Research & Development news

• The ‘App’ Era Is Dying — Welcome to the ‘Agent’ Era

  22-01-2026 22:17 via eweek.com
  Allow us to reframe the current moment: for the last 15 years, we’d argue we have lived in the “Read/Write” era of technology. You tap a glass screen, you open an app, you press buttons, and you get a result.But reports from both China and Silicon Valley yesterday confirm that 2026 is the year we switch to what we’re calling the “Instruct/Verify” era: where the primary interaction paradigm is you tell an AI what you want, and it goes and does it for you.This s
  
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• Elon Musk: Tesla’s Optimus Robot Will Go on Sale in 2027

  22-01-2026 20:09 via eweek.com
  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is tightening the timeline for when you can actually own one of the company’s humanoid robots. Speaking at a panel during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday, Musk announced that public sales for the Optimus robot are slated to begin by the end of 2027.The billionaire noted that the robots are already getting their hands dirty, performing “simple tasks in the factory,” according to a report by Electric Vehicles (EV). Musk expects these m
  
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• YouTube CEO Says Cutting ‘AI Slop’ Is a 2026 Priority

  22-01-2026 18:47 via eweek.com
  YouTube is taking a sledgehammer to the low-grade AI garbage cluttering up your feed.In his annual look-ahead letter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan laid out a year of big bets, including AI tools alongside a crackdown on what the internet has nicknamed “AI slop.” This comes after announcing that more than a million channels used its AI creation tools every day last December.The irony of the war on “slop” is that YouTube is actually giving creators more AI tools, not fewer. Later
  
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• Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel Join Artists Co-Creating Songs With ElevenLabs AI Tech

  22-01-2026 16:46 via eweek.com
  What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, come to the Cabaret.
  And it’s an ‘AI Cabaret’. Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel are two of the stars joining ElevenLabs as it pushes further into the music business.
  “The Eleven Album” is a compilation created through a partnership between human musicians and its AI-based model capable of generating “studio-quality compositions.” The album is available to strea
  
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• Adobe Adds AI Tools to Turn PDFs Into Podcasts, Presentations

  22-01-2026 16:22 via eweek.com
  Adobe is adding more generative AI features to its Acrobat Studio PDF reader and editor to give users more ways to summarize content. Acrobat Studio users will be able to generate audio and visual summaries of PDFs as presentations and podcasts, which can be distributed to other team members or the public. A chat-based editing tool will be available to make adjustments to the summaries.In the Generate Podcast feature, users can feed the AI audio model a variety of PDFs and have it generate
  
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• ‘ChatGPT for Doctors’ Startup OpenEvidence Secures $12B Valuation

  22-01-2026 15:47 via eweek.com
  OpenEvidence, the Miami-based AI platform that has quickly become the digital right hand for nearly half of American physicians, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a massive $250 million Series D funding round. This latest injection of cash, co-led by Thrive Capital and DST Global, has doubled the company’s valuation from $6 billion to $12 billion in just three months.The startup’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Since its first outside capital raise less than a
  
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• Elon Musk’s xAI Is Testing ‘Employees’ That Aren’t Human

  22-01-2026 15:23 via eweek.com
  At Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI, some “employees” don’t breathe, sleep, or even exist in the real world.Instead, they run on code.The company is quietly testing what it calls “human emulators” — AI systems designed to mimic the behavior of real white-collar workers. According to a former xAI engineer, these AI workers are already operating inside the company, appearing on internal org charts and interacting with staff, sometimes without people realizing th
  
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• Anthropic Offers Moral AI Solution With ‘Claude’s Constitution’

  22-01-2026 15:16 via eweek.com
  Anthropic seems to have consciously turned on ‘paladin’ mode with noble, honest plans for Claude.
  Before we all get as sarcastic and facetious as a weary detective in a gritty, TV police drama, let’s hear what they have to say.
  Anthropic’s has unveiled it latest constitutional framework for Claude. It’s the first major AI document to seriously question whether machines might actually be conscious. The document also explains how Claude should balance honesty, compass
  
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• AI and Robotics Are Reshaping Pharmacy Workflows

  22-01-2026 15:00 via eweek.com
  Pharmacies around the world are under strain from rising prescription volumes, staffing shortages, and expanding clinical responsibilities.To cope with the growing demand, many are turning to artificial intelligence and robotics to automate routine work and keep services running smoothly.From robotic dispensing systems to AI platforms that manage inventory and workflows, these tools are increasingly integrated into pharmacy operations.Automation takes on routine pharmacy workAutomation is increa
  
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• OpenAI Pursues $50B Investment From Middle East

  22-01-2026 13:45 via eweek.com
  OpenAI is actively pursuing investments from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds for a new funding round that could reach $50 billion.
  CEO Sam Altman is currently in the United Arab Emirates conducting these high-stakes negotiations, with the round expected to close within the first quarter of this year, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
  Bloomberg reported it first, and CNBC confirmed the news.
  This represents a shift from OpenAI’s previous funding history. The company
  
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• Palantir Helps Ukraine Turn Battlefield Data Into Drone Intercepts

  22-01-2026 13:06 via eweek.com
  Ukraine is partnering with Palantir to turn battlefield data into AI systems designed to counter drone attacks, launching a secure new platform aimed at accelerating autonomous air defense. The initiative places AI at the center of Ukraine’s effort to keep pace with increasingly large-scale aerial threats.In a LinkedIn post, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said the project will give Ukrainian defense developers access to a secure AI environment buil
  
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• Cool AI Tools for Beginners You Can Use Right Now

  22-01-2026 13:02 via eweek.com
  AI shows up everywhere now, from your messaging apps to scheduling tools, but figuring out where to start isn’t always straightforward. Some tools promise big results but turn out to be harder to use than expected, while others seem helpful but never quite fit into everyday work routines. But here’s the good news: a growing number of AI tools are designed to be practical first. These AI platforms focus on saving time, enhancing clarity, and automating routine tasks that pile up
  
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• Microsoft Debuts Rho-alpha Robotics Model for Next Phase of ‘Physical AI’

  22-01-2026 11:46 via eweek.com
  A growing push in AI aims to move robots beyond repetitive factory work and into the messy, dynamic environments where people live and work.
  Microsoft Research says that shift is now accelerating with the rise of vision-language-action systems designed to connect perception, reasoning, and movement in a single model.
  With that ‘vision’ to ponder, the tech firm has announced Rho-alpha, its first robotics model derived from the company’s Phi series of vision-language models. The
  
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• Davos 2026: Nvidia CEO Says AI Boom Will Spur Demand for Electricians and Plumbers

  22-01-2026 09:50 via eweek.com
  That sink-ing feeling about AI? Actually, it may be OK if the CEO of Nvidia is correct.
  At the World Economic Forum’s Davos 2026, Jensen Huang delivered an announcement that the biggest beneficiaries won’t be software engineers or data scientists—they’ll be electricians and plumbers.
  While tech workers worry about being replaced, skilled tradespeople are seeing their salaries nearly double to six-figure incomes as demand explodes for the massive infrastructure buildout po
  
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