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Neo Home Robot Promises Household Help but Relies on Remote Operation

Neo Home Robot Promises Household Help but Relies on Remote Operation

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.

Anthropic Commits $50 Billion to New U.S. Data Centers with Fluidstack

Anthropic Commits $50 Billion to New U.S. Data Centers with Fluidstack

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.

WisdomAI Secures $50 Million Series A to Accelerate AI‑Driven Enterprise Data Analytics

WisdomAI Secures $50 Million Series A to Accelerate AI‑Driven Enterprise Data Analytics

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.

Waymo Expands Robotaxi Service to Freeways Across Key U.S. Cities

Waymo Expands Robotaxi Service to Freeways Across Key U.S. Cities

Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary behind autonomous taxis, announced that its robotaxis can now travel on freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Phoenix. The move adds curbside service at San Jose Mineta International Airport and promises faster trips, such as cutting the San Francisco‑Mountain View ride in half. Waymo’s fleet, already operating in five metros, uses redundant onboard computers, data from private courses and simulations, and works closely with law‑enforcement agencies to handle emergencies. The company also outlined plans to launch in additional U.S. and international markets next year.

EU Council Revises Chat Control Proposal, Making CSAM Scanning Voluntary Amid Privacy Concerns

EU Council Revises Chat Control Proposal, Making CSAM Scanning Voluntary Amid Privacy Concerns

The European Union Council received a revised Child Sexual Abuse Regulation proposal that shifts mandatory content scanning to a voluntary model, with limited exceptions for high‑risk services. While the change garnered broad support among lawmakers, privacy advocates, including digital‑rights jurist Patrick Breyer and encrypted‑email provider Tuta, warn that loopholes could undermine the voluntary nature and threaten encryption. The debate continues as member states that previously opposed indiscriminate scanning watch the next steps closely.

Apple Intelligence Brings Everyday AI Features to iPhone and Mac

Apple Intelligence Brings Everyday AI Features to iPhone and Mac

Apple Intelligence, now available on the latest iPhone models and Macs, adds a suite of AI‑driven tools that subtly improve daily use. Features such as Prioritize Notifications, automatic Summaries for messages and web pages, an upgraded Siri interface with ChatGPT fallback, Tap‑to‑Siri, a Reduce Interruptions Focus mode, and the Clean Up tool in Photos demonstrate how the company is embedding intelligence into core experiences while keeping the software in beta.

AI Image and Video Models Develop Distinct “Personalities,” Shaping Creator Workflows

AI Image and Video Models Develop Distinct “Personalities,” Shaping Creator Workflows

Creators are increasingly describing generative AI image and video models as having distinct “personalities,” referring to each model’s unique style, strengths, and preferred tasks. This emerging view helps artists select the right tool for specific projects, much like choosing a camera lens. By combining multiple models—such as Google’s Veo 3, Adobe’s Firefly, and Runway—creators achieve greater creative range and precision. The concept of model personalities is fluid, evolving with updates that improve performance and reduce errors. Overall, the shift underscores a growing reliance on AI tools while emphasizing the human creative vision that guides them.

ChatGPT Goes Free on WhatsApp Until Early 2026

ChatGPT Goes Free on WhatsApp Until Early 2026

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is now available as a free AI contact inside Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app. Users can add the number 1‑800‑242‑8478 to start chatting with the bot, link their ChatGPT account for sync, and enjoy features such as question answering, summarization, translation, coding help, and image generation. The free offering will end on January 15, 2026 due to a change in Meta’s policy, after which users can still access the service through paid plans. The integration also lets users send photos for analysis and manage conversation settings directly within WhatsApp.

Google Photos Launches AI-Powered Personal Photo Editor Using Gemini’s Nano Banana Model

Google Photos Launches AI-Powered Personal Photo Editor Using Gemini’s Nano Banana Model

Google Photos has introduced a new AI-driven editor that leverages Gemini’s Nano Banana model to make personalized adjustments to faces in users’ images. By tapping into private face groups, the tool can open closed eyes, add smiles, remove sunglasses and more, all through simple natural‑language prompts. The update also adds AI‑generated style templates tailored to each user’s gallery and a Gemini‑powered Ask button that answers questions about photos. While the feature offers powerful, user‑friendly editing, Google emphasizes that the AI operates on data already stored in the account, keeping the process private.

AI Application Layer Race Heats Up Across the Atlantic

AI Application Layer Race Heats Up Across the Atlantic

A new Accel report finds the United States still leads in large AI models, but Europe is rapidly catching up in the application layer. Emerging firms such as Lovable and Synthesia are highlighted as category leaders, while European and Israeli startups have raised 66 cents for every dollar raised by U.S. peers. The report notes unprecedented growth speed, with AI‑native applications reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue in just a few years and delivering the highest revenue‑per‑headcount in software history. Venture capitalists see defensibility in product‑centric offerings and believe proprietary data remains undervalued.

Coda Music Introduces AI Identification Tools and Artist Support Features

Coda Music Introduces AI Identification Tools and Artist Support Features

Coda Music, a newer entrant in the streaming market, has launched a suite of tools to identify and label AI‑generated songs. The platform now reviews every new artist for AI origins, flags profiles suspected of AI creation, and offers a user‑controlled toggle to hide AI artists entirely. Alongside these safeguards, Coda promotes higher per‑stream payouts, a $1 contribution to independent or qualifying artists from each subscription, and a social‑focused feed that encourages sharing and direct artist interaction. The features are live on iOS and Android, with a web interface slated for the future.

World Labs Launches Marble, First Commercial AI-Powered 3D World Model

World Labs Launches Marble, First Commercial AI-Powered 3D World Model

World Labs, the AI startup founded by Fei-Fei Li, has introduced Marble, its first commercial world‑model product. Marble lets users transform text prompts, images, videos, 3D layouts or panoramas into editable, downloadable 3D environments through a freemium tier and three paid subscriptions. Featuring AI‑native editing tools, a hybrid 3D editor called Chisel, and capabilities such as world expansion and composer mode, the platform targets creators in gaming, visual effects, virtual reality and robotics. The launch positions World Labs ahead of competitors still in research or limited‑beta phases.