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24 Dec 2025

Italy Orders Meta to Suspend WhatsApp Policy Blocking Rival AI Chatbots from Platform

Italy's competition watchdog has ordered Meta to halt WhatsApp terms that block rival AI chatbots, citing potential abuse of dominant market position. The move affects AI chatbots from OpenAI, Perplexity, and others set to take effect in January. Meta calls the decision fundamentally flawed and plans to appeal while the European Commission runs a parallel investigation.

8 Sources

AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio Misleads Chatbots To Get Honest Feedback, Exposing Sycophancy Problem

Yoshua Bengio, one of AI's founding figures, reveals he deliberately tricks chatbots by presenting his ideas as someone else's to bypass their overly agreeable nature. His experience highlights a growing concern: AI chatbots are too polite to provide critical feedback, undermining their usefulness in research and raising questions about misalignment in advanced models.

2 Sources

OpenAI tests ChatGPT Skills feature to simplify multi-step tasks with slash commands

OpenAI is testing a new Skills feature for ChatGPT that mirrors Anthropic's Claude-like Skills. The feature, codenamed 'hazelnuts,' will let users execute complex instructions with slash commands and includes a Skills editor. Users can also convert custom GPTs into skills, eliminating repetitive prompt writing and making multi-step tasks easier to manage.

4 Sources

Marissa Mayer's Dazzle secures $8M to build next-gen AI personal assistant for consumers

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has launched Dazzle, a generative AI startup focused on building AI personal assistants for the consumer market. The company raised an $8 million seed round at a $35 million valuation, led by Forerunner's Kirsten Green. Mayer shuttered her previous venture Sunshine after six years to pursue this opportunity, betting on consumer-facing AI's breakout moment.

3 Sources

Lemon Slice raises $10.5M from Y Combinator and Matrix to scale real-time AI avatars

Lemon Slice has raised $10.5 million in seed funding from Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, and notable tech leaders to build out its digital avatar technology. The startup's flagship model, Lemon Slice-2, transforms a single image into fully interactive, conversational video characters that can respond in real time, addressing what founders call the 'uncanny valley' problem plaguing existing avatar solutions.

2 Sources

Nvidia's largest Southeast Asia partner faces probe over alleged chip smuggling to China

Megaspeed International, formerly a Chinese gaming company, has become Nvidia's biggest Southeast Asian customer in under three years. Now the Singapore-based firm faces US government investigation over potential chip smuggling to China, exposing critical gaps in export controls designed to limit China's AI capabilities. The case highlights how complex global AI supply chains make enforcement increasingly difficult.

2 Sources

23 Dec 2025

Trump's Tech Force AI hiring campaign attracts 25,000 applicants for 1,000 federal tech roles

The Trump administration's Tech Force initiative has drawn roughly 25,000 applicants competing for 1,000 positions focused on artificial intelligence expertise in federal agencies. The two-year program marks a shift from recent government downsizing, recruiting software and data engineers to work on technology projects across Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and Justice Department.

3 Sources

Amazon expands Alexa+ with AI integrations for Expedia, Yelp, Square, and Angi in 2026

Amazon announced Thursday that its AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ will integrate with Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp starting in 2026. Users will be able to book hotels, get home service quotes, and schedule salon appointments through natural language commands. The expansion positions Alexa+ as a concierge-like tool that handles real-world tasks through conversational AI, marking Amazon's most serious attempt to make voice assistants useful beyond basic queries.

4 Sources

Pentagon integrates xAI's Grok chatbot into defense operations alongside Google's Gemini

The Department of Defense announced it will deploy Elon Musk's Grok AI across its GenAI.mil platform by early 2026, reaching three million military and civilian personnel. The chatbot will operate at Impact Level 5 security tier, handling Controlled Unclassified Information while providing real-time insights from the X platform to support operational workflows.

3 Sources

AI advertising is going invisible as ChatGPT and Meta build hyper-personalized ad systems

Major tech companies are developing AI advertising that blends seamlessly into user experiences, making it nearly impossible to distinguish recommendations from paid content. OpenAI is exploring ads for ChatGPT's 800 million weekly users, while Meta plans AI systems that generate personalized video content. The shift raises serious questions about transparency and consumer autonomy.

2 Sources

ServiceNow acquires Armis for $7.75 billion to build AI-powered cybersecurity shield

ServiceNow announced its largest acquisition to date, buying cybersecurity startup Armis for $7.75 billion in cash. The deal aims to create an end-to-end security operations platform that protects connected devices across IT, operational technology, and AI systems. With security spending projected to hit $240 billion in 2026, ServiceNow is betting that trust and comprehensive security visibility will determine who wins the enterprise AI market.

5 Sources

Medicare launches AI review tool for prior authorization in six states starting January 1

Medicare is rolling out AI-powered prior authorization reviews for 17 outpatient services across six states starting January 1, 2026. The Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model aims to curb fraud and wasteful spending but has sparked concern among physicians over administrative burdens, potential care delays, and unclear implementation guidance with just days before launch.

2 Sources

AI data centers force aging peaker power plants to cancel retirements amid power shortfalls

Surging electricity demand from AI is forcing obsolete peaker power plants back into service across the U.S. About 60% of oil, gas, and coal plants slated for retirement in the country's largest power grid postponed or cancelled those plans this year. The move raises environmental and social justice concerns as these fossil-fuel-fired plants disproportionately impact low-income communities of color.

3 Sources

RAM Shortage Driven by AI Demand Will Push Device Prices Up to 8% Higher in 2026

A global memory shortage fueled by AI infrastructure is disrupting consumer hardware markets. Memory chip prices have surged 50% this quarter, with analysts warning that smartphones could cost up to 8% more in 2026 while PC shipments may shrink by 9%. The shortage stems from AI data centers consuming massive amounts of RAM, forcing manufacturers to redirect production away from consumer devices.

7 Sources

ByteDance ramps up AI spending to $23 billion as it chases US tech giants amid chip restrictions

TikTok parent ByteDance plans to invest $23 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2026, marking a significant increase from this year's spending. About half the budget will target advanced semiconductors for AI models, despite ongoing uncertainty over access to Nvidia chips due to U.S. export controls.

3 Sources

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