Author: precious

Amazon is negotiating a deal that could see it invest as much as $50 billion in OpenAI, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The talks, led directly by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, would make Amazon the largest contributor to OpenAI’s current fundraising round and mark one of the biggest private technology investments on record. The investment would be part of a broader $100 billion funding round that could push the ChatGPT-maker’s valuation to $830 billion. Beyond Amazon, SoftBank is also working toward a separate commitment of up to $30 billion, while other participants include…

Your friendly “AI copilot” is quietly losing its seat because enterprises now want software that actually does the work once a goal is set. In 2026, that means a move away from reactive copilots that wait for prompts toward autonomous AI agents that can plan multi-step tasks, talk to other systems, and keep going until something is finished or needs escalation. Research shows that more than 80% of businesses now plan to integrate agents into their AI strategy within the next year, with predictions indicating that 40% of enterprise applications will incorporate task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026.…

Nvidia has released Alpamayo, a family of open-source AI models designed to equip autonomous vehicles and robots with human-like reasoning that they can articulate aloud. Announced at CES 2026, the family includes the flagship 10-billion-parameter Alpamayo 1 vision-language action (VLA) model, along with simulation tools and massive datasets, which are all available for free non-commercial use on Hugging Face. Put simply, Alpamayo is designed to give autonomous vehicles the ability to reason through complex driving scenarios and explain their decisions in plain language. The announcement at CES 2026 introduces what CEO Jensen Huang calls “the world’s first thinking, reasoning autonomous…

The Gates Foundation and OpenAI have launched Horizon 1000, a $50 million initiative that will bring artificial intelligence (AI) tools to 1,000 primary healthcare clinics across Africa by 2028. The partnership, announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, targets one of the continent’s most urgent challenges which is a healthcare workforce shortage so severe that even aggressive hiring and training programs wouldn’t be able to close the gap in the foreseeable future, according to research. The pilot project will begin in Rwanda, a country where one healthcare worker per 1,000 people is the order of the day,…

OpenAI has rolled out a new age prediction system across ChatGPT’s consumer plans that will automatically detect users under 18 to shield them from harmful content and apply protective content restrictions. The AI company announced the global deployment last week, with the European Union set to receive the feature in the coming weeks to accommodate regional requirements. The feature, as explained by OpenAI, will use machine learning to analyze users’ behavioural patterns and apply restrictions on topics like violence, sexual content, and self-harm if need be. The age restriction deployment comes amid intense scrutiny over AI chatbot safety for young…

The next battleground for AI-powered chatbots is dominating classrooms and determining which chatbot gets to be used or not. Microsoft and Google are both racing to integrate their AI technologies into schools worldwide, each betting that early adoption among students and teachers will secure loyalty for decades to come. Both tech giants have rolled out AI-powered features across their education platforms in recent months. Microsoft’s Copilot is now integrated into Teams for Education, offering students real-time assistance with research, writing feedback, and personalized tutoring. Google has also countered with AI capabilities in Classroom and Workspace for Education, including automated grading…

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis confirmed this week that the company has no plans to introduce advertising in its Gemini chatbot, marking a sharp contrast with competitor OpenAI’s recent decision to test ads in ChatGPT. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hassabis made it clear that Google’s AI assistant will remain ad-free while OpenAI moves forward with sponsored content for millions of users. A Direct Challenge to OpenAI’s Strategy The announcement comes at a critical moment in the AI industry, where companies are grappling with enormous infrastructure costs on AI while trying to maintain user trust. OpenAI revealed…

Elon Musk is demanding between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, escalating a legal battle that claims the artificial intelligence company abandoned its nonprofit roots through its recent high-profile restructuring to a for-profit entity. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, agreeing that there was “plenty of evidence” at a hearing, concluded for a jury to consider the claims brought forward by Musk and his lawyers. Musk’s Legal Argument and the Damages Calculation The figure comes from expert witness C. Paul Wazzan, a financial economist whose analysis combines both Musk’s initial financial contributions…

Cybercriminals recently launched a sophisticated phishing operation last week, posing as LastPass to trick users into surrendering their master passwords. The campaign, which was detected on January 19, 2026, aimed at exploiting the password manager’s trusted brand by sending urgent emails about fake infrastructure maintenance. However, LastPass quickly sounded the alarm and confirmed the campaign targeted customers with deceptive messages that demanded immediate vault backups arriving with alarming subject lines like “LastPass Infrastructure Update: Secure Your Vault Now” or “Protect Your Passwords: Backup Your Vault (24-Hour Window).” The Scale of Risk The threat is significant because LastPass vaults contain sensitive…

Language learning platform Preply has raised $150 million in a Series D funding round, reaching a $1.2 billion valuation and securing its place as the latest EdTech unicorn. Led by WestCap, the round includes participation from returning investors like Horizon Capital Horizon Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Owl Ventures and Techstars Berlin, with new investors like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Goldman Sachs International acting as sole placement agent in the transaction. This funding comes as investors reassess the role of AI in personalized learning and marks a significant milestone for the 14-year-old platform that easily connects learners…