Qualcomm has made no secret of its belief that smart glasses are going to be a significant future product, and during the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach, California this week, the chipmaker shared its vision for the sector, demonstrating eyewear using its new Snapdragon processor. According to the company, the AR1+ Gen 1 is 26 percent smaller than earlier chips and runs artificial intelligence tools independent of Internet or smartphone connectivity. Qualcomm’s goal is to help smart glasses become “fully independent devices” that can do processing and complete agentic tasks with or without connectivity. Continue reading Qualcomm Chip Could Be a ‘Breakthrough’ for Smart Glasses

Snap Inc. announced it will launch a “lightweight, immersible” consumer line of AR smart glasses called “Specs” in 2006 (breaking from its “Spectacles” branding). Announcing the sixth-generation of its glasses at the Augmented World Expo conference this week, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said the eyewear offers “an ultra-powerful wearable computer integrated into a lightweight pair of glasses with see-thru lenses.” Spiegel explained the glasses will be untethered, which suggests they may be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1+ Gen 1 chip, also announced at AWE. Coming a decade after Snap’s first attempt at consumer AR glasses, Specs leverage a $3 billion investment in 11 years of R&D. Continue reading Snap to Launch Specs Consumer Smart Glasses Line in 2026

YouTube has loosened its rules regarding content moderation, instructing its moderators to prioritize “freedom of expression” over perceived risks of harm in assessing what to take down for the popular video platform. Although the move hasn’t been widely publicized, it was gleaned through leaks of moderator training material that made its way to the media. YouTube becomes the latest in a string of social platforms that have relaxed content moderation standards. Unlike Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, YouTube and its parent Google have refrained from public comment on the move. Continue reading YouTube Latest Social Platform to Loosen Content Moderation

Determined to rebound from the Llama 4 Behemoth delay, Meta Platforms is swinging for the fences in its artificial intelligence efforts, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally supervising creation of a new AI lab focused on superintelligence. Meta has reportedly reached a deal to pay up to $15 billion for a stake in a startup called Scale AI that would bring its 28-year-old co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang in-house to lead the effort. Other leading Scale AI staff would also come aboard, and Meta is said to be recruiting researchers from OpenAI and Google by dangling “seven- to nine-figure compensation packages,” reports indicate. Continue reading Meta Said to Be Planning Major Push into AI Superintelligence

AMC Networks has partnered with Runway to use the AI startup’s models and technology in the TV studio’s marketing and development processes. The Cablevision-owned AMC Networks brand — home to cable TV hits such as “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead” that have found new audiences on the AMC+ streaming service — plans to use AI in everything from identifying key scenes for promotional use to ideating new ideas, previsualization and special effects. Lionsgate entered a similar deal with Runway last year that had the reciprocal benefit of allowing the AI company to use the studio’s content to train models. Continue reading AMC Networks the Latest to Partner with Runway for AI Tools

Hollywood heavyweight Jeffrey Katzenberg has thrown his support behind an AI advertising startup called Creatify, leading its Series A round with $1.5 million via WndrCo. Katzenberg is also taking a board seat at the two-year-old firm, which claims more than 1.5 million global users and 10,000 teams using its tech to create social media-centric video ads, leveraging AI avatars and real-time testing. Marketing teams can use its tools to “spin up high-quality video creative in minutes (not weeks),” the company claims, mentioning a client that uses Creatify to generate 1,000-plus ads per month. Continue reading Katzenberg’s WndrCo Invests $1.5M in AI Ad Startup Creatify

Meta Platforms has restructured its artificial intelligence operations, creating two separate units — an AI Products team headed by Connor Hayes and the AGI Foundations unit jointly run by Ahmad Al-Dahle and Amir Frenkel. The move comes as Meta is delayed getting its latest foundation model Llama 4 Behemoth to market and has also seen several key AI engineers depart. The idea is that dividing a single large organization into two smaller divisions will speed product development and add flexibility as Meta faces tough competition from top companies such as Google and OpenAI, as well as social companies X and TikTok. Continue reading Meta Restructures AI Ops in Wake of Llama 4 Behemoth Delay

Texas has codified a new law that requires the Apple and Google app stores to verify users’ ages for downloads, providing parents and guardians more control over children’s downloads. California and Illinois are considering similar measures, but so far Texas is the largest among 20 states that have evaluated similar smartphone laws aimed at child safety. In March, Utah became the first state to establish such regulation. As part of a broader national push Congress this month reintroduced the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) requiring social media platforms to police harmful content. Continue reading Texas Enacts App Store Accountability Act to Protect Children

Stargate UAE is the first major deal announced by the OpenAI-led Stargate consortium in its march to develop giant data centers for artificial intelligence around the world. The massive Abu Dhabi cluster is expected to go live with 200 megawatts in 2026 then scale up to 1 gigawatt — enough to power a million homes — eventually taking its place as part of a 5GW UAE-U.S. AI technology cluster in the region. Stargate partners G42, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and SoftBank are participating in the build-out, which OpenAI explains was “developed in close coordination with the U.S. government.” Continue reading OpenAI-Led Stargate UAE Is Latest in Middle East Tech Push

Google and Xreal publicly displayed the first eyewear to run Android XR. Developed as Project Aura, the extended reality smart glasses are expected to be available for purchase later this year or in early 2026. Google is also working with Samsung on a headset as part of Project Moohan. Pricing on the Aura glasses wasn’t announced at Google I/O, but they’ll reportedly cost less than the thousand dollar-plus price tags being floated for the Samsung device and Meta’s next-gen smart glasses, code-named Hypernova. At its annual developer conference, Google also showcased glasses being made with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster that won’t feature AR. Continue reading Google Tees-Up Android XR to Take On Meta, Apple Eyewear

TikTok AI Alive is a new image-to-video feature that can add sequential expression to selfies and add progressive hues to sunsets. Accessible through the platform’s Story Camera, AI Alive uses intelligent editing tools that give anyone, regardless of experience, “the ability to transform static images into captivating, short-form videos enhanced with movement, atmospheric and creative effects.” TikTok says it is prioritizing safety and transparency by adding a label to AI Alive stories, which will also have C2PA metadata embedded, traveling with the content even when it’s downloaded and shared elsewhere. Continue reading TikTok Offering ‘AI Alive’ Image-to-Video Generator in Stories

Amazon’s growth contracted in Q1, with revenue up 9 percent compared to 13 percent a year ago. That was good enough to outperform Wall Street forecasts, with overall sales increasing to $155.7 billion, compared with $143.3 billion in Q1 2024. In addition, Amazon Web Services sales grew by nearly 17 percent to $29.3 billion. Yet Amazon share price fell by up to 4.3 percent after hours, a reflection of a Q2 forecast the company says could be affected by newly imposed tariffs. “Obviously, none of us know exactly where tariffs will settle, or when,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts on the Q1 earnings call. Continue reading Amazon Reports Strong Quarter, Braces for Impact of Tariffs

Meta Platforms revenue for Q1 was $42.3 billion, up 16 percent year-over-year and besting Wall Street estimates of $41.3 billion. Profits were up 35 percent to $16.6 billion, hurtling past analyst estimates of $13.6 billion. Advertising, up nearly 15 percent for the quarter compared to last year, comfortably passed $41 billion, driving the revenue performance. Meta began Q2 by launching its anticipated standalone Meta AI app. Built with natively multimodal Llama 4 models, the company is positioning the Meta AI app as “a personal AI designed around voice conversations,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Continue reading Meta Touts 35 Percent Q1 Profit Jump, ‘Personalized’ AI App

Nvidia has released NeMo microservices into general availability with version 25.4, pivoting its profile from a modular toolkit for creating custom generative AI models to emphasizing it as a platform for building AI agents at scale. As AI agents have become an in-demand commodity, Nvidia is leveraging the fact that NeMo’s capabilities seem purpose built to help them grow and thrive. Built around the Kubernetes open-source container management system, NeMo microservices are offered as “an end-to-end developer platform for creating state-of-the-art agentic AI systems,” according to Nvidia. Continue reading Nvidia Positions Its NeMo Microservices for AI Agent-Building

Alphabet revenue was $90.2 billion in Q1, a 12 percent increase year-over-year that reflects “robust momentum” across Google Search and YouTube ads and Google Cloud, each delivering double-digit growth rates. Google Cloud was up 28 percent to $12.3 billion in divisions including AI infrastructure and generative AI solutions. Net profit surged 46 percent to $34.5 billion while operating income grew 20 percent to $30.6 billion. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the quarter was “super exciting” due to breakthroughs in performance by Gemini 2.5, calling it “our most intelligent AI” and a strong foundation “for future innovation.” Continue reading Alphabet Profit Is Up 46 Percent, Driven by AI and Advertising