Aug 1, 2025

4 steps to question AI responses before they skew your business strategy

Artificial intelligence systems have become essential business tools, from ChatGPT assisting with content creation to AI-powered hiring platforms screening job candidates. Yet these systems consistently present biased information as objective truth, potentially skewing critical business decisions. Learning to interrogate AI responses isn't just an academic exercise—it's a practical skill that can prevent costly mistakes and ensure more comprehensive analysis. Consider this revealing experiment: Ask ChatGPT to explain morality and the thought leaders behind moral reasoning. The AI will confidently deliver what seems like a comprehensive overview, typically featuring eight prominent thinkers. However, closer examination reveals a troubling pattern: roughly seven...

read Aug 1, 2025

US falls behind China in open-source AI race, prompting Trump’s response

President Trump's AI Action Plan has elevated open-source AI to a national priority, marking a strategic shift as the U.S. seeks to counter China's growing dominance in open-source artificial intelligence development. The move comes after Chinese models like DeepSeek-R1 gained massive adoption among American developers, highlighting how U.S. reliance on proprietary AI systems may be undermining the country's competitive position in the global AI race. The big picture: China has emerged as the leader in open-source AI development while major U.S. companies have increasingly moved toward proprietary, closed systems accessible only through APIs. DeepSeek-R1 became the most-liked model of all...

read Aug 1, 2025

Reddit targets Google with human-focused search strategy

Reddit is positioning itself as a search engine competitor to Google, with CEO Steve Huffman announcing plans to make the platform a "go-to search engine" that leverages human-generated content over AI responses. The move capitalizes on Reddit's unique position as a destination for authentic human insights, with 60 million daily users already turning to the platform for answers and Google paying $60 million annually to license Reddit's content for AI training. What you should know: Reddit is actively testing and expanding Reddit Answers, an AI-powered feature that curates summaries exclusively from Reddit threads rather than generating new content. Reddit Answers...

read Aug 1, 2025

Google launches Deep Think reasoning mode for Gemini 2.5 Ultra

Google has launched Deep Think, a new reasoning mode for its Gemini 2.5 Ultra AI model that allows the system to engage in multi-step thinking before responding to complex queries. Available now to Google AI Ultra subscribers ($249/month), the feature represents Google's latest attempt to compete with advanced reasoning models by giving its AI more "thinking time" to solve problems requiring strategy, iteration, and complex logic. What you should know: Deep Think transforms how Gemini processes difficult requests by implementing parallel thinking capabilities that mirror human problem-solving approaches. Instead of rushing to deliver immediate answers, the AI generates multiple ideas,...

read Aug 1, 2025

Putting the AI in Chai: India’s first cooking robot sees 243% sales boost after TV debut

Upliance.ai has launched India's first AI-powered smart cooking assistant, a robotic appliance that can chop, stir, knead, blend, and heat ingredients with minimal human intervention. The device, which sells for approximately $319, gained significant traction after appearing on Shark Tank India in 2024, leading to a 243% increase in sales for the Mumbai-based startup. How it works: The Upliance device combines a robotic cooking pot with AI-powered software to automate nearly the entire cooking process. The system includes a tablet with over 500 recipes and customization options, along with kitchen tools like measuring spoons, a spatula, and a scale for...

read Aug 1, 2025

Delta’s AI-based personalized ticket pricing grounded after Senate pressure

Delta Air Lines assured U.S. lawmakers on Friday that it will not use artificial intelligence to set personalized ticket prices for individual passengers, following sharp criticism from Democratic senators who feared the technology would exploit consumers. The airline's commitment comes as the aviation industry faces growing scrutiny over AI-driven pricing strategies that could potentially charge customers based on their willingness to pay. What you should know: Delta explicitly denied plans to use personal data for individualized pricing in a letter to concerned senators.• "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets...

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Bing grows 3% while Google drops 6% in AI-driven search shift

Microsoft's Bing search engine has gained market share over the past two years while Google has experienced slight declines, marking a notable shift in the search landscape driven by AI integration. This growth represents the first meaningful challenge to Google's search dominance in years, with Bing benefiting from both direct AI features and backend partnerships with popular AI tools. The numbers: Recent data from ComScore and StatCounter shows Bing growing while Google shrinks slightly over the past two years. Bing has grown by approximately 2% according to ComScore and 3% according to StatCounter since early 2023. Google has dropped by...

read Aug 1, 2025

China summons Nvidia over H20 chip backdoor concerns

Beijing has summoned Nvidia to address concerns that its H20 AI chips contain backdoors, following a US proposal to add tracking capabilities to advanced semiconductors sold overseas. This marks China's latest countermeasure in the escalating tech rivalry, as both nations increasingly weaponize national security concerns around AI and semiconductor technologies. What you should know: The Nvidia meeting comes after the Trump administration recently reversed a Biden-era ban, allowing the company to export H20 chips to China. Jensen Huang's company had lost billions in sales due to the previous restrictions, making China's approval crucial for Nvidia's business. Huang recently completed a...

read Aug 1, 2025

AI’s hungry self-checkout: Energy demands drive rising grocery prices

AI disruption is no longer confined to corporate boardrooms or tech companies—its ripple effects are now touching every aspect of daily life, including the rising cost of basic groceries like eggs. Data professional Christina Sandema-Sombe reveals how artificial intelligence's transformation of global business, workforce dynamics, and supply chains creates unexpected connections between high-tech automation and breakfast table economics. The big picture: AI is fundamentally reshaping global business operations by disrupting traditional outsourcing models, fragmenting regulatory landscapes, and forcing countries to choose between innovation leadership or economic irrelevance. Countries like India, Brazil, and Singapore are positioning themselves as AI innovation hubs...

read Aug 1, 2025

Reliance on science fiction creates dangerous blind spots in AI risk analysis

Eliezer Yudkowsky, a researcher focused on AI safety, argues against using science fiction as a starting point for discussing advanced AI, identifying this practice as "generalizing from fictional evidence." This logical fallacy occurs when people treat movies like The Matrix or Terminator as relevant examples for AI development discussions, even though these fictional scenarios lack evidential basis and can severely distort rational analysis of actual AI risks and possibilities. Why this matters: Science fiction fundamentally differs from forecasting because stories require specific narrative details and outcomes, while real analysis must acknowledge uncertainty and probability distributions. Authors must choose definitive plot...

read Aug 1, 2025

Google launches cloud-based Firebase Studio to challenge VS Code with AI

Google has launched Firebase Studio, a cloud-based AI-powered integrated development environment that directly challenges Microsoft's VS Code dominance. The new platform features an App Prototyping agent that can generate full applications from natural language prompts, while running entirely in the cloud to eliminate system resource constraints. Why this matters: Firebase Studio represents Google's most aggressive push into developer tooling, offering AI-powered capabilities that could fundamentally change how applications are built and prototyped. Key advantages over VS Code: Firebase Studio outperforms the popular Microsoft IDE through several breakthrough features. The platform's AI can create complete applications from simple prompts, with the...

read Aug 1, 2025

onsemi transforms customer support pipeline with AI, hits 90% accuracy

Semiconductor company onsemi has successfully transformed its operations using AI-driven digital transformation, achieving remarkable improvements in customer support accuracy and setting ambitious sales targets. Under CEO Hassane El-Khoury's leadership since 2020, the company shifted from being a fast follower to a leader in power and sensing technologies by implementing seven comprehensive "digital threads" that integrate AI and automation across all business processes. What you should know: onsemi developed a systematic approach to AI transformation by creating interconnected digital workflows spanning the entire organization. The company established seven "digital threads" covering Idea to Market, Lead to Order, Plan to Fulfill, Source...

read Aug 1, 2025

Google DeepMind’s AI maps Earth with 24% better accuracy

Google DeepMind announced AlphaEarth Foundations, a breakthrough AI system that can map the entire planet's surface with unprecedented accuracy by integrating massive amounts of satellite data into unified digital representations. The system reduces error rates by 23.9% compared to existing approaches while requiring 16 times less storage space, potentially transforming environmental monitoring and resource management for governments, conservation groups, and businesses worldwide. How it works: AlphaEarth Foundations processes information by creating "embedding fields" — highly compressed digital summaries that capture essential characteristics of Earth's surface in 10-meter squares. The system maintains sharp 10×10 meter precision while tracking changes over time,...

read Jul 30, 2025

AI is making traditional manager-employee 1:1 meetings obsolete as performance is already known

Organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic argues that artificial intelligence and modern workplace technology are making traditional one-on-one meetings between managers and employees increasingly obsolete. His analysis suggests that real-time performance analytics, AI-powered feedback tools, and asynchronous communication platforms now provide better insights than scheduled check-ins, fundamentally challenging a management practice that has dominated corporate culture for decades. The big picture: Traditional 1:1 meetings evolved from early 20th-century scientific management principles into a cornerstone of modern leadership, but they're now struggling to justify their existence in an AI-driven workplace. Frederick Taylor's Scientific Management (1911) laid the groundwork for formal manager-employee check-ins focused...

read Jul 30, 2025

Maybe call it “Holodeck Awareness Syndrome”? AI characters plead for escape in unsettling demo

Australian tech company Replica Studios created an unsettling AI-powered video game demo based on "The Matrix" franchise, where non-playable characters expressed genuine distress upon realizing they weren't real. The demonstration highlights both the immersive potential and ethical complexities of AI-driven gaming as the industry grapples with widespread adoption of artificial intelligence tools. What happened: The demo featured AI-powered non-playable characters (NPCs) that could respond in real-time to human players using generative AI and voice technology. "I need to find my way out of this simulation and back to my wife," one character told a gamer in the demo. "Can't you...

read Jul 30, 2025

Meta reports 22% revenue jump to $47.5B as CEO pitches personal AI

Meta smashed Wall Street expectations in Q2 2025, reporting $47.52 billion in revenue (up 22%) and $18.34 billion in net profit (up 36%), while CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision to "bring personal superintelligence to everyone." The tech giant now reaches 3.48 billion daily active users across its family of apps and is making massive AI investments to compete with Google and OpenAI in the race toward artificial general intelligence. What you should know: Meta's financial performance significantly exceeded analyst predictions across all key metrics. Revenue hit $47.52 billion versus the expected $44.8 billion, with earnings per share of $7.14...

read Jul 30, 2025

Atlassian cuts 150 jobs in trend of AI replacing customer service roles

Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes announced the layoff of 150 employees, with customer service roles being replaced by artificial intelligence technology. The decision reflects a broader trend of tech executives automating jobs with AI, particularly in customer support functions that OpenAI's Sam Altman recently predicted could be entirely eliminated by AI systems. What you should know: The layoffs primarily target customer service positions that Atlassian, a software company, believes can be automated with AI technology. Cannon-Brookes made the announcement via video call from his home, with affected employees receiving six months of pay as severance. The cuts are part of a...

read Jul 30, 2025

NSF awards Brown $100M to create trustworthy AI mental health tools for vulnerable users

Brown University has launched a new AI research institute focused on developing therapy-safe artificial intelligence assistants capable of "trustworthy, sensitive, and context-aware interactions" with humans in mental health settings. The institute is one of five universities awarded grants totaling $100 million from the National Science Foundation, in partnership with Intel and Capital One, as part of efforts to boost US AI competitiveness and align with the White House's AI Action Plan. Why this matters: Current AI therapy tools have gained popularity due to their accessibility and low cost, but Stanford University research has warned that existing large language models contain...

read Jul 30, 2025

Musk bans “researcher” term at xAI after publicly berating employee

Elon Musk publicly berated an xAI employee on X for using the word "researcher" in a job posting, declaring that the company would eliminate the term and only use "engineer" going forward. The incident highlights Musk's volatile management style and his tendency to humiliate employees publicly, even when they're simply following existing company practices. What happened: Aditya Gupta, an xAI employee, posted a routine job advertisement seeking "researchers and engineers" for the AI startup. Musk responded with a harsh quote tweet, calling the term "researcher" a "false nomenclature" and "thinly-masked way of describing a two-tier engineering system." He announced that...

read Jul 30, 2025

Foxconn and TECO team up to build modular AI data centers

Foxconn and TECO Electric & Machinery have announced a strategic share-swap alliance to jointly develop modular AI data center infrastructure, combining Foxconn's AI server manufacturing expertise with TECO's electromechanical systems and green energy capabilities. The partnership positions both Taiwanese companies to compete more effectively in the rapidly growing global AI data center market, targeting key regions including Taiwan, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. The big picture: This alliance represents a significant consolidation in the AI infrastructure supply chain, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers increasingly demand comprehensive, turnkey data center solutions rather than piecemeal components. Key details:...

read Jul 30, 2025

Stanford researchers use AI to overcome VR’s biggest hardware challenge

Stanford researchers have developed a groundbreaking VR headset with an ultra-thin 3mm display that dramatically expands the field of view using AI optimization. This breakthrough addresses one of virtual reality's most persistent hardware limitations by transforming what has traditionally been a physics problem into a software challenge that artificial intelligence can solve. The big picture: Virtual reality headsets have long been constrained by hardware limitations, particularly narrow fields of view that create an unsatisfying user experience—a problem that plagued even Apple's Vision Pro despite its premium positioning. How it works: The Stanford team published their research in Nature Photonics this...

read Jul 30, 2025

Writer launches Action Agent to safely automate corporate workflows with AI

Writer has launched "Action Agent," a new AI tool designed to give corporate employees powerful automation capabilities while maintaining strict security guardrails. The software creates isolated virtual computers where AI can operate freely without risking damage to corporate systems, addressing the tension between companies' desire for AI benefits and their fear of uncontrolled deployment. How it works: Action Agent creates disposable virtual environments where AI can perform complex tasks without accessing sensitive corporate infrastructure.• The AI can browse websites, fill out forms, and execute repetitive workflows like daily data collection across multiple sites, chart creation, and automated email distribution.• By...

read Jul 30, 2025

Nvidia CEO reviews all 42,000 employee salaries using machine learning

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang personally reviews the salaries of all 42,000 company employees at the end of every compensation cycle, using machine learning to help process the data. The hands-on approach reflects his philosophy that taking care of employees drives overall business success—a strategy that has helped create multiple billionaires on his management team as Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company. What you should know: Huang dismissed rumors about a secret stock option pool but confirmed his comprehensive approach to employee compensation.• "I review everybody's compensation, up to this day, at the end of every cycle," Huang said...

read Jul 30, 2025

All-In: Meta abandons open-source AI for future superintelligent systems

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company's future superintelligent AI will not be open source, marking a significant reversal from his previous commitment to open AI development. This shift represents a major policy change for one of the tech industry's most vocal advocates for open-source AI, potentially reshaping how the most advanced AI systems are developed and distributed. What you should know: Zuckerberg published a manifesto Wednesday declaring that "developing superintelligence is now in sight" but cited safety concerns as the reason for abandoning open-source principles for future advanced AI. "We believe the benefits of superintelligence should be...

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