A new study reveals AI-generated human faces are now essentially impossible to distinguish from real photos. Even people trained to spot fakes performed poorly, raising serious questions about trust and misinformation online.
Octopus Energy has formally spun out its AI-powered utility platform, Kraken, in a deal that values the tech company at €7.3 billion. The move follows an €850 million funding round led by D1 Capital Partners and establishes Kraken as a fully independent entity.
Octopus Energy is spinning off its AI division, Kraken Technologies, in a massive deal valuing the platform at $8.65 billion. The move raises $1 billion and sets the stage for a potential public listing by mid-2026.
Samsung aims to be the first to natively integrate Google Photos into its televisions. The plan involves three new AI-powered experiences rolling out throughout 2026, starting with a “Memories” feature exclusive to Samsung TVs for six months.
The ALMA radio telescope array is now fully equipped for the first time. German institutes have delivered 145 specialized amplifiers for its Band 2 receiver, enabling new studies of cold cosmic gas and complex organic molecules.
The year 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the AI field, born at the 1956 Dartmouth conference. According to futurists, the coming year will see AI move from chatbots into physical robots and critical areas like medicine.
Scientists have used human cells containing 35 million base pairs of plant DNA to test a long-standing debate. The result? The supposedly “random” plant DNA was almost as active as human DNA, suggesting most genomic activity is just noise.
A proposed California ballot measure would tax residents worth over $1 billion a one-time 5% levy on their total assets. Tech founders are warning it would force fire sales, crush startups, and trigger a mass exodus of capital and talent from the state.
2025 was a year of massive, surprising deals despite global tensions. The US government took a stake in Intel, OpenAI and partners launched a $500B AI project, and Pepsi bought a probiotic soda brand for nearly $2 billion. Here’s what it all means.
NordVPN is pushing its NordWhisper protocol as the next evolution in censorship resistance. It’s moving beyond simple obfuscation to encrypt metadata and mimic web traffic, aiming for a fully TLS-based future.
