Industryavatarin and Yamada Denki deploy GPT‑Realtime for 24/7 multilingual voice shopping assistantavatarin, spun out of ANA Holdings, collaborated with Yamada Holdings to create the Kurashi‑Marugoto AI Agent, a multilingual, voice‑enabled shopping assistant built on OpenAI’s GPT‑Realtime.4 min read
IndustryProgram to broaden access to frontier artificial intelligence for researchersAccording to the announcement of a new program, the organizers want the benefits of frontier artificial intelligence not to be concentrated at a small number of companies and well-funded labs; the…1 min read
IndustryTarget: competitive edge comes from systems around AI models, not the models themselvesSiobhán Mc Feeney, Senior Vice President at Target, told VB Transform 2026 that the company’s advantage lies in the systems, governance and architecture built around AI models rather than the models alone.4 min read
IndustryDebt Collection Trends 2026: regulation, AI and market shifts in focusThe eleventh annual Követeléskezelési Trendek conference will take place on 15 September 2026 at the Radisson Blu Béke Hotel, organised by Portfolio and EOS.3 min read
IndustryLilian Weng leaves Thinking Machines for health reasons, then returns to OpenAILilian Weng announced she was stepping down from her role at Thinking Machines due to health concerns and shared the decision on Slack and X.2 min read
IndustryBright Machines' hybrid robotic cell keeps human work in the data thread of AI server assemblyBright Machines introduced the Hybrid BRC, a sensor-monitored robotic cell that allows human operators to perform manual assembly steps without breaking the production trace for individual AI servers.7 min read
IndustryFigure's BotQ Factory Marks 1,000th Figure 03 Humanoid, Questions Remain on DeploymentFigure announced that its BotQ factory in California has produced the 1,000th Figure 03 humanoid, and the company publicized a one-robot-per-hour production rate and live streams showing robots sorting packages.2 min read
IndustryAmericans Grow More Knowledgeable About AI but Trust It Less, New Survey FindsA joint Bentley University and Gallup survey tracking US public opinion on artificial intelligence since 2023 shows that as Americans learn about and use AI more, their trust in it declines.3 min read
IndustryBolt becomes first global ride-hailer to offer bookings via ChatGPTBolt has integrated its ride-booking functionality into ChatGPT, allowing users in Hungary and several other countries to start fare requests through the AI chat interface.2 min read
IndustryAI's Mixed Image: Impressive Robotics and Troubling ApplicationsRecent AI developments illustrate a widening divide between impressive technical feats and contentious applications.2 min read
IndustryAI’s rules are shifting from models to control, reasoning, protocols and local ecosystemsRecent events and technological trends show AI’s competitive and safety challenges are moving beyond model architecture to questions of governance, latent internal reasoning, interoperable protocols, and the ecosystems that enable assistants to act.4 min read
IndustryDoorDash launches DoorDash Air after receiving FAA Part 135 certificationDoorDash announced DoorDash Air, a new drone delivery business, after obtaining a Part 135 air carrier certification from the U.S.3 min read
