Author: Art Ryan

Anthropic has unveiled a custom collection of Claude AI models designed for US national security customers. The announcement represents a potential milestone in the application of AI within classified government environments. The ‘Claude Gov’ models have already been deployed by agencies operating at the highest levels of US national security, with access strictly limited to those working within such classified environments. Anthropic says these Claude Gov models emerged from extensive collaboration with government customers to address real-world operational requirements. Despite being tailored for national security applications, Anthropic maintains that these models underwent the same rigorous safety testing as other Claude models in…

Here’s a recap of some of our biggest AI updates from May, including the releases at I/O and Google Marketing Live, news about AI Mode, new capabilities in the Gemini app and our new AI-powered filmmaking tool, Flow. For more than 20 years, we’ve invested in machine learning and AI research, tools and infrastructure to build products that make everyday life better for more people. Teams across Google are working on ways to unlock AI’s benefits in fields as wide-ranging as healthcare, crisis response and education. To keep you posted on our progress, we’re doing a regular roundup of Google’s…

Perplexity received 780 million queries in May, CEO Aravind Srinivas shared onstage at Bloomberg’s Tech Summit on Thursday. Srinivas said that the AI search engine is seeing more than 20% growth month-over-month. “Give it a year, we’ll be doing, like, a billion queries a week if we can sustain this growth rate,” Srinivas said. “And that’s pretty impressive because the first day in 2022, we did 3,000 queries, just one single day. So from there to doing 30 million queries a day now, it’s been phenomenal growth.” Srinivas went on to note that the same growth trajectory is possible, especially with the new…

Anthropic says it has released a new set of AI models tailored for U.S. national security customers. The new models, a custom set of “Claude Gov” models, were “built based on direct feedback from our government customers to address real-world operational needs,” writes Anthropic in the blog post. Compared to Anthropic’s consumer- and enterprise-focused models, the new custom Claude Gov models were designed to be applied to government operations like strategic planning, operational support, and intelligence analysis. “[These] models are already deployed by agencies at the highest level of U.S. national security, and access to these models is limited to those who…

Social network X has changed its developer agreement to prevent third parties from using the platform’s content to train large language models. In an update on Wednesday, the company added a line under “Reverse Engineering and other Restrictions,” a subsection of restrictions on use: “You shall not and you shall not attempt to (or allow others to) […] use the X API or X Content to fine-tune or train a foundation or frontier model,” it reads. This change comes after Elon Musk’s AI company xAI acquired X in March — understandably, xAI wouldn’t want to give its competitors free access…

In a Bloomberg interview Wednesday night in downtown San Francisco, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai pushed back against concerns that AI could eventually make half the company’s 180,000-person workforce redundant. Instead, Pichai stressed the company’s commitment to growth through at least next year. “I expect we will grow from our current engineering phase even into next year, because it allows us to do more,” Pichai said, adding that AI is making engineers more productive by eliminating tedious tasks and enabling them to focus on more impactful work. Rather than replacing workers, he referred to AI as “an accelerator” that will drive…

Despite what some experts have characterized as an environment increasingly hostile to AI R&D, North America continues to receive the bulk of AI venture dollars, according to data from investment tracker PitchBook. Between February and May of this year, VCs poured $69.7 billion into North America-based AI and machine learning startups across 1,528 deals. That’s compared with $6.4 billion that VC firms invested in European AI ventures across 742 deals across the same period. Asia-based startups have fared a bit worse than their European counterparts, according to PitchBook. Between February and May, VCs invested just $3 billion in Asia-based AI…

Reddit is suing artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for what it’s calling a breach of contract and for engaging in “unlawful and unfair business acts” by using the social media company’s platform and data without authority. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco on Wednesday, claims that Anthropic has been training its models on the personal data of Reddit users without obtaining their consent. Reddit alleges that’s has been harmed by the unauthorized commercial use of its content. Reddit shares closed up more than 6% on Wednesday. The company opened the complaint by calling Anthropic a “late-blooming” AI company that “bills itself as the white…

Postman, API collaboration platform maker, today announced Agent Mode, anAI-native assistant designed to deliver productivity gains across the API lifecycle. Available within the Postman platform, Agent Mode understands developer intent and executes real tasks – designing, testing, documenting, and monitoring APIs – based on simple natural language input. It compresses weeks of manual effort into hours, enabling teams to ship faster with fewer handoffs and less friction. Organizations are turning to AI for software development at an increasingly rapid pace. According to IDC, this is driven by AI’s ability to decrease the need for manual testing, resulting in improvements in test…

Key takeaways Amazon today announced plans to invest an estimated $10 billion in North Carolina to expand its data center infrastructure to support AI and cloud computing technologies. This landmark investment is expected to create at least 500 new high-skilled jobs while supporting thousands of other jobs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center supply chain. Generative AI is driving increased demand for advanced cloud infrastructure and compute power, and our investment will support the future of AI from AWS data centers in the Tar Heel State. This deployment of cutting-edge cloud computing infrastructure will strengthen North Carolina’s position…

Denodo, a leader in data management, announced a new certification, Denodo AI SDK Certified Developer Associate, to recognize individuals with the skills to accelerate the development of powerful new artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) solutions. Ever since the release of Denodo Platform 9.1 in November of 2024, the Denodo Platform (currently at version 9.2), has included Denodo Assistant, which automates key data engineering tasks and delivers contextualized insights and intelligent recommendations to data analysts and other business users, and the Denodo AI SDK, which accelerates the development of AI-powered applications and agents. The Denodo AI SDK Certified Developer Associate exam enables organizations to identify…

Figma is launching a new tool that can help AI models more effectively translate designs into fully coded applications. The product design company is giving LLMs and agentic coding tools like Copilot in VS Code and Claude Code more context about how designs are created in Figma via a new Dev Mode Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, which is rolling out in beta for users with Dev or Full seat Figma access. The MCP server is a developer tool that allows AI models to directly tap into data from Figma, such as precise figures used in graphs or the exact color…

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) today announced expanded support for high-potential AI startups with a new engagement initiative, established through Accenture Ventures with support from NVIDIA Inception. This collaboration is designed to accelerate startup growth and innovation by closing a common gap many early-stage companies face—moving from breakthrough ideas to scalable enterprise solutions. The initiative will provide startups with market intelligence, technical workshops, enterprise workflow knowledge and exposure to real-world business environments. Startups will gain access to Accenture’s deep industry experience and enterprise relationships, as well as emerging technology resources across Accenture Innovation’s global network. Combined with NVIDIA’s advanced technical capabilities and global developer ecosystem,…

Glance AI, a brand owned by mobile advertising company InMobi, has announced a partnership with the Samsung Galaxy Store to roll out its e-commerce platform to Galaxy phones in the US. The company’s app centers around what it calls “a Generative AI shopping platform,” which is a serious contender for the most cursed phrase I’ve read today. The “experience” comprises both a standalone app and a lock screen component to try and sell you clothes. Crucially, the whole thing is “fully opt-in,” which, thank Christ. But even if you opt out — which you absolutely should! — this feels like a sign…

Features that enable users to develop agents, coupled with the integration of agentic capabilities into the vendor’s own platform, show the vendor’s growth beyond data management. As recently as two years ago, Snowflake’s Cortex environment for AI development didn’t exist, and the vendor’s plans for generative AI were nascent. OpenAI’s November 2022 launch of ChatGPT, which represented a significant improvement in generative AI (GenAI) technology, sparked a surge of interest among enterprises in developing AI applications that could potentially make workers better informed and more efficient. Tech giant Microsoft responded almost immediately, investing in OpenAI and unveiling its line of GenAI copilots.…

Canada stands at an exciting inflection point. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping our world, offering opportunities to transform how we work and empower people across virtually every field, whether you’re a doctor seeking faster diagnoses, a small business owner trying to reach new customers or a farmer optimizing crop yields. A recent Economic Impact Report about Google Canada from Public First underscores the immense potential before us: generative AI has the potential to boost Canada’s economy by $230 billion and could save the average Canadian worker over 175 hours a year, freeing them up to concentrate on more fulfilling parts of…

OpenAI is pushing the envelope for developers of artificial intelligence agents. Today it expanded the capabilities of its Codex software engineering agent that launched last month and also making it available to more users. It’s also making more tools available to developers of voice agents through the OpenAI Agents software development kit. The company debuted Codex in ChatGPT in May, but it was initially available only to Enterprise subscribers. The tool, accessible via a sidebar in the ChatGPT interface, is designed to help developers write code and fix bugs. Codex was trained on dozens of real-world coding tasks in multiple software environments It can…

South Korean technology companies Naver and Kakao are enhancing collaborations with US firms to strengthen their roles in the global AI sector. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Webtoon Entertainment CEO Kim Jun-koo will meet Netflix executives in Silicon Valley this week, sparking speculation of new collaborations. This follows their previous collaboration on a membership plan launched in November 2022. Although past ties include Netflix’s ad-supported plan in Naver Plus, officials deny plans to bring Webtoon content to Netflix. Naver also plans to launch a US-based investment arm, Naver Ventures, to fund AI startups and support the global expansion of Korean…

Intuit Inc., the financial technology company behind products like TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mailchimp, has announced enhancements to its proprietary Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Operating System (GenOS). The updates are intended to accelerate the development and deployment of “done-for-you” agentic AI experiences for the company’s approximately 100 million consumer and small and mid-market business customers, according to a Tuesday (June 3) press release. “With this major agentic AI release of our proprietary GenOS, we’re supercharging the power of data, AI, and human intelligence on our platform to fuel consumer and business success through transformative done-for-you experiences,” Intuit Executive Vice President and Chief…

Nebius Group, an AI infrastructure firm listed on Nasdaq, announced a private placement of US$1 billion in senior unsecured convertible notes. The notes are divided into two tranches: US$500 million in 2.00% convertible notes due in 2029 and US$500 million in 3.00% convertible notes due in 2031. The proceeds will support Nebius Group’s growth. This includes the acquisition of additional computing power and the expansion of its data center operations. The notes will be issued on June 5, 2025, and will bear semi-annual interest. They will also include conversion options under specified conditions. 🔗 Source: Nebius https://www.techinasia.com/