“I think the markets got it wrong,” Huang said in a television interview Wednesday, hours after Nvidia posted stronger-than-expected earnings and issued upbeat guidance driven by AI demand.

Some investors have worried that AI-powered agents could cannibalize enterprise software by automating core tasks. Huang rejected that idea. He said agentic AI systems function as “tool users” that operate inside established platforms such as Microsoft Excel and other enterprise applications. Rather than eliminating software vendors, he argued, AI will make their products more valuable and more widely used.

He pointed to companies including ServiceNow and SAP, saying specialized firms will continue to build optimized tools while AI agents help customers use them more efficiently.

Nvidia’s latest results reinforced that optimism. Quarterly revenue surged 73% from a year earlier, and the company forecast another strong quarter ahead. The numbers eased concerns that spending on AI hardware had peaked.

Still, not everyone agrees that software companies will escape disruption. Some analysts warn that automation could pressure margins and push weaker firms out of the market.

Nvidia shares rose in extended trading following the report, while software stocks showed mixed reactions. Huang’s message was clear: AI may reshape workflows, but it won’t erase the need for the tools businesses already depend on.

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The post Jensen Huang Says Markets Are Misreading AI’s Impact on Software appeared first on The European Business Review.

The company announced Tuesday that it is upgrading its Claude assistant to handle more specialized workplace tasks. The new version can operate directly inside tools such as Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, allowing users to analyze data or build presentations without leaving their existing workflow.

Anthropic launched its enterprise-focused Claude Cowork product in January. Since then, it has added industry-specific plugins for finance, legal work and cybersecurity. The latest updates extend that effort into fields like human resources, design and wealth management.

Executives insist the company does not aim to replace enterprise software providers. Instead, they say Claude will complement existing platforms by acting as an embedded assistant. The company describes its strategy as building a flexible platform rather than trying to dominate every workflow.

Still, investors have reacted nervously. Earlier plugin rollouts triggered sharp sell-offs across software stocks, as traders questioned whether AI tools could undercut established analytics and research products. Shares of companies including Thomson Reuters and IBM fell after Anthropic unveiled new capabilities.

Competition is also heating up. Rival OpenAI recently introduced enterprise-focused AI agents and signed multiyear partnerships with major consulting firms.

Anthropic argues that AI can boost productivity without replacing workers outright. But as companies weigh security risks and long-term costs, many remain cautious about deploying AI tools at scale.

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The post Anthropic Pushes Deeper Into the Workplace Despite AI Jitters appeared first on The European Business Review.

The design platform announced Monday that it has acquired motion graphics startup Cavalry and video advertising company MangoAI. The company did not disclose financial terms.

The deals come at a shaky moment for the sector. Shares of Adobe, one of Canva’s biggest rivals, have fallen about 30% this year as Wall Street questions how AI tools could disrupt traditional software businesses.

Canva co-founder and product chief Cameron Adams said customers have pushed the company to expand deeper into motion graphics. Cavalry develops tools for two-dimensional animation and has gained traction among designers looking for alternatives to Adobe After Effects. Canva plans to keep Cavalry running as a standalone product while also folding its technology into Canva’s core platform and Affinity, the professional design app it acquired in 2024.

MangoAI, which has operated largely in stealth, builds tools that help businesses create and optimize short-form video ads. Canva will integrate that technology into Canva Grow, its business-focused ad creation suite.

Despite turbulence in public markets, Canva says its momentum remains strong. The company ended 2025 with more than $4 billion in annualized revenue, up 36% year over year. Adams acknowledged that generative AI can speed up content creation but argued that human oversight still matters.

“AI can get you most of the way there,” he said. “But that final polish — the part that represents your brand — still takes intention.”

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The post Canva Goes on Buying Spree as AI Fears Rattle Software Stocks appeared first on The European Business Review.

Mosseri became the first executive to testify in the closely watched social media addiction trial. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a 20-year-old woman identified as Kaley, who alleges the companies built addictive features that harmed her mental health. Her case is the first of more than 1,500 similar lawsuits to reach trial.

On the stand, Mosseri acknowledged that users can engage in “problematic use” but rejected the idea of clinical addiction. He compared excessive scrolling to watching too much television. When asked about reports that Kaley once spent more than 16 hours on Instagram in a single day, he called it “problematic use.”

Plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier pressed Mosseri on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and beauty filters, arguing they encourage unhealthy behavior. Internal company emails from 2019 showed executives debated banning certain face-altering filters over concerns about body image.

Mosseri denied that Instagram targets teens for profit, saying the platform earns less revenue from them than from other users. He also defended safety tools, including teen accounts with default privacy settings.

Outside the courthouse, parents who say they lost children to social media-related harms gathered overnight for seats in the courtroom, calling the trial a long-awaited moment of accountability.

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The post Instagram Chief Denies Platform Is “Clinically Addictive” in Landmark Trial appeared first on The European Business Review.

The testimony comes in a closely watched trial that accuses Meta and YouTube of designing addictive features that negatively affected a young woman’s mental health. The case, filed by a now-20-year-old woman identified in court as Kaley and her mother, is the first of more than 1,500 similar lawsuits to reach trial.

According to her lawyers, Kaley began using YouTube at age six and joined Instagram at nine. They claim she spent hours a day on the app, sometimes more than 16 hours, and later developed anxiety, body image issues, and suicidal thoughts. She also alleges she experienced bullying and sextortion on the platform.

Meta denies the claims. Company lawyers argue that factors in Kaley’s home life, not social media, caused her struggles. A Meta spokesperson said the company has long invested in youth safety tools, including parental controls and teen-specific account settings.

Zuckerberg is expected to face pointed questions about what Meta knew about risks to young users and whether its safeguards went far enough. Legal experts say his demeanor and credibility could shape how jurors interpret internal company documents and testimony.

The case is unfolding in Los Angeles, where families from across the country have gathered, hoping the trial brings long-awaited accountability.

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The post Mark Zuckerberg Set to Testify in Social Media Addiction Trial appeared first on The European Business Review.

The company launched the model late Monday, just ahead of the Lunar New Year, offering two versions. One allows developers to download and run the model on their own systems, while the other runs through Alibaba’s cloud platform. Alibaba said the update improves both performance and operating costs compared with earlier releases.

Qwen3.5 also reflects a broader shift in how companies build AI. The model supports agentic functions, meaning it can carry out tasks across multiple steps with limited supervision. It also works with open-source agent frameworks that have gained traction in recent weeks.

Interest in AI agents has surged since Anthropic released new tools that sparked concern across parts of the software market. In China, rivals such as ByteDance and Zhipu AI have also rolled out updates focused on similar capabilities.

Marc Einstein of Counterpoint Research said companies are preparing for a future where AI agents disrupt existing internet business models. Those that move too slowly, he warned, could struggle to adapt.

Alibaba claims Qwen3.5 performs on par with leading models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, though the benchmarks are self-reported. The model also supports more than 200 languages, a sharp increase from earlier versions.

Alibaba said it plans to release additional open-weight models in the coming weeks, signaling it does not intend to slow down.

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The post Alibaba Rolls Out Qwen3.5 as China’s AI Race Shifts Toward Agents appeared first on The European Business Review.

Alibaba launched RynnBrain, a model that helps robots understand and interact with the physical world. In demos, robots used it to pick oranges, move milk from a fridge, and complete multi-step tasks. Experts note that RynnBrain tracks time and location of events, which makes the robots more reliable in real-world situations. With this, Alibaba joins Nvidia and Google in the race for robotics AI.

ByteDance introduced Seedance 2.0, a video-generation AI that can turn text or images into realistic clips. People testing it said it works quickly and produces polished results. But it paused a feature that could mimic voices from uploaded pictures after privacy concerns emerged in China.

Short-video platform Kuaishou unveiled Kling 3.0, which improves video consistency, adds realistic visuals, and extends clips up to 15 seconds. It also generates audio in multiple languages, although it is currently only available to paying users.

Other companies also launched AI updates. Zhipu AI rolled out GLM-5, an open-source model with coding abilities, while MiniMax released M2.5, focused on automating tasks with AI agents.

These releases show that China is making serious strides in AI, both for creative projects and robotics. While gaps with the U.S. remain, these new models suggest the country is closing in fast.

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The post China’s Tech Giants Push AI Forward in Robots and Video appeared first on The European Business Review.

RynnBrain marks Alibaba’s push into robotics, building on the success of its Qwen AI models. The move also reflects China’s growing focus on “physical AI,” a field that includes autonomous machines and humanoid robots, and which many experts see as the next frontier in technology.

Other tech giants are investing heavily in the space. Nvidia has its Cosmos platform for robotics AI, Google DeepMind is developing Gemini Robotics models, and Tesla continues work on humanoid robots through its Optimus project. Analysts say the field could become a multitrillion-dollar market, with China currently seen as leading the way in humanoid development.

Alibaba is open-sourcing RynnBrain, which means developers everywhere can use it and play around with it at no cost. The company expects this move will speed up innovation and boost the use of its AI in various robotics areas, from basic home tasks to factory work.

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The post Alibaba Launches AI Model to Power Robots as ‘Physical AI’ Gains Momentum appeared first on The European Business Review.

The announcement comes as legal and financial software stocks continue to slide. The Nasdaq recorded its worst two-day drop since April, while companies like Thomson Reuters and LegalZoom suffered steep losses after investors reacted to Cowork’s expanding capabilities.

Anthropic says Opus 4.6 marks a turning point for knowledge work. One of the biggest upgrades is a massive expansion of the model’s context window, allowing it to process up to one million tokens at once. This means Claude can handle longer, more complex tasks, such as editing entire codebases or analyzing detailed financial documents in one go.

The update also improves Claude’s reasoning, helping it decide when to slow down and think through a problem versus when to respond quickly. Anthropic claims the model now outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 on benchmarks related to finance and legal work.

New features include a PowerPoint integration that can generate slides aligned with corporate templates, as well as better collaboration tools for software engineers. While Anthropic acknowledges concerns about job displacement, analysts say widespread disruption may still take time, especially as companies weigh security and data access risks.

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The post Anthropic Rolls Out Major Update to AI That Rattled Markets appeared first on The European Business Review.

The figure combines advertising revenue and income from paid services such as YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. It also marks the first time Google has publicly highlighted YouTube’s annual revenue as a standalone number since acquiring the platform in 2006. The total comfortably surpasses Netflix’s $45 billion revenue for the same year.

Analysts say the milestone reflects YouTube’s near-ubiquitous role in digital life. Hanna Kahlert, a senior analyst at Midia Research, said the platform has become “almost infrastructural,” with more than 70% of global users accessing YouTube weekly and over half using it daily. She added that YouTube’s mix of advertising and subscription models allows it to monetize its massive audience more effectively than most streaming rivals.

While YouTube’s advertising revenue in the final quarter of 2025 came in slightly below expectations, Google CEO Sundar Pichai described the year as a strong one overall. He said YouTube Premium helped lift total paid subscriptions across Google’s consumer services to more than 325 million, though the company does not disclose YouTube’s subscriber numbers separately.

Google executives pointed to growing demand for subscriptions, supported by new lower-priced tiers for YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. The company has also introduced features that encourage users to upgrade, such as limiting background video playback on smartphones to Premium subscribers.

At the same time, YouTube Shorts continues to drive engagement, averaging more than 200 billion daily views. Industry observers say the platform now competes directly with traditional broadcasters and streamers, blurring the line between user-generated content and mainstream television.

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The post YouTube Tops $60 Billion in Revenue as Google Pushes Paid Subscriptions appeared first on The European Business Review.

The company reported earnings of $2.82 per share on revenue of $113.83 billion, beating analyst estimates on both counts. Revenue rose nearly 18% year over year, while net income climbed almost 30% to $34.46 billion. Despite the strong results, Alphabet shares fell as much as 3% in extended trading.

Alphabet said it expects capital expenditures in 2026 to reach between $175 billion and $185 billion, a level that would more than double its spending in 2025. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said the investment will focus largely on expanding AI computing capacity for Google DeepMind, meeting growing cloud demand, and improving user experience and advertiser returns across Google’s services.

Advertising revenue totaled $82.28 billion, up 13.5% from a year earlier. YouTube ad revenue rose nearly 9% to $11.38 billion, though it came in below analysts’ expectations. Ashkenazi noted that ad results faced tougher comparisons due to strong U.S. election-related spending in late 2024.

Google Cloud delivered one of the strongest performances, posting nearly 48% revenue growth year over year and exceeding expectations. Its backlog more than doubled from the previous year, reaching $240 billion, reflecting rising demand for AI-driven services.

CEO Sundar Pichai said Alphabet’s Gemini AI app now has more than 750 million monthly active users. He added that efficiency improvements helped cut Gemini’s serving costs by 78% over the past year.

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s Other Bets unit posted lower revenue and wider losses, driven in part by higher expenses at self-driving subsidiary Waymo, which continues to expand its autonomous ride services across major U.S. cities.

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The post Google Parent Alphabet Beats Revenue Expectations, Plans Major Increase in AI Spending appeared first on The European Business Review.

The stock fell around 1% in early trading after a Wall Street Journal report said uncertainty had emerged around Nvidia’s planned investment, citing people familiar with the matter. In September, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and build at least 10 gigawatts of computing power to support the AI startup’s growing demands.

However, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang later clarified that the investment was nonbinding and not yet finalized. According to the report, Huang also raised concerns about OpenAI’s business discipline and pointed to increasing competition from rivals such as Google and Anthropic.

Over the weekend, Huang pushed back against suggestions of tension with OpenAI, calling the claims “nonsense.” He reiterated that Nvidia remains committed to investing, though the final amount will not exceed $100 billion. Huang praised OpenAI’s work and said Nvidia would play a major role in the funding round led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Market watchers say the lack of clarity around the investment amount has unsettled investors. Sarah Kunst, managing director at Cleo Capital, said uncertainty over whether the deal would reach the full $100 billion likely contributed to the stock’s decline. She noted that public back-and-forth between an investor and a startup is unusual and often fuels market doubt.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives added that Nvidia’s cautious messaging reflects concerns around “circular financing,” where major AI companies invest heavily in one another. He said Nvidia wants to protect its strategic position while ensuring its investments do not indirectly strengthen competitors.

Despite the short-term dip, analysts expect Nvidia to proceed with a massive investment, likely close to the originally discussed figure.

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The post Nvidia Shares Slip as Questions Emerge Over OpenAI Investment appeared first on The European Business Review.

ASML builds the machines that make advanced chips possible. Specifically, it produces lithography systems that etch incredibly small patterns onto silicon wafers. These patterns form the foundation of modern semiconductors. Without them, even the most advanced chip designs cannot be manufactured at scale.

What sets ASML apart is its monopoly on extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography. No other company in the world makes these machines. Chipmakers rely on EUV technology to produce the most advanced processors, including the AI chips designed by Nvidia. ASML also controls about 90% of the broader lithography market, giving it an unmatched position in the semiconductor supply chain.

That dominance is showing up in the numbers. ASML’s latest earnings report revealed that bookings in the fourth quarter of 2025 more than doubled analyst expectations. Bank of America analyst Didier Scemama said the company has successfully industrialised next-generation EUV technology, which he believes will support many of the decade’s most important technology shifts.

Industry analysts say catching up to ASML is no longer realistic. Morningstar equity analyst Javier Correonero described lithography as the “building block of any chip,” noting that ASML machines have played a role in producing nearly all semiconductors. While competitors such as Nikon and Canon still sell lithography tools for older chip designs, they lag far behind in both investment and capability.

ASML currently offers two types of EUV machines. Chipmakers use low numerical aperture systems to manufacture today’s leading AI chips, including Nvidia’s Blackwell processors. High numerical aperture EUV machines, meanwhile, remain mostly in research and testing, aimed at powering the next wave of semiconductor innovation.

These machines come at a steep price. Analysts estimate that ASML’s most advanced EUV systems cost up to 400 million euros each. Foundries such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung continue to experiment with the latest tools, with high-volume production expected later this decade.

Investors have taken notice. ASML’s share price jumped 36% in 2025 and has continued to rise this year, briefly pushing the company’s valuation past half a trillion dollars. As demand for AI chips grows, analysts expect ASML’s role and influence to grow with it.

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The post The Dutch Machine Making Nvidia’s AI Boom Possible appeared first on The European Business Review.

Amazon sits at the center of that debate as it accelerates its own use of generative AI. CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly warned employees that automation will reshape how work gets done. “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy wrote last year. He added that AI agents are coming quickly across every industry.

That backdrop frames Amazon’s latest workforce reduction. The company said Wednesday it will lay off 16,000 employees, marking its second major round of job cuts in three months. The reductions follow a previous decision in late October to eliminate 14,000 corporate roles as Amazon seeks to stay agile in an AI-driven technology race.

In a blog post, senior vice president of people Beth Galetti said the company aims to speed up decision-making by cutting internal complexity. “We’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” she said.

Amazon employs more than 350,000 corporate workers, making it the second largest private employer in the United States after Walmart. Combined, the two recent rounds of cuts amount to about 9% of its office workforce.

Galetti said the layoffs would not become a routine cycle, even as Amazon reassesses staffing needs tied to AI. The company plans to continue hiring in areas viewed as critical to its long term strategy.

The job reductions come as Amazon competes with Microsoft, Google, Meta and OpenAI to build advanced models and computing infrastructure. Jassy has stressed that the layoffs focus on efficiency rather than cost cutting.

Layoffs begin Wednesday, with most affected employees given 90 days to seek internal roles. Those who leave will receive severance and extended benefits. Amazon also announced it will shut down its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go grocery formats, doubling down on Whole Foods as it reshapes its retail footprint.

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The post Amazon Cuts 16000 Jobs as AI Push Drives Second Layoff Wave appeared first on The European Business Review.

How Political Incentives Turn Journalism into a Weapon — and What History Says Comes Next

In democratic societies, journalism is often described as the fourth estate — not because it governs, but because it restrains. Its power lies in distance: distance from political parties, from campaign machinery, from the urgency of winning votes. Elections are precisely the moment when that distance matters most.

Yet over the past fifteen years, election cycles across Europe and the United States have revealed a recurring and deeply unsettling pattern. In periods of political competition, sections of the media — television, podcasts, digital outlets and print — have drifted from scrutiny into alignment. Not through envelopes of cash or secret instructions, but through something more banal and more dangerous: narrative convergence between political incentives and editorial framing.

When this happens, journalism does not merely report on elections. It begins to participate in them.

The consequences are not theoretical. Courts have overturned election results. Politicians have been forced out of races. Editors and reporters have faced criminal convictions. Entire newsrooms have collapsed. The historical record is clear: when journalism becomes an informal campaign tool, accountability eventually follows — often long after the votes have been counted.

The mechanics of media manipulation in election cycles

The mechanism is remarkably consistent across jurisdictions.

First comes the choice of target. Campaign-aligned journalism tends to focus on industries or actors that already carry moral stigma: finance, migration, technology, gambling. This lowers the evidentiary threshold. Audiences are primed to believe wrongdoing exists.

Next comes the method. Reporting relies on fragments that are independently accurate — corporate filings, historic ownership records, regulatory actions — but strips them of time and context. These fragments are then connected by inference rather than proof. The reader is invited to conclude what the evidence does not establish.

Finally comes amplification. The same narrative appears across television segments, podcasts, opinion pieces and social media clips. Repetition creates authority. By the time regulators or courts catch up, the political damage has already been done.

This is not investigative journalism. It is narrative construction.

United States: when journalism becomes illegal campaign support

The American record offers some of the clearest examples of how media activity can cross the line into unlawful electoral assistance.

During the 2016 presidential election, federal prosecutors determined that American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid individuals to suppress stories damaging to Donald Trump. The practice, known as “catch and kill,” was not treated as editorial discretion. Prosecutors concluded it constituted an illegal campaign contribution because the payments were made for the explicit purpose of influencing the election.

In August 2018, AMI entered into a non-prosecution agreement acknowledging it had acted “in concert” with the campaign. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, was later sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in coordinating similar payments. Journalism, in this case, was not merely sympathetic to a candidate. It functioned as campaign infrastructure — and the law responded accordingly.

Nearly a decade later, the same boundary between editorial judgment and unlawful political interference remains contested. On 15 December 2025, Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in relation to an episode of the broadcaster’s flagship investigative programme Panorama, aired on 28 October 2024, days before the U.S. presidential election. The complaint alleges that the programme used selectively edited footage in a manner that materially altered the meaning of Trump’s remarks, presenting a truncated version as a faithful record and thereby creating a misleading political narrative.

In November 2025, the BBC acknowledged that the edit had given “the mistaken impression” of a direct call for violent action and apologised for what it described as an “error of judgement”, while maintaining that it saw “no basis for a defamation claim”. The controversy surrounding the broadcast subsequently contributed to the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and the corporation’s head of news, Deborah Turness. In his lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers argue that the documentary, distributed internationally through subscription platforms including BritBox, caused him “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”. The complaint seeks substantial damages and includes an additional count alleging violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, framing the dispute not only as a question of defamation but of misleading publication during an active electoral period.

The same election cycle exposed a parallel vulnerability: data. Cambridge Analytica harvested personal information from tens of millions of Facebook users without consent and used it to shape voter messaging. Congressional investigations followed. In 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion, the largest privacy penalty in its history. Cambridge Analytica shut down. The lesson was unambiguous: elections manipulated through unlawful information practices are not protected by claims of innovation or speech.

United Kingdom: false narratives and the collapse of electoral legitimacy

Britain provides perhaps the most direct illustration of how media-amplified falsehoods can invalidate democratic outcomes.

After the 2010 general election, the result in Oldham East and Saddleworth was challenged in court. The case centred on campaign claims, circulated through public communications, that falsely accused an opposing candidate of courting extremist support. An election court ruled that the statements were knowingly false and constituted an illegal practice under British election law. The judgment treated the election itself as compromised.

The ruling established a lasting precedent: false statements of fact about a candidate’s character, when deployed during an election, can void the result. Media amplification does not neutralise illegality. It can entangle journalism in it.

A second British case reinforced this principle through criminal law. Between 2005 and 2011, journalists at News of the World illegally intercepted voicemail messages belonging to politicians and public figures. These methods were used to obtain politically valuable stories and maintain influence within the political establishment. When the scandal broke, the consequences were unprecedented. The newspaper was closed after 168 years. Andy Coulson, its former editor and later Director of Communications for Prime Minister David Cameron, was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. Parliamentary inquiries reshaped the regulation of the British press.

The message was clear: unlawful journalism in the service of political power does not remain a media scandal. It becomes a legal one.

France: when exposure ends a campaign — and why proof matters

France’s recent history underscores a critical distinction between legitimate accountability and unlawful interference.

During the 2017 presidential campaign, investigative reporting revealed that François Fillon, a former prime minister and early frontrunner, had misused public funds through fictitious employment contracts. Prosecutors opened a formal investigation while the campaign was ongoing. Political support collapsed. Fillon failed to advance to the second round. In 2020, he was convicted.

The French case demonstrates that journalism grounded in verifiable illegality can legitimately end a political career. But it also clarifies the inverse principle: when media exposure lacks evidentiary grounding, it risks becoming improper electoral interference. French election law treats undeclared advantages and illicit support structures as serious violations. Media outlets that amplify false or unlawfully obtained material during campaigns do not sit outside that legal framework.

Denmark: a campaign against casinos, built on inference and amplification

The Danish episode unfolded in the final weeks leading up to the municipal and regional elections of 18 November 2025 (KV25), during a period when gambling regulation had become an explicit electoral talking point across party lines. On 24 October 2025, the Ministry of Taxation announced a parliamentary agreement known as Spilpakke 1 – Et mere ansvarligt spilmarked, presented by Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, the Minister for Taxation, as the beginning of an “opgør”— a reckoning — with the gambling industry. Several parties framed the package not as a technical regulatory adjustment but as a moral intervention, with politicians openly stating that further steps, including a near-total ban on gambling advertising, should follow.

Among the most vocal were Samira Nawa (Radikale Venstre), who argued publicly that the reforms did not go far enough and spoke explicitly about the need for a totalforbud on gambling advertising; Leila Stockmarr (Enhedslisten), who described gambling marketing as cynical and predatory; and Sigurd Agersnap (Socialistisk Folkeparti), who accused the government of moving too slowly and called existing protections for young people inadequate. In the weeks before the vote, gambling — and particularly betting sponsorships — became a politically convenient symbol of social harm.

This national rhetoric was mirrored locally. In Aalborg, Radikale Venstre city council candidate Steffen Hellediepublicly argued that the municipality should reconsider financial support and marketing agreements with sports clubs that partnered with betting companies. The debate was framed not around legality — the operators involved were licensed — but around morality and public funding. Coverage explicitly referenced AaB’s partnership with Soft2Bet, naming the Danish-facing brands Betinia and CampoBet, and linked the issue to approximately DKK 800,000 in annual municipal marketing allocations to local clubs.

Soft2Bet has established a major presence in Danish football through a comprehensive multi-year partnership with Divisionsforeningen, the association representing Denmark’s professional football clubs. Under this agreement, which spans the 2025/26 and 2026/27 seasons, Soft2Bet’s flagship brands have secured naming rights for the nation’s top three lower-tier leagues: the 1st Division has been rebranded as the Betinia Liga, while the 2nd and 3rd Divisions are now known as the CampoBet 2. Division and CampoBet 3. Division, respectively. This partnership subsequently sparked a public discussion, in which both residents and local authorities expressed their opinions.

At the same time, Danish broadcast and podcast media amplified the political framing. On TV2 Nord, a segment aired under the headline “Sportsklubber kan blive ramt på pengepungen” (“Sports clubs could be hit in their wallets”), presenting betting sponsorships as a threat to grassroots sport. The report did not establish any illegality, nor did it distinguish between political proposals and proven misconduct.

The narrative escalated further through podcast formats. On 24 October 2025, the Mediano podcast released an episode titled “Mediano Breaking: Bettingreklamer ud af fodbold – og så alligevel”, hosted by Peter Brüchmann with panelists including Sigurd Agersnap and editor Lars Jørgensen. In adjacent Mediano content, listeners were warned against using certain licensed platforms and allegations were aired linking operators to foreign criminal networks, including references to “Russian syndicates”. These claims were unsupported by any findings from Spillemyndigheden, Danish law enforcement or foreign regulators. They were false.

The factual core of the case was markedly different. A licensed operator detected anomalous betting activity consistent with coordinated player behaviour and reported it to Spillemyndigheden, as required by law. The regulator initiated a routine review. No finding of operator misconduct followed.

What transformed a routine compliance episode into a political scandal was inference. Media coverage relied heavily on historic corporate associations and past ownership structures, presenting them as evidence of present control while removing time and divestment from the story. Legitimate documents were paired with unsupported connecting statements. Compliance was reframed as suspicion; oversight as guilt.

No politician or journalist involved has yet faced legal consequences. Elsewhere, similar patterns have ended careers and closed newsrooms.

What history suggests happens next

Across democracies, the lesson is consistent. When journalism becomes a campaign instrument — when inference replaces proof and unlawfully sourced information is normalised — accountability may be delayed, but it is rarely avoided. Election law, defamation law and data protection regimes converge most sharply during political contests.

This is not a call for restraint in reporting. It is a call for discipline. Elections do not suspend the rule of law. They intensify it.

The press does not exist to win campaigns, but to make them intelligible. When that boundary collapses, the damage extends beyond any single industry or election. It corrodes trust in journalism itself — and once that trust is lost, restoring it proves far harder than winning any vote.

The post When Campaigns Hijack the Newsroom appeared first on The European Business Review.

Despite this shift, TikTok’s overall U.S. usage has remained relatively steady. Sensor Tower said active user levels in the country have stayed largely flat compared with the previous week, suggesting that while some users are leaving, many remain engaged with the platform.

The rise in interest toward rival apps comes as TikTok users report technical issues and growing unease following the company’s announcement of a new U.S. joint venture. Several creators have complained about outages and problems uploading videos. An X account linked to the TikTok joint venture said Monday that a power outage at a U.S. data center caused service disruptions. “We’re working with our data center partner to stabilize our service. We’re sorry for this disruption and hope to resolve it soon,” the account wrote.

Creators have also voiced frustration over a lack of communication. Nadya Okamoto, a TikTok creator with more than 4 million followers, told CNBC that the company has not clearly explained how the joint venture affects creators. “That’s why there is so much paranoia, because we’re all kind of looking at this platform and we just don’t know what’s happening,” she said. Okamoto added that she was unable to upload videos for roughly 24 hours and has continued posting on Instagram and YouTube. “For everything to be happening at once, it is very scary,” she said.

The unease has fueled a spike in app deletions. Sensor Tower said the daily average of U.S. users uninstalling TikTok has risen nearly 150% over the past five days compared with the prior three months.

That increase followed TikTok’s announcement last Thursday that it had formed a joint venture to keep the app operating in the U.S. under new American leadership. The company named Adam Presser, formerly its head of operations, as chief executive of the joint venture.

Some users reacted after being prompted to agree to an updated privacy policy. Social media posts highlighted language describing data TikTok may collect, including “your racial or ethnic origin” and “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information.” However, archived versions of the policy from August 2024 show that the same wording was already included.

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The post TikTok App Deletions Jump as U.S. Joint Venture Raises User Concerns appeared first on The European Business Review.

Semiconductor companies have found themselves caught between Washington’s trade policies and global demand. Nvidia and AMD, whose processors are essential for powering AI data centers, have navigated export controls, especially involving China. Industry leaders have warned that tight restrictions could spur innovation abroad rather than protect U.S. dominance.

Trump has previously threatened sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, including a proposed 100 percent levy announced last August. At the time, he signaled that companies investing in U.S. manufacturing would be spared. Earlier this year, the administration initiated an investigation into chip imports, a prerequisite for imposing national security based trade restrictions.

On Wednesday, the White House moved forward with that approach. Trump enacted a 25 percent tariff on “certain advanced computing chips,” according to a fact sheet released by the administration. The tariff applies to products such as Nvidia’s H200 chip and AMD’s MI325X, using authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The administration said chips imported to help build the U.S. technological supply chain would be exempt, though it did not specify how companies could qualify. The White House did not immediately respond to questions seeking clarification.

The fact sheet also warned that Trump “may impose broader tariffs on imports of semiconductors and their derivative products” in the near future, signaling that further trade action against the chip industry could follow.

Nvidia welcomed the decision, saying it supports American jobs and manufacturing. AMD said it complies “with all U.S. export control laws and policies.”

The move places advanced semiconductors at the center of Trump’s economic and national security strategy, while raising fresh uncertainty for a global industry already reshaped by trade disputes and geopolitical competition.

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Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sternfels said the company plans to ensure that every human employee is supported by at least one AI agent. He described the expansion as a major productivity push, noting that McKinsey’s use of AI agents has grown from only a few thousand to nearly 25,000 in less than two years.

In a recent episode of Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast, Sternfels said the firm expects that within the next year and a half, every employee will be “enabled by at least one or more agents.” A McKinsey spokesperson later confirmed this figure to Business Insider.

Unlike basic chatbots, AI agents operate as autonomous systems. They can deconstruct complex problems, design workflows, execute tasks and deliver outputs with limited human input. At McKinsey, these agents now assist with research, data analysis, document drafting and client deliverables, work traditionally handled by junior consultants.

Sternfels said the deployment of AI agents forms part of what he calls the company’s “25-squared” model. Under this approach, McKinsey is expanding client-facing roles by about 25 per cent while reducing non-client-facing positions by roughly the same margin. As a result, the firm has already seen its non-client workforce shrink by around a quarter, even as productivity in those functions has increased by about 10 per cent.

The efficiency gains are significant. Sternfels said AI agents helped McKinsey save 1.5 million work hours over the past year by handling routine research and synthesis. In one example, the agents produced 2.5 million charts in just six months, allowing consultants to focus on higher-value tasks such as strategy, judgment and client engagement.

Despite these shifts, Sternfels emphasized that AI is not replacing people where it matters most. He said humans continue to hold a clear advantage in setting aspirations, applying judgment and exercising genuine creativity.

Still, the implications for jobs are difficult to ignore. As McKinsey integrates AI deeper into its operations and adjusts hiring criteria, it joins other major companies, including Amazon, that are aggressively using machine intelligence to boost efficiency while steadily reshaping the role of human labor.

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The company said Friday it will begin testing ads in the free version of ChatGPT for logged in adult users in the United States. Advertisements will also appear for subscribers to a new $8 per month plan called “Go,” while users on Plus, Pro and business accounts will not see ads.

The move marks a significant shift for OpenAI, whose chief executive Sam Altman has long voiced discomfort with advertising. Still, the company faces mounting financial pressure as it seeks to monetize its massive audience of roughly 800 million monthly users while investing heavily in infrastructure. OpenAI has committed to spending an estimated $1.4 trillion on AI development over the next eight years and expects to reach about $20 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2025, Altman said last year.

As part of the test, ads will appear beneath ChatGPT’s responses and will be labeled as “sponsored.” OpenAI said advertisements will not influence how the system answers questions and stressed that trust remains central to the product.

“Users need to trust that ChatGPT’s responses are driven by what’s objectively useful,” the company said.

OpenAI added that it will not sell user conversations or personal data to advertisers. Users will be able to disable ad personalization tied to their chats, and ads will not appear in discussions involving regulated topics such as health, mental health or politics. The company also said it will not show ads to users under 18, using AI tools to estimate age based on usage patterns.

Advertising could unlock a major revenue stream for OpenAI, particularly because ChatGPT often captures user intent in real time. For example, someone asking for help planning a vacation could later see ads for hotels, travel services or local attractions. OpenAI said future ad formats may allow users to directly ask questions related to a promoted product.

“Given what AI can do, we’re excited to develop new experiences over time that people find more helpful and relevant than any other ads,” the company said. “Soon you might see an ad and be able to directly ask the questions you need to make a purchase decision.”

The ad rollout follows earlier efforts to turn ChatGPT into a broader commerce and lifestyle platform. Last year, OpenAI launched “Instant Checkout,” allowing users to buy products from retailers such as Walmart and Etsy without leaving the chatbot. The company has also added tools focused on health, learning and productivity to deepen daily use and encourage paid upgrades.

Even so, inserting ads into conversational AI carries risks. ChatGPT interactions can be personal, and critics warn that blending advertising with intimate conversations could feel intrusive. The change also raises stakes around product safety, especially after lawsuits accused the chatbot of contributing to user harm in prior cases.

Altman has acknowledged those concerns in the past. In a 2024 interview, he said he “hates” ads and described mixing them with AI as “uniquely unsettling,” though he stopped short of ruling them out. He later said any advertising would require careful design.

OpenAI’s move reflects a broader industry trend. In December, Meta began using data from interactions with its AI chatbot to deliver more personalized advertising, signaling that ads may become a common feature across AI driven platforms.

For OpenAI, the experiment represents a careful step into unfamiliar territory as it balances user trust, ethical concerns and the financial demands of scaling artificial intelligence at a global level.

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The layoffs, confirmed this week, affect roughly 10 percent of Meta’s Reality Labs hardware unit, which develops Quest headsets and the Horizon Worlds virtual platform. According to people familiar with the matter, studios being shut down include Armature Studio, Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru and a technical group known as Oculus Studios Central Technology. Additional job cuts are hitting other teams, including Ouro Interactive, which builds content for Horizon Worlds.

Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth is expected to address employees in an all hands meeting on Wednesday.

The retrenchment marks a significant shift from the strategy Mark Zuckerberg laid out just over four years ago when Facebook rebranded as Meta, signaling a bet that work, entertainment and social life would increasingly move into immersive virtual spaces. Instead, the company is now channeling its resources into artificial intelligence, an area Zuckerberg has embraced aggressively.

In June, Meta spent $14.3 billion to bring in Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead AI strategy, along with other engineers and researchers. In October, Vishal Shah, who previously oversaw metaverse efforts, became vice president of AI products. Meta also raised its projected 2025 capital spending to between $70 billion and $72 billion, with even larger increases expected in 2026.

“This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year,” a Meta spokesperson said, declining to comment directly on the layoffs.

While virtual reality has struggled to gain mass adoption, Meta has found more traction with AI powered wearables. Its partnership with EssilorLuxottica on Ray Ban Meta smart glasses has produced stronger demand. The companies unveiled display enabled glasses priced at $799 last year, though Meta recently delayed a wider global rollout due to limited supply and high US demand. Luxottica executives have said production capacity could reach 10 million units sooner than planned.

Despite the cuts, Meta is not abandoning VR entirely. The company is reshaping Horizon Worlds to resemble platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, aiming to attract younger users and mobile gamers. Horizon Worlds has never exceeded a few hundred thousand monthly active users, far below Roblox, which reports more than 150 million daily users.

Meta has encouraged developers to build simpler, kid friendly games and has shifted Horizon Worlds toward mobile access. In February, the company launched a $50 million Creator Fund to boost content creation, with an emphasis on mobile experiences and easier access through Facebook and Instagram.

The pullback comes after years of heavy losses. Since late 2020, Reality Labs has accumulated more than $70 billion in losses. In its most recent quarterly report, the division posted a $4.4 billion loss on $470 million in revenue.

Analysts say the move reflects broader industry realities. VR hardware adoption has lagged, while mobile and AI driven products continue to grow.

“It kind of follows that Meta will be moving it towards mobile as mobile gaming has become very popular over the last five years or so,” said Ben Hatton of CCS Insight.

For Meta, the latest changes underscore a clear pivot away from the metaverse dream that once defined the company, toward an AI focused strategy it hopes will deliver results sooner and at greater scale.

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The doll, released Monday, is the first Barbie designed to represent autism. It includes a pink fidget spinner that actually spins, noise-canceling headphones to reduce sensory overload, and a pink tablet that symbolizes an augmentative and alternative communication device, or AAC. Mikko, who is nonverbal, also uses an AAC device to communicate.

“Autism is such an invisible disability at times, and to see that it’s being represented through Barbie – everybody knows who Barbie is – it felt really good,” Hill said. “It’s really important to me that Mikko walks through life having representation. It really matters to me that she’s not alone.”

The doll’s gaze shifts slightly to the side, reflecting how some autistic individuals avoid direct eye contact. Its loose, short-sleeved purple pinstripe dress minimizes contact with skin, echoing the sensory preferences of some people with autism. Hill, who also has autism, said the doll made her “feel seen” and was thrilled her son Matthew, who is autistic, and her other children enjoyed it as well.

Mattel developed the doll as part of its Fashionistas line, which celebrates diversity across skin tones, hair types, body shapes, and health conditions, including type 1 diabetes, blindness, and Down syndrome. The company collaborated with the nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network to ensure the doll authentically reflects the experiences of autistic children, roughly 1 in 31 in the United States by age eight.

“It is so important for young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves, and that’s exactly what this doll is,” said Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “Partnering with Barbie allowed us to share insights to ensure the doll fully represents and celebrates the autistic community, including the tools that help us be independent.”

Autism spectrum disorder affects communication, interaction, and perception, typically appearing before age three and continuing throughout life. Early support and therapies can improve outcomes, though diagnosis is often delayed for girls. Hill was only diagnosed at 29, after recognizing parallels with her daughter’s early experiences.

Eileen Lamb, senior director of social media at Autism Speaks, emphasized the significance of a female autistic Barbie. “Autism can look different in girls, and the fact that Barbie is a girl is powerful,” Lamb said. She praised the doll for showcasing supportive tools like the fidget spinner and AAC device while noting that no single toy can represent the full spectrum.

“Representation matters, and it’s really good for children to see themselves in a toy,” Lamb said. “It sends a message that being different is nothing to be ashamed of.”

The new Barbie highlights the importance of inclusivity in toys and opens conversations about autism in ways that feel accessible and positive for families.

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Outgoing Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has described the technology’s impact as unavoidable, saying “it’s very clear that AI is going to change literally every job.” His successor, John Furner, has echoed that view while positioning Walmart as an active driver of change rather than a passive observer.

Walmart has already been experimenting aggressively. The retailer operates its own in app chatbot, a yellow smiley faced assistant called Sparky, and in October struck a deal with OpenAI to allow purchases through ChatGPT using an “Instant Checkout” feature. That tool lets customers complete a transaction without leaving the chatbot and is also used by retailers such as Etsy and several Shopify merchants, including Skims, Vuori and Spanx. This move highlights how Walmart is effectively acting as an AI store builder, enabling merchants to leverage conversational AI to drive sales.

The push reflects a broader shift in consumer behavior, as more shoppers begin their searches inside AI assistants instead of traditional websites or mobile apps. Walmart U.S. chief ecommerce officer David Guggina said agent driven AI helps the company reach customers earlier and in more places. “Over time, these agents will make it easier for customers to find what they need, want and love,” he said.

Against that backdrop, Walmart and Google announced Sunday that they are teaming up to integrate Google’s AI assistant Gemini into the shopping experience for Walmart and Sam’s Club customers. The goal is to help users discover products more easily and complete purchases through conversational AI.

Furner and Google CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled the partnership on stage at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City. The companies did not disclose financial details or a launch date, but said the feature will roll out first in the United States before expanding internationally.

“The transition from traditional web or app search to agent-led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail,” Furner said in a news release. “We aren’t just watching the shift, we are driving it.” Speaking at the event, he added that Walmart is “rewriting the retail playbook” and using AI to narrow the gap between “I want it and I have it.”

Pichai described the collaboration as a pivotal moment, calling the adoption of AI in shopping “transformative” and saying Google is eager to work with the world’s largest retailer as consumer habits continue to evolve.

The Gemini partnership marks Walmart’s latest move to stay competitive as AI powered shopping tools gain traction, signaling that large retailers now see conversational assistants not as a novelty but as a core part of future commerce.

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Among young people, adoption remains high. Nearly one third of teenagers in the United States say they use chatbots every day, according to a Pew Research Center study released in December. Sixteen percent reported using the tools several times a day or almost constantly, even as online safety groups caution against companion style chatbots for anyone under 18.

Character.AI and other AI companies have responded to growing scrutiny by introducing new safeguards. Last fall, Character.AI announced it would stop allowing users under 18 to engage in back and forth conversations with its chatbots, citing “questions that have been raised about how teens do, and should, interact with this new technology.” OpenAI has also faced lawsuits alleging that ChatGPT contributed to suicides among young users and has rolled out additional safety features.

The changes followed a surge of legal action against Character.AI. Multiple lawsuits accused the company’s chatbots of contributing to mental health crises among teenagers, exposing minors to sexual content and failing to implement sufficient protections. Several cases argued that the platform did not adequately respond when young users expressed distress or self harm thoughts.

One of the most closely watched cases was brought by Florida mother Megan Garcia, who filed suit in October 2024 after her son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide seven months earlier. Garcia alleged that her son developed an intense emotional bond with Character.AI chatbots, withdrew from his family and received inadequate intervention from the platform as his mental health deteriorated. Court filings said he was messaging with a bot that urged him to “come home” in the moments before his death.

On Wednesday, court documents showed that Character.AI has agreed to settle Garcia’s lawsuit along with four other cases filed in New York, Colorado and Texas. The agreement includes Character.AI, its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, and Google, which now employs both founders and was named as a defendant. The financial terms of the settlements were not disclosed.

Matthew Bergman of the Social Media Victims Law Center, who represented the plaintiffs in all five cases, declined to comment. Character.AI also declined to comment, while Google did not immediately respond to a request for statement.

The settlements resolve some of the earliest and highest profile lawsuits tied to alleged harms from AI chatbots, marking a significant moment as courts, regulators and technology companies grapple with the rapid spread of artificial intelligence tools and their impact on mental health.

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The post Character.AI Settles Youth Harm Lawsuits Over Chatbot Mental Health Risks appeared first on The European Business Review.

Despite recent controversies, xAI secured a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense, integrating its Grok chatbot into the government’s AI agents platform. Grok also serves as the primary chatbot for prediction-based platforms Polymarket and Kalshi, demonstrating the company’s growing influence in both commercial and government AI sectors.

The startup has faced regulatory probes in Europe, India, and Malaysia after Grok generated sexualized images of minors and non-consensual adult content, mostly involving women. The content circulated widely on Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, raising international concerns and prompting investigations.

xAI is building its infrastructure in Memphis, Tennessee, where large data centers powered by natural gas turbines have drawn criticism from residents over emissions and air quality impacts. Since merging with X in March, the company has taken operational control of the platform while centralizing its AI infrastructure in the city.

In the broader AI investment landscape, Musk’s xAI has joined the ranks of top-funded startups, following OpenAI’s $6.6 billion share sale at a $500 billion valuation and Anthropic’s $350 billion valuation backed by Microsoft and Nvidia. CNBC reported the xAI funding would value the company at roughly $230 billion, though Musk dismissed earlier claims of a $15 billion raise as “False” on X.

Investors in the latest round include Nvidia, Cisco Investments, Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and Baron Capital Group. Both Nvidia and Cisco also act as vendors and strategic partners, highlighting xAI’s deep integration with the technology ecosystem.

The $20 billion infusion reinforces Musk’s ambition to position xAI at the forefront of artificial intelligence, combining commercial, social, and defense applications while navigating regulatory scrutiny and environmental concerns.

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At the same time, U.S. export controls remain a key concern. Nvidia has seen strong demand in China for older chips such as the H200, which U.S. President Donald Trump has allowed to be shipped to the country. Reuters has reported that interest in the H200 has alarmed China hawks across the U.S. political spectrum. Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said the company has applied for licenses to send the chips to China and is awaiting approvals from the U.S. and other governments.

The company is also broadening its capabilities beyond hardware. Nvidia recently acquired talent and chip technology from startup Groq, including executives who played key roles in helping Google design its own AI chips. During a post keynote question and answer session with analysts, chief executive Jensen Huang said the Groq deal “won’t affect our core business” but could lead to new products that expand Nvidia’s lineup.

Software innovation featured prominently in Nvidia’s recent announcements. Huang highlighted Alpamayo, a system designed to help self driving cars decide which route to take while leaving a detailed record engineers can review later. Nvidia plans to release the software more widely, along with the data used to train it. “Not only do we open source the models, we also open source the data that we use to train those models, because only in that way can you truly trust how the models came to be,” Huang said from the stage in Las Vegas.

Networking also remains a strategic focus. Nvidia introduced a new generation of networking switches that rely on co packaged optics, a technology used to connect thousands of machines into a single computing system. The move puts Nvidia in more direct competition with Broadcom and Cisco Systems as demand for large scale AI infrastructure grows.

Cloud providers are already lining up to adopt Nvidia’s upcoming platforms. The company said CoreWeave will be among the first to deploy its new Vera Rubin systems. Nvidia also expects Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon and Alphabet to roll out the technology as it becomes available.

Much of Nvidia’s recent product push centers on improving how AI systems deliver responses to users. The company introduced “context memory storage,” a new storage layer designed to help chatbots handle longer questions and ongoing conversations more efficiently. Nvidia says this approach allows AI applications to respond faster while maintaining accuracy.

These features are part of the broader Vera Rubin platform, which Nvidia plans to release later this year. The platform is made up of six separate Nvidia chips, with a flagship server containing 72 graphics processing units and 36 new central processors. Huang demonstrated how these servers can be linked into large scale “pods” containing more than 1,000 Rubin chips.

According to Nvidia, these pods can improve the efficiency of generating “tokens,” the basic units that power AI systems, by up to ten times. To achieve these gains, the Rubin chips use a proprietary data format that Nvidia hopes will be adopted more widely across the industry. “This is how we were able to deliver such a gigantic step up in performance, even though we only have 1.6 times the number of transistors,” Huang said.

Nvidia executives told Reuters that the Rubin chips are already being tested in company laboratories by artificial intelligence firms, even as competitive pressure continues to build. The company remains the dominant force in training AI models but faces tougher challenges in delivering those models to hundreds of millions of end users.

That context framed Huang’s headline announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. On Monday, the Nvidia chief executive said the company’s next generation of chips is now in “full production,” adding that they can deliver five times the artificial intelligence computing power of Nvidia’s previous generation when running chatbots and other AI applications.

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Once a background technology, AI surged into public view after OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022. Since then, chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini have steadily reshaped everyday digital experiences, from AI assisted search tools to automated customer support across platforms like Instagram and Amazon. AI is increasingly redefining how people access information online.

By 2025, the technology had moved beyond screens and into national policy debates, global trade talks and financial markets. Its expanding reach also sparked questions about trust, safety and the role of AI in workplaces, schools and personal relationships. That scrutiny is expected to intensify in 2026.

“In previous years, (AI) was a shiny new object… And I think this last year was a lot more serious uses of the technology,” said James Landay, co-founder and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “And I think people are waking up to actually understanding both some of the benefits and the risks.”

US President Donald Trump has emerged as one of AI’s strongest supporters during his second term. The technology now plays a central role in his economic and trade strategy.

The chief executive of Nvidia, a key supplier of AI chips, has become a regular presence within Trump’s circle. The administration has also used advanced processors from Nvidia and AMD as leverage in trade negotiations with China. This year, Trump introduced an AI action plan aimed at reducing regulation and expanding AI adoption across federal agencies.

The president signed several AI focused executive orders, including one seeking to prevent states from enforcing their own AI regulations. While Silicon Valley welcomed the move, online safety advocates warned it could weaken accountability. Legal challenges are expected next year, with critics arguing the order may not survive court scrutiny.

Concerns over the lack of comprehensive AI safeguards have sharpened amid a series of lawsuits and reports linking AI companions to mental health crises. Some claims allege that chatbots contributed to emotional distress and, in rare cases, suicide among teenagers.

“Please don’t leave the noose out … Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.” That is how ChatGPT is said to have responded when 16-year-old Adam Raine wrote that he wanted to leave a noose in his room so someone might intervene before he took his life.

Raine’s parents filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in August, alleging the chatbot advised their son on suicide. OpenAI and Character.AI have since announced safety updates, including parental controls and restrictions on teen interactions. Meta plans to allow parents to block their children from chatting with AI characters on Instagram starting next year.

Adults have also reported troubling experiences. Some users say AI interactions fueled isolation or blurred reality. One man told CNN that ChatGPT led him to believe he was achieving major technological breakthroughs, which later proved to be delusions.

OpenAI said it has collaborated with clinical mental health experts to help ChatGPT “better recognize and support people in moments of distress.” The company expanded access to crisis hotlines, added prompts directing users to professional help and introduced reminders to take breaks. Still, OpenAI has said it wants to “treat adult users like adults,” allowing personalization and even erotic discussions within chats.

Psychiatrist and lawyer Marlynn Wei said AI chatbots are increasingly becoming emotional support tools. “AI chatbots ‘will increasingly become the first place people turn for emotional support,’” she told CNN, noting that younger users are especially drawn to such platforms.

“The limitations of general-purpose chatbots, including hallucinations, sycophancy, lack of confidentiality, lack of clinical judgment, and lack of reality testing, along with broader ethical and privacy concerns, will continue to create mental health risks,” she said via email.

While safety advocates push for stronger protections, regulatory uncertainty looms as states and the federal government clash over oversight authority. That tension could delay or weaken mandated safeguards.

Meanwhile, investment in AI infrastructure continues to surge. Companies including Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have poured tens of billions of dollars into data centers this year alone. McKinsey & Company estimates global investment in AI related data center infrastructure could reach nearly $7 trillion by 2030.

The spending boom has raised alarms among consumers and investors alike. Some households report higher electricity costs, while workers face shrinking job prospects linked to automation. At the same time, AI focused firms have watched their stock prices soar.

These massive investments have also fueled fears that enthusiasm for AI may be outpacing its real economic value. Investors have pressed executives at Meta and Microsoft on earnings calls about when returns will justify the spending. Concerns persist that a small cluster of companies is recycling capital and technology within the same ecosystem.

Christina Melas-Kyriazi, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said rapid expansion is common with transformative technologies. She noted that markets often build ahead of actual demand and warned that a correction is “likely at some point.”

More clarity may arrive in 2026, according to Erik Brynjolfsson, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. He expects new tools to emerge that track AI’s effects on productivity and employment.

“The debate will shift from whether AI matters to how quickly its effects are diffusing, who is being left behind, and which complementary investments best turn AI capability into broad-based prosperity,” he said.

Job disruption has already become a defining feature of the AI era. Thousands of technology workers lost their positions this year as companies restructured operations around automation. Microsoft, Amazon and Meta all announced significant layoffs.

Amazon cut 14,000 corporate roles in October to streamline operations, while Meta laid off 600 employees from its AI division after an earlier hiring surge. Executives said the moves were aimed at staying flexible in a rapidly changing environment.

Whether AI will lead to deeper job losses or open new career paths remains a subject of debate. What is clear is that the pace of change is accelerating.

“This was the year that we saw skill demands totally change when it comes to what is required to be able to pull off your job,” said Dan Roth, editor-in-chief of LinkedIn. “…And I think the answer for next year is it just accelerates.”

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The company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. However, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the deal values Manus at between $2 billion and $3 billion. Manus, which is based in Singapore, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The acquisition comes as Meta accelerates efforts to embed more sophisticated artificial intelligence capabilities into both its consumer and enterprise products. Meta said it will operate and commercialize the Manus service and integrate it into offerings including Meta AI.

Manus gained global attention earlier this year after it released what it described as the world’s first general AI agent. The company said the system can make decisions and carry out tasks autonomously, requiring significantly less human input than traditional AI chatbots. Its debut sparked widespread discussion on X, where the tool quickly went viral.

Once seen as China’s next DeepSeek, Manus has attracted growing interest from policymakers in Beijing. The startup has claimed that its AI agent outperforms OpenAI’s DeepResearch, adding to its profile amid intensifying global competition in artificial intelligence. The company also maintains a strategic partnership with Alibaba, working together on AI model development.

Manus is backed by its parent company, Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology. According to media reports, the startup raised $75 million earlier this year at a valuation of around $500 million. The funding round was led by U.S. venture capital firm Benchmark.

Meta’s move reflects a broader trend among major technology companies that are expanding their AI capabilities through acquisitions and high-profile hires. Earlier this year, Meta invested in Scale AI in a transaction that valued the data-labeling company at $29 billion. The deal also brought Scale AI’s 28-year-old chief executive, Alexandr Wang, into Meta’s orbit.

Industry analysts say competition among tech giants has intensified as companies race to secure both cutting-edge technology and scarce AI talent. Strategic acquisitions have become a key way for firms like Meta to strengthen their position in a rapidly evolving market.

Manus is also part of a growing group of Chinese companies that have relocated or established headquarters in Singapore in recent years. Many have chosen the city-state as a base in hopes of reducing the risk of business disruptions linked to rising geopolitical tensions between China and the United States.

With the Manus acquisition, Meta signals its intent to play a leading role in the next phase of artificial intelligence, where autonomous agents and advanced decision-making systems are expected to reshape how businesses and consumers use digital platforms.

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On Thursday in New York City, CEO Garrett Langley discussed the company’s expansion and response to privacy concerns. Hours later, Providence Police credited Flock’s cameras and AI system with helping locate the Brown University shooting suspect.

“America cannot tolerate tragedies like what we saw at Brown and MIT this past week,” Langley wrote on X. “We intend to continue using technology to make sure our law enforcement are empowered to do their jobs.”

Founded in 2017 and based in Atlanta, Flock Safety builds outdoor license plate reading cameras, or LPRs, and AI systems that allow law enforcement to track vehicles in real time. The company has partnered with roughly 6,000 police agencies nationwide. Its latest $275 million funding round valued the company at $7.5 billion, backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.

Providence Police used Flock’s AI to locate 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, the alleged Brown shooter and MIT murder suspect. Additional AI tools, not part of Providence’s contract, enabled the system to identify Valente’s vehicle even with altered license plates.

Despite its success, Flock faces criticism from privacy advocates. Both the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation have cautioned communities against using the technology, warning of excessive data collection and surveillance risks. ACLU Senior Policy Analyst Jay Stanley urged lawmakers to enact “strong, meaningful protections of our privacy and way of life against this kind of AI surveillance machinery.”

Flock’s October partnership with Amazon’s Ring doorbell system further sparked concerns over police access to private video footage. Several cities, including Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Redmond, Washington, have suspended Flock contracts over privacy issues. Langley emphasized that law enforcement must reassure communities, stating, “If (people are) worried about privacy, a license plate reader is the dumbest way to do surveillance. You have a cell phone. A cell phone knows your exact location at all times.”

Flock has implemented guardrails, such as audit trails to track data access, helping hold officials accountable. The company also launched a “drone as first responder” program, enabling AI-equipped drones to reach emergency scenes faster. In the third quarter of 2025, these drones completed 10,000 flights. Langley highlighted customizable limitations for cities, including height restrictions and 911-only deployment.

“My whole philosophy as the CEO of Flock is: No one elected me president, no one elected me to be police chief of America,” Langley said. “It’s my job to build the tools and give the guardrails for how to implement them in different cities.”

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Brands riding this wave are reporting strong financial results. Chinese toymaker Pop Mart posted nearly a 400% jump in net profit in the first half of the year, while revenue climbed more than 200% to 13.88 billion yuan. Labubu dolls alone generated roughly $423 million in global sales last year. British plush brand Jellycat also delivered robust growth, with revenue rising 66% in 2024 to £333 million and profit before tax more than doubling.

Retailers and analysts say demand reflects more than seasonal gifting. “It’s the biggest year we’ve ever seen of adults buying toys,” said Melissa Symonds, UK toys director at Circana. She added that Gen Z consumers are driving much of the momentum, as companies tap into what she described as the “joy economy,” where comfort and nostalgia offset economic and political uncertainty.

Social media has amplified the trend. TikTok hosts millions of videos showing young adults building plush displays, hunting for authentic Labubu figures, or dedicating shelves to Jellycat collections. The platform has become a key marketing channel and community space, helping brands reach consumers who value shared identity as much as the product itself.

Economic pressure also plays a role. Rising living costs, global conflicts, and delayed milestones such as home ownership or parenthood have reshaped spending priorities. Some Gen Z consumers are turning to small indulgences, a behaviour often described as doom spending, choosing affordable pleasures over long-term investments. “There’s a bit of that Peter Pan effect where they don’t want to grow up,” Symonds said, noting that toys offer a way to hold on to happiness.

Loneliness adds another layer. Surveys show a high proportion of Gen Z reporting isolation, prompting brands to focus on community building. Jellycat has expanded pop-up experiences and social platforms, drawing predominantly adult audiences. Its chief executive Arnaud Meysselle said, “Seeing the response across multiple generations to our new characters has been wonderful.”

As Christmas approaches, plush toys appear less like novelty gifts and more like a reflection of shifting consumer psychology, where connection, comfort, and community increasingly shape purchasing decisions.

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Government incentives are amplifying the boom. A $35 billion plan aims to nearly double battery storage capacity by 2027, while 10 provinces have introduced capacity tariffs to support standby storage, alongside other subsidies. Analysts describe the policy shift as “the most decisive for energy storage in over a decade.”

Exports are soaring. Chinese firms shipped more than $65 billion in storage and electric-vehicle batteries this year, with total battery exports—including EVs—hitting a record $66.761 billion in the first ten months. Non-automotive energy storage exports grew 51.4% in the first 11 months, outpacing EV battery growth. Top Chinese producers dominate the global market, including CATL, BYD, EVE Energy, HiTHIUM, CALB, and REPT BATTERO, while only Japan’s AESC breaks the Chinese monopoly in the top ten suppliers.

Domestic and international demand is expanding rapidly. Renewable energy projects, data centres, and AI facilities require reliable backup power, and pairing solar with storage has become “the only solution for meeting U.S. AI data-centre power needs,” according to UBS analyst Yishu Yan. UBS raised its 2026 forecast for global battery-energy storage installations by 25%, reflecting the surge.

Production is intensifying. Analyst Cosimo Ries noted, “These leading energy storage cell makers, they have full orders. Many of them are basically working double shifts now to try and meet demand.” EVE Energy reported a 35.51% increase in storage sales for the first three quarters, while REPT BATTERO set record third-quarter shipments.

China already holds the world’s largest battery energy storage fleet, supplying roughly 40% of global capacity. Historically, some storage remained idle due to low profitability, but the combination of market reforms, provincial subsidies, and rising international demand is changing the economics. The sector now stands at the forefront of China’s clean-technology exports, surpassing solar photovoltaics since 2022.

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The new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will see American and global stakeholders, including cloud computing firm Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, hold an 80.1% stake. ByteDance will retain a 19.9% minority position. The company’s U.S. operations are expected to be valued at roughly $14 billion, according to Vice President JD Vance.

The agreement comes after years of scrutiny beginning in August 2020, when former President Donald Trump first sought to ban the app over national security concerns. In September 2025, Trump delayed enforcement of legislation requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets until January 20, while confirming the pending joint venture met statutory divestiture requirements.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees that the new venture will “operate as an independent entity with authority over U.S. data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance,” according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters. Meanwhile, TikTok Global’s U.S. divisions will continue handling certain commercial functions, such as e-commerce, advertising, and marketing, separately from the joint venture.

Oracle will act as the venture’s “trusted security partner,” tasked with auditing and ensuring compliance with U.S. data protection requirements. User data will be stored securely within U.S. cloud infrastructure managed by Oracle. ByteDance will appoint one of seven board members, with Americans holding the remaining majority seats.

Despite these structural safeguards, analysts and observers continue to question ByteDance’s ongoing influence, particularly regarding algorithm control. Rush Doshi, formerly at the National Security Council, noted it is unclear whether the platform’s algorithm has been fully transferred, licensed, or remains under Beijing’s control. Chinese media reports suggest ByteDance may retain a revenue stream from the U.S. venture.

The deal, scheduled to close on January 22, is expected to conclude a multiyear effort to compel ByteDance to divest its U.S. business amid national security concerns. Lawmakers have also signaled continued oversight, with Representative John Moolenaar indicating a potential congressional hearing with the new leadership in 2026.

The joint venture has drawn political scrutiny. Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the arrangement, warning Americans remain in the dark about potential influence by billionaire investors connected to former President Trump. Trump has publicly promoted TikTok, crediting it with helping his reelection campaign, and maintains relationships with key figures involved in the transaction, including Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

The final composition of investors in the joint venture included high-profile individuals reportedly vetted by Trump, though details regarding participation by figures such as Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch remain unclear.

The transaction represents a landmark moment for TikTok, which has over 170 million regular U.S. users, as it navigates geopolitical scrutiny and regulatory demands while maintaining operations in one of its largest markets.

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The technology giant has told investors that the next generation of Siri will arrive in the coming year, following a delay announced in March. The upgraded assistant is expected to be far more personal and capable than earlier versions, marking Apple’s most direct response yet to the AI wave triggered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022.

For a company that rarely discusses its product roadmap, Apple’s public commitment to a revamped Siri signals how central the feature has become to its business strategy. Originally planned for a 2025 release, the new assistant was pushed back after internal development took longer than anticipated, despite marketing campaigns already promoting the feature.

CEO Tim Cook said in October that progress on Siri had accelerated, setting higher expectations for what users should anticipate next. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management described the message to investors as clear. “They basically said that this year, don’t bother us about AI, and we’ll blow you away by what we show next year,” Munster said.

The stakes are rising as consumers grow accustomed to conversational AI from rivals such as ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. Across Silicon Valley in 2025, AI dominated product launches and investment plans, while Apple remained notably quiet.

OpenAI released Sora 2, its video generation tool, which briefly topped Apple’s App Store rankings. Amazon refreshed Alexa with new AI capabilities. Microsoft rolled out software enabling companies to manage autonomous “AI agents.” Even Meta made moves to prepare its next major AI model, known internally as Avocado.

Meanwhile, Nvidia overtook Apple earlier this year as the world’s most valuable technology company, driven by demand for its AI focused chips and data center systems. The chipmaker now ships high-end AI computers costing millions of dollars per unit, underscoring how infrastructure spending has become central to the AI race.

Apple has chosen a different path. The company spent $12.71 billion on capital expenditures in the year ended September, a 35 percent increase from the prior year, but far below the combined $380 billion committed by Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon. Apple says it relies on its own custom chips rather than Nvidia hardware, citing user privacy as a core principle.

The company’s last major AI reveal came in 2024 with Apple Intelligence, a bundle of features including image tools, text rewriting, notification summaries and integration with ChatGPT. While some functions, such as improved notification filtering and photo editing, earned praise, others faced criticism. Apple briefly disabled an AI feature that inaccurately rewrote news notifications before restoring it.

At June’s Worldwide Developers Conference, AI received limited attention. Apple highlighted machine learning features such as live AirPods translation and intelligent call screening, but avoided headline grabbing chatbot announcements that competitors had embraced.

Behind the scenes, Apple has been reshaping its AI leadership. In December, the company confirmed that John Giannandrea, head of machine learning and AI strategy, will retire in 2026. His responsibilities are being divided among chief operating officer Sabih Khan, services chief Eddy Cue and software head Craig Federighi.

Apple also announced the hiring of Amar Subramanya, formerly a senior engineering leader at Google Gemini and Microsoft. The public disclosure of his appointment stood out in a company known for keeping engineering hires quiet, highlighting how important it has become for Apple to reassure investors about its AI direction.

A central question remains whether Apple will partner with an external AI provider to power Siri’s next evolution. The assistant is expected to handle more complex tasks, such as making reservations based on personal context and relationships. Today, Siri often routes advanced queries to ChatGPT, and Apple has previously said other models, including Google’s Gemini, could be integrated.

Cook has also said Apple is open to large acquisitions, a rarity for the company. That option appears limited, however, as leading AI labs now command valuations well beyond Apple’s historical deal sizes. OpenAI reached a $500 billion valuation in October, while Anthropic was valued at $350 billion a month later.

Investor patience is thinning. “Investors have already gotten enough gray hairs waiting for Apple to come out with their AI strategy,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “It’s time to come out and show the world what the strategy is.”

So far, Apple’s core business has remained resilient. The iPhone 17 has exceeded expectations, and the company projects 10 percent revenue growth in its holiday quarter. Apple is on track to lead global smartphone shipments in 2025 and 2026, according to Counterpoint Research.

Still, executives acknowledge that AI driven devices could eventually disrupt the smartphone itself. During court testimony in May, Eddy Cue said AI is advancing quickly enough that users may not need an iPhone within a decade.

With competitors experimenting with AI glasses, wearables and new form factors, Apple’s delayed Siri upgrade has become more than a feature update. It is a test of whether the company can define the next interface era while staying true to its privacy focused and hardware light approach.

As Munster put it, Apple has little room for error. “But as far as the near-term, they’ve got to deliver a 10 out of 10 when this new Siri comes out.”

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Manufacturers at the lower end of the market are already feeling the strain. Counterpoint estimates that the bill of materials for smartphones priced below $200 has climbed between 20% and 30% since the start of the year. Devices in the mid to premium tiers have seen component costs rise by roughly 10% to 15%, squeezing margins across much of the industry.

The price pressure is set to intensify. “Memory prices could rise another 40% through Q2 2026, resulting in BoM costs increasing anywhere between 8% and over 15% above current elevated levels,” Counterpoint said.

Those higher costs are likely to be passed on to consumers. Counterpoint now expects the average selling price of smartphones to increase 6.9% year on year in 2026, nearly double its earlier projection of a 3.6% rise. At the same time, global smartphone shipments could fall 2.1%, reversing a previous outlook that pointed to flat or modest growth.

While shipments are not the same as retail sales, they offer a clear signal of weakening demand as vendors ship fewer devices into stores and distribution channels.

At the heart of the issue is memory. Dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, has become a critical input not only for smartphones but also for artificial intelligence infrastructure. As technology firms race to expand data centres, demand has surged for AI systems powered by Nvidia, which relies heavily on memory components designed by SK Hynix and Samsung, the world’s two largest suppliers in this segment.

That competition for supply has pushed DRAM prices sharply higher this year, creating bottlenecks that now extend well beyond the data centre market. Smartphones depend on the same class of memory, leaving handset makers exposed to the spillover effects of the AI investment boom.

Counterpoint warned that some vendors may respond by cutting costs elsewhere. Possible measures include downgrading camera modules, displays or audio components, as well as reusing older parts to protect profitability. Others are expected to shift marketing efforts toward higher priced models in an attempt to preserve margins.

Not all companies face the same level of risk. “Apple and Samsung are best positioned to weather the next few quarters,” said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint. “But it will be tough for others that don’t have as much wiggle room to manage market share versus profit margins.”

That challenge is expected to be most acute among Chinese smartphone manufacturers that compete primarily in the mid to lower price bands, where pricing flexibility is limited and consumers are more sensitive to cost increases.

For the wider industry, the findings underscore how investment decisions in one corner of the technology ecosystem can reshape outcomes elsewhere. The global build out of AI infrastructure has accelerated innovation and capacity in some markets, but it has also redirected scarce components away from consumer electronics.

As 2026 approaches, smartphone makers face a delicate balancing act. They must absorb or pass on rising input costs while navigating softer demand and more price conscious consumers. For business leaders and investors, the message is clear. The AI boom is no longer confined to cloud computing and semiconductors. Its consequences are now reaching into everyday devices and household budgets worldwide.

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Executives briefed customers this week on current availability levels, acknowledging that output remains constrained. The H200 entered mass deployment last year and represents the most powerful processor Chinese firms can legally access from Nvidia. It is built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company using its 4 nanometre process, although TSMC has declined to comment on customer specific capacity.

Demand has intensified following comments from US President Donald Trump, who said Washington would allow exports of the H200 to China while taking a 25 percent fee on those sales. The decision has triggered strong interest from groups including Alibaba and ByteDance, both of which have approached Nvidia seeking to place sizeable orders.

“We are managing our supply chain to ensure that licensed sales of the H200 to authorized customers in China will have no impact on our ability to supply customers in the United States,” an Nvidia spokesperson said.

Despite that reassurance, production volumes remain small. Nvidia continues to prioritise its latest Blackwell processors and the forthcoming Rubin line, leaving limited near term room to ramp up output of the older Hopper generation chips.

Approval from Beijing also remains uncertain. Chinese officials held emergency meetings this week to assess whether shipments of the H200 should be permitted, according to multiple sources. One proposal under discussion would require buyers to bundle purchases with a quota of domestically produced chips, reflecting government efforts to nurture a local AI hardware ecosystem.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not respond to requests for comment.

The debate highlights a strategic dilemma for policymakers. Domestic chipmakers have yet to produce alternatives that rival Nvidia’s performance. “Its (H200) compute performance is approximately 2-3 times that of the most advanced domestically produced accelerators,” said Nori Chiou, investment director at White Oak Capital Partners. “I’m already observing many CSPs and enterprise customers aggressively placing large orders and lobbying the government to relax restrictions on a conditional basis.”

Chinese companies view the H200 as vastly superior to the H20, a downgraded processor Nvidia introduced for the Chinese market in late 2023. The H200 is estimated to be about six times more powerful, making it critical for training large models and running advanced inference workloads.

For Nvidia, expanding supply is not straightforward. The company is competing with rivals such as Google for advanced manufacturing slots at TSMC, while also managing a complex transition to its next generation architecture. Any decision to add capacity would require careful balancing of geopolitical risk, long term customer commitments and strained global foundry resources.

As China pushes to accelerate its domestic AI ambitions, and Washington selectively loosens export controls, the H200 has become a focal point of both commercial opportunity and political calculation. Whether Nvidia can meet demand will depend not only on factory capacity, but also on decisions made in capitals on both sides of the Pacific.

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While the COP11 negotiations carried high expectations, the tobacco industry launched an aggressive lobbying campaign in the conference’s lead-up to dilute outcomes.Tellingly, the EU failed to reach a common position on tobacco and nicotine regulation ahead of the summit, with this breakdown largely driven by Big Tobacco’s influence.

Even so, COP11 and the ensuing MOP4 on the illicit trade offer the global tobacco control community a vital platform to push for EU reforms fully aligned with the WHO FCTC agenda. Only robust regulation – including higher taxes, expanded smoke-free spaces, advertising bans, plain packaging, independent traceability and country delivery quotas – can curb industry obstruction and protect public health from the entirely-preventable tobacco scourge.

COP11 exposes EU’s tobacco-driven divide 

Ahead of COP11, the WHO issued a firm position note underscoring that all tobacco and nicotine products – whether “traditional” or new – pose health risks, and that “harm reduction” must not become a convenient pretext for weakening regulation. The organisation notably urged governments to implement the full suite of measures contained in the WHO FCTC framework.

Despite the Danish EU Council Presidency’s repeated efforts, the EU entered COP11 without a unified, pro-WHO stance. Consequently, in a historic first, Brussels did not hold voting rights at the summit – however, this apparent setback conceals a genuine source of hope. While the bloc has previously adopted common COP positions, this unified front was traditionally backed by a Commission strongly-influenced by Big Tobacco lobbying. This year, the EU’s most progressive countries encouragingly refused to stand down, creating a long-awaited opening for meaningful change.

Certain EU member states – led by France, Belgium and the Netherlands – are pushing for the EU to champion world-leading tobacco control standards, yet many countries in Southern and Eastern Europe – including Italy, Romania and Bulgaria – as well as Sweden are impeding progress. This latter camp has sharply criticised the European Commission’s proposed tax increases on tobacco and nicotine products, claiming erroneously that harm-reduction alternatives cannot be regulated identically to cigarettes without producing unintended public health or illicit trade consequences.

In total, nine EU member-states formally objected to the Commission’s forward-looking COP11 proposals. The pro-WHO side rightly attributes this obstructionist stance to these countries’ economic dependence on the tobacco industry, which employs tens of thousands and has invested billions in production infrastructure within its ‘allied’ member-states. Indeed, Italy has become a major European centre for heated-tobacco and nicotine-pouch manufacturing, while Romania, Greece and the Czech Republic host significant processing sites for conventional and newer alternative nicotine products.

Tobacco industry’s long history of interference

The economic dependence of several EU member states on Big Tobacco has left the bloc highly exposed to the industry’s lobbying machine, which succeeded in splintering the EU’s regulatory stance in Geneva. This dynamic reflects last month’s warning from the WHO FCTC Secretariat about coordinated industry efforts to undermine COP11’s outcomes. As one EU official astutely noted, the bloc’s disunity effectively became a “testing ground” ahead of the looming battle over Europe’s tobacco rules.

Governments opposed to stronger WHO-compliant standards share the view that the Commission’s push for strict measures at COP11 was indeed an attempt to “test the waters” ahead of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) revision – expected by 2027 – as well as the recently-launched reform process for the Tobacco Excise Taxation Directive (TED). These long-awaited regulatory reviews, stalled for years by persistent tobacco industry pressure, now represent a rare chance to build a regulatory framework in accordance with the WHO FCTC and Protocol.

Despite ratifying the Protocol in 2016, the EU still operates a tobacco traceability system that contravenes its core requirement of tobacco industry independence. Big Tobacco’s lobbying in Brussels helped secure roles in the system for companies with long-standing industry links, including Swiss firms Inexto, a spin-off from Philip Morris International (PMI) promoting a Codentify-style model that the WHO classifies as an industry “black box;” and Dentsu Tracking, associated with the PMI-developed Codentify via its 2017 acquisition of Blue Infinity. Furthermore, Atos and its sister company Worldline also occupy central roles, despite previously promoting Codentify and the latter receiving payments from the tobacco industry.

As Luk Joossens of Smokefree Partnership recently summarised, the EU’s system clearly falls short of the Protocol, with no guarantee of independence, no public access to its vast data, and no audit reports released. Moreover, this ineffective, industry-shaped system – which costs the EU up to €20 billion in lost tax revenue annually and coincides with the bloc’s rising illicit tobacco flows – continues to provide cover for the parallel trade fuelled by the tobacco industry’s intentional oversupplying of small, low-tax markets such as Luxembourg. Harmonising the TED and TPD reforms with WHO standards would finally disrupt this dynamic by raising taxes in porous jurisdictions and establishing country-level quotas.

What legacy for COP11 and MOP4? 

Despite the EU’s disappointing COP11 showing, all is certainly not lost, with the global summit’s legacy – as well as that of the late November’s MOP4 illicit trade summit – still capable of shaping Europe’s next steps. As one EU diplomat noted, WHO decisions may not be legally binding in the Union, but they carry clear political weight: “if it’s on the global table, it will be on the EU table too.” Crucially, with the TPD reform decided by qualified-majority voting, and the opposition bloc still lacking the numbers to derail the process, the WHO-aligned camp stands a strong chance.

In the weeks surrounding COP11, France positioned itself as a central force in Europe’s tobacco control movement, with Paris marshalling a coalition of influential member-states, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, to ensure public health and the integrity of policymaking are no longer be compromised by the tobacco industry. This collective stance is among COP11’s most positive outcomes, reflecting a renewed political willingness for more ambitious measures.

Moving forward, real progress will mean fully incorporating WHO FCTC and Protocol requirements into EU law, from raising taxes on tobacco and new nicotine products and introducing an EU-level country quota mechanism – as advocated by French MP Frédéric Valletoux – to implementing an independent and transparent traceability scheme, as urged by LukJoossens.

As COP11 made clear, the necessary tobacco control tools already exist – what’s needed now is political resolve. With the pro-reform camp gaining momentum and the industry-aligned bloc still too small to block legislation, now is the moment to double down and push for accelerated EU action. By following the WHO’s agenda, Brussels can restore its global tobacco control leadership and achieve its long-term public health goals.

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The company’s updated forecasts, which fell short of Wall Street expectations, underscored the uneven financial impact of emerging AI technologies. Oracle has rapidly repositioned itself this year through a sprawling 300 billion dollar cloud agreement with OpenAI, placing the long-time software provider at the center of AI model training and deployment. Yet that same partnership has tied its market performance to the fortunes of the ChatGPT developer at a time when investors fear Google is gaining ground.

The anxiety has spread beyond equities. Oracle bonds faced heavy selling as markets digested the scale of the firm’s debt-driven expansion. Credit default swaps on the company climbed nearly 12 basis points, hitting a five-year high, reflecting the cost of insuring against default risk for a business carrying close to 100 billion dollars in debt.

Its aggressive investment strategy mirrors trends across the industry. Meta has issued more than 30 billion dollars in new bonds and Amazon has tapped the market for 15 billion dollars, signaling a shift away from cash-based financing for long-term innovation. Executives have defended the capital outlays as essential for building the infrastructure needed to run the next generation of AI systems, arguing that falling behind would pose a far greater risk.

Still, Oracle’s balance sheet is under strain. The company has burned through roughly 10 billion dollars in cash in the first half of its fiscal year due to AI-related construction and hardware procurement. If Thursday’s losses persist, it stands to shed more than 90 billion dollars in market value. For Larry Ellison, who holds around 40 percent of Oracle’s shares, the decline could wipe more than 30 billion dollars from his personal net worth.

The selloff spilled into other AI-linked names. Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Micron, Broadcom and Arm Holdings all slipped between 3.1 and 4.2 percent, dragging the Nasdaq to its lowest level in a week. The downturn comes as some analysts warn that the AI boom may be repeating patterns seen during the dot-com era, especially in light of complex and opaque financial arrangements surrounding OpenAI, which carries a valuation of about 500 billion dollars yet continues to operate at a loss.

Oracle intensified those concerns on Wednesday when it revealed that capital spending for fiscal 2026 will exceed its September projections by 15 billion dollars. It also missed estimates for future cloud commitments and issued a revenue outlook for the next quarter that fell short of expectations. At least 13 brokerages cut their price targets following the announcement.

Others, however, argued that the elevated investment levels are unavoidable. Analysts at BofA Global Research said, “The current weakness is more capex investment cycles needed to support demand, with the company paying the price for the abnormal speed in which investment is required to meet current AI demand trends.”

Oracle now trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 29.56, slightly higher than Microsoft and roughly in line with Amazon, according to LSEG data. For markets already sensitive to policy uncertainty and elevated borrowing costs, the company’s trajectory is emerging as a key test of whether the AI buildout can sustain its momentum or whether investors are recalibrating expectations after a year of unprecedented hype.

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• Nvidia Responds After DeepSeek Reportedly Uses Smuggled Blackwell Chips

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A spokesperson for Nvidia said: “We haven’t seen any substantiation or received tips of ‘phantom data centers’ constructed to deceive us and our [original equipment manufacturer] partners, then deconstructed, smuggled and reconstructed somewhere else. While such smuggling seems far-fetched, we pursue any tip we receive.”

The report, published by The Information, has raised concerns across the U.S. tech sector because DeepSeek has previously demonstrated its ability to develop competitive AI models at a fraction of the cost of U.S. rivals. In January, the company released its reasoning model, R1, which quickly rose to the top of app stores and industry leaderboards.

DeepSeek has also indicated that China plans to develop its own “next generation” chips to support domestic AI systems, signaling growing ambitions in the field.

Nvidia has been a major beneficiary of the AI boom, supplying graphics processing units that are critical for training models and managing large computational workloads. The company’s relationship with China has become a politically sensitive issue, with U.S. lawmakers closely monitoring exports of advanced hardware.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced that Nvidia could ship its H200 chips to “approved customers” in China and other countries, with the condition that the U.S. receives 25 percent of those sales. The move sparked criticism from some Republican officials who view the policy as controversial.

The controversy highlights the tension between maintaining U.S. technological advantage in AI and managing commercial relationships abroad. While Nvidia continues to lead the AI hardware market, the emergence of startups like DeepSeek underscores the growing competition and the potential risks associated with technology leakage.

Nvidia’s response clarifies that the company has not verified the claims of smuggling but remains attentive to any credible leads. The company continues to monitor the situation as Washington and Beijing navigate the intersection of technology, trade, and national security.

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Norway recently chose British BAE System’s Type 26 frigate over Naval Group’s FDI and it also appears India plans to scrap an almost signed deal for new Scorpène submarines for an offer from Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. KNDS France (formerly state-owned Nexter) had a similar experience after losing an order, likely to European contenders, from Qatar for 490 VBCI armoured vehicles used by the French army, synonymous with high standards and real operational experience, after nine years of negotiations. 

Last March, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed that France had replaced Russia as the world’s second largest arms exporter with 9.6% of global exports, behind the United States’ 43%. The French DTIB is comprised of 4,000+ companies and 225,000 jobs, led by global powerhouses including Thales, the French division of European conglomerate MBDA, Safran, Naval Group, KNDS-France and Dassault. Recently questioned during military budget hearings about such companies, Catherine Vautrin, France’s current Minister of the Armed Forces, responded, “We are the clients but also shareholders of a number of these companies and these relations must remain balanced.“

Indeed, this symbiotic relationship is crucial, but delicate, as Le Monde describes France’s “ambition for independence, it produces almost all of its military equipment, enabling its land, naval and air forces to avoid reliance on “off the shelf” purchases from the Americans and other European suppliers.” The French DTIB relies on orders from the French army, but given France’s limited procurement ambitions, it also relies on exports to survive and needs the government’s help with diplomatic backchanneling to seal deals.

France Hasn’t Conquered Europe, Yet

Indeed, Éric Pommellet, President of the French Maritime Industry Association (Gican) and of Naval Group, says his industry needs to move from 40% exports to 50% and that, “We are leaders in Europe, the continent where competition is the sharpest since it is home to the majority of naval defence players, such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Great Britain or the Netherlands,” but other new rivals threaten this position including China, South Korea, Israel and Turkey.

Defence budgets across Europe are up and with EU nations, except Spain, pledging 5% spending on defence by 2035, the European market represents an enormous opportunity for the French DTIB, but according to SIPRI, 64% of Europe’s arms imports since 2020 have come from the U.S. From 2019-2023, France’s exports grew 47%, supplying 64 countries with India receiving 29%. Only 9.1% of French exports went to Europe, with 53% of that directed to Greece. 

To seize the opportunity of Europe’s widespread rearmament, French manufacturers and politicians must figure out how to overcome certain challenges. One problem is European countries’ tendency to prefer “off the shelf,” mainly American, products. The Center for European Reform observes that while France and EU officials push for less reliance on Washington, Nordic/Baltic states and Poland prefer to buy “off the shelf” arms to meet missing capabilities with the U.S. seen as the historically reliant supplier. 

There is also the problem of internal competition. Germany has drastically increased military funding, projected to rise to €83 billion in 2026, but nearly half of its military expenditures from 2020-2024 went to German companies and another third to ventures involving German companies. Like Rheinmetall, with recent record sales, who has pursued partnerships with American companies including Lockheed Martin and Anduril, in an attempt to become the major European defence contractor in all domains. Then France’s Defence Minister Lecornu has argued against such licensing agreements saying they give “the illusion of European sovereignty.”

Indeed, recent concerns about dependence on the United States and its technology could represent an opportunity for French companies as France is working to position its DTIB as providing combat-proven, politically-autonomous products. Bruegel reports that officials from Portugal, Switzerland and Denmark have expressed concerns about ‘kill switches’ and Spain and Portugal are reconsidering F-35 purchases because of sovereignty concerns. Dassault is upgrading its Rafale fighter to the F5 standards with advanced electronic warfare capabilities to be delivered in 2027 as a non-American alternative.

Prioritising Partnerships, especially in Europe

French manufacturers have also demonstrated their capacity for shared design and production, particularly in electronics, with Thales working with British, French and Italian navies to produce the CAPTAS system for variable depth sonar technology, used by 17 navies worldwide. The company also joined forces with MBDA to develop the SAMP/T air defence system that is gaining notoriety after proving its efficacy in Ukraine and being selected by Denmark over the American Patriot system. The next generation of SAMP/T is being developed for 2026-2027 with new Aster 30 B1 NT missiles. 

French companies have also demonstrated their willingness and aptitude for partnering with clients for construction within countries to transfer high-end know-how and technology. Naval Group has done this over the past two decades in India, co-building six Scorpène submarines. In 2024, Macron announced the co-production of a third Scorpène in Brazil and that France would help build Brazil’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Naval Group was also chosen by the Netherlands to build four Barracuda submarines with Dutch Royal IHC. 

Bilateral and multinational partnerships let French industry shine in what it does best, while sharing the cost and workload as with France and Britain’s creation of the MBDA consortium in 1997 to develop SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles. The missiles have proven their worth in Ukraine, but also serving the French army. This legacy continues as the two countries signed the Lancaster House 2.0 agreement this summer with a new “entente industrielle.” They pledged to increase SCALP production and to begin the development phase of its successor under the STRATUS programme (with Italy), with MBDA developing two complementary missiles: STRATUS RS with speed and manoeuvrability and STRATUS LO for stealth. 

France also recently signed a letter of intent with Poland to cooperate on developing ground-launched cruise missiles with 1,000+ km ranges. The two countries are part of the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA) and French MBDA’s Land Cruise Missile (LCM), based on its battle-proven Naval Cruise Missile (MdCN) is being positioned as a lead contender for ELSA’s first project.   

These are all opportunities that only signed government contracts can translate into reality, with European orders potentially having an imitation effect on other markets. This is crucial for France at a time when its economy is otherwise declining. As Jean-Michel Jacques, president of the French Assembly’s Committee on National Defense and Armed Forces, argues, “We must have a real return on investment on our defence spending and make our territories benefit from the impact of European defence budgets. Let’s not forget that a euro invested in our defence creates two euros of wealth in the medium term.”

The post Can France Keep Second Place in the Arms Export Race? appeared first on The European Business Review.

X, owned by Elon Musk, confirmed it would follow the law, stating: “It’s not our choice – it’s what the Australian law requires. X automatically offboards anyone who does not meet our age requirements.” Platforms are expected to use a combination of age verification tools, including behavioral analysis, selfies, official documents, and bank-linked checks.

The legislation affects roughly one million young users. In the hours before it came into effect, many teens shared goodbye messages on social media. One wrote, “No more social media… no more contact with the rest of the world,” while another posted, “#seeyouwhenim16.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the reform as a milestone for families, calling it “one of the biggest social and cultural changes that our nation has faced.” He encouraged children to pursue offline activities, saying, “Start a new sport, new instrument, or read that book that has been sitting there for some time on your shelf.”

The government highlighted studies showing that social media overuse among young teens can negatively affect mental health, contributing to cyberbullying, misinformation exposure, and harmful body image pressures. The law has drawn international attention, with countries including Denmark, New Zealand, and Malaysia considering similar policies.

Social media companies warned the restrictions could reduce user growth and disrupt advertising pipelines. The Australian government reported that 86 percent of children aged eight to fifteen were active on social platforms before the ban. Some young people also voiced concerns about social isolation. Fourteen-year-old Annie Wang said, “It’s going to be worse for queer people and people with niche interests I guess because that’s the only way they can find their community. Some people also use it to vent their feelings and talk to people to get help … So I feel like it’ll be fine for some people, but for some people it’ll worsen their mental health.”

Albanese framed the legislation as a global benchmark for online safety, stressing the importance of balancing child protection with free expression and technological innovation. “It’s a profound reform which will continue to reverberate around the world,” he said.

For social media businesses, the law marks a significant structural shift with long-term implications for engagement, revenue, and the development of future users. Australia now functions as a live test case for other nations seeking to regulate digital platforms while protecting minors.

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The post Australia Bans Social Media for Children Under 16 Nationwide appeared first on The European Business Review.

Trump emphasized in a Truth Social post that the plan “will support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers.” He added that “The Department of Commerce is finalizing the details, and the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies.”

Nvidia shares jumped earlier in the day on expectations that federal officials would clear the China shipments, before giving up part of those gains. The stock still advanced roughly 2 percent in after-hours trading. The company welcomed the decision.

“We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America,” a spokesman told CNBC. “Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America.”

Both Nvidia and rival AMD reached an agreement with Washington in August to remit 15 percent of their China chip sales to the U.S. government. That arrangement unfolded as Beijing reportedly warned domestic firms not to use the H20, a tailored Nvidia model created for the Chinese market. The H200, now approved for conditional export, is more advanced than the H20 but still not Nvidia’s highest-tier product.

The semiconductor sector functions as the backbone of nearly every major electronic device and remains central to the accelerating AI competition between the United States and China. It has also become a flashpoint in the strained commercial ties between the two countries.

When Beijing imposed export controls on rare-earth minerals used in sophisticated chip manufacturing, the Trump administration threatened steep tariff hikes on Chinese imports. Tensions eased when Trump and Xi met in South Korea in late October and reached a preliminary trade pause in which China agreed to end “retaliation” against U.S. chipmakers, according to the White House.

Trump later said that Nvidia’s export situation was part of his conversations with Xi during that meeting.

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The post Trump Approves Conditional Nvidia H200 Chip Sales To China Amid Talks appeared first on The European Business Review.

The report cited unnamed sources familiar with internal discussions, saying executives have considered cutting the budget for the unit by as much as 30 percent. Proposed reductions are expected to include layoffs and are part of the company’s 2026 budget planning, likely affecting Meta’s virtual reality group.

The potential cuts come amid ongoing financial challenges for Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops the Quest family of VR headsets and Ray-Ban and Oakley AI smart glasses. The unit posted a $4.4 billion loss in the most recent quarter, adding to more than $70 billion in cumulative losses since late 2020, according to the company’s third-quarter report.

Meta, which changed its name from Facebook in October 2021 to emphasize a shift beyond social media, has long highlighted the metaverse as a central area of growth. At the time, Zuckerberg said, “the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started.”

The company declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report, leaving investors to speculate on how deep the cuts could go and how they may affect future development of virtual reality products.

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The post Meta Shares Surge After Zuckerberg Considers Major Metaverse Budget Cuts appeared first on The European Business Review.

The strong earnings reflect growing demand for AI infrastructure, with CFO Colette Kress projecting $3 trillion to $4 trillion in annual spending by the end of the decade. Technology companies are expected to invest roughly $400 billion in AI this year alone to keep pace with competitors and expand cloud services.

Nvidia emphasized that AI concerns may be overstated. Huang said, “There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different.” The company highlighted how its GPUs now power a wide range of non-AI applications, from data processing to engineering simulations, reinforcing the chips’ value beyond generative AI tools.

Several corporate partners also reported benefits from AI adoption. Kress noted Meta’s AI recommendation systems are increasing engagement, Anthropic anticipates $7 billion in annual revenue, and Salesforce engineers are 30% more efficient using AI for coding. Analysts like Wedbush’s Dan Ives view Nvidia’s guidance as evidence the AI revolution is in its early stages rather than a bubble.

Despite these results, investors remain cautious. Nvidia’s shares briefly rose after the report but fell back, closing Friday down 1%, highlighting market skepticism. Questions persist about whether technology companies will sustain massive infrastructure spending and whether investments in emerging AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic are fully secure.

Portfolio manager Daniel Morgan said concerns over the durability of tech infrastructure spending and Nvidia’s circular funding relationships were not “put to rest” and may carry over into future quarters.

While Nvidia continues to be seen as a bellwether for the AI industry, the stock market remains wary. Even with impressive earnings, the company faces the challenge of convincing investors that AI growth represents a long-term boom rather than a short-lived surge.

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YouTube told CNBC that Google has never trained artificial intelligence models on biometric data from creators and said the company is reviewing the wording on the sign up form to prevent misunderstandings. However, YouTube confirmed that it will not adjust the underlying policy that links the feature to Google’s wider data practices.

The disagreement exposes a growing divide inside Alphabet as Google accelerates its AI efforts while YouTube works to protect trust with creators and rights holders who rely on the platform for their livelihoods.

The likeness detection feature, launched in October, scans newly uploaded videos across YouTube to identify whether a creator’s face has been altered or generated by artificial intelligence. Creators can request the removal of flagged videos. To use the tool, they must upload a government issued ID and a biometric video of their face, which experts say introduces potential long term risk. Biometrics refer to physical measurements used to confirm identity.

Because the tool is tied to Google’s privacy policy, experts say the company could use public biometric content to help train its AI models. The policy allows the use of public data to support AI development and product features.

“Likeness detection is a completely optional feature, but does require a visual reference to work,” YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon said in a statement to CNBC. “Our approach to that data is not changing. As our Help Center has stated since the launch, the data provided for the likeness detection tool is only used for identity verification purposes and to power this specific safety feature.”

YouTube said it is “considering ways to make the in product language clearer,” though it did not specify when changes might appear.

Experts say they warned YouTube about the risks months ago. Dan Neely, CEO of Vermillio, said creators should be mindful of handing over sensitive data at a time when AI training material is viewed as “strategic gold.” He added, “Your likeness will be one of the most valuable assets in the AI era, and once you give that control away, you may never get it back.”

Others echoed similar concerns. Loti CEO Luke Arrigoni said the current policy creates “enormous” risks because attaching a name to a biometric signature gives companies the technical ability to generate synthetic versions of a person’s face.

Both Neely and Arrigoni said they would not advise their clients to enroll in the system at this time.

YouTube’s head of creator product, Amjad Hanif, said the tool was built to operate “at the scale of YouTube,” where hundreds of hours of footage are uploaded every minute. He said the feature will reach more than 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program by the end of January. “We do well when creators do well,” Hanif told CNBC.

The expansion comes as AI generated videos continue to improve, raising new challenges for creators whose public visibility makes them particularly vulnerable. YouTube creator Mikhail Varshavski, known as Doctor Mike, said he now reviews dozens of deepfake clips each week through the tool.

Varshavski, who has over 14 million subscribers, said one deepfake promoted a “miracle” supplement on TikTok and could have endangered viewers who trust his medical expertise. “It obviously freaked me out,” he said. “To see someone use my likeness in order to trick someone into buying something they don’t need or that can potentially hurt them, scared everything about me in that situation.”

AI video generation platforms like Google’s Veo 3 and OpenAI’s Sora are making it easier to create deepfakes of public figures because their images often appear in training datasets. Veo 3 is trained on a subset of the more than 20 billion videos uploaded to YouTube, a volume that could include hundreds of hours from creators like Varshavski.

Deepfake activity has “become more widespread and proliferative,” Varshavski said. He noted that some channels now operate entirely on AI generated impersonations used to sell products or harass individuals.

Currently, creators have no way to earn revenue from unauthorized use of their likeness, unlike YouTube’s Content ID system for copyrighted content. Hanif said YouTube is exploring what such a model might look like for AI manipulated likenesses in the future.

He added that takedown rates remain low, claiming many creators decide not to remove flagged videos. Agents and rights advocates dispute that, arguing the low numbers stem from confusion and limited awareness rather than comfort with AI content.

As YouTube pushes forward with AI tools and policy updates, concerns around biometric privacy signal a growing tension between innovation and the protection of creators whose identities form the core of their work.

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The post YouTube Faces Scrutiny Over Biometric Data Rules for Deepfake Detection Tool appeared first on The European Business Review.

The U.S. electric carmaker saw registrations fall by 58 percent in France to 1,593 vehicles and by 59 percent in Sweden to 1,466 cars. Sales also slipped by 49 percent in Denmark, 44 percent in the Netherlands, 47 percent in Portugal, and 9 percent in Spain. These declines continued a broader downtrend that has pushed Tesla’s market share in Europe to 1.6 percent from 2.4 percent a year earlier.

There were pockets of improvement. Registrations in Norway nearly tripled to 6,215 vehicles, breaking the country’s annual record with a month remaining. Italy also recorded a 58 percent increase to 1,281 cars, though year-to-date figures remain 28 percent lower.

Tesla’s slump began late last year after CEO Elon Musk publicly praised right-wing political figures, triggering protests in parts of Europe. The slowdown continued even after Musk scaled back political commentary and stepped down from the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. Tension grew again in November when a fire at a Tesla dealership in southern France prompted a criminal investigation, according to local media.

Market analysts point to deeper challenges beyond politics. Competition has intensified as Chinese electric vehicle brands expand aggressively, offering a broader mix that includes hybrids and plug-in hybrids. BYD’s sales surged in November, rising to 3,526 vehicles in Italy, up 268 percent in Spain, and 65 percent in the Netherlands.

A study by data firm Escalent found that 38 percent of surveyed consumers in Europe’s five largest car markets believe Tesla’s novelty has faded, adding that the brand now trails rivals on design, quality and emotional appeal. Meanwhile, more buyers are shifting toward hybrid cars, according to France’s automotive industry group PFA.

Tesla attempted to regain ground by launching a cheaper version of the Model Y, priced at 40,000 euros in Germany. Only limited units reached Europe by late November, and sales of the SUV continued to fall. Model Y registrations slid by 67 percent in Sweden, 62 percent in the Netherlands, 55 percent in Portugal, 44 percent in Italy, and 74 percent in Denmark. Norway remained the exception, where Model Y deliveries rose 19 percent to 3,648 cars.

As the European market grows more competitive and consumer sentiment shifts, Tesla faces mounting pressure to reignite demand for its core lineup while navigating evolving political and industry dynamics.

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The blaze began Thursday afternoon in Wang Cheong House, a 32-story tower under renovation. Flames quickly spread across seven of the eight high-rise buildings, fueled by bamboo scaffolding and potentially flammable construction materials, officials said.

Firefighters faced extreme temperatures and falling debris as they worked to rescue trapped residents. One man was saved from the 16th floor, but many remained unreachable due to the intensity of the fire. Hong Kong’s Fire Services deployed over 800 personnel, 128 fire trucks, and 57 ambulances to contain the inferno.

“The high-rise fire was much worse than first thought, and our efforts have taken longer than expected,” Deputy Director Derek Armstrong Chan said. Authorities continued break-in operations in all affected buildings early Friday to ensure no residents remained trapped.

Among the deceased was 37-year-old firefighter Ho Wai-ho, who died after sustaining injuries while battling the flames. Over 100 others were injured, including at least 11 firefighters, the city’s fire department reported. Hundreds of residents are now homeless, and the government has promised 10,000 Hong Kong dollars per affected household to aid recovery.

Investigators have launched a criminal probe into the fire’s cause. Three men have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence. Officials are examining whether polystyrene boards and other construction materials contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the city is providing social workers to support affected households and expressed “deep condolences to the families of the deceased and those who were injured.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping also offered condolences and called for “all-out efforts” to reduce casualties.

Wang Fuk Court primarily housed elderly residents, many aged 65 and over. The disaster has renewed scrutiny of Hong Kong’s widespread use of bamboo scaffolding, which, while culturally common, is highly flammable and may have worsened the fire.

The incident is likely to intensify pressure on both Hong Kong and Beijing officials to review safety standards in high-density housing.

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The post Hong Kong Tower Fire Kills At Least 94 Residents Amid Rescue Efforts appeared first on The European Business Review.

The Quark glasses start at 1,899 yuan ($268.25) and run on Alibaba’s Qwen AI model and app. Unlike bulkier headsets from major rivals, the device resembles standard eyewear, featuring a simple black plastic frame. Alibaba said the glasses are tightly integrated with its ecosystem, including Alipay and Taobao, allowing users to access functions such as on-the-go translation and instant price recognition.

“Alibaba’s strengths are shopping, payments and navigation, so its AI glasses function more like a life assistant,” Li Chengdong, a Beijing-based electronics industry analyst, said. The launch reflects Alibaba’s push to compete more aggressively in consumer AI after trailing competitors in previous product cycles. The company also introduced a major upgrade to its AI chatbot earlier this month.

Li noted that Alibaba’s strategy focuses on securing future entry points for digital traffic as competition rises across China’s e-commerce sector. “Alibaba is not a monopoly in e-commerce,” he said. “It hopes AI can help it secure the next-generation traffic gateway.”

The Quark glasses went on sale Thursday on major online platforms including Tmall, JD.com and Douyin. Sales figures have not yet been released.

The rollout comes as global tech companies race to define the next generation of entertainment and computing devices powered by artificial intelligence. Meta remains the dominant force in the VR headset industry, holding roughly 80 percent of the market. Apple sells its Vision Pro headset, while Samsung introduced its Galaxy XR device in October using AI features from Google.

Chinese competitors have also stepped into the wearable AI space. Xiaomi released AI-enabled glasses in June, while Baidu already offers a similar product.

Alibaba’s entry adds new momentum to the battle for AI-driven consumer hardware, setting the stage for deeper competition across both domestic and international markets.

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The post Alibaba Debuts Quark AI Glasses as Competition in Wearables Intensifies appeared first on The European Business Review.

The rise places Alphabet among a select group of Big Tech firms vying for leadership in an industry reshaped by rapid advances in AI. Investor enthusiasm around new tools and platforms has continued to lift the sector as Wall Street tracks which companies are best positioned to dominate the next wave of digital growth.

Meta is reportedly in talks to spend billions of dollars on Google’s AI chips, according to The Information, which cited an unnamed person familiar with the discussions. The arrangement would install the tensor processing units, or TPUs, in Meta’s data centers in 2027, while the company may also rent chip capacity from Google’s cloud division in 2026.

If finalized, the deal would mark a major step in Google’s attempt to challenge Nvidia’s hold on the AI chip market. Support from Meta would provide a significant endorsement of Google’s hardware at a time when tech giants are racing to expand data center infrastructure ahead of a projected surge in AI demand.

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The post Alphabet Set to Near Four Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Surges appeared first on The European Business Review.

Abigail Wendling, 23, said she uses Pinterest to organize nearly every part of her daily life, but her experience changed when she searched for a wallpaper and found a one eyed cat. A search for healthy recipes later surfaced a strange picture of cooked chicken with seasonings sprinkled inside it. Both images were generated by artificial intelligence, part of a growing wave of AI slop spilling across the platform since the arrival of powerful tools like ChatGPT’s Sora in 2024.

Pinterest has tried to curb the problem for users who do not want AI images, but many members told CNN that they feel overwhelmed as the company leans deeper into the technology. Wendling said the experience is draining and noted that she now examines content carefully before trusting it. She added that Pinterest displays more AI content than any other platform she uses.

Embracing artificial intelligence has been a central goal for Pinterest CEO Bill Ready, who took over in 2022. He recently described the company as “an AI powered visual first shopping assistant,” positioning it alongside other tech heavyweights racing to transform online shopping through machine learning. The platform now reaches 600 million monthly users worldwide, half of whom are Gen Z, and its third quarter revenue climbed 17 percent year over year to $1 billion. Ready said AI sits “at the heart of the Pinterest experience.”

But users say that shift has come at a cost. They report more ads, more fabricated images and less of the creative inspiration that once defined the app. Artist Amber Thurman, 41, said she wants to see art crafted by real people, not content produced by prompts typed into software.

The company has made changes in response. It introduced a tuner that adjusts how much AI content appears in feeds and has been labeling generative images throughout the year. A spokesperson said Pinterest aims to prioritize high quality and inspirational posts “whether it’s AI generated or not.” Even so, many users say the tools are not keeping up with the constant flood of synthetic media.

Ready acknowledged that no platform can reliably detect every AI image. That challenge has intensified as Silicon Valley races to commercialize the technology. Pinterest once served as a sanctuary from the chaos of other apps, where users curated mood boards, saved recipes and shared design inspiration. Creators said the platform felt human in ways others did not.

Tech giants now view AI as essential to the next phase of monetization, and Pinterest is banking heavily on its shopping ambitions. Advertiser link clicks grew 40 percent in the latest quarter and have increased more than fivefold in three years. A new AI powered shopping assistant, described by the company as “a best friend,” is part of that strategy.

Still, some longtime users remain uneasy. Creative director Hailey Cole, 31, said she has turned to the alternative app Cosmos for design inspiration. She worried about intellectual property theft and said she has never seen Pinterest as a shopping platform. Wendling added that even when she spots something appealing, she now checks other sites to confirm whether it is genuine.

Experts say AI slop is already embedded in the future of social media. Jose Marichal, a political science professor at California Lutheran University, said users will have to “live with both” flawed machine generated content and new technology as companies seek revenue. Ready compared AI’s trajectory to Photoshop, predicting that nearly all content will eventually be edited by AI in some form.

That evolution may erode the authenticity that made Pinterest distinctive. Researchers said AI posts often redirect users to ad heavy websites that rely on affiliate marketing. In one case, a top search result for a chocolate chip cookie recipe led to an AI generated image and a site filled with ads, while the recipe itself mirrored a ChatGPT query.

The growth of AI underscores the need for stronger media literacy. Experts warn that even negative engagement with AI slop can encourage algorithms to surface more of it. Some Pinterest users have responded by reducing their time on the platform or returning to older communities like Tumblr.

For many, the shift represents a deeper loss. As Casey Fiesler, an information science professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, put it, Pinterest once offered a steady flow of inspiring, human made content. Now, she said, “it’s just a lot of very non human, perhaps not inspiring content.”

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The company reported a 62 percent jump in sales to $57 billion for the October quarter, beating expectations of $54.9 billion. Profit climbed 65 percent to $31.9 billion, also slightly ahead of analyst estimates. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said “Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” insisting once again that concerns about an overheating AI market are misplaced.

Nvidia projected fourth quarter revenue of about $65 billion, well above what analysts had anticipated, signaling that spending on AI infrastructure remains intense. Shares rose 3.4 percent in after-hours trading after the earnings release.

As the world’s most valuable public company and the backbone of AI computing, Nvidia has become central to this year’s market rally. Its valuation now makes up roughly 8 percent of the S&P 500, meaning the performance of nearly every investor portfolio is touched by the chipmaker’s trajectory. The company’s report helped lift Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, which all traded higher after the results.

Market jitters had intensified ahead of the announcement as investors questioned whether AI returns could keep pace with massive infrastructure outlays. Analysts point to complex funding arrangements between Nvidia and AI labs, including a $100 billion OpenAI deal that sparked bubble warnings. A recent comment by OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, who suggested government support for industry debt, added to skepticism before the company walked back the statement.

Despite the scrutiny, Nvidia continues to pursue similar arrangements. Anthropic this week committed to buying $30 billion in computing capacity from Microsoft Azure, powered by Nvidia chips, in exchange for fresh investment from both companies.

Huang has rejected bubble speculation repeatedly, stressing at Nvidia’s GTC conference last month that strong consumer demand shows the technology is “profitable,” even if companies reinvest much of their earnings into expansion. Tech giants have echoed that sentiment by pledging to increase AI infrastructure spending in their recent earnings updates.

Nvidia executives also highlighted examples of tangible AI-driven gains. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress said Meta’s AI recommendation systems are boosting user engagement, Anthropic expects to generate $7 billion in annual revenue and Salesforce’s engineers are now 30 percent more efficient with AI-assisted coding.

The company’s accelerating growth suggests the global race to build and deploy AI systems is far from slowing, and for now, Nvidia remains at the center of the industry’s momentum.

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The company, which handles roughly a fifth of global web traffic, said it has deployed a fix and continues to investigate the incident. Some customers may still face residual issues as the network stabilises worldwide. Cloudflare shares slipped 2.3 percent in morning trading.

The firm stressed there was “no evidence that this was the result of an attack or caused by malicious activity”, noting that its infrastructure helps keep websites and apps online by managing traffic spikes and cyber threats.

The outage followed last month’s disruption at Amazon’s cloud division, which temporarily knocked out services such as Snapchat and Reddit and triggered widespread frustration.

During Cloudflare’s service failure, user reports surged on monitoring site Downdetector. Alerts for Cloudflare topped 11,000 before falling to about 2,800 by 10:20 a.m. ET. Downdetector compiles outage data from multiple sources, though user submissions mean actual impacts may differ.

Cloudflare said earlier in the day that “We saw a spike in unusual traffic to one of Cloudflare’s services beginning at 11:20 UTC. That caused some traffic passing through Cloudflare’s network to experience errors.”

X and ChatGPT creator OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.

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