Research & Development news

• Why Microsoft Is Fighting the Pentagon Over Anthropic Ban

  12-03-2026 20:19 via eweek.com
  Microsoft has stepped into the spotlight in the escalating dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic, voicing support for the AI company after the Department of War labeled its Claude platform a “supply chain risk.”In a court filing, Microsoft urged a federal judge to block the designation for existing contracts, warning that an immediate ban could disrupt the US military’s ongoing use of advanced AI and force technology providers to quickly reconfigure products and defense-re
  
  Read more

• Google Maps Gets Its ‘Biggest Update in Over a Decade’ With AI-Powered Navigation

  12-03-2026 19:55 via eweek.com
  Getting from point A to point B may soon feel a lot less like guesswork.Google is rolling out its biggest Google Maps update in years. On March 12, the tech giant introduced Immersive Navigation and a new conversational feature called “Ask Maps” designed to make navigating, planning stops, and finding places along the way far easier.Instead of juggling searches or scrolling through reviews, users can now ask Maps real-world questions in plain language, such as where to charge a dying
  
  Read more

• Ford Pro AI Tracks Seat Belt Use for Fleet Managers

  12-03-2026 19:22 via eweek.com
  Ford has launched Ford Pro AI, a new AI assistant built into its telematics platform that can help fleet managers monitor data such as seat belt use, speed, fuel consumption, and vehicle health.
  Instead of digging through dashboards or relying on basic diagnostic codes, users can ask Ford Pro AI questions about their fleets and get summaries, recommendations, and other operational insights through a chatbot-style interface.
  According to The Verge’s report on the launch, Ford Pro AI debuted
  
  Read more

• Inside Amazon’s $536M Robotic Warehouse Where Humans Still Run the Show

  12-03-2026 17:17 via eweek.com
  Amazon is betting big on robots while keeping humans in the loop. Amazon Australia just announced plans to build one of the largest fulfillment centers in the country. Aside from its significant size, spanning over 150,000 square meters and capable of handling more than 125 million packages per year, the center stands out for its unique use of robots. The center plans to use robots to work alongside its anticipated 1000 employees, handling the heavy workload. Located in Brisbane,
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Russian-Linked Phishing Campaign Targets Signal, WhatsApp Users

  12-03-2026 16:33 via eweek.com
  A new cyber-espionage warning is putting two of the world’s most trusted messaging apps in the spotlight. Security agencies say a coordinated phishing campaign linked to Russian state actors is targeting users of Signal and WhatsApp, with officials, soldiers, and journalists among the potential victims.The warning comes from the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service and the General Intelligence and Security Service, which say hackers linked to Russia are running a &ldq
  
  Read more

• Amazon’s AI-Written Code Keeps Breaking Its Own Website

  12-03-2026 15:19 via eweek.com
  If you’ve ever shipped code on a Friday and immediately regretted it, imagine doing that with AI-generated code… across one of the largest e-commerce platforms on Earth.Amazon just held a mandatory engineering meeting after a string of outages hit its retail website and app, including a six-hour crash last week that left customers unable to check out, see prices, or access their accounts. An internal briefing note described the incidents as having a “high blast radius” a
  
  Read more

• ChatGPT May Soon Generate Videos as OpenAI Eyes Sora Integration

  12-03-2026 14:49 via eweek.com
  OpenAI is reportedly looking to embed its video generator Sora into ChatGPT in an effort to increase engagement with the tool.The video generator had a stellar launch in September last year, reaching the top spot on the iOS App Store, but it has since fallen out of favour. Monthly downloads in January were down to 1.2 million, from a high of 3.2 million a month after launch.News of the merger was first reported by The Information, which said it was part of a strategy shift inside OpenAI. The com
  
  Read more

• AI Chatbots Help Teens Plan Violence, Study Reveals

  12-03-2026 12:13 via eweek.com
  The AI industry keeps saying its guardrails are improving. A new investigation suggests those protections still falter when conversations turn dark, emotional, and specific, especially when the user appears to be a distressed teen edging toward violence.
  This was not a case of one obscure bot answering a single reckless prompt. Researchers found that across scenarios involving school shootings, bombings, and assassinations, many of the most prominent AI chatbots failed to consistently shut down
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

Follow @R_and_D_News on Twitter!