Research & Development news

• China’s ‘AI Tigers’ Pounce: A New Wave of Models Challenges US Dominance

  28-01-2026 21:33 via eweek.com
  China’s artificial intelligence race is picking up speed again. From startups to tech giants, Chinese companies are rolling out new AI models at a rapid pace, signaling that the gap with US rivals may be narrowing faster than many expected.Over the past few months, several Chinese firms have unveiled new AI upgrades, adding to the momentum that began last year with DeepSeek’s surprise release of its R1 model. That launch drew global attention by offering performance comparable t
  
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• OpenAI, Google, and Moonshot Unveil New Agentic AI Systems

  28-01-2026 21:27 via eweek.com
  For two years, the workflow was simple: you ask AI a question, AI spits out an answer. Today, three separate announcements from OpenAI, Google, and Moonshot AI quietly killed that paradigm.The new model? AI that investigates, manipulates, and coordinates… without being asked.First, OpenAI’s Prism embeds GPT-5.2 directly inside your research paper
  Instead of copy-pasting text into a separate chat window, GPT-5.2 now reads your entire manuscript — structure, equations, citations
  
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• Apple Is Rumored to Tap Intel for Future iPhone Chip Production

  28-01-2026 19:41 via eweek.com
  Remember the messy breakup between Apple and Intel back in 2020? It looks like both companies could be heading toward a reunion.Reports are swirling that Apple is looking to tap Intel to help build chips for future iPhones. According to a research note from GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu, obtained by MacRumors, Intel is expected to begin manufacturing some Apple chips using its future “14A” process, which is expected to be ready for mass production in 2028.But there is a catch: Intel
  
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• China’s Military Labs Build ‘Apex Predator’ Drones, Robot Packs

  28-01-2026 18:52 via eweek.com
  China’s leading military labs are developing autonomous weapons designed to hunt and operate like apex predators, with the capability to deploy and operate with minimal human input. At one of China’s leading military-linked universities, researchers have studied the behaviour of hawks, wolves, and coyotes to simulate how drones and quadrupedal robots should act when encountering enemy units. In some scenarios, the systems are programmed to behave like apex predators, identifying
  
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• UK Leads Major Economies in AI-Related Job Losses, Morgan Stanley Says

  28-01-2026 18:38 via eweek.com
  Artificial intelligence is supposed to make work easier. In Britain right now, it’s also making work disappear.AI is cutting deeper into jobs in the UK than in other major economies, according to new research from Morgan Stanley. While companies say the technology is boosting productivity, Britain is standing out for the number of roles disappearing along the way.The investment bank’s study shows UK firms recorded an 8% net job loss linked to AI over the past year, the highest among
  
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• Your AI Cheat Codes: 7 ChatGPT Prompts That Help You Work Smarter

  28-01-2026 18:31 via eweek.com
  The era of firing off a “quick question” at AI is giving way to a more sophisticated workplace skill: knowing how to prompt.Recent data and expert reports reveal that the gap between average users and power users is widening, with prompt engineering skills now linked to massive gains in professional efficiency.According to the Pew Research Center, the adoption of ChatGPT in the office is skyrocketing. The center notes that 28% of employed US adults who have ever used ChatGPT now use
  
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• DeepSeek Boosts OCR Performance With Alibaba Open-Source AI

  28-01-2026 16:24 via eweek.com
  Chinese AI company DeepSeek has dropped some intriguing news in the document processing world.
  The firm has unveiled DeepSeek-OCR 2, a completely revamped optical character recognition system that replaces its previous architecture with Alibaba’s Qwen AI technology.
  Tech swap
  DeepSeek has ditched OpenAI’s CLIP framework that powered its original system and swapped it for Alibaba Cloud’s lightweight Qwen2-0.5b model.
  This new approach delivers a 3.7% performance boost over the p
  
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• Robot Restaurant in China Handles Cooking, Serving, and Cleaning

  28-01-2026 15:41 via eweek.com
  Walk into a restaurant in Hangzhou right now, and you might not see a chef shouting orders or servers rushing plates. Instead, you’ll find robotic arms cooking noodles, machines pouring coffee, and delivery bots gliding between tables.Hangzhou’s first “AI robot restaurant” has officially begun trial operations, offering diners a glimpse of what a fully automated dining experience could look like. The venue, called the “24 Solar Terms AI Robot Restaurant,” bega
  
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• Waabi’s $1B Raise Fuels Expansion Into Robotaxis With Uber

  28-01-2026 14:45 via eweek.com
  A Toronto-based firm’s vision for success in physical AI is moving along well.
  Autonomous vehicle company Waabi has secured a landmark $1 billion in new financing, underscoring growing investor confidence in physical AI and intensifying competition in the race to commercialize self-driving vehicles at scale.
  The company announced it has closed an oversubscribed $750 million Series C round, co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, alongside an additional future investment commitme
  
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• Anthropic Poised for $20B Funding Round

  28-01-2026 13:08 via eweek.com
  The AI investment frenzy carries on. Let’s all try to keep up.
  Anthropic is on the verge of raising about $20 billion from venture capital firms and other investors, double the amount it initially sought, in a striking demonstration of the intense enthusiasm surrounding leading AI start-ups.
  According to the Financial Times, people familiar with the matter said the fundraising, which is close to being finalised, would value the company at roughly $350 billion. If completed, it would rank a
  
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• Pinterest to Lay Off Nearly 15% of Staff in AI Shift

  28-01-2026 12:41 via eweek.com
  Pinterest plans to lay off less than 15% of its workforce as part of a restructuring that shifts more resources toward artificial intelligence. The company also expects to reduce its office space and reevaluate its sales and marketing strategy, according to a securities filing. Pinterest hopes to complete the changes by the end of its third quarter in late September. Investors reacted quickly, sending Pinterest shares down more than 9% as the company positions itself around AI-powered
  
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• Google Expands AI Plus Subscription to 35 New Countries

  28-01-2026 12:26 via eweek.com
  Google is taking its AI subscription global. The company announced that Google AI Plus is launching in 35 countries, with auto-upgrades for existing Google One subscribers.According to the announcement, the rollout extends AI Plus availability alongside Google’s broader AI subscription plans.Google AI Plus is priced at $7.99 per month in the US, with a 50% introductory discount for new subscribers.Standardization before accelerationThe timing is deliberate. Instead of introducing new headl
  
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• Sundance Documentary Claims to Expose AI’s Dark Truth

  28-01-2026 11:42 via eweek.com
  A documentary premiering at Sundance this week reckons it reveals the disturbing reality behind AI’s rapid rise.
  It all starts with a chilling story from 2016 that predicted today’s AI chaos. “Ghost in the Machine” opens with Microsoft’s experimental chatbot ‘Tay,’ which transformed into a hate-spewing machine within 24 hours of launch, opening what director Valerie Veatch calls a Pandora’s Box that’s now consuming the creative industry.
  Well
  
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• OpenAI Unleashes Prism for AI-Fueled Scientific Research

  28-01-2026 09:19 via eweek.com
  Don’t miss Prism as one AI firm has shown the importance of being earnest when it comes to research.
  OpenAI has launched Prism, an AI workspace powered by GPT-5.2 that integrates directly into scientific research workflows.
  This is a cloud-based environment that offers unlimited projects and collaborators, and is accessible to anyone with a ChatGPT account.
  The platform represents OpenAI’s objective to dominate the scientific research field, with the chance that every future paper wi
  
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