Meta is looking at enabling small-time advertisers to generate complete campaigns, including imagery, video, and copy, with AI by late 2026. Brands will input a product image and budget, and Meta's tools will craft and serve ads tailored to user preferences and targeting with, for example, geolocation. The news has already had an in adverse effect on traditional agencies, as share prices of WPP and French Publicis Groupe and Havas tumbled. However, although its tools will help level the playing field, Meta executives insist that agencies will remain vital for strategy, arguing AI will merely free them to focus on higher‑value creative work.
Samsung is reportedly finalizing a partnership with Perplexity AI to embed its app and assistant into its upcoming product line and the Samsung web browser, with potential discussions to add it to Bixby. The collaboration is scheduled to debut in the first half of 2026 with the Galaxy S26 and could include a co-developed, "AI-infused operating system" and an AI agents app. Additionally, as a likely result, Samsung is also expected to invest in Perplexity's $500 million funding round at a $14 billion valuation.
The NAACP, a US civil rights organization, has urged Shelby County and Memphis utility officials to put a stop to xAI's Colossus data center operations, citing unpermitted gas turbines emitting certain very hazardous air pollutants above EPA limits. Located near the Boxtown neighborhood, the facility allegedly contributes to pollution in a community already facing elevated cancer risks. The NAACP thus demands an emergency order to cease operations or enforce clean-air laws. xAI has previously applied to operate 15 gas turbines at the facility, though city officials say the company does not need permits for the first year of operation.
Applied Digital recently struck two long-term, $7 billion leases with Nvidia-backed CoreWeave to power AI data centers in North Dakota, which saw its stock jump upwards of 50% soon after. Over 15 years, Applied Digital will receive fixed, annually-escalating rental revenue, while CoreWeave installs and operates 250 megawatts of IT load across two data cell blocks, 100 MW and 150 MW respectively, at Applied Digital's Ellendale campus. The campus is designed to be able to handle 400 MW, so an option for another 150 MW block is available.
On top of its AI advertising campaign earlier, internal documents obtained by NPR reveal that Meta is also planning to shift up to 90% of its product risk assessments from human review teams to AI systems. The process would go like this: teams will submit questionnaires about proposed features, and AI will issue instant risk evaluations, including areas such as youth safety and misinformation, before launch. However, critics warn AI could miss nuanced harms that human reviewers catch, though Meta asserts it will still use human expertise for complex cases, reserving AI for "low-risk decisions."
Late last week, Google silently debuted a new Android app that allows users to use openly available AI models on the Hugging Face AI platform on their phones. Dubbed Google AI Edge Gallery, the app enables users to find, download, and run compatible models locally, which, although less performative than cloud-run AI models, has the benefit of user privacy and no need for the internet or even Wi-Fi to run. An iOS version of this app is reportedly in the works.
Machine learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio has raised roughly $30 million to found LawZero, a nonprofit aimed at developing "safe by design" AI systems that don't mimic human self‑preservation. Bengio warns that training models to act like people risks creating autonomous entities with their own agendas. LawZero's starting team of 15 will grow to explore alternative training methods that treat AI as "detached scientists" rather than companion‑agents. Bengio also adds that their approach could also reduce the concentration of AI within the top few corporations.
