DOWN TO BUSINESS

🧠 Meta buys into Scale AI, poaches CEO

Meta is taking a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3B and bringing in 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its new superintelligence unit. The deal, which values Scale at $29B, gives Meta access to one of the most connected operators in AI, but may spook Scale’s existing clients, who worry about sharing data with a company now tied to Zuckerberg’s empire.

💼 Retool claims 100 million hours of work automated by AI agents

App-building startup Retool has launched an agent platform that it claims has already tackled 100 million hours of work for its global client base, equivalent to 5,000 employees working for a decade. The platform allows users to "assemble an elite AI team" and assign them entire workflows while acting more like a manager than a hands-on operator. Retool believes it can automate 10% of U.S. labor by 2030 using this approach.

🧠 CommBank completes massive cloud migration to power AI at scale

CommBank (Commonwealth Bank of Australia) has migrated its entire data platform to AWS in one of the largest and fastest transitions ever undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere. The move supports over 2,000 AI models processing 157 billion data points daily—fueling 55 million customer decisions.

📦 Walmart expands drone delivery to five more cities

Walmart’s drone delivery service is set to reach 100 more stores across Houston, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, and Charlotte by mid-2026, following a successful pilot by 15 stores. Partnering with Wing, the retailer aims to replicate its success in Dallas-Fort Worth, where drones have been delivering items like produce and snacks in under 19 minutes.

TRENDING TOPIC

📚 China disables AI tools during national college exams

To prevent cheating during China’s high-stakes gaokao exams, major AI platforms from Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent, and others have temporarily shut down photo-recognition and Q&A features. The move blocks students from using tools to solve test questions. The shutdowns weren’t formally announced, but students spotted them and spread the news on Weibo. Over 13 million students are competing for limited university spots this week.

HOT MODELS

🧠 Mistral launches agents API for real-world AI workflows

Mistral AI’s new Agents API gives developers the tools to build AI agents that act, plan, and execute across real-world workflows. The platform combines persistent memory, built-in tools like web search and code execution, and agent orchestration. Demo use cases include a GitHub-savvy coding agent, a travel planner, and a financial analyst agent that pulls live metrics and writes reports.

🎨 Black Forest Labs releases new model for image editing

Black Forest Labs has launched a new AI system that understands both text and images, enabling users to edit and transform images with simple text commands while maintaining character consistency. The system processes visual and text inputs together, enabling targeted editing at speeds up to 8x faster than rival models. Kontext excels at character preservation, local editing, style transfer, and maintaining consistency across multiple iterations.

🧠 Anthropic launches Voice Mode for Claude mobile apps

The Voice Mode beta feature runs on Claude's latest Sonnet 4 model and allows users to flow naturally between speaking and typing, with five voice personalities available and real-time transcription. Voice mode also integrates with Google Workspace for paid subscribers, enabling Claude to access calendars, documents, and Gmail through voice commands.

🎬 Character.AI launches AvatarFX video generation

Character.AI has unveiled a new video generation model that transforms photos into speaking videos, alongside other features including interactive storylines and character discussion streams. The Google-backed role-playing platform is giving everyone access to AvatarFX with up to five clips per day. The launch includes animated chat sharing and a community feed for content discovery.

MAKING GAINS

🧠 Industries most exposed to AI triple revenue per employee

A new global study from PwC reveals that AI isn’t replacing workers, instead making them more valuable. The 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer, based on nearly a billion job ads, found that industries most exposed to AI have tripled their revenue per employee since 2022. Workers with AI skills now earn 56% more than peers in the same roles, up from 25% last year. Even the most automatable jobs are seeing rising wages and faster skill shifts.

DON’T PANIC

🧠 Apple study: advanced AI models collapse on complex reasoning tasks

Apple researchers tested top reasoning models using logic puzzles like Tower of Hanoi and River Crossing. As task complexity increased, the models didn’t just struggle but stopped reasoning altogether. The findings suggest today’s most advanced systems may hit fundamental limits long before reaching anything close to human-level reasoning.

PLOT TWIST

🤖 Laser-controlled soft robot arm learns to move with AI

Researchers at Rice University have created a soft robotic arm that moves without wires, powered and guided entirely by laser light. The system uses a neural network to translate light patterns into precise arm movements—like bending, reaching, or curling around obstacles—without traditional joints or electronics. Built from a fast-responding, light-sensitive polymer, the arm mimics the adaptive movement of an octopus and could open new possibilities in surgery, manufacturing, and delicate handling tasks.