Robotics & AI

Baidu Launches New AI Models to Strengthen Its Position in a Competitive Market
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Robotics & AI

Baidu Launches New AI Models to Strengthen Its Position in a Competitive Market

Baidu, China’s tech giant, has launched two new AI models, ERNIE X1 and ERNIE 4.5, as part of its strategy to intensify competition in the rapidly evolving AI industry. The ERNIE X1 model is designed for advanced reasoning tasks and is marketed as an efficient alternative to DeepSeek's R1 model, offering similar capabilities at a fraction of the cost. ERNIE 4.5 focuses on multimodal understanding and excels in interpreting complex internet content, such as memes and satire. Baidu has made these models available for free, ahead of the scheduled release, signaling its commitment to regaining leadership in AI. Despite initial struggles with its Ernie chatbot, Baidu aims to attract more users and strengthen its market position amid growing competition from rivals like ByteDance, Alibab...
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Apple Delays AI-Powered Enhancements to Siri
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Robotics & AI

Apple Delays AI-Powered Enhancements to Siri

Apple has announced a delay in the rollout of AI-driven enhancements to its Siri voice assistant, originally slated for release in 2025. The company now anticipates these features will become available in the "coming year," potentially as late as 2026. These enhancements aim to make Siri more personalized by improving its contextual understanding and enabling it to perform tasks across various apps. For instance, users would be able to ask Siri to locate a podcast recommended by a friend or retrieve flight information shared by a relative, leveraging data stored on their devices. The delay highlights Apple's ongoing challenges in advancing Siri's capabilities to match those of competitors like Google's Gemini and Amazon's Alexa, both of which have rapidly incorporated AI feat...
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SoftBank Seeks $16 Billion Loan to Fuel AI Investments
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Robotics & AI, Startups & Business

SoftBank Seeks $16 Billion Loan to Fuel AI Investments

SoftBank Group Corp., under the leadership of CEO Masayoshi Son, is reportedly negotiating a $16 billion loan to bolster its investments in artificial intelligence (AI), according to sources cited by The Information. The Japanese conglomerate is also considering an additional $8 billion loan in early 2026 to further its AI ambitions. In January, reports indicated that SoftBank was in discussions to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, signaling a strategic move to deepen its involvement in the AI sector. This prospective investment would supplement the $15 billion SoftBank has already committed to Stargate, a joint venture with Oracle and OpenAI, aiming to invest up to $500 billion to maintain U.S. leadership in AI amidst global competition. The Sta...
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Amazon Unveils Ocelot: Its First Quantum Computing Chip
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Future Technology, Robotics & AI

Amazon Unveils Ocelot: Its First Quantum Computing Chip

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has unveiled its inaugural quantum computing chip, Ocelot, marking a significant stride in the quantum computing arena. Developed at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology, Ocelot aims to enhance quantum error correction efficiency, potentially reducing associated costs by up to 90%. This advancement is pivotal, as quantum computers are highly susceptible to environmental disturbances, necessitating robust error correction for reliable computations. Ocelot employs "cat qubits," named after Schrödinger's cat, which inherently suppress specific errors, thereby decreasing the number of physical qubits required for accurate computations. This design could significantly lower the qubit count nee...
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Amazon Unveils Alexa+ with AI Overhaul: Smarter, More Personalized Voice Assistant
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Future Technology, Robotics & AI

Amazon Unveils Alexa+ with AI Overhaul: Smarter, More Personalized Voice Assistant

Amazon has unveiled Alexa+, an advanced iteration of its voice assistant, now enhanced with generative AI to offer more natural and personalized interactions. Priced at $19.99 per month, Alexa+ is free for Amazon Prime members and is set to roll out to Echo devices starting next month. This upgrade enables Alexa+ to understand and process natural language more effectively, allowing it to perform tasks such as booking restaurant reservations, ordering groceries, and creating personalized bedtime stories. Additionally, it can analyze handwritten notes and provide detailed summaries of events from Ring cameras. Built using Amazon's Nova large language models and integrating technology from AI startup Anthropic, Alexa+ aims to compete with other AI-driven assistants like OpenAI's ChatGPT and G...
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Microsoft Invests in Veeam Software to Advance AI-Powered Data Protection
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Robotics & AI, Startups & Business

Microsoft Invests in Veeam Software to Advance AI-Powered Data Protection

On February 25, 2025, Microsoft announced an equity investment in Veeam Software, a leading provider of data backup and recovery solutions. This strategic partnership aims to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) products that enhance data protection and recovery capabilities. Veeam's software specializes in rapid data restoration following cybersecurity incidents, such as ransomware attacks or accidental data loss, with features like immutable backups to prevent unauthorized data modifications. The collaboration will focus on integrating Microsoft's AI services into Veeam's offerings, emphasizing joint research and development efforts. This move builds upon their existing relationship, including a five-year partnership established in March 2024 to innovate data protection solution...
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AI-Powered Recruitment: Mercor’s Rise to a $2 Billion Valuation
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Robotics & AI, Startups & Business

AI-Powered Recruitment: Mercor’s Rise to a $2 Billion Valuation

Mercor, an AI-driven recruiting startup founded by 21-year-old Thiel Fellow Brendan Foody, has achieved a $2 billion valuation following a recent funding round. The San Francisco-based company raised $100 million in its Series B round, led by Felicis, with participation from General Catalyst, DST Global, Benchmark, and Menlo Ventures. Notable previous investors include Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, and Larry Summers. Founded in 2023, Mercor specializes in connecting experts from various fields—such as law, medicine, and chemistry—with contract positions to aid in the development of generative AI models. The company is currently profitable, expecting $1 million in profit and $7 million in revenue this month. With a team of approximately 75 employees, Mercor plans to expand its wo...
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Elon Musk’s xAI Unveils Grok-3: A New Rival to ChatGPT and DeepSeek
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Robotics & AI

Elon Musk’s xAI Unveils Grok-3: A New Rival to ChatGPT and DeepSeek

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, has unveiled Grok-3, its latest chatbot designed to compete with leading AI models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek. Launched on February 17, 2025, Grok-3 boasts advanced reasoning capabilities and has been trained with ten times more computing power than its predecessor, Grok-2, utilizing xAI's massive Colossus supercomputer. Grok-3 introduces two distinct modes: "Think," which displays step-by-step reasoning, and "Big Brain," tailored for complex problem-solving tasks that require substantial computational resources. Early evaluations suggest that Grok-3 outperforms models from OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek, positioning xAI as a formidable contender in the AI industry. Access to Grok-3 is currently available thro...
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South Korea’s Ambitious Plan to Secure 10,000 GPUs for National AI Computing Centre
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Robotics & AI

South Korea’s Ambitious Plan to Secure 10,000 GPUs for National AI Computing Centre

In a strategic move to bolster its position in the global artificial intelligence (AI) arena, South Korea has unveiled plans to acquire 10,000 high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) within this year. Acting President Choi Sang-mok emphasized that as AI industry competition intensifies, the focus is shifting from corporate battles to national innovation ecosystems. The government aims to achieve this ambitious GPU procurement through public-private collaboration, facilitating the early launch of services at the national AI computing center. This initiative comes on the heels of recent U.S. regulations aimed at controlling the export of advanced AI chips. While these restrictions limit sales to numerous countries, South Korea remains among the 18 nations exempted, ensuring ...
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Dell Nears $5 Billion AI Server Deal with Elon Musk’s xAI
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Robotics & AI, Startups & Business

Dell Nears $5 Billion AI Server Deal with Elon Musk’s xAI

Dell Technologies is on the verge of finalizing a monumental deal exceeding $5 billion to supply AI-optimized servers to Elon Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI. This agreement involves the provision of servers equipped with Nvidia's GB200 semiconductors, slated for delivery within this year. The collaboration signifies a substantial expansion of xAI's computational capabilities, particularly for its Memphis-based supercomputer, Colossus. Plans are underway to scale Colossus to accommodate over one million GPUs, a significant leap from its current 100,000 units. This development underscores the escalating demand for advanced hardware to support complex AI applications. Notably, Musk's enterprises, including Tesla and xAI, have emerged as prominent consumers in this sector. In a re...
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