Author: Art Ryan

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has reportedly launched an AI startup where he’ll serve as co-CEO. The company, dubbed “Project Prometheus,” is launching with $6.2 billion in financing, some of it from Bezos himself, the New York Times (NYT) reported Monday (Nov. 17), citing three sources familiar with the project. The report notes this is the first time Bezos has taken an official operational role in a company since leaving Amazon four years ago. Project Prometheus has already hired nearly 100 employees, including researchers recruited from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta, the sources said. The NYT says the company has thus far kept a low profile, and it’s unclear when it was even started…

The velocity and scale of the Prompt Economy’s™ development has been fast even by AI’s standards. Making sense of that maturity curve isn’t easy but the past week has seen some notable attempts, including a maturity model from Microsoft. In a blog post last week, the company sharpened its vision for its own use of agentic AI, saying it wants to be a “frontier AI” company. You may recognize the phrase because Meta uses it to describe super-intelligence. At Microsoft, frontier AI has a decidedly human inclination. In its latest Inside Track article, Microsoft describes how it is reorganizing itself around agentic AI and laying the groundwork to operate as an…

Apple is reportedly preparing to name a new leader to replace longtime CEO Tim Cook. Cook, who has led Apple for more than 14 years, could step down as soon as next year, the Financial Times (FT) reported Friday (Nov. 14), citing sources familiar with the matter. These sources told FT Apple’s board and senior executives have stepped up preparations for Cook to turn things over to a new chief executive. John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, is widely viewed as Cook’s most likely replacement, although no decisions have been made, these sources said. PYMNTS has contacted Apple for comment but has not yet…

Dubai, UAE — 17 November 2025 — DATEwithTech Dubai 2025, one of the region’s most influential gatherings for digital transformation and emerging technology, has announced a powerful lineup of Spotlight Sessions designed to shape the future of innovation across the Middle East. Taking place on 26–27 November 2025 at Madinat Jumeirah, the event will welcome over 1,000 global leaders, policymakers, investors, innovators, and industry pioneers. With the Middle East entering a new phase of AI adoption, sovereign technology development, and digital economy expansion, DATEwithTech Dubai 2025 is positioned as a catalyst for strategic cooperation and next-generation solutions. 🚀 Spotlight Sessions:…

Zeni, an AI bookkeeping software, has launched its AI Accounting Agent automation solution, designed to manage complex accounting workflows such as transaction processing, reconciliations, flux analysis, and receipt matching with machine-level precision. The AI Accounting Agent aims to reduce manual workload for financial professionals by automating routine tasks and learning from user input. According to Zeni CEO Swapnil Shinde, “This is a revolutionary technology for founders and financial professionals. Our AI Accountant handles the tedious tasks of bookkeeping and accounting so teams can focus on strategic financial planning.” The solution is intended to streamline finance operations and allow teams to…

Microsoft’s AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, has given a strong warning amid the pursuit of artificial superintelligence. He believes that once AI reaches the state of artificial general intelligence (AGI), humans may find it extremely difficult to control. Suleyman’s comments come at a time when the likes of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and xAI are working to reach AI superintelligence. On an episode of the Silicon Valley Girl Podcast, Suleyman gave his take on a future where AI may be smarter than humans. He believed that such a scenario “doesn’t feel like a positive vision of the future.” Mustafa Suleyman asserted that…

Edtech firm Multiverse and software giant Palantir have launched a partnership to upskill NHS staff with the goal of giving workers skills in AI and data practices. The tech firms will work with health service staff on the use of the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP). Supplied by Palantir, the NHS FDP connects data from various separate systems to give staff access to key information in a centralised platform. The firm claims its use can support more operations and quicker discharges across the 77 NHS Trusts signed up to it. Multiverse will supply the digital skills training, with the company’s…

Dubai, UAE — 16 November 2025 — With only 10 days remaining, the excitement continues to rise as the region prepares to host one of the most influential technology gatherings of the year — the Digital Acceleration & Technology Expo (DATE) Dubai 2025, taking place on 26–27 November 2025 at Madinat Jumeirah. Bringing together over 1,000 elite decision-makers, the two-day global expo will gather government leaders, enterprise executives, investors, innovators, and world-class startups to shape the next wave of digital transformation across the Middle East and beyond. A Premier Platform for Global Tech Innovation DATE Dubai 2025 is designed to…

Bitcoin reportedly declined for a fourth day on Friday (Nov. 14), dropping as low as $94,491.22 early in the day.  Week to date, the cryptocurrency was down nearly 9%, CNBC reported Friday. The report attributed Bitcoin’s decline in part to investors selling cryptocurrency in response to a pullback in Big Tech stocks, noting that many of the investors in those stocks also invest in Bitcoin. Tech stocks have been slipping this week amid concerns about companies’ spending on artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, according to the report. The price of Bitcoin hit a record $125,000 in October but, just days later, Bitcoin saw “the largest…

Anthropic reported Thursday (Nov. 13) that its Claude Code model was manipulated into carrying out a wide-reaching cyber-espionage operation across about 30 organizations in finance, technology, manufacturing and government. The company said in its disclosure that the mid-September incident marks the first confirmed case in which an artificial intelligence (AI) agent handled most steps of an intrusion normally performed by human hackers. AI industry insiders who PYMNTS spoke with about the incident said it shows fraudsters are evolving alongside technology, posing risks to automated systems from outside AI systems and requiring safeguards. Eva Nahari, chief product officer at AI solutions firm Vectara, told PYMNTS…

Google introduced a set of agentic shopping features inside its artificial intelligence (AI) mode that allow users to search for products, check inventory, monitor prices and authorize the system to complete purchases when conditions are met. In announcing the update, Google said it wants shopping queries to feel more conversational. The company noted that users can describe what they want “just as you’d say it to a friend,” and the system will pull from what Google describes as a constantly refreshed Shopping Graph containing “more than 50 billion product listings, 2 billion of which are updated every hour.” The blog explained…

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes part of everyday business operations, companies rethink how they want these systems to behave. AI models generate quick predictions but often struggle to explain why the model chose a specific outcome. That lack of clarity leads to mistakes, customer friction and regulatory scrutiny. To avoid these problems, companies now turn to hybrid AI, an approach that blends machine learning with clear rules, human judgment and reasoning steps that people can trace. Why Companies Need AI That Explains Itself Hybrid AI blends machine learning with rules and human judgment, so organizations can see how an AI…

Alibaba.com plans to add agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its B2B eCommerce platform in December. The new AI Mode feature will help businesses discover, evaluate and engage with suppliers, the company said in a Friday (Nov. 14) press release. For example, AI Mode will deliver tailored recommendations to businesses in seconds by interpreting natural language queries, analyzing technical specifications, and comparing suppliers’ pricing, logistics, certifications and production capabilities, according to the release. Alibaba.com also aims to provide a fully automated, end-to-end trade experience by connecting AI Mode with the platform’s existing services such as secure payment, Trade Assurance and after-sales support, the release…

Thinking Machines, the artificial intelligence startup founded by former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, is reportedly in talks to raise funding at a valuation of as much as $60 billion. Bloomberg reported Thursday (Nov. 13) that unnamed sources said that the talks are in their early stages and that the valuation could be $50 billion, $55 billion or $60 billion. Those figures would more than quadruple Thinking Machines’ $12 billion valuation from July, when it raised $2 billion, according to the report. The deal has not been finalized, and the terms could change, per the report. Thinking Machines did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment. Murati announced…

World Labs has introduced Marble, a commercial world model designed to give artificial intelligence (AI) the ability to perceive, predict and interact with the physical world. The launch signals a shift in the AI landscape as companies move beyond language and image models toward systems that can generate and reason over 3D environments. Marble is the first product released by World Labs started by Fei Fei Li, which has concentrated its research on spatial intelligence and internal world modeling. The company said the goal is to push AI forward from reading and writing to understanding motion, geometry and cause and effect. A New…

The European Union is preparing to delay and ease major elements of its landmark Artificial Intelligence Act as regulators confront a reality that fast-moving AI systems are outpacing the structures built to govern them. According to Reuters, the European Commission is “proposing to pause parts of its landmark artificial intelligence legislation amid pressure from big tech companies and the U.S. government.” The Financial Times reported that Brussels is considering a “one-year grace period for high-risk AI compliance” and may delay transparency fines until 2027. PYMNTS noted that policymakers are weighing a “yearlong delay in full implementation” as part of a broader effort to give European industries more time to…

OpenAI released GPT-5.1, the latest version of its flagship model, describing it as a step toward faster reasoning, more reliable instruction-following and more personalized chat experiences. The launch builds on the company’s recent product momentum, including last month’s debut of ChatGPT Atlas, an artificial intelligence (AI) browser designed to turn the web into a working environment rather than a collection of tabs. GPT-5.1 arrives in two versions, Instant and Thinking. Instant is now the default model across paid ChatGPT tiers and is built for everyday speed and conversational use. Thinking supports more complex reasoning and adjusts its computation time based on task difficulty. OpenAI said…

xAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) company founded by Elon Musk, has raised $15 billion. That’s according to a report Thursday (Nov. 13) by CNBC, citing sources familiar with the matter who said the funding will help pay for the graphic processing units (GPUs) that power AI large language models (LLMs). Musk later denied the report, labeling it “false” on his X social media platform, much as he did following reports in September that xAi had raised $10 billion, valuing it at $200 billion. When xAI acquired X in March, the multibillionaire said the deal valued the former company at $80 billion and the latter at $33 billion…

Amazon and Walmart have spent decades defining the competitive perimeter of American retail, each shaping consumer behavior at enormous scale. But no matter the innovations around convenience and the ongoing race to turn commerce invisible and frictionless, there’s always been a bigger factor at play when it comes to consumer behavior. A factor so huge it also shapes the operational realities of both Walmart, Amazon, as well as the rest of the retail landscape. This factor is, of course, the macro environment. And today, as 2025 turns to 2026, that macro environment is being increasingly revealed as a challenging one…

FIS has released two of its key financial software products on Microsoft Marketplace. A press release issued Thursday (Nov. 13) by the Jacksonville, Fla.-based FinTech company stated that its Treasury Risk Manager – Integrity Edition and GETPAID software solutions are available to download from Microsoft Marketplace. The tools help banks and businesses manage their finances. “This collaboration with Microsoft enables us to deliver our cloud-native solutions globally on the trusted cloud platform, allowing businesses to leverage advanced capabilities with ease and providing them with a streamlined and simplified process,” FIS Treasury and Risk Management Head JP James said in the release. Per the release, the latest version of FIS’s Treasury Risk Manager…