Research & Development news

• This AI Tool Can Plan and Execute Penetration Tests on Its Own

  31-12-2025 17:15 via eweek.com
  A new generation of AI tools is reshaping offensive cybersecurity, making vulnerability discovery faster, cheaper, and far more automated.
  NeuroSploitv2 exemplifies that shift. The AI-powered penetration testing framework works across multiple large language models, including Gemini, Claude, GPT, and Ollama, automating tasks that once required skilled human researchers.
  In practice, it’s beginning to replace entire phases of the penetration testing process.
  That transition is already real.
  
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• Kodiak AI Taps Bosch to Build Production-Ready Driverless Trucks

  06-01-2026 20:21 via eweek.com
  Driverless trucking has spent years stuck in pilot mode. Now it’s inching closer to mass production.Kodiak AI, a leader in self-driving technology, and automotive giant Bosch have teamed up to build a production-ready “driverless” system for the trucking industry. The deal, announced Monday at CES 2026, aims to solve one of the biggest headaches in the autonomous sector: moving from experimental prototypes to thousands of trucks on the open road.Building a production-grade auto
  
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• Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon X2 Plus and Robotics Push at CES 2026

  06-01-2026 17:21 via eweek.com
  Qualcomm came to CES with something to prove.The chipmaker used the world’s biggest tech stage to unveil an ambitious 2026 roadmap that stretches far beyond smartphones, signaling a shift toward PCs, AI-heavy computing, and even humanoid robots. The goal? To redefine its role in the broader tech ecosystem.At the center of that push is the new Snapdragon X2 Plus, alongside the X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme. Together, these processors signal Qualcomm’s most aggressive move yet to redef
  
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• Jensen Huang: Nvidia Built ‘World’s First Thinking, Reasoning Autonomous Vehicle’

  06-01-2026 17:02 via eweek.com
  At CES 2026, Jensen Huang took the stage and dropped a line that might define the next decade: “The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here.” Bold claim.The star of Nvidia keynote was Alpamayo, what Jensen calls “the world’s first thinking, reasoning autonomous vehicle AI.”Here’s the problem it solves
  Traditional self-driving cars separate seeing from deciding. Works great 99% of the time, but that remaining 1% (weird edge cases, unexpected scenarios) is where
  
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• Grok AI Sparks International Investigations After Creating Explicit Images of Children

  06-01-2026 16:54 via eweek.com
  Governments across three continents have launched urgent investigations into Elon Musk’s X platform after its Grok AI chatbot began generating sexually explicit images of women and children.
  What started as users discovering they could simply ask Grok to “undress” photos has now become a full-blown international regulatory crisis.
  Reports published today (Jan. 6) reveal X was flooded with inappropriate AI-generated content targeting women and minors. The controversy reached a b
  
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• Google TV Will Soon Include Gemini AI With Nano Banana Features

  06-01-2026 16:53 via eweek.com
  Your TV is about to get a lot smarter… and a little more creative.At CES 2026, Google revealed new Gemini AI features coming to Google TV that aim to make the big screen more interactive, from answering questions to adjusting settings and even creating images and video on demand. The update brings Gemini’s Nano Banana and Veo tools to select TVs, along with voice controls that let users adjust picture and sound without digging through menus. Google said the features will roll o
  
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• Amazon Brings Alexa+ to the Web With a ChatGPT-Style Interface

  06-01-2026 16:32 via eweek.com
  Amazon’s long-scheduled overhaul of its digital assistant, Alexa, has finally arrived on the web… sporting a look similar to rival ChatGPT.While Amazon has one of the largest installed user bases for an AI product through the sale of hundreds of millions of Alexa smart home speakers, voice-activated virtual assistants have taken a back seat to text-based generative chatbots since the launch of ChatGPT three years ago.Alexa+, which is available on the web at Alexa.com, is pitched as
  
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• China Unveils ‘Real Steel’ Combat Robot in High-Tech Military Showcase

  06-01-2026 15:58 via eweek.com
  During a recent military exchange event, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) demonstrated a motion-controlled combat robot capable of replicating a human operator’s movements in real time. The system works by having a person wear a lightweight motion-sensing device. Every punch, block, or combat gesture made by the operator is captured and instantly mirrored by the robot, with artificial intelligence helping to translate the movements precisely.The technology has drawn
  
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• Accenture Expands AI Capabilities With Faculty Acquisition

  06-01-2026 13:30 via eweek.com
  Consulting firm Accenture has made a power move in the area of enterprise AI adoption.
  The company has announced plans to acquire UK-based AI firm Faculty, bringing over 400 AI specialists into its ranks and adding Faculty’s CEO, Marc Warner, as its new chief technology officer.
  This acquisition is the culmination of a massive $3 billion AI investment strategy that started back in June 2023.
  Faculty, founded in 2014, works directly with tech giants OpenAI and Anthropic on AI safety initiat
  
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• AI Godfather Slams Meta’s $300M Bet on 29-Year-Old Boss

  06-01-2026 10:33 via eweek.com
  There’s a rage about age in Silicon Valley.
  AI legend Yann LeCun has words on Meta’s controversial leadership choice. The 65-year-old “godfather of AI” delivered a scathing public assessment of Meta’s newest AI chief Alexandr Wang.
  LeCun didn’t mince words when discussing the 29-year-old billionaire who joined Meta as chief AI officer in 2025. Despite Wang’s Scale AI billions and Zuckerberg’s massive bet on his leadership, LeCun told the Financial
  
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• Samsung Bets Big on AI, Plans 800M Gemini-Powered Devices in 2026

  06-01-2026 10:22 via eweek.com
  On your marks, get ready, and try to keep up. This is the message Samsung Electronics is communicating to its competitors, as it bets big on AI at a rapid scale to solidify its leadership in AI-powered consumer hardware. The South Korean tech company announced plans to double the number of AI-enabled mobile devices it ships this year to 800 million units, which goes to show how quickly AI is becoming the next major battleground in consumer technology.By the end of last year, Samsung ha
  
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• Meet ‘Atlas’: Boston Dynamics’ New Robot Takes First Real Factory Job at Hyundai Plant

  05-01-2026 19:26 via eweek.com
  Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot, Atlas, has taken a significant step beyond flashy lab demos. For the first time, the AI-powered robot is being tested in a real factory, learning how to do actual industrial work.CBS’s 60 Minutes was invited to Hyundai Motor Group’s new auto plant near Savannah, Georgia, where Atlas was put to work inside a parts warehouse. The visit offered a rare look at how close humanoid robots are to joining human workers on factory floors.Standing 5 feet,
  
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• 10 Essential AI Terms Every Beginner Should Learn Today

  05-01-2026 18:30 via eweek.com
  Artificial intelligence is everywhere now, powering search engines, rewriting emails, and even seeping into the apps you use every day. But for anyone just stepping into the space, the language around AI can feel like a wall of unfamiliar terms: tokens, models, hallucinations, and more. The tech isn’t hard to follow, but the jargon is. Once you decode the vocabulary, the entire field becomes far less mysterious and far more usable.Here are the 10 AI terms that give beginners the clear
  
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• Elon Musk Pushes Grok Beyond X With New Business, Enterprise AI Offerings

  05-01-2026 17:57 via eweek.com
  Grok is stepping out of the public timeline and into the office.Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has launched Grok Business and Grok Enterprise, two new paid tiers designed to bring its flagship AI assistant into workplaces, from small teams to large global organizations. The move marks xAI’s clearest push yet to compete for enterprise customers already weighing tools from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.In a post announcing the launch, xAI said it’s making Grok available to employee
  
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• 170 Million New Jobs, 92 Million Lost: Inside the AI Employment Paradox

  05-01-2026 17:26 via eweek.com
  The question is no longer whether AI will disrupt jobs, but how many and how fast. For much of the past two years, analysts and labor studies have warned of a looming job apocalypse, particularly for entry-level roles that once served as the primary on-ramp for new college graduates. That near-dystopian narrative has been reinforced by sustained layoffs across sectors through 2025, including technology, media, finance, consulting, and corporate retail operations, even as companies acce
  
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• Meet Pickle 1: The ‘Soul Computer’ AR Glasses That May Be Ahead of Reality

  05-01-2026 16:46 via eweek.com
  A Y Combinator startup just launched a new pair of AI-powered AR glasses they’re calling the world’s first “soul computer.” The name? Pickle 1.Yep. A company named after a preserved vegetable wants you to strap always-on cameras to your face to capture your “soul.”Here are the details
  The Pickle 1 went live for pre-orders on New Year’s Day with a $799 price tag ($200 deposit, Q2 2026 delivery).Founder Daniel Park, a medical school dropout turned e-commer
  
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• Plaud Pursues Plaudits With AI Note-Taking Wearable Launch

  05-01-2026 13:34 via eweek.com
  Farewell, my lovely memory. If you decide to have a ‘big sleep’ in a meeting, fear not, a wearable could come to the rescue.
  Plaud has revealed its laudable ambitions with the unveiling of two products that could redefine how professionals capture and use information from conversations.
  On show is the upgraded wearable device, the Plaud NotePin S, alongside a new desktop application, Plaud Desktop. Together, the company positions the releases as the first unified AI note-taking syste
  
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• Google AI Overviews Put Health Searches and Patients at Risk

  05-01-2026 12:51 via eweek.com
  When a search result starts sounding like a diagnosis, the stakes change fast. Google’s AI Overviews are under scrutiny after experts warned that the tool is surfacing misleading health information that could put patients at risk.According to an investigation by The Guardian, the generative AI summaries shown at the top of Google Search have produced inaccurate and potentially harmful medical guidance across health topics, raising fresh concerns about trusting AI-generated health answ
  
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• Embrace AI as ‘Cognitive Amplifier’ Urges Microsoft CEO

  05-01-2026 12:05 via eweek.com
  Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has declared the industry needs to abandon “slop vs sophistication” debates and embrace AI as humanity’s new “cognitive amplifier.”
  In his brief “Looking Ahead to 2026” post, Nadella said, “We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication and develop a new equilibrium in terms of our ‘theory of the mind’ that accounts for humans being equipped with these new cognitive amplifier tools as we relate
  
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• AI Inflation Crisis Could Derail 2026 Economic Boom

  05-01-2026 09:38 via eweek.com
  The love for AI could be a dangerous thing.
  Global stock markets that surged to record highs on enthusiasm for AI and easier monetary policy may be overlooking a growing risk that could derail the rally: a renewed upswing in inflation driven in part by the technology investment boom itself.
  U.S. stock indexes posted double-digit gains in 2025, with just seven major technology groups accounting for roughly half of total market earnings. Optimism surrounding AI adoption, combined with expectations
  
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• 10 Under-the-Radar AI Companies to Watch in 2026

  02-01-2026 21:18 via eweek.com
  When people discuss artificial intelligence in 2026, the same handful of companies tend to dominate the conversation. Google. OpenAI. Nvidia. Microsoft. Amazon.However, there are some burgeoning, under-the-radar vendors focused on making AI systems easier to deploy, manage, and leverage within organizations.This list highlights 10 hidden gems in the AI industry worth watching in 2026. While none of these companies are yet household names, each is gaining traction in healthcare, data governance,
  
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• Rumor: OpenAI’s New ‘Audio-Based’ Device Could Arrive Very Soon

  02-01-2026 21:12 via eweek.com
  Screens had a good run. Now OpenAI is betting that the future of AI lives in your ears, not on your phone.OpenAI is ramping up work on its audio AI as it prepares for an upcoming personal device that will rely primarily on voice, according to The Information. The device is expected to be “largely audio-based,” marking a shift away from screens as the main way users interact with AI.Inside the company, researchers believe OpenAI’s current audio models are not yet on par with its
  
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• 7 Robots Handling Jobs Too Dangerous for Humans

  02-01-2026 18:59 via eweek.com
  Robots are no longer limited to factory floors or research labs.Across the world, they are stepping into jobs that are simply too risky for people — from fighting fires and disarming bombs to inspecting radioactive sites and navigating deep underground pipelines.As technology improves, machines are being trusted with environments filled with heat, radiation, toxic chemicals, unstable structures, and live explosives. These machines do not breathe smoke, absorb radiation, or panic under pres
  
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• Inside DARPA’s High-Stakes Challenge to Build Life-Saving Robots

  02-01-2026 17:59 via eweek.com
  The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is pushing robots into one of the hardest jobs in emergency medicine: triage. Through its multi-year DARPA Triage Challenge, the agency is testing whether machines can help overwhelmed responders quickly locate injured people, assess injury severity, and share that information in time to save lives. Earthquakes, plane crashes, battlefield attacks, and large accidents often leave too many injured people and too few medics. DARPA b
  
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• AI Startups Raise Record $150B in 2025, Redefining Venture Capital

  02-01-2026 15:49 via eweek.com
  The AI funding boom just rewrote the record books. In 2025, startups raised roughly $150 billion, setting a new high for venture capital investment.
  Data released on Dec. 28 confirms this marks the third consecutive year of record growth, surpassing the 2021 peak by $92 billion and representing a 63% increase over an already historic market.
  But the most striking shift isn’t just the headline number. AI companies now account for nearly 50% of all global startup funding, up from just 34% in
  
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• Best Nano Banana Prompts to Try in 2026 (And Why They Work)

  01-01-2026 13:00 via eweek.com
  Since its debut in August, Google’s Nano Banana image model has gone from a cool tech demo to a daily companion for millions. With the November release of Nano Banana Pro, the capabilities jumped from nice-to-have to studio-quality.Google’s latest update notes that the model has become a favorite because of its “ability to maintain a consistent look across edits, blend photos together and otherwise use advanced editing to bring prompts to life.”If you’re looking to
  
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• Meet the 24-Year-Old Who Raised $64M to Build an AI Mathematician

  31-12-2025 20:17 via eweek.com
  A 24-year-old just raised $64 million to build an AI mathematician that’s smarter than Terence Tao (widely considered the world’s greatest living mathematician).Her name is Carina Hong, and her startup Axiom Math has already solved a 130-year-old problem and disproved a 30-year-old conjecture.Don’t get it twisted, though; this isn’t about making ChatGPT better at algebra. This is about creating AI that discovers entirely new mathematical theorems, proves them formally, an
  
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• Chinese AI Startup MiniMax Eyes $600M IPO Backed by Alibaba and Abu Dhabi

  31-12-2025 19:35 via eweek.com
  MiniMax is no longer just another AI startup. It’s preparing for a public debut.The Chinese AI company is targeting a $600 million IPO with backing from Alibaba and Abu Dhabi investment authorities, according to people familiar with the matter. The final size and timing of the offering could still change.According to a report by The Business Times, sources familiar with the situation said the Chinese startup recently secured a deal with the investment authority of Abu Dhabi and Alibaba. Th
  
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• How to Pick an AI Chatbot That Fits Your Work

  31-12-2025 19:11 via eweek.com
  Most people choose chatbots the wrong way. They compare model names, skim benchmarks, or follow brand momentum, then wonder why the tool feels unreliable in daily use. But the problem isn’t intelligence; it’s fit.AI chatbots fail in different ways depending on the task. Some drift from instructions. Some sound confident but can’t back up their claims. Others work brilliantly in a demo, then fall apart when fed real documents or long threads. This guide will help you look a
  
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• Zu Beginn des Jahres 2026 sehen sich Behörden mit rekordhohen Cyberbedrohungen konfrontiert – warum hochsichere Notebooks zur ersten Verteidigungslinie werden

  31-12-2025 18:55 via eweek.com
  Das Jahr 2025 endete mit einer beispiellosen Welle von Cyberangriffen auf öffentliche Institutionen in Europa. Mehrere EU-Ministerien meldeten gezielte Phishing-Kampagnen, die durch generative KI unterstützt wurden, während neue Vorschriften – wie die erweiterte EU-Cyber-Resilience-Act, die Anfang 2026 in Kraft tritt – die Anforderungen an Hardware- und Datenschutzmaßnahmen weiter erhöhen.Für Behörden waren die Risiken noch nie so groß: Vertr
  
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