Artificial Intelligence

DeepSeek seeks fresh funding at $74 bn valuation ahead of onshore IPO

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is reportedly planning to raise up to 50 billion yuan in a fresh funding round at a valuation of about 500 billion yuan, ahead of a potential mainland stock market listing

Chinese tech firms join global race to reinvent smartphones for AI era

China's ZTE unveiled NaviX Ultra, which it calls the world's first agentic AI smartphone, highlighting an intensifying race among Chinese tech firms to redefine smartphones with built-in AI sevices

US considers creating Finra-like watchdog to vet advanced AI models

The proposed regulator, modelled on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, would review AI safety with industry participation as the Trump admin considers a more structured oversight framework

GCCs struggle to go beyond cost arbitrage in AI era, shows data

India's GCC sector faces a structural reset as AI and automation expose centres focused on routine work, forcing companies to shift towards innovation and strategic ownership

Insurers deepen AI adoption to improve underwriting, customer service

Life and general insurers are expanding AI deployment across underwriting, claims, fraud detection and customer service to improve efficiency, productivity and turnaround times

Apple narrows gap with Nvidia in race for world's most valuable firm

Apple briefly overtakes Nvidia in intraday trade as investors broaden their focus beyond AI chipmakers, narrowing the gap in the race for the world's top valuation

Xi pitches China as leader of a new global artificial intelligence order

Xi Jinping uses China's premier AI conference to promote open-source technology, strengthen ties with the Global South and position Beijing as an alternative to US-led AI governance

China's Moonshot launches world's largest open AI model, nears US rivals

The Chinese startup said its 2.8 trillion-parameter open-weight model delivers performance approaching Anthropic's frontier systems while supporting a 1 million-token context window

AI will not diminish role of IT services: Tech Mahindra's Anand Mahindra

The Tech Mahindra chairman said AI will transform rather than replace IT services and called for India to build sovereign AI capabilities through trusted innovation

Cars24 says AI is becoming its operating system as usage surges across biz

SoftBank-backed auto-tech firm processed more than 1.1 trillion AI tokens in the June quarter as AI expanded across engineering, customer support, inspections and lending

AI should be a global 'symphony', not 'solo performance': Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said the development of AI should not be a "solo performance" by one country, but a "symphony of global collaboration." Xi made these remarks while addressing the opening of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), China's largest annual AI industry event, in Shanghai. "With AI advancing at a staggering speed, we must ensure its development is positive, for the good and for humanity," he said. It must be guided with human wisdom and international consensus, he said. To further support AI development in the next five years, he said China will provide developing countries including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Arab League, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the African Union, Latin American and the BRICS member countries with 5,000 research projects in AI, as well as training, seminar programmes and "cooperation centres", the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported. Earlier, 29 count

AI or humans? What's driving the productivity boom in the US? | US Economy

Is AI really driving America's productivity boom? The data suggests the story is more complicated. In this video, Business Standard explains why US productivity has been rising.

IBM’s $70 billion wipeout: How the AI boom caught it off guard | Business news | IT sector

IBM has survived wars, recessions and multiple technology revolutions. But the AI boom has dealt it one of its biggest setbacks in decades. IBM’s shares crashed 25%, wiping out

Apple Intelligence AI service cleared for use on iPhones in China

China's cyberspace regulator has approved Apple Intelligence for use on iPhones, with AI capabilities set to be powered by Alibaba's Qwen and Baidu's models for users in the country

Mira Murati's startup Thinking Machines launches an open-weight AI model

Named Inkling, the open-weight model allows developers to download, run and customise its underlying systems; the 975-bn-parameter model is the first general-purpose AI release from Thinking Machines

AI memory explained: How smarter digital assistants reshape privacy debate

AI assistants are beginning to remember users' conversations, preferences and digital context. Here's how AI memory works, why companies are adopting it, and what it means for privacy

India's first govt-led AI university: How Karnataka plans to become an AI-native state

At Google I/O Connect India 2026, Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar announced an ambitious AI roadmap to make the state an "AI-native state." The plan includes India's first government-led AI Uni

AI tools emerge as mainstream search option for users in India: Survey

More than half of Indian users now rely on AI assistants and chatbots for information, with many using them alongside traditional search methods, a YouGov survey has found

The Chinese puzzle: Exports and AI are booming. So why is growth slowing?

China's factories are booming, exports are at record highs, and its AI industry is expanding rapidly. So why is the world's second-largest economy slowing down?

DeepMind's Hassabis calls for global standards body for frontier AI

Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis says AGI could arrive within years and proposes a US-led Frontier AI Standards Body as the basis for an international framework to govern advanced AI models