Author: Art Ryan

Abu Dhabi, UAE — 20 November 2025 — Momentum is building across the global technology community as the Global AI Show Abu Dhabi 2025 prepares to take over the iconic Space42 Arena on December 8–9, 2025. Expected to attract over 5,000 attendees, more than 200 global AI leaders, and 150+ cutting-edge exhibitors, the event is poised to become one of the most influential artificial intelligence gatherings of the decade. As the UAE accelerates its mission to lead globally in AI research, digital governance, enterprise transformation, and intelligent infrastructure, the show will serve as a catalytic platform uniting governments, Fortune 500…

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — 20 November 2025 — Saudi Arabia is preparing to take center stage in the global AI revolution as the Global AI Show – Riyadh 2026 returns on February 9–10, 2026, bringing together the world’s most influential AI leaders, innovators, policymakers, and enterprise technology champions. Building on the Kingdom’s fast-rising status as a global innovation powerhouse, the event will transform Riyadh into a two-day epicenter of AI breakthroughs, enterprise-scale solutions, government accelerators, robotics, automation, and next-generation digital ecosystems. 🚀 A Defining Moment for AI in the Middle East As Saudi Arabia pushes forward with Vision 2030 —…

Healthcare-focused AI lab Voio has emerged from stealth $8.6 million in seed funding. The company announced the funding Thursday (Nov. 20), saying its initial focus is on constructing a “unified reading platform” that helps radiologists “across every scan and modality.” To that end, Voil launched Pillar-0, an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model that interprets medical images directly to recognize hundreds of conditions. “Radiologists shouldn’t have to choose between speed and quality,” Dr. Maggie Chung, the company’s co-founder and medical lead, said in a news release. “Our goal is to make radiology reporting seamless by drafting full reports and connecting images, history, and prior exams into…

Function Health, a startup focused on AI-centered health testing, has raised $298 million. “Function is redefining preventive healthcare by making comprehensive health insights accessible to everyone,” Redpoint Ventures, which led the Series B round, said in a post on its LinkedIn page Wednesday (Nov. 29). “Through routine whole-body lab testing, advanced imaging, and access to world-class physicians, Function empowers members to pursue 100 healthy years.” A report on the funding round by TechCrunch said the new financing brings Function’s valuation to $2.8 billion. The report also noted that Function has just unveiled Medical Intelligence Lab, a “medical intelligence” generative artificial intelligence (AI) model — trained by…

Legal and compliance-focused AI company Norm Ai has expanded its partnership with asset manager Blackstone. This expansion is happening as Norm is launching Norm Law, a tool that offers artificial intelligence (AI)-native legal services, focused initially on financial services clients, the company said in its announcement Thursday (Nov. 20). For its part, Blackstone has invested an additional $50 million in Norm, via Blackstone Innovations Investments and funds affiliated with Blackstone Growth. “To truly transform the delivery of legal services, lawyers and AI need to be fully integrated from the ground-up and from day-one,” John Nay, Norm’s founder and CEO, said in a news release. “Norm Law…

The Trump administration is reportedly considering new challenges to state-level artificial intelligence (AI) regulation. One of those challenges could come in the form of an executive order calling for an attorney general-led task force to challenge AI laws deemed too burdensome, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Nov. 19). The order would also call for federal funding to be withheld from those states via a federal interest access program, the report added, citing a draft of the order seen by the WSJ, as well as sources familiar with the discussion. In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier in the…

For small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution represents both the most profound challenge in decades and the greatest opportunity. “How do you leverage technology to jump over the potholes that are out there for SMBs? How do you create a drone that’s going to fly over the experience and get you where you need to go?” René Lacerte, CEO and founder of BILL, told PYMNTS during a discussion for the 2025 “What’s Next in Payments” series, “November: The Year of the CEO.” That “drone” is a stand-in for AI and other technology that can leapfrog traditional inefficiencies instead of…

During Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings presentation on Thursday (Nov. 19), CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on the idea that artificial intelligence (AI) spending is overheated. “There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different,” he said. Huang added that Nvidia is operating through “three massive platform shifts at once” as companies move from traditional computing to accelerated computing, from classical machine learning to generative AI, and now toward agentic systems that perform multistep tasks. His remarks came as Nvidia reported another record quarter on Wednesday (Nov. 19) as demand for AI infrastructure continued to build across cloud platforms, enterprises and model…

Autonomous microstores are returning to the retail market as artificial intelligence (AI) solves the accuracy and cost issues that stalled the first generation. New systems use stronger computer vision, lightweight agentic inventory models and simpler robotics to track items, forecast demand and run without dense sensor grids or continuous human oversight. Retailers are moving from small pilots to practical deployments as evidence grows that the model can operate reliably at lower cost. The first wave of microstores depended on pressure shelves and large sensor arrays that required constant calibration and often produced inconsistent reads. AI is changing that. Today’s vision…

Perplexity’s new partnership with the United States government and the artificial intelligence startup’s free agentic shopping product for U.S. users were announced Wednesday (Nov. 19). The new shopping experience will be rolled out to U.S. users next week, Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko told CNBC in a report posted Wednesday. In this experience, users will do their own research, because most people want to do that, and then the “agentic part is the seamless purchase right from the answer,” Shevelenko said. Over time, this experience will enable users to buy items from 5,000 merchants through Perplexity’s search engine, according to the report. It…

Large software vendors are strategically positioning artificial intelligence (AI) agents as a managed layer inside the enterprise rather than as optional add-ons. Microsoft’s Agent 365, Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 and Oracle’s AI Agent Marketplace all share the view that businesses will run many agents across crucial functions, including support, operations, finance and customer work, requiring centralized structure, oversight and integration within existing workflows. The result is the early shape of an “AI control plane” that acts as the necessary intermediary between workers, applications and data. Common Agentic Architecture Microsoft’s Agent 365 is representative of this new model. As PYMNTS reported, the company said businesses “are starting to rely on agents to handle tasks across support, operations and productivity tools,…

Dubai, UAE – 20 November 2025 – On 26 and 27 November 2025 at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai will host the region’s most dynamic forum for technology, innovation, and digital transformation — DATE MENA. Organised by Trescon, DATE is a Digitization, AI & Emerging Technology Summit. Over two days, the event will bring together 1,000+ pre-qualified business leaders, tech innovators, investors, enterprise buyers, and regulators to explore the technologies redefining industries and shaping the future of MENA. As a high-impact platform, DATE MENA brings 40+ international and regional speakers delivering actionable insights across AI, Blockchain & Digital Assets, Cybersecurity, Immersive Technologies,…

Nokia is dividing its artificial intelligence (AI) and telecom businesses into separate units. The tech company announced Wednesday (Nov. 19) that its new network infrastructure division would house its AI and data center operations, while its telecoms network operations would become part of its mobile infrastructure unit. “Nokia changed the world once by connecting people — and will again by connecting intelligence,” said Justin Hotard, Nokia’s president and chief executive, said in a news release. “As the trusted western provider of secure and advanced connectivity, our technology is powering the AI supercycle.” The Finland-based company is positioning its network infrastructure business as a “growth…

The European Union (EU) has released an extensive plan to ease digital regulations. The project, announced Wednesday (Nov. 19), centers around a “digital omnibus” that streamlines rules on artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and data. According to the European Commission — the EU’s regulatory arm — the plan would also be coupled with what it calls a Data Union Strategy to unlock high-quality data for AI and European Business Wallets that will provide companies with a single digital identity to simplify paperwork and make it easier to do business in EU countries. Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s executive vice president for tech Sovereignty, security and democracy, said the plan will help…

Adobe plans to acquire Semrush to add that company’s generative engine optimization (GEO) capabilities to Adobe’s range of tools for marketers. The companies’ definitive agreement for the acquisition includes a total equity value of $1.9 billion, they said ina Wednesday (Nov. 19) press release. The transaction has been approved by both Adobe’s and Semrush’s board of directors but remains subject to customary closing conditions, according to the release. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2026. PYMNTS reported in September that GEO has become an emerging discipline as artificial intelligence transforms the way people search online, requiring businesses to work to…

xAI is reportedly in advanced discussions to raise $15 billion in equity at a $230 billion valuation. That’s according to a report Wednesday (Nov. 19) by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources familiar with the Elon Musk-run artificial intelligence (AI) company’s plans. The report notes that this new valuation would mark a massive jump from the $113 billion xAI revealed after acquiring Musk’s X social media platform earlier this year. Sources told the WSJ that the terms of the new funding were shared with investors by Musk’s wealth manager, Jared Birchall, on Tuesday (Nov. 18) evening. The news comes days after a similar report…

Commerce is changing, and so are the rules that govern how merchants and consumers meet online. Few categories illustrate that better than furniture, where long buying cycles and fragmented experiences are giving way to data-driven speed. Dan Bennett, CMO of Furniture.com, said the category was unnecessarily painful. “It’s a long-winded process,” he told Karen Webster, PYMNTS CEO, as part of the latest installment of “The SKU” series. “It takes far too much bandwidth than it should. I personally think buying furniture should be kind of a joyous experience. … It has an emotional quotient that I think is forgotten in the process.” While the Furniture.com domain dates…

Meta Chief Revenue Officer John Hegeman said Tuesday (Nov. 18) that he is leaving the firm after 17 years to start his own company. Announcing the move in a post on Facebook, Hegeman said he had “decided it’s time to close this chapter and pursue a long-standing dream — starting a new company.” He did not provide any details about the new company. Hegeman thanked Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and said that Andrew Bocking will take over as product group lead for ads and business messaging, while Naomi Gleit will become the leader of business artificial intelligence (AI) and other new monetization opportunities. “Meta’s business is as strong…

Microsoft on Tuesday (Nov. 18) introduced Microsoft Agent 365, a new system aimed to help companies track and control the growing number of AI agents used in everyday work. The company said organizations are starting to rely on agents to handle tasks across support, operations and productivity tools, and that they need a single place to manage them. Microsoft cited IDC research estimating that more than one billion agents could be active inside businesses by 2028. Agent 365 gives companies a unified view of all the agents running in their environments. It includes a central list where IT teams can see…

Lawmakers have introduced two bipartisan bills aimed at expanding artificial intelligence support for small businesses, marking one of Congress’s most targeted efforts this year to help Main Street firms understand and responsibly adopt AI. The proposals focus on training, education and advisory support at a time when many small firms are exploring AI but lack the resources to implement it effectively. The first measure, the AI for Workforce Innovation, Skills and Entrepreneurship Act, known as AI-WISE, was introduced by U.S. Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich) and Troy Downing (R-Mont.). Sponsors outlined the effort in a press release, saying the goal is to provide small business owners with…