developer per month, Macroscope is already being used by a range of startups and larger firms. Backed by a Series A round led by Lightspeed, the San Francisco startup aims to reduce engineering overhead and improve productivity.

AI Security Firm Irregular Raises $80 Million in New Funding Round

AI Security Firm Irregular Raises $80 Million in New Funding Round

Irregular, an AI security company formerly known as Pattern Labs, announced an $80 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures, with participation from Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport. The capital values the firm at $450 million and will support its work securing frontier AI models, including building simulated environments to test emerging risks. Co‑founders Dan Lahav and Omer Nevo emphasized the growing need for robust defenses as large language models become more capable, citing the company's SOLVE framework and its role in evaluating models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet and OpenAI's upcoming releases.

Meta Connect 2025 Highlights: New Ray‑Ban Display Glasses, Oakley Sports Glasses, and Quest Enhancements

Meta Connect 2025 Highlights: New Ray‑Ban Display Glasses, Oakley Sports Glasses, and Quest Enhancements

At Meta Connect 2025 the company introduced a suite of new hardware and software. The flagship announcement was the Meta Ray‑Ban Display glasses, which add a full‑color screen to the right lens and are controlled via a wristband. A second‑generation Ray‑Ban model received an upgraded battery, 3K video capture and a lower price point. Meta also partnered with Oakley to launch the Vanguard glasses for high‑intensity sports, featuring rugged design and fitness‑app integration. On the software side, Quest 3 headsets gained the Hyperscape spatial‑mapping feature and a Horizon TV hub that now supports Disney Plus, ESPN, Hulu and Dolby Atmos sound.

China Bars Domestic Firms from Purchasing Nvidia AI Chips

China Bars Domestic Firms from Purchasing Nvidia AI Chips

China’s Cyberspace Administration has prohibited domestic technology companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, from buying Nvidia AI chips such as the RTX Pro 6000D server. The move follows earlier encouragement for firms to use locally‑made alternatives. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang expressed disappointment but affirmed the company will respect the market’s wishes. The ban adds to a broader backdrop of U.S. licensing requirements that have limited Nvidia’s sales in China, with the firm forecasting significant revenue loss and noting that recent U.S. license approvals have yet to translate into actual shipments.

Meta Unveils New Horizon Engine and Creator Tools for Horizon Worlds

Meta Unveils New Horizon Engine and Creator Tools for Horizon Worlds

Meta announced major upgrades to its Horizon Worlds platform, introducing a new Horizon Engine that delivers better graphics, faster performance, and higher concurrency for virtual reality experiences. The company also launched Meta Horizon Studio, an editor that lets creators build custom VR worlds using generative AI tools, with plans to add an AI assistant later this year. Horizon Worlds, now available on both VR headsets and mobile devices, is supported by a $50 million creator fund aimed at expanding its developer community.

London Protesters Rally Against Trump Visit and US‑UK AI Deal

London Protesters Rally Against Trump Visit and US‑UK AI Deal

Thousands gathered in central London to demonstrate against President Donald Trump's state visit and a newly announced US‑UK artificial‑intelligence partnership. Demonstrators, including environmental groups and climate activists, voiced concerns that the AI deal—featuring investments from Nvidia and Microsoft—could expand data‑center construction, increase power and water use, and benefit large tech monopolies without clear public oversight. Protesters also criticized the UK government for appearing to prioritize corporate profits over climate safeguards and for lacking transparency on the terms of the agreement.