Research & Development news

• AI Startup Replit Launches ‘Vibe Coding’ Feature for Building Mobile Apps

  16-01-2026 12:10 via eweek.com
  Replit has unveiled its Mobile Apps feature, allowing creators to build and publish Apple device applications using nothing but plain English descriptions.
  This capability promises to transform ideas into working apps within minutes and get them to the App Store in days.
  This breakthrough represents a leap forward in accessible AI development, with Replit trying to position itself at the forefront of the “vibe coding” movement. The platform now enables small business owners and creat
  
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• KI unterstütztUnternehmenswachstum

  17-01-2026 00:17 via eweek.com
  Die Digitalisierung bringt eine Vielzahl von Vorteilen mit sich: Sie ermöglicht hybride Arbeitsmodelle, gestaltet Abläufe flexibler und erlaubt einen schnellen Austausch zwischen Teams — egal, wo sie sich befinden.Technologien wie künstliche Intelligenz können dabei unterstützen, dass Mitarbeitende ihre Arbeit effizienter erledigen. Gleichzeitig entlastet KI aber auch IT-Teams, indem sie Probleme behebt, bevor diese den Arbeitsablauf beeinträchtigt. Doch KI be
  
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• Die Zukunft der Arbeit beruht auf Partnerschaft, nicht nur Rechenleistung

  16-01-2026 18:58 via eweek.com
  Es ist Linas erster Tag als Consultant bei einem mittelständischen Unternehmen in Hamburg. Sie meldet sich auf Ihrem HP EliteBook X G2i an und eine Begrüßungsmeldung erscheint: „Beginnen wir mit der Einrichtung.“ Innerhalb weniger Minuten hat der KI-PC ihren Arbeitsplatz automatisch konfiguriert. Lina ist sich nicht sicher, wo sie anfangen soll, und ist daher erleichtert, zusammengefasste Onboarding-Materialien von verschiedenen Quellen sowie die wichtigsten Rich
  
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• 5 Simple Ways to Spot AI-Generated Images

  16-01-2026 18:12 via eweek.com
  A couple of years ago, spotting an AI-generated image was almost a game. You didn’t need sharp eyes; just count the fingers, or recall that bizarre AI clip of Will Smith eating spaghetti.The results were fascinating, funny… and very obviously fake.Today, that’s no longer the case. AI image generators have gotten dramatically better, turning out photos that can look realistic enough to pass at a quick glance… and sometimes even longer.The good news: AI still isn’t
  
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• OpenAI Quietly Rolls Out ChatGPT Translate to Take on Google

  16-01-2026 17:03 via eweek.com
  OpenAI has made a quiet but notable move in the language wars. Without a press release or big announcement, the company has launched ChatGPT Translate, a standalone translation website aimed squarely at Google Translate. And it’s already live.At first glance, ChatGPT Translate looks very familiar. The page features two large text boxes side by side, along with dropdown menus to select the source and target languages. Paste in text, pick your languages, and a translation appears within seco
  
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• Microsoft’s New Education Push: Free AI Tools, Training, and Premium Software for Schools

  16-01-2026 16:11 via eweek.com
  Microsoft is making a fresh push into education, rolling out free AI tools, training, and premium software for teachers and students as schools worldwide grapple with how to use AI responsibly in the classroom.The software giant on Jan. 15 announced a broad set of education-focused AI programs and tools under a new initiative called Microsoft Elevate for Educators. The move brings together free professional development for teachers, AI-powered classroom tools, and limited-time access to premium
  
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• Tony Robbins Just Cloned Himself Into an AI App

  16-01-2026 15:24 via eweek.com
  What if an AI becomes your personal life coach? Tony Robbins just made it possible with his AI-powered coaching app.Available on iOS and Android, the new application uses decades of the coach’s data to deliver voice-driven coaching sessions that mirror Robbins’s exact voice, energy, and strategy. His goal is to serve millions simultaneously. The AI overcomes the limitations of one-on-one coaching, enabling Robbins to democratize access to his high-level expertise.The signal is clear:
  
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• AI Video Startup Higgsfield Hits the Highs With $1.3B Valuation

  16-01-2026 15:14 via eweek.com
  AI video and image generator startup Higgsfield is proving popular.
  Higgsfield has announced an $80 million Series A extension with participation from Accel, AI Capital Partners (Alpha Intelligence Capital’s US-based fund), and Menlo Ventures and others, bringing total Series A funding to more than $130 million and valuing the company at more than $1.3 billion.
  The startup has climbed from startup launch to a $200 million annual run rate faster than anyone thought possible. Most companies
  
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• US, Taiwan Sign $250B AI Chip Deal

  16-01-2026 13:58 via eweek.com
  The U.S. and Taiwan have struck a technology trade agreement that promises to bring Taiwan’s semiconductor empire to American soil.
  Taiwan has pledged at least $250 billion in direct U.S. investments for semiconductor, energy, and AI production. In exchange, the U.S. slashed tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20% to 15%, putting Taiwan on par with Japan and South Korea. The deal is a clever one as it directly addresses America’s technological vulnerability.
  America’s semiconductor
  
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• Thinking Machines Lab Loses Key Leaders as They Return to OpenAI

  16-01-2026 10:01 via eweek.com
  Thinking Machines Lab—the startup launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati—is hemorrhaging key leadership as co-founders abandon ship to return to their former employer.
  Two co-founders, Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, are heading back to OpenAI, alongside Sam Schoenholz, another former OpenAI staffer who had joined the startup.
  This reversal comes just six months after the company secured a record-breaking $2 billion funding round that valued the startup at $12 billion. The timing could
  
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• Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab Loses Key Leaders as They Return to OpenAI

  16-01-2026 10:01 via eweek.com
  Thinking Machines Lab — the startup launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati — is hemorrhaging key leadership as co-founders abandon ship to return to their former employer.
  Two co-founders, Barret Zoph and Luke Metz, are heading back to OpenAI, alongside Sam Schoenholz, another former OpenAI staffer who had joined the startup.
  This reversal comes just six months after the company secured a record-breaking $2 billion funding round that valued the startup at $12 billion. The timing c
  
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• Meet Pocket TTS: Real-Time Voice AI That Runs on a Laptop

  15-01-2026 21:28 via eweek.com
  Most AI voice models demand expensive GPUs and cloud APIs to generate speech. Not ideal if you’re building a voice assistant or just want to clone your voice without burning through compute credits. Kyutai just released Pocket TTS, a text-to-speech model so small (100 million parameters) it runs faster than real-time on your CPU — no fancy GPU needed.The model delivers high-quality voice cloning using just 5 seconds of audio. Give it 5 seconds of someone’s voice, and it&rs
  
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• Matthew McConaughey Trademarks “Alright, Alright, Alright” to Shut Down AI Imitations

  15-01-2026 21:02 via eweek.com
  Matthew McConaughey’s voice is instantly recognizable. Say three words, and most people can already hear him. That’s exactly why the actor is drawing a firm legal line in the sand.According to recent reports, McConaughey was granted at least eight trademarks covering some of his most iconic scenes and spoken lines. Some of the covered works include a brief clip of him sitting in front of a Christmas tree, another clip of him standing on a porch, and even the line “Alright, alri
  
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• This $14B Startup Is Building a ‘Brain’ for All Robots

  15-01-2026 16:55 via eweek.com
  What if every robot could run on the same brain? SoftBank wants to find out.On Jan. 14, robotics startup Skild AI raised a $1.4 billion in a SoftBank-led funding round, tripling its valuation to $14 billion and cementing its place as one of the most valuable robotics AI companies in the world. Just two years after launch, Skild has now attracted 22 investors and more than $1.83 billion in total funding, signaling surging confidence in “physical AI” as the next major tech frontier.Bui
  
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• Google’s Veo 3.1 Can Turn Your Photos Into Viral-Ready Videos

  15-01-2026 15:20 via eweek.com
  Google is giving its Veo AI video tool a noticeable glow-up. The company announced on Jan. 13 that Veo can now create more expressive videos from images, handle vertical formats natively, and deliver sharper output up to 4K, all aimed at creators who live on their phones and timelines.At the center of the update is an improved version of Veo 3.1 Ingredients to Video, a feature that lets users generate short video clips using reference images and simple text prompts.Google says the tool now
  
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• Did ChatGPT Help Write the Stranger Things Finale? Fans Think They Spotted Proof

  15-01-2026 14:40 via eweek.com
  A brief scene in Netflix’s “Stranger Things: One Last Adventure” has triggered fresh debate about artificial intelligence and creative work. Viewers watching the behind-the-scenes documentary believed they spotted ChatGPT tabs open on a laptop in the show’s writers’ room as the team worked on the final episode. The image quickly spread online, fueling claims that generative AI influenced the series finale and prompting renewed discussion about how generati
  
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• China’s Z.ai Debuts First Major Model Trained Fully on Huawei’s AI Chip Stack

  15-01-2026 10:50 via eweek.com
  Chinese AI startup Z.ai has unveiled GLM-Image, an advanced multimodal AI model that represents a shift in the ongoing tech war between superpowers.
  Z.ai (formerly known as Zhipu AI outside China until its rebranding in 2025) disclosed that GLM-Image is reportedly the first top-tier multimodal model trained entirely on Ascend chips developed by Huawei Technologies.
  The announcement says it was built using Huawei’s Ascend Atlas 800T A2 servers and the MindSpore framework, with servers equip
  
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• OpenAI’s $10B Cerebras Deal Promises 15x Faster AI Speed

  15-01-2026 09:13 via eweek.com
  I feel the need… the need for speed.
  ChatGPT creator OpenAI has dropped news of a massive partnership that promises to deliver the fastest AI responses ever seen.
  OpenAI announced on Jan. 14 an alliance with AI chip specialist Cerebras Systems to integrate 750 megawatts of ultra-low-latency computing power into its platform. Industry insiders familiar with the arrangement confirmed the deal carries a price tag exceeding $10 billion, according to CNBC sources. The computing capacity will r
  
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• Google Integrates Gmail, YouTube, and Search Into Gemini

  14-01-2026 23:47 via eweek.com
  Google is supercharging its AI chatbot Gemini by integrating emails, photos, and information from across its app suite, providing users with personalized results.Until now, Google has been relatively hands-off in applying the full weight of its app portfolio to Gemini, despite many of those services having billions of users. With this integration, Gemini will be able to pull from private data that competitors such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude cannot access.Beyond ingest
  
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• Meet the $500M AI Startup Quietly Interviewing Customers for Microsoft

  14-01-2026 17:40 via eweek.com
  Silicon Valley has no shortage of AI hype, but one fast-growing startup is doing something refreshingly old-school: talking to customers. Only now, it’s doing it at a massive scale — on behalf of companies like Microsoft.Listen Labs, a San Francisco-based AI company, has become an unlikely middleman between some of the world’s biggest brands and their users. The startup uses automated AI “interviewers” to run customer research, helping companies understand what
  
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• Bill Gates: ‘AI Will Change Society,” Including the Job Market

  14-01-2026 15:51 via eweek.com
  Bill Gates may call himself an eternal optimist, but he has added a caveat to that characterization after citing concerns over what the AI era will bring.In his latest annual The Year Ahead letter, which touched on areas including healthcare, climate change, and education, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist explained that he remains an optimist “because I see what innovation accelerated by artificial intelligence will bring. But these days, my optimism comes with footnotes.”Bad
  
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• OpenAI Reportedly Planning 60-Second Super Bowl Ad as AI War Intensifies

  14-01-2026 15:19 via eweek.com
  The AI boom has entered its most expensive phase yet… and OpenAI is reportedly spending big to stay in front.OpenAI is expected to return to the Super Bowl stage this year, with plans to air a 60-second commercial during NBC’s Super Bowl LX broadcast, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. If confirmed, it would mark the second year in a row the ChatGPT maker has bought airtime during the biggest night in US television.The move comes as AI comp
  
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• Anthropic Makes Leadership Changes for Labs Expansion

  14-01-2026 12:15 via eweek.com
  Anthropic is shaking things up in the intense AI race as it expands its Labs.
  On X, the busy AI firm said, “We’re expanding Labs—the team behind Claude Code, MCP, and Cowork—and hiring builders who want to tinker at the frontier of Claude’s capabilities.”
  According to the announcement, Mike Krieger is stepping away from his chief product officer role to co-lead Anthropic’s Labs team. It looks like the company is doubling down on rapid product iteration t
  
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• China Limits Nvidia Chip Purchases to ‘Special Circumstances’

  14-01-2026 11:59 via eweek.com
  China isn’t banning Nvidia’s AI chips outright, but it is tightening the rules on who can buy them. Chinese authorities told a group of technology companies that purchases of Nvidia’s H200 processors would be approved only under ‘special circumstances,’ such as university research and development. The guidance signals Beijing’s continued caution about reopening its market to US chipmakers, even as demand for advanced AI hardware remains strong. While
  
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• SK Hynix Places $13B Bet on AI Memory as Chip Shortages Intensify

  14-01-2026 11:18 via eweek.com
  South Korea’s SK Hynix has announced plans to invest roughly $13 billion in a new advanced chip packaging plant, as the global memory shortage deepens. As AI systems demand ever-greater computing power and faster data movement, memory makers are racing to expand capacity in some of the industry’s most complex and capital-intensive segments.The South Korean memory giant said it will invest 19 trillion won in the new facility, which will be built in the city of Cheongju. Construction i
  
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• Voice AI Deepgram Hits $1.3B Unicorn Status with $130M Funding

  14-01-2026 10:27 via eweek.com
  Voice AI company Deepgram has secured a $130 million Series C round to give it a $1.3 billion valuation and entry to unicorn land.
  Along with that good news, it is simultaneously acquiring Y Combinator-backed startup OfOne that could change how millions order their lunch.
  The funding round, led by AVP with participation from heavyweight investors including BlackRock, Tiger, and Y Combinator, reveals confidence in voice AI’s growth potential.
  CEO Scott Stephenson says the company achieved c
  
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• New Windows 11 Leak Reveals Copilot Moving Into File Explorer

  14-01-2026 00:06 via eweek.com
  Microsoft appears set to deepen Copilot’s role in Windows, with File Explorer potentially the next app to receive built-in AI features.An invisible button was spotted in the latest preview build of Windows 11, which appears to be tied to Microsoft’s generative AI chatbot. Users may be able to ask Copilot to find specific documents, photos, or file types, or even direct them to a particular file within a large folder.The button was spotted by Windows tester @phantomofearth, who shared
  
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• ‘Not Woke’: Pentagon Embraces Elon Musk’s Grok AI Despite Global Backlash

  13-01-2026 20:24 via eweek.com
  The Pentagon is betting on Elon Musk’s Grok… even as the chatbot faces global backlash for generating sexualized images.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the deal between the Department of Defense and xAI on Jan. 12, according to ABC News. The integration will place Grok alongside technologies like Google’s AI engine, Gemini, in the military’s AI arsenal.This decision signals Musk’s belief in Grok’s utility beyond consumer use, despite the recent co
  
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• Elon Musk Slams Apple-Google AI Deal as ‘Unreasonable’ Power Grab

  13-01-2026 19:54 via eweek.com
  The tech industry has been buzzing over Monday’s blockbuster announcement that Apple and Google have joined forces to power the next generation of Siri.One person who didn’t enjoy the news? Elon Musk.Responding directly to the news on X, the Tesla and xAI CEO didn’t hide his disdain for the partnership, labeling it a dangerous expansion of Google’s influence.“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and C
  
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• 7 Best ChatGPT Image Prompts in 2026: How to Get Better AI Photos

  13-01-2026 19:44 via eweek.com
  In 2026, the difference between a forgettable AI image and one that stops people mid-scroll often comes down to a single thing: how well the prompt was written.Across creative blogs, AI prompt guides, and hands-on experimentation, a new generation of “prompt literacy” is emerging.As image generation inside ChatGPT has matured and become mainstream, users are learning a hard truth: the tool is powerful, but it’s not psychic. The best results come from prompts that are clear, int
  
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