Research & Development news

• Google Integrates Gmail, YouTube, and Search Into Gemini

  14-01-2026 23:47 via eweek.com
  Google is supercharging its AI chatbot Gemini by integrating emails, photos, and information from across its app suite, providing users with personalized results.Until now, Google has been relatively hands-off in applying the full weight of its app portfolio to Gemini, despite many of those services having billions of users. With this integration, Gemini will be able to pull from private data that competitors such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude cannot access.Beyond ingest
  
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• Meet the $500M AI Startup Quietly Interviewing Customers for Microsoft

  14-01-2026 17:40 via eweek.com
  Silicon Valley has no shortage of AI hype, but one fast-growing startup is doing something refreshingly old-school: talking to customers. Only now, it’s doing it at a massive scale — on behalf of companies like Microsoft.Listen Labs, a San Francisco-based AI company, has become an unlikely middleman between some of the world’s biggest brands and their users. The startup uses automated AI “interviewers” to run customer research, helping companies understand what
  
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• Bill Gates: ‘AI Will Change Society,” Including the Job Market

  14-01-2026 15:51 via eweek.com
  Bill Gates may call himself an eternal optimist, but he has added a caveat to that characterization after citing concerns over what the AI era will bring.In his latest annual The Year Ahead letter, which touched on areas including healthcare, climate change, and education, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist explained that he remains an optimist “because I see what innovation accelerated by artificial intelligence will bring. But these days, my optimism comes with footnotes.”Bad
  
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• OpenAI Reportedly Planning 60-Second Super Bowl Ad as AI War Intensifies

  14-01-2026 15:19 via eweek.com
  The AI boom has entered its most expensive phase yet… and OpenAI is reportedly spending big to stay in front.OpenAI is expected to return to the Super Bowl stage this year, with plans to air a 60-second commercial during NBC’s Super Bowl LX broadcast, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. If confirmed, it would mark the second year in a row the ChatGPT maker has bought airtime during the biggest night in US television.The move comes as AI comp
  
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• Anthropic Makes Leadership Changes for Labs Expansion

  14-01-2026 12:15 via eweek.com
  Anthropic is shaking things up in the intense AI race as it expands its Labs.
  On X, the busy AI firm said, “We’re expanding Labs—the team behind Claude Code, MCP, and Cowork—and hiring builders who want to tinker at the frontier of Claude’s capabilities.”
  According to the announcement, Mike Krieger is stepping away from his chief product officer role to co-lead Anthropic’s Labs team. It looks like the company is doubling down on rapid product iteration t
  
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• China Limits Nvidia Chip Purchases to ‘Special Circumstances’

  14-01-2026 11:59 via eweek.com
  China isn’t banning Nvidia’s AI chips outright, but it is tightening the rules on who can buy them. Chinese authorities told a group of technology companies that purchases of Nvidia’s H200 processors would be approved only under ‘special circumstances,’ such as university research and development. The guidance signals Beijing’s continued caution about reopening its market to US chipmakers, even as demand for advanced AI hardware remains strong. While
  
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• SK Hynix Places $13B Bet on AI Memory as Chip Shortages Intensify

  14-01-2026 11:18 via eweek.com
  South Korea’s SK Hynix has announced plans to invest roughly $13 billion in a new advanced chip packaging plant, as the global memory shortage deepens. As AI systems demand ever-greater computing power and faster data movement, memory makers are racing to expand capacity in some of the industry’s most complex and capital-intensive segments.The South Korean memory giant said it will invest 19 trillion won in the new facility, which will be built in the city of Cheongju. Construction i
  
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• Voice AI Deepgram Hits $1.3B Unicorn Status with $130M Funding

  14-01-2026 10:27 via eweek.com
  Voice AI company Deepgram has secured a $130 million Series C round to give it a $1.3 billion valuation and entry to unicorn land.
  Along with that good news, it is simultaneously acquiring Y Combinator-backed startup OfOne that could change how millions order their lunch.
  The funding round, led by AVP with participation from heavyweight investors including BlackRock, Tiger, and Y Combinator, reveals confidence in voice AI’s growth potential.
  CEO Scott Stephenson says the company achieved c
  
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• New Windows 11 Leak Reveals Copilot Moving Into File Explorer

  14-01-2026 00:06 via eweek.com
  Microsoft appears set to deepen Copilot’s role in Windows, with File Explorer potentially the next app to receive built-in AI features.An invisible button was spotted in the latest preview build of Windows 11, which appears to be tied to Microsoft’s generative AI chatbot. Users may be able to ask Copilot to find specific documents, photos, or file types, or even direct them to a particular file within a large folder.The button was spotted by Windows tester @phantomofearth, who shared
  
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