News

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Character.AI Launches “Stories” Feature as it Bars Chatbots for Users Under 18

Character.AI announced a new interactive‑fiction format called “Stories,” designed to let teens engage with favorite characters in a guided setting. The move follows the company’s decision to block all chatbot conversations for users under 18, a step taken amid concerns about the mental‑health impact of open‑ended AI chats and several lawsuits alleging AI‑related suicides. While the Stories feature expands the platform’s multimodal offerings, reactions from teenage users are mixed, with some welcoming the safety‑first approach and others expressing disappointment over losing direct chatbot access.

11/26/2025

Warner Music Group Licenses AI Platform Suno to Use Artist Voices and Likenesses

Warner Music Group has entered a licensing agreement with AI music creation platform Suno, allowing users to generate songs using the voices, names, images and compositions of artists who opt in. The deal gives participating artists control over how their likenesses are used and promises new revenue streams. WMG also withdrew a lawsuit it had filed against Suno, signaling a shift toward collaborative AI adoption across major record labels.

11/26/2025

Perplexity Launches AI-Powered Shopping Assistant with PayPal Integration

Perplexity has introduced a new AI shopping feature that lets users search for and purchase products directly through its assistant. The service, free for U.S. users, integrates PayPal for instant purchases and tailors recommendations using personal context. Merchants retain full visibility over customers and post‑purchase relationships. The rollout mirrors similar moves by OpenAI and Google, while Amazon has issued a cease‑and‑desist over Perplexity’s ability to complete Amazon purchases via its browser.

11/26/2025

OpenAI and Perfection Roll Out AI Shopping Assistants Amid Startup Competition

OpenAI and Perplexity have each introduced AI‑driven shopping tools that integrate into their existing chatbots, allowing users to ask for product recommendations, share photos, and receive tailored suggestions. The features are similar, with OpenAI prompting queries like a "new laptop suitable for gaming under $1000 with a screen over 15 inches" and Perplexity emphasizing memory‑based personalization. Industry observers note that while the big players gain early retail partnerships, specialized AI shopping startups argue that domain‑specific data and curated product catalogs give them an edge over general‑purpose models.

11/26/2025

OpenAI Integrates Voice Mode Directly Into Chat Interface

OpenAI has updated the ChatGPT user experience by embedding the voice conversation feature directly within the main chat window. Users can now speak to the assistant and watch its replies appear as text, along with any images or maps, without switching to a separate screen. The change applies to both mobile and web platforms and is being rolled out to all users. Those who prefer the older, stand‑alone voice view can still enable it through the settings menu.

11/26/2025

ChatGPT’s Agent Feature Lets Subscribers Automate Tasks and Research

ChatGPT’s Agent, available to Plus and Pro subscribers, lets users assign complex or routine tasks for the AI to complete in the background. It can research topics, search for flights, write code, and generate presentations or spreadsheets, acting like a virtual assistant. While the feature speeds up workflows, it still requires human oversight for actions such as purchasing tickets, and it isn’t suited for simple, instant queries that are better handled by the standard chat mode.

11/25/2025

White House Unveils Genesis Mission AI Platform Initiative

The Trump administration issued an executive order establishing the Genesis Mission, a federal AI platform to be run by the Department of Energy under the oversight of the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. The plan seeks to leverage the nation’s largest collection of scientific datasets to train foundation models and AI agents that can accelerate research in fields such as advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear energy, quantum information science, and semiconductors. Critics note the order’s focus on strategic advantage and the lack of explicit references to public health or climate challenges.

11/25/2025

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Gains Spotify Integration, Lets Users Generate Playlists via Conversation

OpenAI introduced an App SDK at its recent Dev Day, allowing developers to embed services like Spotify directly into ChatGPT. Users can now ask the chatbot to create playlists, and ChatGPT accesses the user’s Spotify account to pull songs. Early testers reported a seamless conversational interface but noted that the generated selections sometimes missed personal taste, prompting mixed reactions about the value of automating playlist curation.

11/25/2025

AI Hype Meets Reality: Experts Question LLM Path to General Intelligence

Leading AI figures, including Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, Yann LeCun, Yoshua Bengio, Eric Schmidt and Gary Marcus, caution that large language models (LLMs) are limited tools that mimic language rather than replicate human thought. While tech CEOs tout imminent breakthroughs, researchers argue that true artificial general intelligence (AGI) will require world‑modeling, persistent memory, reasoning and planning capabilities beyond text‑based training. The piece highlights the growing skepticism within the AI community and stresses the need for a broader, multi‑disciplinary approach to building genuinely versatile intelligent systems.

11/25/2025

Trump Launches Genesis Mission to Build National AI Platform for Scientific Advancement

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order establishing the Genesis Mission, an initiative led by the Department of Energy to create a centralized artificial‑intelligence platform. The platform will aggregate decades‑long federal, academic, and private‑sector data sets for training scientific foundation models, automating research workflows, and accelerating breakthroughs. It will link the nation’s most advanced supercomputers, AI systems, quantum resources, and scientific instruments, including two sovereign AI supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory built by Hewlett Packard Enterprises and powered by AMD chips. Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil directs the effort, which must identify initial data assets within four months and demonstrate operating capability for at least one national challenge within nine months, focusing on nuclear and fusion energy, grid modernization, and advanced AI for national‑security applications.

11/25/2025

Google Partners with Accel to Back Early-Stage AI Startups in India

Google and venture firm Accel announced a joint effort to invest in India’s earliest‑stage artificial‑intelligence startups through the Google AI Futures Fund and Accel’s Atoms program. The partnership will allocate up to $1 million per startup, provide compute credits, early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, and mentorship from both firms. Targeted founders include those building AI products for the Indian market and for global audiences. The collaboration aims to tap India’s large, mobile‑first population, engineering talent, and growing cloud infrastructure to accelerate AI innovation.

11/25/2025

OpenAI Expands ChatGPT with New Shopping Research Feature

OpenAI is rolling out a shopping research capability across all ChatGPT accounts on both mobile and web platforms. The feature, built on a refined GPT‑5 mini model, supplies product recommendations drawn from up‑to‑date internet sources that include price, availability, reviews, specifications and images. Users can refine choices through a series of preference prompts, and the system may suggest related items via “buyer’s guide” cards for Pro users. OpenAI also signals a future Instant Checkout option that would let shoppers purchase directly within the chat experience. Competing AI services from Google and Perplexity are introducing similar shopping functionalities, underscoring a broader industry push toward integrated AI‑driven commerce.

11/25/2025