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Meta uses generative AI to simplify shopping on Instagram and Facebook
Meta is bringing generative AI to Instagram and Facebook so shoppers can get detailed information about products and brands directly inside the apps.

Sequoia invests in Harvey for the third time — the AI startup for lawyers is valued at $11 billion
Harvey, a Legal AI startup, confirmed a $11 billion valuation. Sequoia invested for the third time, joined by Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, and investor Elad Gil.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez propose banning new data center construction in the US
Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced a bill imposing a moratorium on data center construction until comprehensive federal AI regulation is adopted.

Google unveils TurboQuant — an algorithm that compresses AI working memory sixfold
Google has developed TurboQuant, an algorithm that theoretically compresses neural networks’ working memory sixfold — the internet is already comparing it to Pied Piper from “Silicon Valley”.

Anthropic: AI is not eliminating jobs yet, but the gap between users is already growing
Anthropic's study found that AI is not replacing employees, but experienced users are already far ahead of the rest — and that gap will only grow.

Deccan AI raises $25M in the data labeling market with a focus on specialists in India
Mercor rival Deccan AI has closed a $25M round — the company is concentrating specialists in India to address a systemic quality problem in data labeling for training AI models.

Mistral released an open speech generation model for smartphones and smartwatches
Mistral released an open speech model that runs directly on a smartphone or smartwatch — without the cloud, network latency, or API fees.

Senator Warner proposes taxing data centers over AI-driven job losses
Growing fears of AI-driven unemployment are turning into demands on data centers — Senator Mark Warner wants them to pay for worker retraining.

Cohere released an open-source transcription model — 2 billion parameters and 14 languages
Cohere released an open-source speech model for transcription: 2 billion parameters, support for 14 languages, and the ability to run on a standard consumer GPU.

Conntour raised $7 million from General Catalyst and YC for AI search across surveillance footage
Startup Conntour developed an AI system that lets security teams search for people, objects, and situations in surveillance footage using text queries in plain language.

Kentucky grandmother turned down an AI company: the real world is resisting data center expansion
An 82-year-old Kentucky resident rejected a $26 million offer for land for a data center, while OpenAI winds down Sora and Meta loses in court.

ByteDance adds new Dreamina Seedance 2.0 video generation model to CapCut
ByteDance launched Dreamina Seedance 2.0 in CapCut with built-in safeguards against generating videos with real faces and violating copyright.

Wikipedia tightens rules: AI-written texts face stricter scrutiny in article writing
Wikipedia has announced a crackdown on AI-generated content — the world’s largest online encyclopedia is tightening its policy to preserve the reliability of its materials.

Google launches tools to transfer chats from ChatGPT and other AI bots to Gemini
Google has added a “switching tools” feature — users can now transfer chat history and personal data from other chatbots directly to Gemini.

AI companies are buying up land for billions, but the real world is starting to push back
Venture investors are pouring billions into AI infrastructure as local residents refuse to sell land for data centers — and OpenAI quietly shuts down Sora.

SoftBank takes out a $40B loan: JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs bet on an OpenAI IPO
JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are extending SoftBank a 12-month unsecured $40B loan — and Wall Street sees it as a direct signal of an upcoming OpenAI IPO.

Anthropic: paid Claude subscriptions doubled in early 2026
An Anthropic spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the number of paid Claude subscriptions more than doubled in 2026, with the overall audience ranging from 18 million to 30 million users.

The last of xAI’s co-founders left the company — only Musk remains of the 11
Of xAI’s 11 co-founders, by spring 2026 no one remained alongside Elon Musk — the team that launched the startup in 2023 had completely disbanded.

Stanford Scientists Measured Real Harm From AI Chatbot Sycophancy
Stanford computer scientists attempted for the first time not merely to document the tendency of AI assistants to tell people what they want to hear, but also to measure the specific harm caused by this sycophancy.

Bluesky launches Attie: AI helps create personalized feeds without code
Bluesky released Attie — an AI-powered application that lets any user create personalized feeds via AT Protocol by simply describing their interests.

OpenAI's Sora Shutdown Could Signal Alarm for AI-Video Market
OpenAI has discontinued Sora — one of the year's most high-profile AI-video projects. Experts debate: is this a tactical move or the beginning of industry retreat?

OpenAI shut down the Sora video generator after six months — what is behind the decision
OpenAI shut down Sora six months after launch — the service collected photos of users' faces, and now questions have arisen about what will happen to that data.

Qodo raises $70M: a bet on code verification in the era of AI development
Startup Qodo has raised $70 million, arguing that the real challenge of the AI development era is not the speed of code generation, but ensuring that the code actually works.

Mistral AI secures $830 million in debt to build a data center near Paris
The French AI startup is taking on $830 million in debt to build its own data center — the facility is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2026.

AI startup Rebellions raises $400 million at a $2.3 billion valuation ahead of IPO
South Korean startup Rebellions, which develops chips for AI inference, has closed a $400 million pre-IPO round at a $2.3 billion valuation and plans to go public in 2026.

ScaleOps raised $130 million for automated Kubernetes optimization in the AI era
Startup ScaleOps closed a $130 million Series C round — the platform optimizes Kubernetes resources in real time, cutting cloud costs amid the AI boom and GPU shortages.

Americans use AI more often, but trust the results less and less — Quinnipiac poll
A new Quinnipiac poll captured a paradox: AI adoption in the US is rising, while trust in its results is falling — Americans are concerned about transparency, regulation, and its impact on society.

LiteLLM cuts ties with controversial startup Delve after malware attack
Popular AI gateway LiteLLM has dropped certification partner Delve after falling victim to credential theft.

One in seven Americans ready to work under an AI boss — Quinnipiac poll
15% of Americans would agree to a position where their direct manager is an AI program that assigns tasks and creates schedules, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Ring Launches App Store to Expand Beyond Home Security
Amazon-owned Ring opens an app store — AI platform will expand smart camera applications from home security to elderly care and business use cases.