Research & Development news

• MyFitnessPal Buys Teens’ Calorie App After 15M Downloads in 2 Years

  03-03-2026 21:19 via eweek.com
  MyFitnessPal just bought a calorie-tracking app built by two teenagers in high school.On March 2, US company MyFitnessPal announced its acquisition of a young rival, a photo-based nutrition app called Cal AI, founded by a pair of 19-year-olds, Zach Yadegari and Henry Langmack. The app quickly gained traction and saw its downloads surge to over 15 million, achieving $30 million in annual revenue in under two years.According to TechCrunch, the deal, which was finalised in December 2025, took almos
  
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• Report: AI Lifts Wages for Seasoned Workers as Entry-Level Jobs Shrink

  03-03-2026 20:24 via eweek.com
  The textbook is losing its value, but the “been there, done that” resume has never been worth more.While the doomsday clock for AI-driven job losses continues to tick in the headlines, a new reality is emerging on the ground: artificial intelligence isn’t just a tool for replacing workers. It’s a high-octane fuel for those who already know what they’re doing.According to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the AI revolution is creating a sharp di
  
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• Meta Tests AI Shopping Feature in Chatbot for US Users

  03-03-2026 20:16 via eweek.com
  Meta wants your next purchase to start with a prompt. The social media giant is testing an AI shopping research feature inside its chatbot that builds instant product carousels with prices attached.Bloomberg reports the experiment is live for some US users, as Meta pushes to bring product discovery directly into its AI assistant.Where chat meets the catalogAsk for a product, and the chatbot answers with a scrollable carousel of options instead of a wall of text. Each card includes a product
  
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• Lenovo’s AI Workmate Concept Brings a Puppy-Eyed Robot Arm to Your Desk

  03-03-2026 19:17 via eweek.com
  Lenovo’s latest AI desktop concepts look less like office equipment and more like desk companions.
  The standout is the AI Workmate Concept, a puppy-eyed robot arm designed to scan documents, summarize notes, and even project content, hinting at AI assistants with a physical presence.
  According to The Verge, Lenovo showed the Workmate concept at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as part of a broader set of companion-style AI desktop ideas. None are product announcements, and Lenovo hasn&rs
  
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• Gemini vs ChatGPT: 7 Differences That Actually Matter

  03-03-2026 17:32 via eweek.com
  If you’ve used both ChatGPT and Gemini lately, you’ve probably noticed something: they may look similar on the surface, but under the hood, they behave very differently.While OpenAI’s ChatGPT (now in its 5.2 era) remains the king of creative flair and logical depth, Google’s Gemini has carved out a very different path. It isn’t just a chatbot anymore; it’s a multimodal powerhouse woven directly into the fabric of the internet and your workspace.Both can write,
  
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• OpenAI Accidentally Leaks GPT-5.4 (And We Tested It)

  03-03-2026 17:13 via eweek.com
  We thought we were waiting on GPT-5.3’s long tail. Turns out OpenAI might be speedrunning straight to 5.4.Monday evening, I hit a cybersecurity block inside Codex. The error message referenced a model called:gpt-5.4-ab-arm1-1020-1p-codexswic-ev3That’s less a model name and more a Wi-Fi password. But the important part is simple: 5.4.GPT-5.3-Codex launched three weeks ago. It was already OpenAI’s first model officially labeled “High Cybersecurity Capability.” And now
  
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• The ‘Tillyverse’ Is Coming: Inside the Rapid Expansion of AI’s First Digital Superstar

  03-03-2026 16:51 via eweek.com
  Tilly Norwood, the fully AI-generated “actor” created by Eline van der Velden, is heading for what her studio calls a rapid expansion. The plan centers on launching the “Tillyverse,” a digital universe where Norwood and other AI characters will exist side by side. The expansion is being led by Xicoia, the AI talent studio founded by van der Velden and owned by Particle6. To help drive the next phase, the company has hired former Prime Video executive Mark Whelan as h
  
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• Siri’s Upgrade Could Depend on Google’s Infrastructure

  03-03-2026 16:51 via eweek.com
  Apple is preparing to run its next-generation Siri on Google’s servers. Facing cloud capacity strain ahead of its Gemini-powered upgrade, the company has asked Google to host infrastructure for the more advanced, conversational version of its assistant.According to The Information, the discussions center on deploying privacy-compliant servers within Google data centers to support the rollout, marking a potential shift from model integration to greater reliance on infrastructure.Scaling up
  
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• Xiaomi Puts Humanoid Robots on a Factory Clock

  03-03-2026 16:40 via eweek.com
  Xiaomi is finally talking about humanoid robots the way factory managers do: not as a sci-fi mascot, but as a co-worker that has to hit cycle times, repeat tasks all day, and avoid slowing the line.
  Instead of treating humanoids as a concept, Xiaomi is describing a real implementation step: limited, supervised work inside its EV plant, plus a timeline for scaling.
  Factory ‘internships’
  In a March 3 update, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said the company’s humanoid robots h
  
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