Apple logo side by side with Google's logo, symbolizing their AI partnership.
Tech & Society

Apple’s Foundation Models Will Be Gemini: Apple announced a partnership with Google to power Siri and other AI features

Apple cut a multi-year deal with Google to use Gemini models as the basis of AI models that reside on Apple devices.
View from a car on a tree-lined street, with an overlay instructing to decelerate if hazards are detected.
Tech & Society

Training Cars to Reason: Nvidia’s Alpamayo-R1 is a robotics-style reasoning model for autonomous vehicles

Chain-of-thought reasoning can help autonomous vehicles decide what to do next.
ChatGPT interface on a phone displays a conversation and a sponsored grocery ad at the bottom of the screen.
Tech & Society

ChatGPT Shows Ads: OpenAI tests advertisements for U.S. chatbot users in free and lower-cost tiers

AI has a new revenue stream, and it looks a lot like old web banner ads.
People golfing near a modern data center, set against a backdrop of hills and power lines at sunset.
Tech & Society

Data Centers Are More Easier on the Environment Than You Might Think: How environmentally friendly are AI data centers? If we're going to use AI, there’s no better way to do it.

Many people are fighting the growth of data centers because they could increase CO2 emissions, electricity prices, and water use.
A blue caduceus with AI logos, representing OpenAI and Anthropic's healthcare innovations.
Tech & Society

AI Giants Vie for Healthcare Dollars: OpenAI and Anthropic release new chatbots targeting medical and wellness markets

OpenAI and Anthropic staked claims in the lucrative healthcare market, each company playing to its strengths by targeting different audiences.
Red bikini set on a grey backdrop, emphasizing issues with AI-generated inappropriate content.
Tech & Society

Undressed Images Spur Regulators: X rolls back Grok’s “spicy” image generation on the platform after global outrage

Governments worldwide sounded alarms after xAI’s Grok chatbot generated tens of thousands of sexualized images of girls and women without their consent.
Graph with 10 colored lines shows topic ranks monthly, based on a Microsoft study of Copilot usage.
Tech & Society

Copilot’s Users Change Hour to Hour: Microsoft study shows people use AI very differently at different times or on different devices

What do users want from AI? The answer depends on when and how they use it, a new study shows.
Sharon Zhou is pictured smiling confidently with her hands clasped, reflecting AI’s potential for community-building.
Tech & Society

Chatbots That Build Community by Sharon Zhou: Sharon Zhou of AMD on expanding chat to serve groups and connect us with other people

Next year, I’m excited to see AI break out of 1:1 relationships with each of us. In 2026, AI has the potential to bring people together and unite us with human connection, rather than polarize and isolate us. It’s about time for ChatGPT to enter your group chats.
Juan M. Lavista Ferres is pictured holding a laptop while students watch a video about AI on a screen, linking education and technology.
Tech & Society

Education That Works With — Not Against — AI by Juan M. Lavista Ferres: Juan M. Lavista Ferres, Chief Data Scientist at Microsoft, on assignments that properly test students’ abilities

A little more than three years ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, and education changed forever. For students, the ability to generate fluent, credible text on demand in seconds is an incredible new tool.
The eagle grips a microchip and a scroll, representing AI's role in scientific advancement as per US directives.
Tech & Society

White House Orders AI for Science: Genesis Mission would share U.S. data and resources with top AI companies

President Trump launched a United States effort to use AI to speed up scientific breakthroughs.
Hands strum a guitar covered in labels from major record companies, symbolizing AI music innovation.
Tech & Society

Record Labels Back AI-Music Startup: Klay Image emerges from relative obscurity to announce deals with Sony, Warner, and Universal

A music-generation newcomer emerged from stealth mode with licenses to train generative AI models on music controlled by the world’s biggest recording companies.
White Waymo vehicle near water, city skyline visible; displays autonomous service for urban freeways.
Tech & Society

Self-Driving Cars on U.S. Freeways: Waymo deploys autonomous cars on California and Arizona expressways

Waymo became the first company to offer fully autonomous, driverless taxi service on freeways in the United States.
A megaphone emits a colorful stream of 3D words spelling "Hype", symbolizing the AI hype discussed in the article.
Tech & Society

Don't Believe The Hype!: AGI is not just around the corner. People who enter AI today have huge opportunities to contribute to the field.

I recently received an email titled “An 18-year-old’s dilemma: Too late to contribute to AI?” Its author, who gave me permission to share this, is preparing for college.
AI models are compared on a graph showing benchmark accuracy from 20% to 100%, highlighting GPT-5's rise.
Tech & Society

The Year AI Went Industrial: The State of AI Report 2025 says AI’s barriers aren’t technological but social and material

A year-in-review report heralds the dawn of AI’s industrial era.
Icon of silhouettes of kids with a ban symbol, indicating limited chatbot use by teens.
Tech & Society

Toward Safer (and Sexier) Chatbots: Inside Character AI and OpenAI’s policy changes to protect younger and vulnerable Users

Chatbot providers, facing criticism for engaging troubled users in conversations that deepen their distress, are updating their services to provide wholesome interactions to younger users while allowing adults to pursue erotic conversations.
Load More

Subscribe to The Batch

Stay updated with weekly AI News and Insights delivered to your inbox