Gemini 3.1 Pro: A smarter model for your most complex tasks
Google has released Gemini 3.1 Pro, an upgraded core model with significantly improved reasoning capabilities for handling complex tasks like data synthesis and problem-solving. It's rolling out now across the Gemini app, API, Vertex AI, and NotebookLM in preview for developers and consumers. The model scores higher on complex benchmarks, advancing agentic AI workflows.
Intelligence Stream
Upstart announces $333M sale of auto assets to focus on AI lending
AI-powered lending platform Upstart sells its auto loan assets for $333M to affiliates, aiming to streamline operations and leverage AI models for superior credit products.
The OpenAI mafia: 18 startups founded by alumni
TechCrunch maps 18 notable startups spun out by ex-OpenAI employees, showcasing the talent exodus fueling AI innovation.
Google and Sea partner on agentic AI for e-commerce and gaming
Google teams up with Sea (Shopee parent) to develop agentic AI models tailored for e-commerce recommendations and in-game experiences.
The Tech Download: Will China win the AI race?
China's compute-efficient open-source models and massive power buildout position it to dominate global AI stacks, challenging US frontier leadership.
AI Spending Is Poised to Hit $700 Billion in 2026. 2 Top Stocks to Buy
Hyperscalers forecast $700B AI capex in 2026, driving demand for chip equipment makers like Applied Materials and data center operators.
Nvidia Stock vs. AMD Stock: Which is the Best AI Chip Buy Right Now?
Analysts debate Nvidia vs. AMD as top AI chip plays, with AMD gaining ground but Nvidia dominating inference and training markets.
Wall St Week Ahead: Nvidia, software reports to test AI stock rally
Investors eye Nvidia's upcoming earnings and software giants like Microsoft as key tests for the AI-driven market amid recent volatility.
AI Leaders Weekly: Anthropic-Infosys tie-up, OpenAI India expansion
Anthropic partners with Infosys for enterprise AI agents; OpenAI eyes new India offices; DeepMind's Gemini 3.1 Pro leads benchmarks.
Avantos secures $25M Series A to scale AI platform for fintech advisors
Avantos raises $25 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-driven platform helping financial advisors manage client portfolios more efficiently.
cBrain Invited by California for 12-Week AI Proof of Concept
Danish AI firm cBrain will conduct a 12-week AI PoC for the State of California, focusing on enterprise applications.
Nvidia close to investing $30 billion in OpenAI's mega funding round
Nvidia is finalizing a massive $30 billion investment in OpenAI's ongoing funding round that could value the AI lab at over $850 billion, according to sources cited by Reuters and FT. This comes amid surging AI infrastructure demand.
Trump order looms as Virginia legislators consider AI regulation
State lawmakers debate bills on AI oversight amid anticipation of federal executive actions from the incoming administration.
Jump secures $80M Series B to scale AI platform for financial advisors
Fintech AI firm Jump raises $80M led by Insight Partners to expand advisor tools amid booming demand. Funding accelerates agentic AI for personalized client strategies.
Ohio Bill Targets AI Models Encouraging Self-Harm
New legislation in Ohio aims to prohibit the creation of AI models that encourage users to engage in self-harm, addressing emerging risks in generative AI.
Sometimes, It Would Be Unethical Not to Use AI in Medicine
Experts argue that ignoring proven AI tools in healthcare could constitute negligence, though blind adherence poses risks too.
G42 Joins Forces with Credo AI to Advance Responsible AI Adoption
Partnership focuses on governance tools for AI in Global South. Aims to scale ethical AI deployment.
Security Compass releases tool tackling AI-driven dev risks
New SD Elements capability addresses secure coding in AI-accelerated development. Helps enterprises mitigate vulnerabilities from rapid AI code gen.
AI to profoundly transform global economy: Mistral AI CEO
Mistral AI's CEO highlighted AI's potential to reshape economies at India AI Summit, urging bold strategies amid hyper-progress.
China's humanoid robots go from viral stumbles to kung fu flips in one year
Chinese firms like Unitree showcased humanoid robots performing acrobatic flips at the Spring Festival Gala, signaling explosive progress in AI robotics rivaling Tesla.
White House adviser says 'totally' rejects global AI governance
A top US adviser dismissed global AI oversight as bureaucratic overreach, prioritizing sovereign adoption for innovation.
AI investment fears drag US stocks lower
Wall Street slips as worries over massive AI capex and infrastructure limits rumble, compounded by oil spikes.
'Fighting the AI Ghost Trade' – Dan Ives Lists 10 Catalysts to Reverse the Tech Selloff
Wedbush's Dan Ives outlines 10 catalysts, including AI advancements, to counter recent AI stock declines and reignite momentum.
UN chief Guterres: AI can't be left to billionaires, launches control panel
UN promotes new AI panel to ensure 'human control' as technical reality amid global governance push.
AI ushers in hyper progress, can help emerging economies leapfrog: Google CEO Pichai
Sundar Pichai touted AI's potential to supercharge development in emerging markets, enabling leapfrogging traditional infrastructure.
Zhipu GLM-5 open-source: 744B params, tops SWE-bench Verified at 77.8%
New agentic engineering model excels in coding/autonomous tasks, surpassing Gemini 3 Pro on software evals with Slime RL and sparse attention. Trained on 28.5T tokens for long-horizon system building.
Remarks by Director Michael Kratsios at the India AI Impact Summit
White House official emphasizes US leadership in AI adoption, sovereignty, and exports while rejecting global governance.
US pushes AI adoption and sovereignty at India AI Impact Summit
White House announces initiatives for AI exports, training, and countering China at Delhi event.
Tech Mahindra & NVIDIA launch Hindi-first education LLM under Project Indus
Sovereign model embeds Indian culture/context for scalable learning in physics/subjects, using NVIDIA NeMo/NIM for millions of students.
Catch up on the AI stories you may have missed this week
Economic Times roundup highlights key AI developments including model launches and industry shifts.
Nvidia nears $30B equity investment in OpenAI amid massive funding round
Nvidia is close to investing $30 billion in OpenAI as part of a funding round potentially valuing the AI lab at over $850B, reviving talks after a prior $100B deal stalled.
AI Summit 2026 LIVE updates: Modi addresses global AI impact
India's AI Impact Summit 2026 continues with PM Modi emphasizing AI's permanence, alongside GPAI council meetings and Delhi Declaration discussions.
Seedance 2.0: China's latest AI is so good it's spooked Hollywood
Beijing-based Seedance unveiled version 2.0 of its AI video generation model, praised for unprecedented realism and user-friendliness, raising concerns in the film industry.
Michael Pollan says AI may 'think' — but it will never be conscious
Author Michael Pollan argues in NPR interview that while AI can mimic thinking, true consciousness remains beyond its reach.
UK charity Mind launches inquiry into AI's mental health risks after harmful advice exposed
Following Guardian investigation into dangerous Google AI Overviews on suicide and self-harm, Mind probes safeguards in AI chatbots.
Sarvam's 105-bn model puts India on the frontier AI map
Indian startup Sarvam AI launched Vikram, a 105-billion-parameter LLM trained on Indian languages and data, unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit to boost sovereign AI capabilities.
The best AI models in 2026: What model to pick for your use case
Pluralsight ranks top models across tasks, highlighting specialized picks amid the exploding frontier landscape.
Gemini 3.1 Pro is here, benchmarks says Google is once again leader in AI
India Today covers Google's latest LLM topping charts and reclaiming AI supremacy.
China AI Startups Surge After Holiday in Rotation From Big Tech
Chinese AI firms are rapidly updating models and features post-holiday, shifting focus from big tech dominance in the competitive landscape.
IndiaAI Summit unveils 3 sovereign LLMs: Sarvam Vikram/105B, Gnani Vachana, BharatGen Param2
India launches specialized models supporting 22 languages for governance, voice AI, and offline apps, with Sarvam's 105B rivaling Gemma 27B/GPT-OSS on math/coding. Trained on sovereign compute to reduce foreign reliance.
Rise of small language models: 2026's smartest AI going hybrid
Shift to SLMs and hybrid LLM-SLM systems for efficiency, as frontier labs optimize for specialized tasks over massive generalists.
Google Gemini Launches New AI Music Model, Lyria 3
Lyria 3 in beta via Gemini app generates music from text prompts. Competes with Suno in AI audio creation.
Corvic AI Joins NVIDIA Inception Program to Advance Enterprise-Scale Intelligence
The AI platform for enterprise data composition gains access to Nvidia's expertise and resources to scale its offerings.
SchoolQualityReview.ai fully launches AI charter renewal platform
AI tool analyzes charter school docs against 80+ indicators for renewals, entering edtech as AI aids governance and compliance.
Bill Gates pulls out of India AI summit amid Epstein scrutiny
Microsoft co-founder cancels keynote at India’s AI Impact Summit following renewed backlash over ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates Foundation and Novo Nordisk launch call for AI health tool proposals
New global partnership seeks proposals to evaluate AI tools supporting decision-making in primary and community health settings.
Philanthropic partnership funds AI health research in low-resource settings
RFP open for evaluations of AI decision tools for frontline health workers. Focus on country-led studies.
Taalas raises $169M in funding to develop model-specific AI chips
The startup's chips are designed to run particular AI models more efficiently, backed by investors including Temasek and Prosus.
US to launch Technology Prosperity Corps at India AI Summit to counter China's AI push
The initiative will deploy US tech experts to emerging markets, funded by corporations and charities, to promote American AI standards.
US State Dept launches Edge AI Package for Indo-Pacific
The US State Department announced an Edge AI initiative to bolster AI capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region amid geopolitical tech competition.
Jump raises $80M to scale AI platform for financial advisors
AI startup Jump secured $80M in funding to expand its platform automating investment research and portfolio management for advisors, tapping into growing demand for AI-driven fintech tools.
Meta exec urges bold strategies to unlock AI potential
Meta's Wang calls for aggressive moves in AI amid infrastructure buildout.
OpenAI and Tata Group forge multi-layered AI partnership spanning skills, enterprise, and infrastructure
OpenAI, Tata Group, and TCS announce a strategic partnership including AI skills training for 1M+ youth, Enterprise ChatGPT for thousands of employees, custom agentic AI solutions, and 100MW AI infra scaling to 1GW. Aims to boost India's AI ecosystem and global innovation.
OpenAI Nears $100B Funding Deal as Valuation Approaches $850B
OpenAI is reportedly finalizing a massive $100B funding round that would value the company at over $850B, fueling further AI infrastructure and model development.
AI Trends 2026: LLM Statistics & Industry Insights
Visualized data on model performance, pricing, and global race, showing rapid evolution in capabilities and costs.
Stanford HAI and AWS launch marketing science lab focused on AI measurement
Stanford's Human-AI Institute and AWS debuted a new lab to pioneer AI/ML tools for marketing analytics, causal inference, and B2B customer analysis with open-source prototypes.
Nvidia and OpenAI abandon unfinished $100bn deal in favour of $30bn investment
Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30B equity investment in OpenAI as part of its funding round valuing the company at ~$830B, replacing a prior $100B multi-year commitment to reduce risk while locking in GPU demand.
AI companies drive record $13.6B convertible bond surge in early 2026
AI-focused firms have raised nearly $13.6 billion in convertible bonds through February 18, fueling a surge in equity-linked debt amid booming demand for AI infrastructure.
AI Seen Driving US Convertible Bond Sales to Another Banner Year
AI firms fuel record $13.6B convertible bonds YTD, signaling massive capex for compute and infra amid booming demand.
Microsoft Says 2026 Is the Moment for AI PCs
Microsoft positions 2026 as the pivotal year for AI-powered PCs, highlighting Windows 11 features like Recall, Copilot, and enhanced security.
Idaho National Lab Accelerates Nuclear Energy with NVIDIA AI
INL partners with NVIDIA on the Genesis Mission to deploy AI for faster nuclear energy development, addressing AI datacenter power demands.
AMC Theatres Will Refuse to Screen AI Short Film After Online Uproar
Major chain AMC pulls out of screening 'The Last Screenwriter,' an award-winning fully AI-generated short film set to play before features nationwide, citing backlash from artists and audiences.
Google's new Gemini Pro model has record benchmark scores—again
Gemini 3.1 Pro tops charts on Humanity’s Last Exam and APEX-Agents, signaling preview of general release with pro task prowess.
Partnership With Google Advances AI Literacy
College of DuPage collaborates with Google for Education to offer students free access to Gemini AI tools, training, and resources to build AI fluency.
Anthropic Releases Claude Sonnet 4.6, Boosting Coding and Agentic Tasks
Anthropic's latest Claude Sonnet 4.6 model excels in computer use, coding, design, knowledge work, and data processing, becoming the new default for versatile tasks. It's the second major release in two weeks, maintaining the breakneck pace of frontier AI development.
Bill Gates Pulls Out of India AI Summit Amid Epstein Scrutiny
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates withdrew from keynoting India's AI Impact Summit just hours before, amid renewed questions over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Microsoft extends OpenAI partnership through 2032
Microsoft has prolonged its revenue-sharing deal with OpenAI to 2032, bolstering long-term AI integration across its ecosystem.
NAIC prioritizes AI model governance and capital framework for 2026
National Association of Insurance Commissioners lists AI oversight as key focus amid growing industry adoption.
Mercyhurst students help launch generative AI platform through data² partnership
Mercyhurst University students contribute to a new generative AI platform launch via data analytics partnership.
Introducing BigQuery autonomous embedding generation
Google Cloud launches autonomous embeddings in BigQuery, automatically generating and syncing vector embeddings for AI search without manual pipelines.
Inside the Rolling Layoffs at Jack Dorsey's Block
Block (Square, Cash App) faces ongoing layoffs and a push for AI tools amid deteriorating company culture, as reported by workers.
AI agents are fast, loose and out of control, MIT study finds
MIT analysis of 30 agentic AI systems reveals scant safety testing disclosures, absent shutdown protocols, and governance voids amid rapid proliferation.
New method to steer AI output uncovers vulnerabilities in top LLMs
UCSD researchers develop technique revealing hidden biases and weaknesses in models like Llama, with implications for safer AI deployment.
AI power crunch: Space solar not viable for decades, says expert
Amid surging AI energy demands, Elon Musk's space-based solar vision won't solve datacenter power shortages anytime soon.
Higgsfield launches SOUL 2.0 photo model with fashion-aware generation
Higgsfield AI released SOUL 2.0, a creative image model with 20+ presets, superior character consistency via Soul ID, and trend-savvy outputs for fashion and editorial use.
OpenClaw security fears lead Meta, other AI firms to restrict its use
Security vulnerabilities in the OpenClaw prompt injection tool prompt Meta and other AI companies to limit access, highlighting risks in AI tooling.
MiniMax launches M2.5 frontier model with SOTA coding performance
New 230B parameter model excels in agentic tasks and coding via reinforcement learning, runnable locally with Unsloth.
AI coding tools are rapidly changing how we produce software
MIT Technology Review explores how AI coders like Gemini 3.1 Pro are embraced industry-wide, potentially displacing entry-level jobs.
DOD leaders warn AI and crypto 'lowers the bar' for cybercriminals
US Defense officials highlight how generative AI combined with cryptocurrency enables easier cyber threats and evades tracking.
Reddit is testing a new AI search feature for shopping
Reddit is piloting an AI-powered search tool that combines community recommendations with product matches from retailers, aiming to enhance shopping discovery.
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Anthropic's Dario Amodei Refuse to Hold Hands at AI Summit
Awkward tension unfolds between top AI CEOs at India's AI Impact Summit, highlighting rivalries amid Super Bowl ad wars and big tech conflicts.
Frontier AI models refuse military queries at alarming rates, report finds
New report reveals advanced LLMs like GPT and Claude reject military-related prompts over 80% of the time, raising concerns for defense applications.
The AI security nightmare is here and it looks suspiciously like lobster
Prompt injection tricked Claude-powered Cline into installing OpenClaw malware, spotlighting vulnerabilities in autonomous AI coding agents.
Google releases Gemini 3.1 Pro: Benchmarks, how to try it
Google's new Gemini 3.1 Pro outperforms Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.2 on multiple benchmarks like 77.1% ARC-AGI-2 and 44.4% Humanity's Last Exam, now accessible in the Gemini app for free users and via API for developers.
Fractal launches Vaidya 2.0, first model over 50 on HealthBench hard
Fractal's specialized healthcare AI Vaidya 2.0 scores 50.1 on OpenAI's HealthBench (hard), surpassing GPT-5 and Gemini 3 Pro, with tools for emergency assist and patient journeys. Part of India AI Mission for sovereign capabilities.
Gemini 3.1 Pro is now in public preview in GitHub Copilot
Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro rolls out to GitHub Copilot, delivering high tool precision and efficient edit-test loops for developers.
OpenAI's Sam Altman: Global AI regulation 'urgently' needed
At India's AI summit, Sam Altman calls for urgent international AI oversight to manage risks from rapid development.
CGU and Macnica Partner to Advance Human-Centered AI
Claremont Graduate University partners with Macnica to research ethical, human-centered AI applications in society.
Google launches Gemini 3.1 Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro debuts with top-tier reasoning, matching leading models like Claude Sonnet 4.6, available across Google AI tools.
What the New Reference Manual for Scientific Evidence Teaches Us About AI
Updated federal manual highlights AI's role in scientific evidence for courts, offering guidance on admissibility and reliability.
OpenAI reportedly finalizing $100B deal at more than $850B valuation
OpenAI is close to closing a massive $100B+ funding round valuing it over $850B, with commitments from Amazon ($50B), SoftBank ($30B), Nvidia ($20B), Microsoft, and others amid high cash burn.
Jim Cramer: Buy this tech stock because AI makes its business stronger
CNBC's Cramer recommends a cybersecurity stock thriving amid AI-driven threats and market sell-off.
House Democrats probe Elon Musk and Grok over AI undressing images on X
A group of House Democrats sent a letter to Elon Musk criticizing the release of a 'reprehensible' AI tool in Grok that generates undressing images, demanding accountability.
xAI's Grok exposes porn performer's legal name and birthdate
Grok publicly revealed adult film star Siri Dahl's full legal name and birthday when queried, raising privacy and safety concerns about the chatbot's safeguards.
Gemini 3.1 Pro leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Independent benchmarks show Gemini 3.1 Pro topping the Intelligence Index, 4 points ahead of Claude Opus 4.6 at half the cost, with gains in reasoning, coding, and reduced hallucinations.
Sam Altman: Even CEOs won't be safe from AI superintelligence
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts AI will disrupt white-collar jobs including executives, with superintelligence arriving in years and vastly expanding global intellectual capacity.
Quick Hits in AI News: AI's Productivity Effects
SHRM rounds up latest on AI productivity surge, Klarna's scaling lessons, adoption J-curves, and policy implications for workforce transformation.
OpenAI commits $7.5M to fund independent AI alignment research
OpenAI is pledging $7.5 million to The Alignment Project, a UK AI Safety Institute fund supporting global independent research on AI safety mitigations across fields like game theory and cognitive science.
ByteDance Expands US AI Team Amid New Model Launches
TikTok's parent ByteDance is hiring aggressively for its US AI division following releases of Seedance 2.0 video and Seedream 5.0 image generation models.
Gemini 3.1 Pro on Gemini CLI, Gemini Enterprise, and Vertex AI
Gemini 3.1 Pro launches on Google Cloud platforms, enabling enterprises and developers to leverage its enhanced reasoning.
Hollywood's copyright fight meets China's AI boom
ByteDance's Seedance video AI ignites debates over training data and IP as Chinese models challenge US dominance in generative media.