Here are some of the the major AI trends shaping 2026 — based on current expert forecasts, industry reports, and recent developments in technology. The material is analyzed using AI tools and final version hand-edited to this blog text:
1. Generative AI Continues to Mature
Generative AI (text, image, video, code) will become more advanced and mainstream, with notable growth in:
* Generative video creation
* Gaming and entertainment content generation
* Advanced synthetic data for simulations and analytics
This trend will bring new creative possibilities — and intensify debates around authenticity and copyright.
2. AI Agents Move From Tools to Autonomous Workers
Rather than just answering questions or generating content, AI systems will increasingly act autonomously, performing complex, multi-step workflows and interacting with apps and processes on behalf of users — a shift sometimes called agentic AI. These agents will become part of enterprise operations, not just assistant features.
3. Smaller, Efficient & Domain-Specific Models
Instead of “bigger is always better,” specialized AI models tailored to specific industries (healthcare, finance, legal, telecom, manufacturing) will start to dominate in many enterprise applications. These models are more accurate, legally compliant, and cost-efficient than general models.
4. AI Embedded Everywhere
AI won’t be an add-on feature — it will be built into everyday software and devices:
* Office apps with intelligent drafting, summarization, and task insights
* Operating systems with native AI
* Edge devices processing AI tasks locally
This makes AI pervasive in both work and consumer contexts.
5. AI Infrastructure Evolves: Inference & Efficiency Focus
More investment is going into inference infrastructure — the real-time decision-making step where models run in production — thereby optimizing costs, latency, and scalability. Enterprises are also consolidating AI stacks for better governance and compliance.
6. AI in Healthcare, Research, and Sustainability
AI is spreading beyond diagnostics into treatment planning, global health access, environmental modeling, and scientific discovery. These applications could help address personnel shortages and speed up research breakthroughs.
7. Security, Ethics & Governance Become Critical
With AI handling more sensitive tasks, organizations will prioritize:
* Ethical use frameworks
* Governance policies
* AI risk management
This trend reflects broader concerns about trust, compliance, and responsible deployment.
8. Multimodal AI Goes Mainstream
AI systems that understand and generate across text, images, audio, and video will grow rapidly, enabling richer interactions and more powerful applications in search, creative work, and interfaces.
9. On-Device and Edge AI Growth
10. New Roles: AI Manager & Human-Agent Collaboration
Instead of replacing humans, AI will shift job roles:
* People will manage, supervise, and orchestrate AI agents
* Human expertise will focus on strategy, oversight, and creative judgment
This human-in-the-loop model becomes the norm.
Sources:
[1]: https://www.brilworks.com/blog/ai-trends-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI Trends to Look for in 2026″
[2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/10/13/10-generative-ai-trends-in-2026-that-will-transform-work-and-life/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “10 Generative AI Trends In 2026 That Will Transform Work And Life”
[3]: https://millipixels.com/blog/ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “AI Trends 2026: The Key Enterprise Shifts You Must Know | Millipixels”
[4]: https://www.digitalregenesys.com/blog/top-10-ai-trends-for-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Digital Regenesys | Top 10 AI Trends for 2026″
[5]: https://www.n-ix.com/ai-trends/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI trends to watch in 2026 – N-iX”
[6]: https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2025/12/11/microsoft-unveils-7-ai-trends-for-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Microsoft unveils 7 AI trends for 2026 – Source Asia”
[7]: https://www.risingtrends.co/blog/generative-ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 Generative AI Trends to Watch In 2026″
[8]: https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/12/24/artificial-intelligence-ai-trends-to-watch-in-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends to Watch in 2026 and How to Invest in Them | The Motley Fool”
[9]: https://www.reddit.com//r/AI_Agents/comments/1q3ka8o/i_read_google_clouds_ai_agent_trends_2026_report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “I read Google Cloud’s “AI Agent Trends 2026” report, here are 10 takeaways that actually matter”
1,373 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-awkward-reaction-chatgpt-issue?fbclid=IwVERDUARA-gZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6JDLocKESi8UImqsN-LkRpEAIGkvlfJnvWRBLSyzNEyQYvVGOLKXVeZ23yow_aem_z4sTyH1wHcj2dC69EJWdEA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Code Not
Risk Expert Says “Learn to Code” Is Now Worse Advice Than “Get a Face Tattoo”
“You can’t do worse than learn to code.”
https://futurism.com/risk-expert-learn-to-code-face-tattoo?fbclid=IwdGRjcARBcxdjbGNrBEFy3WV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHrVxnGl5EOzBIs-Qt5KmWvZNBk014Uiaz1MkzH5aSCkWP2RF3w7gGxSRYcIR_aem_DU4A_68TVFu041XaZ25vlA
During a recent exchange on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” risk analyst Ian Bremmer argued that artificial intelligence has basically eviscerated the “learn to code” cottage industry.
When discussing the way AI has swept the world and taken many white collar jobs with it, Bremmer referenced how rapidly the technology has overtaken the traditional career trajectory for programmers — so much so that people who used to have cushy software developer jobs are now selling their plasma to make ends meet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Just five years ago, the smartest advice that we had for the kids was ‘learn how to code,’” Bremmer recollected. “That is literally worse advice now than ‘get a face tattoo.’ You can’t do worse than learn to code.”
Indeed, in its latest labor market report, the New York Federal Reserve found that recent college graduates who majored in computer science or computer engineering have higher rates of unemployment than those who studied journalism, political science, and even English.
https://futurism.com/risk-expert-learn-to-code-face-tattoo?fbclid=IwdGRjcARBc21jbGNrBEFy3WV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHrVxnGl5EOzBIs-Qt5KmWvZNBk014Uiaz1MkzH5aSCkWP2RF3w7gGxSRYcIR_aem_DU4A_68TVFu041XaZ25vlA
Tomi Engdahl says:
Anthropic:
Anthropic signs a deal with Google and Broadcom for multiple GWs of TPU capacity, and says its run-rate revenue crossed $30B, up from ~$9B at the end of 2025 — We have signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity that we expect to come online starting in 2027.
Anthropic expands partnership with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation compute
https://www.anthropic.com/news/google-broadcom-partnership-compute
We have signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity that we expect to come online starting in 2027. This significant expansion of our compute infrastructure will power our frontier Claude models and help us serve extraordinary demand from customers worldwide.
“This groundbreaking partnership with Google and Broadcom is a continuation of our disciplined approach to scaling infrastructure: we are building the capacity necessary to serve the exponential growth we have seen in our customer base while also enabling Claude to define the frontier of AI development,” said Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic. “We are making our most significant compute commitment to date to keep pace with our unprecedented growth.”
Demand from Claude customers has accelerated in 2026. Our run-rate revenue has now surpassed $30 billion—up from approximately $9 billion at the end of 2025. When we announced our Series G fundraising in February, we shared that over 500 business customers were each spending over $1 million on an annualized basis. Today that number exceeds 1,000, doubling in less than two months.
The vast majority of the new compute will be sited in the United States, making this partnership a major expansion of our November 2025 commitment to invest $50 billion in strengthening American computing infrastructure.
The partnership deepens our existing work with Google Cloud—building on the increased TPU capacity we announced last October—as well as our relationship with Broadcom.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jyoti Mann / The Information:
Sources: Meta has an internal leaderboard dubbed “Claudeonomics” where employees compete on AI-token usage and earn rewards like “Token Legend” status
Meta Employees Vie for AI ‘Token Legend’ Status
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/meta-employees-vie-ai-token-legend-status
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Filing: Broadcom agrees to produce future versions of Google’s TPUs and expands its Anthropic deal to give the startup access to ~3.5 GW of computing capacity — – Broadcom said it agreed to produce future versions of Google’s artificial intelligence chips,
Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/06/broadcom-agrees-to-expanded-chip-deals-with-google-anthropic.html
Broadcom said it agreed to produce future versions of Google’s artificial intelligence chips,
The company also announced an expanded deal with Anthropic, giving the AI startup access to about 3.5 gigawatts worth of computing capacity drawing on Google’s AI processors.
Broadcom shares climbed in extended trading after the announcement.
Broadcom said Monday that it’s agreed to produce future versions of artificial intelligence chips for Google
, and signed an expanded deal with Anthropic that will give the AI startup access to about 3.5 gigawatts worth of computing capacity drawing on Google’s AI processors.
Shares of Broadcom rose 3% in extended trading.
he disclosure in a securities filing underscores the surging demand for infrastructure that can run generative AI models. Anthropic’s popularity has soared this year, with its Claude app becoming the top free U.S. app listed in Apple’s
App Store in February after a dispute between the company and the Pentagon became public.
Anthropic’s annualized revenue has exceeded $30 billion, up from around $9 billion at the end of last year, the startup said in a blog post. The company counts over 1,000 business clients spending more than $1 million annually, double the count as of two months ago.
“This groundbreaking partnership with Google and Broadcom is a continuation of our disciplined approach to scaling infrastructure: we are building the capacity necessary to serve the exponential growth we have seen in our customer base while also enabling Claude to define the frontier of AI development,” Anthropic’s finance chief, Krishna Rao, was quoted as saying in the blog post. Most of the new infrastructure will be located in the U.S., Anthropic said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenAI:
OpenAI announces a Safety Fellowship program for external researchers, engineers, and practitioners to study the safety and alignment of advanced AI systems
Introducing the OpenAI Safety Fellowship
https://openai.com/index/introducing-openai-safety-fellowship/
A pilot program to support independent safety and alignment research and develop the next generation of talent
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mia Sato / The Verge:
A look at the gold rush for firms claiming to help brands get cited by AI search tools, via tactics like hiding instructions behind “Summarize with AI” buttons
Can AI responses be influenced? The SEO industry is trying
https://www.theverge.com/tech/900302/ai-seo-industry-google-search-chatgpt-gemini-marketing?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IjY5RTdsc0piVVYiLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTAwMzAyL2FpLXNlby1pbmR1c3RyeS1nb29nbGUtc2VhcmNoLWNoYXRncHQtZ2VtaW5pLW1hcmtldGluZyIsImV4cCI6MTc3NTkxMDQ2OCwiaWF0IjoxNzc1NDc4NDY4fQ.dJ0D5fyXrXvix7hUVl4WjQOIJV2bMAkDatxNGrpgR3I
The explosion of AI search tools and features changed the landscape for marketers looking to get in front of customers. Now there’s a gold rush for firms claiming to help brands get cited by AI.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters:
Samsung reports a record preliminary Q1 operating profit of ~$38B, up more than 8x YoY and above ~$27B est., and revenue up 68% YoY to ~$88B, amid the AI boom — Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) on Tuesday projected a record-high first-quarter operating profit from a year earlier …
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/samsung-flags-eight-fold-jump-q1-profit-ai-chip-demand-drives-up-prices-2026-04-06/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI unveils policy proposals for a world with superintelligence: higher taxes on capital gains, a public AI investment fund, bolstered safety nets, and more
What to Know About OpenAI’s Ideas for a World With ‘Superintelligence’
ChatGPT maker put out policy proposals so consumers benefit from rapid advancements in artificial intelligence
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/what-to-know-about-openais-ideas-for-a-world-with-superintelligence-e97d6e7b?st=ECoSh6&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
OpenAI released policy proposals for a world with superintelligence—or artificial intelligence that far surpasses human capabilities.
The ideas could represent trillions of dollars of new government programs. They were published as Congress prepares to debate AI legislation and the Trump administration tries to win support for its company-friendly tech policies ahead of the midterm elections. The proposals come as the AI industry faces pressure to share the benefits of the technology with consumers and their advancements encounter pushback from some Americans.
Here’s what to know:
An AI-centric tax system
In its report “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age,” OpenAI says superintelligence could boost corporate profits and capital gains while cutting income and payroll taxes that fund government programs like Social Security. That may create the need for higher taxes on companies and capital gains for the wealthy, along with new ideas like taxing businesses that replace human workers with automated systems.
Some experts predict the industry could achieve so-called artificial general intelligence—or AI that matches human thinking—in the next few years. Superintelligence would follow that.
Workers risk being left behind
Many of the ChatGPT maker’s ideas focus on benefiting workers. They include bolstering safety nets such as unemployment insurance and Medicaid, and creating incentives for firms to increase employer-sponsored benefits including those for retirement and healthcare. Companies could experiment with shorter workweeks while keeping pay constant and support so-called portable benefits that follow individuals rather than being tied to an employer, OpenAI suggested in its report.
The company also proposed a public investment fund focused on AI that could regularly distribute returns to Americans, a concept similar to a sovereign-wealth fund in Alaska. It said the government could make it easier for workers to get jobs in human-centric fields like child care and could do more to recognize caregiving as work valuable to the economy.
Addressing the industry’s unpopularity
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said in an interview that Democrats and Republicans are beginning to hear more from constituents worried about how AI will affect their job prospects.
“We do feel an urgency to this conversation,” Lehane said.
The company is opening a new office in Washington to have policy conversations and funding fellowships and research grants on the topics.
OpenAI wants to stay bipartisan
OpenAI has embraced President Trump’s AI strategy, including his approach of limited guardrails for the industry. But it is trying to maintain credibility with Democrats and AI researchers who have cheered rival Anthropic for fighting with the administration over what are appropriate guardrails.
OpenAI aligns with Trump’s position that limited regulation is needed to stay ahead of China in the tech race. The company included policy ideas in line with the White House’s approach, such as giving everyone access to AI and investing more in the power grid so it can handle additional AI data centers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenAI released policy proposals for a world with superintelligence—or artificial intelligence that far surpasses human capabilities.
The ideas could represent trillions of dollars of new government programs. They were published as Congress prepares to debate AI legislation and the Trump administration tries to win support for its company-friendly tech policies ahead of the midterm elections. The proposals come as the AI industry faces pressure to share the benefits of the technology with consumers and their advancements encounter pushback from some Americans.
Here’s what to know:
An AI-centric tax system
In its report “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age,” OpenAI says superintelligence could boost corporate profits and capital gains while cutting income and payroll taxes that fund government programs like Social Security. That may create the need for higher taxes on companies and capital gains for the wealthy, along with new ideas like taxing businesses that replace human workers with automated systems.
Some experts predict the industry could achieve so-called artificial general intelligence—or AI that matches human thinking—in the next few years. Superintelligence would follow that.
Workers risk being left behind
Many of the ChatGPT maker’s ideas focus on benefiting workers. They include bolstering safety nets such as unemployment insurance and Medicaid, and creating incentives for firms to increase employer-sponsored benefits including those for retirement and healthcare. Companies could experiment with shorter workweeks while keeping pay constant and support so-called portable benefits that follow individuals rather than being tied to an employer, OpenAI suggested in its report.
The company also proposed a public investment fund focused on AI that could regularly distribute returns to Americans, a concept similar to a sovereign-wealth fund in Alaska. It said the government could make it easier for workers to get jobs in human-centric fields like child care and could do more to recognize caregiving as work valuable to the economy.
Addressing the industry’s unpopularity
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said in an interview that Democrats and Republicans are beginning to hear more from constituents worried about how AI will affect their job prospects.
“We do feel an urgency to this conversation,” Lehane said.
The company is opening a new office in Washington to have policy conversations and funding fellowships and research grants on the topics.
OpenAI wants to stay bipartisan
OpenAI has embraced President Trump’s AI strategy, including his approach of limited guardrails for the industry. But it is trying to maintain credibility with Democrats and AI researchers who have cheered rival Anthropic for fighting with the administration over what are appropriate guardrails.
OpenAI aligns with Trump’s position that limited regulation is needed to stay ahead of China in the tech race. The company included policy ideas in line with the White House’s approach, such as giving everyone access to AI and investing more in the power grid so it can handle additional AI data centers.
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Unite to Combat Model Copying in China
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-06/openai-anthropic-google-unite-to-combat-model-copying-in-china?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3NTUxMjM1NywiZXhwIjoxNzc2MTE3MTU3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQU9PWTRUOTZPU0gwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFODA3NUYyRkZGMjA0NUI2QTlEQzA5M0EyQTdEQTE4NiJ9.hakDKZEwmfF95r0xTuX0LkzM3WLNtJ6FsSVWngmG09o&leadSource=uverify%20wall
Rivals OpenAI, Anthropic PBC, and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are working together to clamp down on Chinese competitors extracting results from US artificial intelligence models.
The firms are sharing information through the Frontier Model Forum to detect adversarial distillation attempts that violate their terms of service.
US AI companies are concerned that unauthorized distillation poses a national security risk and could undercut them on price and siphon away customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Caiwei Chen / MIT Technology Review:
A look at Alibaba’s Accio, an AI sourcing tool that helps small online sellers connect with manufacturers, including in China, and exceeded 10M MAUs in March — For years Mike McClary sold the Guardian LTE Flashlight, a heavy-duty black model, online through his small outdoor brand.
AI is changing how small online sellers decide what to make
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/06/1135118/ai-online-seller-alibaba-accio/
Entrepreneurs based in the US are using tools like Alibaba’s Accio to compress weeks of product research and supplier hunting into a single chat.
For small entrepreneurs in the US, deciding what to sell and where to make it has traditionally been a slow, labor-intensive process that can take months. Now that work is increasingly being done by AI tools like Accio, which help connect businesses with manufacturers in countries including China and India. Business owners and e-commerce experts told MIT Technology Review that these AI tools are making sourcing more accessible and significantly shortening the time it takes to go from product idea to launch.
This time, though, he began by telling Accio about the flashlight’s original design, production cost, and profit margin. Then Accio suggested several changes, making it smaller and slightly less bright and switching its charging method to battery power. It also identified a manufacturer in Ningbo, China, that McClary said could cut the manufacturing cost from $17 to about $2.50 per unit.
McClary took the process from there, contacting the supplier himself to discuss the revised design. Within a month, the new version of the Guardian flashlight was back up for sale on Amazon and on his brand’s website.
The new factory hunt
Although Alibaba is better known for owning Taobao, the biggest shopping site in China, its first business was Alibaba.com, the primary website that lists Chinese factories open for bulk orders. Placing an order with a manufacturer usually requires far more than clicking “Buy.” Sellers often spend days or weeks browsing listings, comparing suppliers’ reviews and manufacturing capacities, asking about minimum order quantities, requesting samples, and negotiating timelines and customization options.
But Accio has gained significant momentum by changing how that sourcing gets done. Launched in 2024, Accio exceeded 10 million monthly active users in March 2026, according to the company. That means about one in five Alibaba users consults with AI about product sourcing.
Accio’s interface looks a lot like ChatGPT or Claude: Users type a question into an empty box and choose between “fast” and “thinking” modes. But when asked about products, the tool returns more than text, offering charts, links, and visuals and asking follow-up questions to clarify the buyer’s needs. It then narrows the field to one or a handful of suppliers that appear capable of delivering. After that, the human work begins: Users still have to reach out to suppliers themselves and negotiate the details.
Zhang Kuo, the president of Alibaba.com, told MIT Technology Review that the tool is built on multiple frontier models, including the company’s own Qwen series, a popular family of open-source large language models. The system is able to pull from the site’s millions of supplier profiles and is trained on 26 years of proprietary transaction data.
For tasks like product research and sourcing analysis, the tool “blows it away” compared with general AI tools like ChatGPT, says Richard Kostick, CEO of the beauty brand 100% Pure.
Many websites have tried using AI to assist shopping, but Alibaba has been one of the most aggressive. In March, Eddie Wu, CEO of the site’s parent company Alibaba Group, told managers that integrating the company’s core services with Qwen’s AI capabilities is a top priority. During a Chinese New Year promotion of Qwen’s personal shopping AI agent, where the company gave away cash, customers placed 200 million orders, the firm says.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
A Taiwan intelligence report to lawmakers says China is targeting Taiwan to obtain its chip manufacturing tech and talent to break through global “containment” — China is targeting Taiwan to obtain its advanced chip manufacturing technology and talent as a way of breaking through international …
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-targets-taiwans-chip-prowess-evade-global-containment-taipei-government-2026-04-07/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Sources: AI music startup Suno’s licensing talks with UMG and Sony have stalled; labels argue that AI tools like Suno rely on human-made music and should pay
Top record labels and start-up Suno hit impasse in talks over AI-generated music
One executive says there is ‘no path’ towards licensing deal under current proposal
https://www.ft.com/content/b066a226-4871-4669-97a8-f9617cdbf48b?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Talks over licensing deals between the world’s largest record companies and start-up Suno have reached a stalemate, exposing deep divisions over how the industry should respond to the rise of AI-generated music.
There had been little substantive progress in discussions between Universal Music and Suno in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter, and no agreement had been reached with Sony, as the music behemoths reject the start-up’s model for distributing AI-generated music.
“We have ongoing engagement, but there is no path forward with the current proposal,” said a person involved in the negotiations.
People familiar with the talks said there had been little progress since Warner Music, the third-largest label, struck a deal with Suno in November.
Suno, one of the most prominent AI music companies, allows users to create songs in seconds using simple text prompts. It was valued at $2.45bn in a funding round last year and said it had 2mn paying subscribers.
The impasse goes to the heart of a broader fight over the future of music as companies across the media landscape have wrestled with how to protect their copyrights against AI.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Sources: Meta is preparing to release the first AI models developed under Alexandr Wang, with plans to offer versions of those models via an open source license
Scoop: Meta to open source versions of its next AI models
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/06/meta-open-source-ai-models
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
The rapid adoption of AI coding tools has let workers generate massive volumes of code, leaving companies scrambling to review and secure the AI-generated code
The Big Bang: A.I. Has Created a Code Overload
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/technology/ai-code-overload.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lauren Goode / Wired:
How advanced chip packaging became one of Intel’s fast-growing businesses; sources: Intel is in talks with Google and Amazon for its advanced packaging services
The Ridiculously Nerdy Intel Bet That Could Rake in Billions
Advanced chip packaging is suddenly at the center of the AI boom. Intel is going all in.
https://www.wired.com/story/why-chip-packaging-could-decide-the-next-phase-of-the-ai-boom/
Sixteen miles north of Albuquerque, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, an Intel chip plant sits on more than 200 acres of land. The site was established in the 1980s, part of it built on top of a sod farm. In 2007, as Intel’s business faltered, operations in one of the key fabs, Fab 9, came to a halt. Employees say families of raccoons and a badger took up residence in the space.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tim Fernholz / TechCrunch:
Xoople, which is developing a satellite constellation to collect earth data for training AI models, raised a $130M Series B, bringing its total funding to $225M
Spain’s Xoople raises $130 million Series B to map the Earth for AI
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/06/spains-xoople-raises-130-million-series-b-to-map-the-earth-for-ai/
Space data companies have argued for years that the private sector needs their products, but the real uptake has been from government buyers. Now, with artificial intelligence top of mind for business, one Spanish startup is trying to become the go-to source of ground truth for enterprise.
Xoople (said like “zoople’) is developing a satellite constellation to collect precise data aimed at deep learning models. The startup was founded in 2019 and has spent the last seven years developing its tech stack around data collected by government spacecraft, and integrating with cloud providers.
CEO and co-founder Fabrizio Pirondini told TechCrunch that the company has closed a $130 million Series B led by Nazca Capital. Other investors include MCH Private Equity, CDTI (a tech development fund backed by the Spanish government), Buenavista Equity Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst.
The startup also announced Monday a deal with U.S. space and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to begin building sensors for Xoople’s spacecraft, which are designed to collect “a stream of data that is going to be two orders of magnitude better than existing monitoring systems,” Pirondini told TechCrunch.
The Earth data infrastructure layer built for AI
Enabling AI to understand, and predict, daily physical changes on the world’s surface.
https://www.xoople.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Nassauer / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Eko, whose Arkansas “capture factory” creates digital product catalogs intended to serve as training data for retail-focused AI models
One Company’s Effort to Make an AI-Ready Catalog of Everything We Buy
In an Arkansas ‘capture factory,’ hand models and food stylists are preparing for the future of shopping
https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/one-companys-effort-to-make-an-ai-ready-catalog-of-everything-we-buy-c33ee2c0?st=aWTHpb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
BENTONVILLE, Ark.—In a warehouse here bigger than two football fields, digital cameras rotate around vitamin bottles, strollers and washing-machine pods as manicurists, hand models and former theater directors work to build what they hope is a digital catalog for retail’s AI future.
Eko, the Brooklyn firm that operates the facility, calls it a “capture factory.”
The goal: to improve the accuracy of online listings for millions of products at Walmart WMT 0.79%increase; green up pointing triangle
, Best Buy and other retailers and make them easily digestible by artificial intelligence. It is a decidedly manual process. Hundreds of Eko employees work to shoot products from every angle on movie-studio-style stages, shifting lighting or buffing out fingerprints on metal surfaces as needed.
“The output of AI is only as good as the input, and there was no good input,” said Ben Kaufman, president of Eko, which counts Bentonville-based Walmart as an investor, as well as venture firms such as Sequoia Capital and Intel Capital.
At the heart of this effort is a fast-moving battle over how consumers will find and buy everything from toilet paper to furniture through AI platforms such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. Both have cut deals with retailers such as Walmart and Target to offer shopping via their chatbots, while Amazon is building its own AI shopping tools.
With AI-driven shopping, “a lot of the specific features of that inventory become more important,” said Nathan Feather, an internet analyst at Morgan Stanley. A shoe’s width or a precise description of how it could be used becomes more necessary because AI chatbots tend to home in on those sorts of details to suggest products to shoppers, he said.
Retailers have long struggled to make traditional product listings accurate, in part because they largely outsource the task to their suppliers. And while AI-based shopping is still a niche practice, some retailers are giving their inventory descriptions another look to make sure their products are AI-ready if and when more shoppers arrive.
It is still unclear what AI shopping will look like, and there is inherent tension between retailers and AI companies as they figure that out. It hasn’t all gone smoothly. OpenAI recently backed away from an early version of its Instant Checkout feature in favor of directing users to the retailers to complete the purchase. That allows retailers to preserve their direct relationship with shoppers.
Several companies—including PayPal, Salsify, and retail AI upstart Verneek—are touting tools that aim to make a company’s product lists more accurate and AI-ready.
Eko—the company that runs the warehouse in Bentonville—started as an interactive video company but eventually zeroed in on interactive digital product pages and AI-ready product files, said Yoni Bloch, the company’s founder.
Walmart has invested more than $300 million in Eko since 2018, in large part through a joint venture created that year, according to people familiar with the situation. Eko’s revenue is tens of millions of dollars a year and growing, said a spokeswoman
Recently, a pillow seller complained that Eko’s images didn’t make its pillow look fluffy enough, said Bloch. “We were like, ‘But the pillow isn’t fluffy,’” he said. So they didn’t change the image. Realistic images can reduce a retailer’s return rates, and if an item is what a shopper wants, it can boost sales, he said.
The factory process of creating an Eko file takes 10 minutes for something simple like a bottle of vitamins but half a day for a large refrigerator with lots of features, said Amy Long, who has worked at the Eko factory since August.
To get action shots, the refrigerator is hooked up to water and electricity, said Long, who has worked as a professional photographer for nearly two decades. It is a constant battle to remove fingerprints and glare from lights before each shot, she said. Live models display the features. “It can be hard to adjust a refrigerator shelf in a beautiful, natural way,” said Long.
In its Brooklyn headquarters, employees develop shot lists for each product, balancing how long it takes to capture video of every feature versus efficiency.
On a recent day, the team debated how to show a new Tide detergent tile’s ability to quickly dissipate in water. “We know that’s a pain point for similar competitor products—that it doesn’t dissolve well,” said Talia Halperin, head of merchandising for Eko. “We want to just show honestly how it happens.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why are CEOs resigning?
CEOs are resigning due to various factors related to artificial intelligence (AI). Some of the key reasons include ¹:
- Need for Fresh Leadership: CEOs like Doug McMillon (Walmart) and James Quincey (Coca-Cola) are stepping down, citing the need for new leadership to navigate the company’s AI transformation and drive growth. They believe that fresh perspectives and expertise are required to effectively leverage AI and lead the company forward.
- AI-Driven Business Landscape: The rapid evolution of AI technology is reshaping corporate structures, and CEOs are confronting questions about their roles in an AI-driven future. Some CEOs, like Sam Altman of OpenAI, even suggest that AI systems might eventually replace human CEOs due to their efficiency and ability to make data-driven decisions.
- Investor Pressure: Investors are putting pressure on companies to deliver returns on AI investments, leading to leadership turnover. CEOs who fail to demonstrate a clear vision for AI-driven growth may face scrutiny from investors, contributing to their decision to step down.
- Adapting to AI-Powered Workforce: CEOs are also struggling to adapt to the changing workforce dynamics driven by AI. While AI may replace some jobs, it also creates new opportunities for growth and innovation. CEOs need to navigate these changes and find ways to harness AI’s potential to drive business success.
Some notable CEO resignations attributed to AI-related factors include ¹:
- Doug McMillon (Walmart): Stepped down in January 2026, citing the need for fresh leadership to navigate AI transformation.
- James Quincey (Coca-Cola): Announced his decision to step down, influenced by the evolving business landscape and AI’s role in it.
- Shantanu Narayen (Adobe): Cited the need for new leadership under AI growth as the reason for his departure.
These resignations reflect the complex and rapidly changing business landscape driven by AI, and the challenges CEOs face in adapting to these changes.
Exit Row
AI Now Causing CEOs to Resign in Fear
“I could start this next big set of transformations with AI, but I couldn’t finish.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-ceos-resign?fbclid=IwdGRjcARBt2tjbGNrBEG3XWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHrK-jRlfp0qQFcNVGZHsRH4l0ick78BfmwtZyHAaFL2frmmNuqQJuRfU-zRe_aem___OyiWOG9FUmBmlyay8C0A
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data Center Disincentive
The Entire State of Maine Is Poised to Ban New Data Centers
“I think Maine is the canary in the coal mine.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/state-maine-ban-new-data-centers?fbclid=IwdGRjcARB2gRjbGNrBEHZzWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsMx8b0ySyG-Lyld2sjMNWDI5XXssNdrfGHhszVIvIfyicaj0k8pO2QhRJkN_aem_IMYVWZILrjwikB1CTNvMag
Tomi Engdahl says:
A new physics-based AI model uses digital twin simulations to optimize data center cooling, reducing costs.
https://bit.ly/4sR17mV
Tomi Engdahl says:
“If you pit an LLM [large language model] against a game it has not seen before, the result is almost certain failure.”
Humans can still beat AI at video games
AI may have teams of engineers on its side, but humans have lived experience and better learning skills.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/humans-beat-ai-at-video-games/?fbclid=IwdGRjcARCDpJjbGNrBEIOf2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHkj0Qvu3c8HhI5UYpAcG-bdXhJcr73A9P2cswCC2G7_g61xRJPfwcLLBIuWU_aem_2S34PeYE85wdEPDemLgjJQ
Ask someone to chart the progression of artificial intelligence (AI) models over the past few decades and you’ll likely hear some reference to how good they are at playing games. IBM shocked the world in 1997 when its Deep Blue model vanquished chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov at his own domain. Nearly two decades later, Google’s AlphaGo model trounced a human champion of the game Go, a feat some thought impossible at the time.
Since then, increasingly data rich AI models have graduated from board games to video games. Various models have used a training method called reinforcement learning—a technique that also plays a key role in training AI chatbots like ChatGPT—to teach machines how to learn and outperform humans at a range of Atari games.More recently, reinforcement learning has taught machines how to master incredibly complex strategy games including Dota 2 and Starcraft II.
But there’s one area of gaming remaining—at least for now—where computers still can’t hold a candle to flesh and bone humans. They are still not great at learning different kinds of more open-ended games quickly. When it comes to picking up a random title from a game store that they haven’t seen before and getting the gist, human gamers still learn the ropes much quicker than even the most advanced AI models.