Mira Murati’s start-up presents its first AI model and aims to free voice AI from the question-and-answer model. The model processes audio, video and text in 200-millisecond chunks in parallel and aims to beat OpenAI’s GPT Realtime 2 and Google’s Gemini Live in terms of interaction quality.
A large-scale analysis of websites from the Internet Archive shows just how much AI text already saturates the web. According to the researchers, though, the actual effects look quite different from what the public assumes.
Nvidia researchers have unveiled Lyra 2.0, a system that generates large, coherent 3D environments from a single photograph. The resulting scenes can be explored in real time and used directly in robot simulations.
A Bloomberg report reveals how agentic AI is shaking up India’s massive IT industry. Companies like Infosys are spending weeks retraining new hires because the country’s universities aren’t keeping up with reality.
Softbank is uniting Japan's industrial elite to build the country's own AI foundation, trying to reduce dependence on American and Chinese models.
Eight Japanese corporations, including NEC, Honda, Sony, three major banks, Nippon Steel, and Kobe Steel, have invested in a new Softbank unit. The goal is to develop a foundation model with roughly one trillion parameters by the end of the decade. The project focuses on "Physical AI," meaning artificial intelligence that can autonomously control robots and machinery.
Even large Japanese companies increasingly rely on foundation models from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Alibaba. But as AI handles more sensitive data like the operational status of industrial facilities, concerns about training data flowing to foreign servers are growing, according to Nikkei. All data processing is set to take place on Japanese soil, including at a data center Softbank is building in a former Sharp LCD factory in Sakai, near Osaka.
Through the funding agency NEDO, roughly one trillion yen (about $6.7 billion) is expected to flow into national AI development over the next five years. Softbank's new unit is considered a leading candidate for these funds.
According to CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis, the agency recently produced its first fully autonomous intelligence report using AI, Politico reports. Over the next few years, AI assistants will be integrated into all of the agency's analysis platforms. These tools are meant to help analysts with tasks like drafting assessments, verifying findings, and identifying trends.
Ellis stressed that humans will continue to make the important decisions. The CIA tested 300 AI projects over the past year, covering areas like data processing and language translation. The agency's expanded Center for Cyber Intelligence, which oversees the CIA's covert hacking operations, is also set to make greater use of AI and emerging technologies.
Ellis also took an indirect shot at Anthropic, saying the CIA won't let private companies dictate how it uses their technology. Anthropic is currently in a dispute with the Pentagon after the company tried to contractually restrict its models from being used for lethal strikes and mass surveillance. The Pentagon has since classified Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Ellis also warned that China has made significant technological gains.
