Moonshot AI, backed by major investors, announced the release of Kimi K2.5, a multimodal model trained on a massive dataset of text, image, and video tokens. The model is positioned to match or exceed the performance of proprietary competitors in coding and video understanding benchmarks. Alongside the model, Moonshot introduced Kimi Code, an open‑source coding assistant that lets developers work with text, images, and video inputs across popular development environments. The moves underscore Moonshot's push to become a leading player in AI‑driven software development tools. Read more →

Google DeepMind has hired the CEO and several engineers from voice AI startup Hume AI as part of a new licensing agreement. The move brings Hume AI's expertise in emotion‑aware speech processing to improve Gemini's voice capabilities. Hume AI will retain a non‑exclusive right to its intellectual property, continue supplying its technology to other firms, and launch new models while targeting $100 million in revenue this year. The deal highlights a growing trend of AI giants acquiring talent rather than whole companies, underscoring voice as the next frontier in artificial intelligence. Read more →

Anthropic president and co‑founder Daniela Amodei told WIRED that the company’s focus on safety and ethical principles is strengthening the AI market. She highlighted the widespread adoption of Anthropic’s Claude model by hundreds of thousands of developers and startups, and explained how the firm’s “constitutional AI” approach—training models on baseline ethical guidelines—helps set minimum safety standards. Amodei argued that customers prefer reliable, low‑hallucination AI, and that transparent safety reporting acts like automotive crash‑test data, building trust and encouraging industry‑wide self‑regulation. Read more →

Gradium, a Paris‑based AI voice startup spun out of the French lab Kyutai, announced a $70 million seed financing led by FirstMark Capital and Eurazeo, with participation from Xavier Niel, DST Global Partners and Eric Schmidt. The company, founded by former Google DeepMind researcher Neil Zeghidour, offers ultra‑low‑latency, multilingual voice models that aim to deliver near‑instantaneous AI speech. Gradium enters a crowded market that includes major LLM firms and specialized voice startups, positioning its technology for developers seeking faster, more accurate voice capabilities across multiple languages. Read more →

Google and venture firm Accel announced a joint effort to invest in India’s earliest‑stage artificial‑intelligence startups through the Google AI Futures Fund and Accel’s Atoms program. The partnership will allocate up to $1 million per startup, provide compute credits, early access to Gemini and DeepMind models, and mentorship from both firms. Targeted founders include those building AI products for the Indian market and for global audiences. The collaboration aims to tap India’s large, mobile‑first population, engineering talent, and growing cloud infrastructure to accelerate AI innovation. Read more →

After decades leading LivePerson, Robert LoCascio founded Eternos, a legacy service that records voices and stories for loved ones. Following client interest beyond memorial use, the company pivoted to create personal AI models that capture an individual's expertise and personality. Renamed Uare.ai, it introduced the Human Life Model, raised $10.3 million in seed funding led by Mayfield and Boldstart Ventures, and plans to launch a platform where users can train their AI replicas with text, voice, and video. The move positions Uare.ai as a tool for creators and professionals seeking AI-driven content creation and interaction. Read more →

A wave of AI‑driven startups is reshaping diverse industries. Teen founders at Bindwell are using custom language models to design protein‑based pesticides, while Roundabout Technologies deploys vision systems to optimize traffic‑light timing. In Australia, the team behind Den built an AI‑agent platform that automates routine tasks. Humanoid robot maker K‑Scale Labs pursues affordable robots to push humanity toward a higher technological tier, and Starcloud aims to launch GPU data centers into low‑Earth orbit. Together, these ventures illustrate how AI tools are accelerating product development and expanding the scope of tech entrepreneurship. Read more →

Sara Hooker, a former vice president of AI research at Cohere and former Google Brain researcher, has quietly launched a new startup called Adaption Labs with fellow AI veteran Sudip Roy. The company aims to build artificial‑intelligence systems that continuously adapt and learn from real‑world experience, arguing that the industry’s focus on ever‑larger language models is reaching diminishing returns. Hooker’s critique of the "scaling" approach echoes a growing chorus of researchers who see adaptive learning as a more efficient path forward. Adaption Labs has secured seed funding and plans to hire globally while opening a San Francisco office. Read more →

Google Cloud is focusing on early‑stage AI companies, offering $350,000 in cloud credits, technical assistance, and go‑to‑market support. The firm promotes an open AI stack that spans custom TPUs, foundation models and applications, aiming to win future unicorns before they grow large. Partnerships include TPU deployments with Fluidstack and collaborations with startups such as Loveable and Windsurf, while Google also hosts Anthropic’s Claude and provides TPUs to OpenAI. The strategy reflects Google’s broader commitment to open‑source tools and comes amid regulatory scrutiny of its search dominance. Read more →

Google Cloud announced that AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf have chosen the platform as their primary cloud provider. The deals highlight Google Cloud’s strategy to attract fast‑growing generative‑AI firms, leveraging its Gemini models, Nvidia GPU clusters, and generous startup credit programs. This expansion adds to Google Cloud’s recent revenue growth and underscores its push to compete more aggressively with rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Read more →

Google Cloud announced that AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf have chosen the platform as their primary cloud provider. The deals highlight Google Cloud’s strategy to attract fast‑growing generative‑AI firms, leveraging its Gemini models, Nvidia GPU clusters, and generous startup credit programs. This expansion adds to Google Cloud’s recent revenue growth and underscores its push to compete more aggressively with rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Read more →

Google Cloud announced that AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf have chosen the platform as their primary cloud provider. The deals highlight Google Cloud’s strategy to attract fast‑growing generative‑AI firms, leveraging its Gemini models, Nvidia GPU clusters, and generous startup credit programs. This expansion adds to Google Cloud’s recent revenue growth and underscores its push to compete more aggressively with rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Read more →

Google Cloud announced that AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf have chosen the platform as their primary cloud provider. The deals highlight Google Cloud’s strategy to attract fast‑growing generative‑AI firms, leveraging its Gemini models, Nvidia GPU clusters, and generous startup credit programs. This expansion adds to Google Cloud’s recent revenue growth and underscores its push to compete more aggressively with rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Read more →

Google Cloud announced that AI coding startups Lovable and Windsurf have chosen the platform as their primary cloud provider. The deals highlight Google Cloud’s strategy to attract fast‑growing generative‑AI firms, leveraging its Gemini models, Nvidia GPU clusters, and generous startup credit programs. This expansion adds to Google Cloud’s recent revenue growth and underscores its push to compete more aggressively with rivals AWS and Microsoft Azure. Read more →

The early dominance of large AI foundation models is waning as startups and established firms increasingly view these models as interchangeable components. Attention is moving toward post‑training techniques such as fine‑tuning, reinforcement learning, and user‑focused interface design. While companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google retain brand and infrastructure strengths, the lack of a clear technological moat means they risk becoming commodity suppliers rather than market leaders. Venture capitalists note that the rapid evolution of the sector could further reshape the competitive landscape. Read more →

Anthropic announced a five‑fold increase in the context window for its Claude Sonnet 4 model, expanding capacity to 1 million tokens. The larger window lets the model handle extensive text—up to 2,500 pages or a full copy of War and Peace—and much larger code bases, improving its utility for enterprise customers across sectors such as coding, pharmaceuticals, retail, professional services, and legal services. The upgrade arrives as Anthropic competes with OpenAI, which recently released GPT‑5 and earlier offered a similar context window with GPT‑4.1. The new capability is initially available to select API customers, with broader rollout planned in the coming weeks. Read more →