San Francisco-based startup Physical Intelligence recently announced that it successfully raised $400 million, bringing its post-money valuation to $2.4 billion. This funding round attracted the attention of several prominent investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital. According to a company spokesperson, Bond Capital also participated in this investment.

Meta recently announced that its Llama series of artificial intelligence models will be made available to U.S. government agencies and related contractors to support national security applications. This move aims to dispel concerns that its 'open' AI could aid foreign adversaries. In a blog post, Meta stated, 'We are pleased to confirm that Llama will be accessible to U.S. government agencies, including those focusing on defense and national security projects, as well as private sector partners supporting this work.'

Netflix is intensifying its focus on artificial intelligence in the gaming sector. Mike Verdu, who has led the company's gaming division for three years, is set to take on the role of Vice President for Generative AI in Gaming, demonstrating Netflix's determination to advance in the gaming arena. Verdu shared his vision for the new position on LinkedIn, emphasizing a "Creator First" philosophy and positioning AI as a catalyst and booster for game development. In his view, generative AI will bring revolutionary changes to game development and player experiences.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon's voice assistant Alexa was originally scheduled for a major AI overhaul by the end of this year, but it now appears to be delayed until 2025. The upgrade is intended to make Alexa smarter and more powerful, with improved conversational abilities and the capability to handle new tasks. The report also details issues encountered during testing the AI-enhanced version of Alexa. For instance, beta users reported that the AI sometimes provided lengthy, convoluted answers that were not entirely relevant to the original query.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence technology, tech companies like Google and Meta are using user comments or reviews to generate AI responses on their platforms, which may lead to new defamation law risks. Legal experts in Australia point out that when users post allegedly defamatory comments on Google or Facebook, it is typically the users themselves who face legal liability. However, a significant ruling by the High Court of Australia in the Dylan Voller case in 2021 held that platforms hosting defamatory comments, such as social media pages, may also be held responsible for them.

According to reports, Microsoft will spend nearly $10 billion renting servers from AI startup CoreWeave between 2023 and 2030. This amount accounts for more than half of the total $17 billion contract signed between CoreWeave and its customers. Neither CoreWeave nor Microsoft responded immediately to requests for comment. Previously, it was reported that CoreWeave is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2025. The company recently secured a $650 million credit line from several investment banks.

The Walt Disney Company is exploring applications in its film, television, and theme park divisions and is currently forming a new team to coordinate the company's use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and mixed reality. The newly established technology support office will be led by Jamie Voris, the Chief Technology Officer of Disney Studios, who was responsible for developing Disney applications for the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality device. Eddie Drake will

Recently, a group of tech giants and venture capitalists jointly issued a statement opposing California Senator Scott Wiener’s SB1047 bill. This bill aims to strengthen the regulation of artificial intelligence, prompting strong opposition from the tech industry. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, co-founders of Andreessen Horowitz, along with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Recently, CareYaya Health Technologies launched an artificial intelligence (AI) driven large language model named MedaCareLLM, aimed at helping dementia and Alzheimer's patients improve their daily lives. This technology is integrated into smart glasses, providing real-time 'life-changing' assistance through video data and facial and object recognition technology. When patients wear these smart glasses, the AI can identify familiar faces. Once identified, the system will provide information about the person.

In the rapid development of modern technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually permeating all aspects of life. Recently, a digital olfactory company named Osmo announced a significant breakthrough in 'scent transmission,' where AI can achieve olfactory 'teleportation' without the need for human hands or noses. The core of this technology lies in the use of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to collect and analyze aroma data. Image source note: Image generated by AI, image licensed by service provider Midjourney Osmo.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has recently signed an agreement with the AI company Ethovox to protect actors' rights in artificial intelligence voice models. The primary goal of this agreement is to establish a responsible framework for the use of AI in the entertainment industry, ensuring that actors' rights are upheld in the new technological era. Under this agreement, actors will receive upfront payments when recording their voices and will share in subsequent revenues. This means that actors will be compensated fairly when their voices are used in AI models.

The world's largest technical professional organization, IEEE, recently released a research report titled 'Technology Impact Beyond 2025'. This report surveyed 355 technology leaders from Brazil, China, India, the UK, and the US to explore future technology development trends. The survey revealed that 58% of respondents believe that smart technologies will be the most influential technology area in 2025, marking its second consecutive year at the top. Following closely are cloud computing (26%) and robotics (24%). Other noteworthy fields include extended reality.

Cisco Systems recently launched two data center devices optimized for artificial intelligence (AI) models at a partner event in Los Angeles. These new systems will further enhance Cisco's hardware product lineup to help enterprises efficiently handle AI-related workloads. The first product line introduced is the UCS C885A M8 series servers, which can support up to eight graphics processing units (GPUs), providing robust computing power for enterprise users. Cisco offers three GPU options for this series.

AI company Anthropic has announced the release of its AI chatbot Claude's desktop application. Users can download the version for Mac and Windows for free from the official Anthropic website. This move makes using Claude more convenient, as users no longer need to access it through a web browser and can interact more quickly. The desktop application of Claude does not have significant differences in functionality compared to the web version, allowing users to easily ask questions.