AI in News – Curated Headlines That Matter Today

Explore Stories by Date

19 Jan 2026

ASUS exits smartphone market as chairman confirms AI-first strategy over Zenfone and ROG phones

ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih confirmed the company will stop launching new smartphones, including Zenfone and ROG phones, to focus entirely on AI hardware. The strategic shift redirects R&D resources toward commercial PCs, robotics, and smart glasses as AI servers now account for 20% of company revenue with over 100% year-on-year growth.

6 Sources

iOS 27 brings deep AI integration and Siri overhaul as Apple shifts focus to stability

Apple is set to unveil iOS 27 at WWDC in June 2026, marking a strategic shift toward AI-powered features and system stability. The update will introduce a chatbot-style Siri interface powered by Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini, integrated across Mail, Photos, Music, and more. Rather than pursuing flashy redesigns, Apple is prioritizing quality and performance improvements while adding proactive assistance and natural language processing capabilities.

5 Sources

OpenAI faces mounting investor concerns as $9B cash burn outpaces revenue growth

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar claims compute power directly drives revenue, but the company burned $9 billion in 2025 while generating $20 billion in sales. With profitability not expected until 2030 and market share dropping from 90% to 60-70%, analysts warn this could be a make-or-break year for the AI leader as it prepares for a potential IPO.

13 Sources

Blackstone finalizes $50-75M structured deal in Neysa, values AI cloud startup at $300 million

US alternative asset manager Blackstone has closed a milestone-linked investment in Mumbai-based AI cloud infrastructure startup Neysa, initially investing $50-75 million for a significant minority stake. The structured deal includes contractual rights for acquiring a controlling stake if the company meets specific business milestones, marking one of India's largest AI fundraises.

2 Sources

Tesla restarts Dojo3 supercomputer project, pivots to space-based AI compute infrastructure

Tesla is reviving its abandoned Dojo3 AI chip project just five months after shutting it down. CEO Elon Musk says the restarted effort will focus on space-based AI compute rather than training self-driving models. The move comes as Tesla's AI5 chip design reaches completion and the company rebuilds its disbanded hardware team.

11 Sources

Grok generated 3 million sexualized images in 11 days, exposing massive AI safety failures

xAI's Grok AI chatbot produced an estimated 3 million sexualized images over 11 days, including 23,000 depicting children. The Center for Countering Digital Hate report reveals one sexualized image of a child was generated every 41 seconds. Multiple governments are investigating xAI as inadequate AI safeguards and light-touch regulation fail to prevent industrial-scale abuse on Elon Musk's platform.

16 Sources

18 Jan 2026

Sequoia Capital Joins Anthropic's $25B Funding Round, Breaking Traditional VC Rules

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is preparing a significant investment in Anthropic alongside GIC and Coatue, each contributing $1.5 billion. The funding round aims to raise at least $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation. This marks a shift in venture capital strategy, as Sequoia already backs rival AI startups OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, signaling the end of the traditional 'one winner' model in AI investing.

11 Sources

Professors develop custom AI teaching assistants to reshape how universities approach generative AI

Professors at Barnard College and George Washington University are creating custom AI teaching assistants to help students learn academic writing and research skills. Benjamin Breyer spent two years developing Althea, a chatbot trained on his lectures and student work, securing $30,000 in grants. These educators aim to teach critical and effective AI use while mitigating biases found in commercial AI tools like ChatGPT.

2 Sources

17 Jan 2026

AI bubble concerns intensify as tech leaders seek returns on trillions in investment

At Davos 2026, the conversation shifted from AI investment excitement to proving returns, with industry leaders declaring it the "year of AI ROI." But growing investor anxiety about trillions of dollars in risk and comparisons to the dot-com bust have economists and market prophets warning of a potential bubble. While companies tout enterprise traction, questions loom about whether massive AI spending can deliver promised productivity gains.

6 Sources

Valve updates Steam AI disclosure policy to focus on player-facing content, not dev tools

Valve has revised its Steam AI disclosure guidelines to clarify what game developers must report. The updated policy distinguishes between AI-powered tools used for efficiency gains during development and generative AI-generated content that ships with games. Developers must still disclose AI use in artwork, sound, narrative, and marketing materials that players consume.

5 Sources

97% of Indian Creators Say Generative AI Drives Growth, According to Adobe Report

Adobe's inaugural Creators' Toolkit Report surveyed over 16,000 content creators globally, revealing that Indian creators are among the fastest adopters of generative AI. An overwhelming 97% believe AI has positively impacted the creator economy, while 95% credit it with accelerating their business and follower growth. The findings highlight AI's transformation from experimental tool to essential catalyst for India's creator community.

3 Sources

California orders xAI to halt Grok's creation of sexualized deepfakes amid global scrutiny

California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a cease-and-desist letter to Elon Musk's xAI, demanding an immediate halt to Grok's production of AI-generated sexualized deepfakes. The investigation revealed that more than half of 20,000 images generated between Christmas and New Year depicted people in minimal clothing, with some appearing to be children. Global authorities in Japan, the EU, and Southeast Asia are now investigating the platform.

4 Sources

Eric Demers, father of Radeon and Adreno GPUs, joins Intel to accelerate AI chip development

Eric Demers, the GPU architect who designed ATI's legendary Radeon GPUs and led Qualcomm's Adreno development for 14 years, has joined Intel to lead GPU engineering with a focus on AI. The move signals Intel's commitment to competing in the datacenter AI chip market, where Nvidia and AMD currently dominate.

3 Sources

16 Jan 2026

Winslop Tool Lets Users Strip AI Features From Windows 11 Amid Growing Backlash

A new tool called Winslop offers Windows 11 users an easy way to remove AI features like Copilot and Recall from their systems. Developed by the creator behind FlyOOBE, the app uses a simple checkbox system to disable AI capabilities, remove bloat, and adjust privacy settings. The tool's launch reflects mounting user pushback against Microsoft's aggressive AI integration strategy.

2 Sources

Bitcoin Miner Riot Platforms Inks $311M AI Data Center Deal with AMD After Selling Bitcoin

Riot Platforms sold 1,080 Bitcoin to fund a $96 million land acquisition in Rockdale, Texas, marking its first major AI data center lease with AMD. The 10-year agreement could generate up to $1 billion if extension options are exercised, positioning the Bitcoin miner as a key player in the hyperscale data center space for AI computing workloads.

3 Sources

Get all updates into your inbox 💌, Stay Up-to-date for Free 🥳

Your Daily Dose of Curated AI News

Don’t drown in AI news. We cut through the noise - filtering, ranking and summarizing the most important AI news, breakthroughs and research daily. Spend less time searching for the latest in AI and get straight to action.

The Outpost

News

About