Research & Development news

• What Is AI Slop and Why It’s Taking Over the Internet

  19-01-2026 21:28 via eweek.com
  AI can now write blog posts, generate images, narrate videos, and publish at a remarkable speed. That’s how the internet ended up with AI-written travel guides that say nothing useful, bizarre YouTube videos about cats with soap-opera plotlines, and social media posts that sound informative but offer little substance. This flood of low-quality content has a name: AI slop. The term has gained popularity as generative AI tools make content creation faster, cheaper, and easier to scale.
  
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• OpenAI Will Test Ads in ChatGPT’s Free and Go Tiers

  19-01-2026 17:59 via eweek.com
  Someone needs more money as ads are coming to ChatGPT. OpenAI will begin testing advertising in ChatGPT’s Free and Go tiers in the US, opening the door to a new revenue model inside its most widely used product.In its announcement, OpenAI said the tests will roll out within weeks, with ads clearly labeled and displayed separately from responses as the company experiments with bringing advertising into ChatGPT.What ‘separate and labeled’ looks like in practiceOpenAI said ad
  
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• Grok AI Still Operational in Indonesia and Malaysia Despite Ban

  19-01-2026 16:40 via eweek.com
  Despite a nationwide ban, Grok AI is still running in Indonesia and Malaysia, aided by domain name system (DNS) tweaks and virtual private networks (VPNs).Following reports that Grok generated nonconsensual sexual images of women and children, governments in both Malaysia and Indonesia swiftly moved to ban the controversial AI platform. Malaysia first implemented a widespread restriction on Jan. 11, with Indonesia quickly following suit. The nations maintained that the AI tool would remain
  
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• OpenAI’s Revenue Climbs Past $20B as Compute Expansion Powers Rapid Growth

  19-01-2026 15:22 via eweek.com
  OpenAI is no longer just a research lab with a clever chatbot. It has officially entered its “infrastructure era,” fueled by a massive $20 billion revenue surge and enough computing power to light up a small country.In a weekend update, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar revealed that the company’s annualized revenue has skyrocketed past $20 billion in 2025. To put that in perspective, the company was making $2 billion just two years ago.But this growth isn’t
  
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• Columbia Engineering Teaches Robot to Learn Human Lip Movements

  19-01-2026 13:05 via eweek.com
  Robots have learned to walk, gesture, and talk, but their faces have always lagged behind. Now, a new robot has taken a major step past stiff, unnatural expressions by learning how to move its lips in sync with speech.The advance targets one of the most stubborn problems in humanoid robotics: facial movement that looks convincing in real conversation, not just in demos. Researchers say even small gains in lip realism can dramatically change how people perceive and respond to a robot.Crossing the
  
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• Sequoia Joins Mega AI Investment in Anthropic

  19-01-2026 12:54 via eweek.com
  Sequoia Capital is preparing to write its first cheque to Anthropic, stepping into one of Silicon Valley’s biggest AI deals yet as the race to back frontier models intensifies.The talks reflect how quickly the biggest AI companies are attracting ever-larger sums from deep-pocketed investors.Sequoia Capital is targeting a major investment in Anthropic, the fast-growing AI company behind the Claude chatbot, according to the Financial Times (FT). The move, which was in talks earlier, would ma
  
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• Bandcamp Bans AI Music

  19-01-2026 10:50 via eweek.com
  Bandcamp just shut the door on all AI-generated music, taking a definite stance in favor of human creativity.In a Jan. 13 Reddit post, the company formalized the prohibition, citing its commitment to human-made art. The announcement drew mixed reactions from artists and fans, though many supported the decision as a long-overdue move.The ban establishes Bandcamp as the first major music-distribution company to prohibit AI content, a move that clearly separates it from competitors like Spotify and
  
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• Google Brings AI Videomaker ‘Flow’ to All Workspace Users

  19-01-2026 10:09 via eweek.com
  Google is expanding the reach of its AI filmmaking tool, Flow, by bringing it directly into Google Workspace. The company announced via Google Workspace Updates that Flow is now available as an additional Google service for Workspace customers, opening the door for businesses, schools, and teams to create high-definition videos using simple text prompts.Flow was previously limited to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. With this update, Google is positioning AI video creation as a pract
  
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