Generative AI Models

NVIDIA & Eli Lilly Launch $1B AI Drug Discovery Venture to Revolutionize Medicine In a landmark move for the biopharmaceutical industry, NVIDIA and Eli Lilly have announced a joint AI drug discovery lab, backed by a planned investment of up to $1 billion over five years. This collaboration aims to transform key aspects of drug development into a precise engineering discipline. By leveraging high-performance computing and specialized AI agents, the partnership will accelerate research and development. The initiative will operate on a ‘scientist in the loop’ model, where advanced AI supports and enhances the work of human researchers, marking a significant milestone for AI’s role in medicine. ...

Why Automotive Executives Are Pivoting to Humanoid Robotics A significant trend is emerging as top executives from the automotive industry transition into the field of embodied intelligence and humanoid robotics. This migration of talent brings invaluable experience in mass production, system integration, and resource mobilization to the burgeoning robotics sector. Startups led by former auto executives are attracting major investment. For instance, AI² Robotics, founded by a former XPENG chief scientist, has achieved unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Similarly, Zhijian Power, founded by former Li Auto executives, secured $50 million in an angel funding round. This convergence is fueled by the technological overlap between smart cars—often called “wheeled robots”—and humanoid robots. Major automakers are also investing heavily, with Tesla targeting mass production of its Optimus robot by late 2026 and XPENG planning to volume-produce its IRON robot in the same year. ...

Generative AI Advances with Multimodal Models and Agentic Systems The field of generative artificial intelligence, powered by large language models (LLMs), is experiencing rapid advancements in scalable and instruction-following multimodal foundation models and agentic AI applications. Progress is being driven by developments in alignment techniques, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, and fine-grained controllability in generative tasks. Key areas of innovation include diffusion-based video generation, synthetic avatars, and goal-driven multi-agent collaboration. In response to these advancements, regulatory attention is increasing, with the EU’s AI Act, effective in 2025, mandating security-by-design for AI systems. The industry is also moving towards standardization, with OpenAI co-founding the Linux-based Agentic AI Foundation to standardize intelligent agents. Real-world applications are emerging in various fields, such as pharmaceuticals, where generative models are being used to design drug candidates and biosensors, significantly reducing design cycles. ...

Aptiv & Vecna Robotics Partner on Next-Gen Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for Warehouses Global industrial technology company Aptiv has announced a strategic collaboration with Vecna Robotics, a leader in AI-driven autonomous material handling. The two companies will co-develop next-generation Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) solutions aimed at providing cost-effective automation for warehouses and factories. This partnership will integrate Aptiv’s advanced perception and machine learning technologies into Vecna Robotics’ autonomy and orchestration platform. The goal is to create safer, more efficient, and scalable material handling systems. The collaboration will utilize Aptiv’s PULSE Sensor for 360-degree sensing and its ML-based technologies for real-time perception and path planning. Vecna’s platform will contribute to workflow orchestration and safe navigation in complex environments. Aptiv is set to showcase Vecna Robotics’ CPJ Co-Bot Pallet Jack at CES 2026. ...

Robotics & Autonomous Vehicles Researchers Unveil World’s Smallest Programmable Micro-Robots Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots. These microscopic swimming bots, barely visible to the naked eye, can be programmed with light pulses to move in complex patterns and sense their environment. Each robot, measuring approximately 0.2 by 0.3 millimeters, has its own unique identifier for receiving individual commands. The current models are equipped with sensors that can detect temperature variations, which could be used to monitor the health of individual cells. This breakthrough in micro-robotics opens up new possibilities in fields such as medicine and micro-scale manufacturing. ...

OpenAI Warns Future AI Models Pose ‘High’ Cybersecurity Risks OpenAI has issued a stark warning that its upcoming frontier AI models could present ‘High’ level cybersecurity risks. The company stated that these advanced models might be capable of automating the discovery and exploitation of significant cyber vulnerabilities, including the development of functional zero-day exploits. To mitigate these potential threats, OpenAI is implementing a ‘defense-in-depth’ strategy. This includes training its models to refuse harmful requests while remaining useful for defensive and educational purposes. The company is also establishing a Frontier Risk Council, an advisory board of cybersecurity experts, to help manage these advanced AI risks. Furthermore, OpenAI is developing a trusted access program to provide enhanced AI capabilities to qualified cybersecurity professionals for defensive operations. ...

Waymo Recalls Self-Driving Software Over School Bus Safety Concerns Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing company, is filing a voluntary software recall after its self-driving vehicles were reported to have illegally passed stopped school buses on multiple occasions. The issue drew public attention following a viral video in September showing a Waymo vehicle bypassing a stopped school bus in Atlanta. Furthermore, the Austin Independent School District reported at least 19 similar incidents. ...

Hyundai Launches MobED: An AI-Powered Autonomous Robot Platform At the International Robot Exhibition (iREX) 2025 in Tokyo, Hyundai Motor Group has officially launched MobED (Mobile Eccentric Droid), its first mass-produced autonomous mobility robot. First revealed as a concept at CES 2022, MobED has evolved into a production-ready platform powered by artificial intelligence. The robot is engineered for a wide range of industrial and everyday applications, featuring AI-based autonomous navigation, LiDAR-camera fusion sensors, and an eccentric posture control mechanism for stable movement across diverse terrains. An intuitive 3D UI/UX on a wide touchscreen controller enables easy operation, including self-mapping and autonomous driving. Mass production of MobED is set to begin in the first half of 2026. ...

Kodiak’s Autonomous Trucks Hit Milestone with 100+ Driverless Deliveries in Permian Basin Kodiak Robotics and Atlas Energy Solutions have achieved a major milestone in logistics automation, successfully completing over 100 driverless deliveries of frac sand in the Permian Basin. This operation, utilizing two autonomous Class 8 semi-trucks, represents the first commercial use of a customer-owned fleet of self-driving trucks without a safety driver. The trucks navigate a challenging 21-mile route on private, unpaved oilfield roads, handling conditions like dust storms and heavy equipment traffic. Atlas Energy Solutions has praised the reliable service and ordered 100 more trucks, planning to scale the program in 2025 and 2026 as part of a broader strategy to create a fully automated supply chain. ...

Anthropic Unveils Claude Opus 4.5, Setting New AI Benchmarks Anthropic has launched Claude Opus 4.5, its most advanced and powerful AI model to date. Now accessible via the Anthropic API and major cloud platforms, Opus 4.5 reportedly establishes a new industry standard for complex tasks, including coding, AI agent development, and multi-step computer operations. The model also demonstrates significantly improved performance in everyday business functions like in-depth research and processing documents such as spreadsheets and presentations. Anthropic is positioning this release for enterprise and engineering teams managing sophisticated projects. Claude Opus 4.5 is available on AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, and Microsoft’s Foundry. ...