The non-profit Linux Foundation has formed the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) with the support of three leading tech firms supporting inaugural projects to advance innovation in open source AI: Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), Block’s goose, and OpenAI’s AGENTS.md. “The advent of agentic AI represents a new era of autonomous decision making and coordination across AI systems that will transform and revolutionize entire industries,” the Linux Foundation says, emphasizing the AAIF as “a neutral, open foundation to ensure this critical capability evolves transparently, collaboratively” that supports open source. Continue reading Anthropic, Block, OpenAI Back Linux’s Agentic AI Standards

Amazon and Microsoft are plowing billions of dollars of AI funding into India, with the e-retail giant pledging to spend $35 billion there by 2030, and Microsoft earmarking $17.5 billion over four years to develop the AI frontier and integrate the technology “at population scale.” The funds are expected to encourage AI-powered digitization, cloud growth, increased exports and new job creation — all national priorities for the South Asian territory. Amazon has already invested nearly $40 billion in India, which is emerging as a global AI and cloud hub. The new investment is Microsoft’s biggest yet in Asia and follows a $3 billion India commitment announced earlier this year. Continue reading India Attracts $52B in AI Investments from Amazon, Microsoft

Roughly 20 percent of U.S. teens surveyed say they were on TikTok and YouTube “almost constantly” in 2025, with YouTube distinguishing itself for use “by nearly all teens,” according to a new Pew Research study. Ninety percent of teens surveyed say they’ve used YouTube, followed by TikTok and Instagram, with at least 60 percent claiming usage, with Snapchat landing at about 55 percent. Chatbot use is at about 64 percent among respondents, with about 30 percent of teens saying they use companionable AI answer engines daily, led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT (59 percent). Continue reading Pew Research: 30 Percent of U.S. Teens Use Chatbots Daily

Letterboxd, the online social cataloging movie service that publicly launched in 2013, is about to become more than a fan board. The operation, said to have more than 24 million worldwide members, has launched The Letterboxd Video Store for online movie rentals. Available in 23 countries, the new service focuses on rare and unusual films, curating them on “shelves.” One shelf, Unreleased Gems, features “discoveries that select audiences have been raving about, but most of us haven’t had the opportunity to watch until now,” the company says. The Gems are available exclusively from the Letterboxd Video Store in designated countries. Continue reading Letterboxd Video Store Now Offers Rare Films, Festival Titles

Google plans to debut its first AI-powered eyewear in 2026, challenging Meta Platforms in the consumer market for AI smart glasses. Google’s inaugural AI glasses will come in two styles. The audio-only model features built-in speakers, microphones and cameras “to let you chat naturally with Gemini, take photos and get help.” Another style features an in-lens display and can show things like navigation. As previously announced, Google is working with partners Samsung, Xreal, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to create “stylish, lightweight” smart glasses that can be comfortably worn all day. Continue reading Google to Launch Xreal Project Aura Smart Glasses Next Year

Nielsen Marketing Cloud’s Audience Segments targeting tool is now available across the Amazon Ads marketplace, allowing advertisers to deliver ads across multiple platforms and in different formats while measuring performance throughout the vast Amazon ecosystem. NMC’s Audience Segments data sets provide more than 20,000 custom and syndicated segments in categories ranging from auto, finance and CPG — now targetable to audiences on Amazon platforms including Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, Freevee and Amazon.com. The segments are available through the Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud data clean room. Continue reading Nielsen Audience Segments Is Available Across Amazon Ads

Meta Platforms is bringing breaking news and a broader range of real-time entertainment and lifestyle content to its social platforms, apps and devices via the Meta AI chatbot. The company has partnered with news outlets including CNN, Fox News, People Inc. and USA Today to power the expanded global content offerings. “When you ask Meta AI news-related questions, you’ll now receive information and links that draw from more diverse content sources to help you discover timely and relevant content tailored to your interests,” Meta explains, noting that the integrations will link to the original sourcing. Continue reading Meta AI Chatbot Gets Real-Time Intelligence with News Deals

Meta Platforms has acquired AI wearables firm Limitless, a five-year-old startup based in Denver. Limitless’ key product is an AI-powered pendant that records audio and generates summaries. “We’re excited that Limitless will be joining Meta to help accelerate our work to build AI-enabled wearables,” Meta said via a statement. Meta has had success in the wearables space with its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which feature a Meta AI digital assistant. Meta’s further push into AI devices that consumers can use casually in everyday situations comes as the company reportedly considers downsizing its metaverse investments. Continue reading Meta Platforms Acquires Limitless, a Startup in AI Wearables

Cable news channel MSNBC, which rebranded as MS NOW last month, has more changes in store with plans to distinguish itself from other digital subscription offerings by bundling streaming with a 24/7 linear programming network and other services as part of a package scheduled to debut in mid-2026. It follows parent NBCUniversal’s scheduled spinoff of its cable TV holdings as Versant, which is set to begin trading on Nasdaq in January under the leadership of longtime Comcast executive Mark Lazarus. Speaking at an investor meeting Thursday, NBCU execs also shared a strategy for Versant to transition the Fandango at Home streaming hub (formerly Vudu) into a FAST service. Continue reading Versant Planning New Strategies for MS NOW and Fandango

Anthropic continues to close major deals as it reportedly moves toward an IPO, possibly coming as soon as Q1 (although Sasha de Marigny, the company’s chief communications officer, said there are no immediate plans to go public). The Amazon-funded AI startup’s latest contract provides its Claude models to cloud software firm Snowflake in a $200 million multiyear deal. Snowflake’s AI agents will use Claude to help businesses handle complex data analysis. As for the IPO, Financial Times reports Anthropic is working with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati — a law firm whose CV includes IPOs for Google, LinkedIn and Lyft — and may be in a race with OpenAI to see who can be first to offer its shares publicly. Continue reading Anthropic Secures $200M Snowflake Deal as IPO Talk Builds

Anthropic has released a new tool called Interviewer available through Claude.ai to collect data on customer usage and preferences. Among the early findings are that “the general workforce wants to delegate routine work to AI but preserve the tasks central to their professional identity.” Anthropic plans to expand the scope of inquiry “through partnerships with creatives, scientists, and teachers” and says it will share the results. The company admits it wants feedback to develop better products, but “also because understanding people’s interactions with AI is one of the great sociological questions of our time.” Continue reading Anthropic Interviewer Explores Claude Users’ Views About AI

Meta Platforms is combining Facebook and Instagram support into a single hub and using AI to improve outcomes for customers seeking help. “In the past year, new account hacks decreased by more than 30 percent globally on Facebook and Instagram and recovering an account is now faster and simpler with the help of AI,” Meta said announcing the change. Users can now report account issues, find answers by querying Meta AI-powered search, and more. The update is coming to iOS and Android for both platforms. Meta is also testing an AI support assistant for Facebook that offers “instant, personalized help.” Continue reading Meta Combines Facebook, Instagram Support into Single Hub

The Entertainment Technology Center at USC launched ETCentric in March of 2011 as a news and commentary forum designed to provide our community members with the most vital information impacting media and entertainment. Over the years we experimented with a variety of delivery methods, eventually settling upon an online portal and associated daily email alert, teamed with a social media presence, highlights of ETC projects, and live reporting from key industry events. While it has been our great pleasure to provide this service to our valued members, we now find ourselves in a different era, one that features a much wider collection of targeted news services and social media tools that serve similar objectives. With that in mind — and as a key part of our larger initiative to refocus information-sharing on ETC projects — we have decided to shutter ETCentric and The Daily News Brief in their current forms and launch a new, more dynamic ETC website on January 5. The final day for ETCentric will be Friday, December 12. Continue reading ETC Updating Info Exchange, Will Shutter ETCentric Next Week

YouTube has issued its first annual YouTube Recap. The feature is available to users worldwide and takes the form of a shareable YouTube Short that highlights favorites based on your watch history from the year. “You’ll get a set of up to 12 different cards that spotlight your top channels, interests, and even the evolution of your viewing habits, or which personality type you fall into based on the videos you loved to watch,” YouTube explains of the highlight reel. Along with YouTube Recap, the streamer also released its 2025 U.S. trending lists covering creators, songs, podcasts and cultural moments. Continue reading YouTube Issues Year-End Viewer Recap Alongside Trend Lists

Spotify’s Wrapped 2025 is here, and as usual, the streaming service is mixing up its annual lists including Top Global Artist (Bad Bunny), Top Global Podcast (“The Joe Rogan Experience”) and Top U.S. Artist (Taylor Swift) with some surprises. The company has included top audiobook genres for the first time, also adding “author clips” — messages from authors populated for those who’ve listened to their books. The platform is also extending the traditional Wrapped playlist — a list of each Spotify account holder’s most-played tunes — with the Wrapped Party, which lets friends go head-to-head to see who is the bigger fan. Continue reading Spotify Adds Audiobooks, Party Competition to Wrapped 2025