Page 18 - Artifical Intelligence

Amazon may auto-upgrade Prime users to Alexa+ as it expands beyond speakers

Amazon is rolling out Alexa+ more widely, adding browser access, deeper Fire TV integration and auto-upgrades for some Prime users

2026 begins with big layoffs: Meta, Citigroup, BlackRock reduce staff

Meta, Citigroup and BlackRock have announced major layoffs this month, cutting hundreds to thousands of jobs as companies restructure in 2026

Puch AI founder meets Yogi Adityanath, praises UP's future-tech push

Puch AI co-founder and CEO Siddharth Bhatia on Monday described artificial intelligence as the "next big thing" and appreciated the Uttar Pradesh government's clear and focused approach towards adopting future-oriented technologies. After meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here, Bhatia said the state government's vision and policy direction on AI were well-defined, which would translate into tangible outcomes in the coming years, including large-scale employment generation. He said universal and inclusive access to AI had the potential to transform both Uttar Pradesh and the country. The rapid adoption of AI across sectors in the state reflected the government's commitment to building a developed India and a developed Uttar Pradesh, according to a statement issued by the government. Bhatia said the use of AI in India has grown significantly in recent years, but stressed the importance of ensuring that the country's data remains within India. Secure domestic data would enable m

Finops platform Bluecopa raises $7.5 million in Series A funding round

Finops startup Bluecopa raised $7.5 million in a Series A round led by Analog Partners to expand its AI-native autonomous finance platform globally

US Ambassador-designate says India to be a part of Pax Silica: Details

Gor, who assumed office as the US ambassador to India on Monday, said that no country is as essential as India for Washington

Anthropic launches Claude for Healthcare to take on ChatGPT Health: Details

Claude for Healthcare brings health-related tools to Anthropic's AI, aiming to simplify medical information for patients while supporting hospitals and insurers with routine tasks

India needs specific AI regulations for Grok-like issues: Experts

The Grok controversy has exposed gaps in India's tech laws, reviving calls for AI-specific regulation, conditional safe harbour, and stronger safeguards against misuse of generative tools

NIIT Learning Systems acquires US-based SweetRush in $26 million deal

NIIT Learning Systems (NIIT Managed Training Services) on Saturday announced it has acquired SweetRush, a US-based firm that provides AI-led custom learning experience design and strategic training interventions, for a total consideration of up to USD 26 million. The acquisition was made through a wholly-owned subsidiary, NIIT (USA), Inc., according to a release. The aggregate USD 26 million tag includes annual performance-based earnouts over the next five years, subject to certain customary adjustments in accordance with definitive agreements. Headquartered in San Francisco, USA, SweetRush was founded in 2001 by Arturo Schwartzberg and Andrei Hedstrom. It operates with over 100 team members and an extended pool of industry experts across the United States and Costa Rica, supported by a broader pool of learning professionals. "The union brings together SweetRush's custom, AI-enabled, human-centred learning experience design with NIIT's global managed learning scale," NIIT Learnings

X limits Grok image-generation tool to paid users amid global abuse concern

X has restricted its Grok AI image-generation tool to paid users after reports emerged of people using it to generate objectionable images of women and children

Global copper shortage may worsen as AI, data centres, defence demand rises

Copper has soared to record highs above $13,000 a metric ton in London, driven by a slew of mine outages and moves to stockpile the metal in the US ahead of possible Trump administration tariffs

Indian AI startups should work towards global leadership: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the world's trust in India is its biggest strength and emphasised the need to ensure that Indian Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles. He also said that the startups should work towards global leadership from this country, and noted that India can promote affordable AI, inclusive AI, and frugal innovation globally. Chairing a roundtable with Indian AI start-ups ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Modi suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and should promote local and indigenous content and regional languages, an official statement said. The prime minister said startups and artificial intelligence entrepreneurs are the co-architects of the country's future. As many as 12 Indian AI start-ups that have qualified for the 'AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge' summit to be held next month attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and work. Duri

Jobs of the future: These 10 roles set to grow despite rapid AI adoption

84 per cent of professionals in India feel unprepared to find a new job, even as 72 per cent say they are actively searching for a new role in 2026

China asks tech companies to halt orders for Nvidia H200 AI chips

Beijing is worried that Chinese companies may rush to stockpile US chips before the government makes a final decision

AI adoption highest among Indians: How it is changing shopping trends

AI adoption was highest in India among those surveyed, with 41 per cent consumers using AI shopping tools and 40 per cent planning to use them in the future

Infosys ties up with AWS to scale enterprise use of generative AI

The move focuses on combining Infosys Topaz, an AI-first set of services and platforms using GenAI technologies, and Amazon Q Developer, AWS's generative AI-powered assistant

Musk's Grok faces global backlash over sexualised images of women, children

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is facing a backlash from governments around the world after a recent surge in sexualized images of women and children generated without consent by the artificial intelligence-powered tool. On Tuesday, Britain's top technology official demanded that Musk's social media platform X take urgent action while a Polish lawmaker cited it as a reason to enact digital safety laws. The European Union's executive arm has denounced Grok while officials and regulators in France, India, Malaysia and Brazil have condemned the platform and called for investigations. Rising alarm from disparate nations points to the nightmarish potential of nudification apps that use artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit deepfake images. Here's a closer look: **Image generation The problem emerged after the launch last year of Grok Imagine, an AI image generator that allows users to create videos and pictures by typing in text prompts. It includes a so-called spicy mode

Arrowhead raises $3 mn to expand human-like voice AI for financial sales

The startup's human-like voice AI can handle long sales calls and, according to the company, delivers significantly higher conversion rates than human agents

Motorola 'Razr Fold' may feature triple cameras, AI button: What to expect

Motorola's first book-style foldable smartphone is expected to expand the Razr lineup, with reports hinting at its design, camera setup, and more

Nvidia at CES 2026: From AI that can drive cars to new chip architecture

During its CES 2026 keynote, Nvidia announced a new chip platform, open AI models and consumer-facing systems, with a focus on robotics and autonomous vehicles

CES 2026: AMD unveils new AI chips and MI500 processor roadmap in Las Vegas

AMD signed a deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI that'll add billions of dollars to the company's annual revenue. The first deployment of AI chips that incorporate AMD's MI400 series to roll out this year