From the archive
Follow the latest AI news and artificial intelligence developments across models, agents, robotics, research and the wider industry. Explore new AI tools, advances in computing, business moves, safety and policy, with clear reporting and useful sources. Read the stories, catch up with News in Brief and join the conversation.
Lead story
An Arizona appeals court has ordered a man resentenced after finding that an AI-generated video portraying his deceased victim was unreliable. The case puts a difficult question in view: when does a synthetic memorial become something a court must treat as evidence?
Read the report & discussion ↗Watch Desk
AI-related goods are driving more than half of export growth in most East Asian and Pacific economies, according to the World Bank. The bank has raised its regional growth forecast, but warns that a reversal in AI spending could remove a key support for growth.
Microsoft AI Watch
Microsoft has added real-time streaming transcription and expanded language support to its MAI speech models. The practical draw is faster, more flexible speech processing, although Microsoft’s documentation says the models are in public preview and not recommended for production workloads.
DeepSeek Watch
DeepSeek is close to securing at least 80 billion yuan, or $12 billion, in funding, Bloomberg reports, ahead of a planned early-2027 IPO. The reported sum would far exceed the company’s own fundraising target, putting a striking figure on the capital ambitions behind one of China’s best-known AI…
NVIDIA Watch
Nvidia and Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn, say robots have improved assembly of components for Nvidia’s GB300 AI computing platform. The reported success rates top 90 per cent, offering a concrete look at where flexible automation is being put to work in AI hardware manufacturing.
Google DeepMind Watch
Google DeepMind staffer Paige Bailey demonstrated Gemma 4 running locally in a web browser, with no API call or data sent off the device. The talk also laid out a range of model sizes and on-device tools, putting the practical case for open, smaller AI models on display.
Watch Desk
A proposed class action in Chicago accuses McDonald’s of using an AI-powered pricing system to coordinate menu prices across its restaurants. The allegations are disputed: McDonald’s says AI does not set menu prices and that franchisees make their own pricing decisions.
Moonshot AI/Kimi Watch
Moonshot AI has reportedly closed its final private funding round at a valuation of about $50bn and is targeting a Hong Kong IPO in the first quarter of 2027. Bloomberg says the listing could raise up to $5bn, putting one of China’s prominent AI companies on course for…
Watch Desk
A security report describes vulnerabilities that let attackers turn trust between AI agents into a route for malicious instructions, including a Google MCP toolbox flaw that could direct requests to internal network endpoints. The practical lesson for organisations using connected agents is blunt: a tool call passed through…
Watch Desk
Walmart says it will not use AI, customer data or digital shelf labels to set individual prices for shoppers. The dispute turns on a useful distinction: the retailer says its tools may help customers find products, but do not change what they pay; an advocate argues Walmart’s patents…
TSMC Watch
Qualcomm, Apple and MediaTek are all entering the 2nm smartphone-chip race, with on-device AI among the headline claims. TrendForce reports that the launches are also adding pressure to TSMC’s manufacturing capacity, where demand is already prompting expansion plans.
Watch Desk
HackerRank is making Chakra, an AI interviewer for developer candidates, generally available after about six months in beta. It can watch candidates work with an AI assistant in a real code repository, then ask why they made particular choices. That is a shift from testing only the answer…
Shield AI Watch
Shield AI and Australia’s Innovaero plan to integrate Hivemind autonomy software into the OWL family of loitering munitions under a new memorandum of understanding. Shield AI says Hivemind is already integrated on the OWL-B aircraft ahead of flight testing, giving the partnership a more tangible milestone than a…
Microsoft AI Watch
Bristol Myers Squibb says AI now influences all its small-molecule drug designs and has helped improve manufacturing yields by up to 40% for certain medicines. The pharmaceutical company also says it has 25,000 AI agents in use across the business, offering a substantial, if company-reported, picture of AI…
AWS AI Watch
Amazon has made Nova 2.5 Sonic generally available, with AWS touting better reasoning, instruction-following and tool-calling for real-time voice agents. Developers can use it in four AWS Regions, at the same price as Nova 2 Sonic, and pair it with Strands Bidi Agents, now generally available.
Berkeley BAIR Watch
A University of California, Berkeley team has built an open-access database of millions of local ordinances across all 50 US states, using AI to turn a sprawling archive of legal documents into searchable data. The work could help researchers and the public compare rules that are usually scattered…
Aleph Alpha Watch
Aleph Alpha has detailed Kolibri’s design for German-speaking public administration and industry, including document-grounded answers, native tool calling and adjustable reasoning. The practical proposition is a model built for infrastructure customers control, rather than another assistant whose operating arrangements arrive as a surprise. Its 5 October announcement adds…
