Models

Agibot’s A2 Humanoid Robot Sets World Record with 106-km Walk A Chinese-developed humanoid robot, the A2 from Shanghai-based Agibot, has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest continuous walk by a humanoid robot. The robot completed a 106.286-kilometer journey from Suzhou to Shanghai without shutting down. The trek, which ran from November 10th to November 13th, showcased the maturity of the robot’s hardware, advanced balance algorithms, and exceptional endurance. The A2 was powered by a rapid hot-swap battery system, enabling it to remain active for the entire duration. This record-breaking walk marks a significant milestone for the large-scale commercial deployment of humanoid robots in various industries. ...

Waymo Doubles US Footprint with Fully Autonomous Robotaxi Service in 5 New Cities Waymo is significantly expanding its fully autonomous vehicle operations, doubling the number of cities where its self-driving cars operate without a human safety driver. The company has initiated fully autonomous operations for employees in Miami, with plans to roll out in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando in the coming weeks. A public launch for paid rides in these new locations is slated for 2026. This expansion builds on Waymo’s existing public robotaxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin. The move intensifies competition in the growing robotaxi market as rivals also invest heavily in autonomous driving technology. ...

Bipartisan AI Task Force Formed to Address AI Risks and Innovation A bipartisan group of state attorneys general has established a new Artificial Intelligence Task Force to navigate the complexities of AI development. Chaired by North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, the initiative includes key partnerships with OpenAI and Microsoft. The task force’s core mission is to stay informed on AI advancements, protect the public—especially children—from potential AI-related harms, and develop foundational industry safeguards. This initiative aims to provide crucial consumer protection and a forum for coordination in the absence of comprehensive federal AI legislation. ...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Pushes for Government-Owned AI Infrastructure OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for governments to invest in and own their artificial intelligence infrastructure. In a statement, Altman clarified that OpenAI is not seeking government loan guarantees for its data centers, emphasizing that companies should bear their own business risks. He suggested that a government-owned AI infrastructure, including a “strategic national reserve of computing power,” would serve the public interest. This comes as OpenAI faces scrutiny over its significant investment plans and the immense costs associated with advancing AI technology. Altman believes the risk of having insufficient computing power is greater than the risk of overbuilding. ...

NVIDIA & Oracle to Build DOE’s Largest AI Supercomputer with 100,000 Blackwell GPUs NVIDIA and Oracle have announced a collaboration to build the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest AI supercomputer. The project will involve two new systems at Argonne National Laboratory, named Solstice and Equinox. The Solstice system will feature a record-breaking 100,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, while the Equinox system will include 10,000. Together, these systems are expected to deliver a combined 2,200 exaflops of AI performance. The supercomputers will be used to accelerate scientific discovery and research in areas such as healthcare and materials science. This initiative is part of a broader effort to advance the United States’ leadership in artificial intelligence. ...

S&P Global and IBM Launch Agentic AI to Revolutionize Supply Chains S&P Global and IBM have announced a partnership to integrate IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate agentic AI framework into S&P Global’s offerings, starting with supply chain management. This collaboration aims to provide businesses with AI-powered tools to address global supply chain challenges by enhancing visibility and insights into vendor selection. S&P Global will develop new AI agents for IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate Agent Catalog, utilizing its proprietary data and analytics to help accelerate decision-making. The partnership is a key part of S&P Global’s strategy to use trusted AI agents to transform its enterprise services. Beyond the initial supply chain focus, S&P Global intends to integrate IBM’s AI technology into other risk intelligence services. ...

Google Unveils CodeMender AI to Automatically Fix Software Vulnerabilities Google DeepMind has introduced CodeMender, a groundbreaking AI agent designed to automatically detect, patch, and rewrite vulnerable code to thwart security exploits. This powerful cybersecurity tool operates both reactively, addressing new threats as they emerge, and proactively, hardening existing codebases to eradicate entire classes of vulnerabilities. Powered by Google’s advanced Gemini AI models, CodeMender can debug, identify, and resolve security flaws by targeting their root cause and validating patches to prevent regressions. Alongside this launch, Google has initiated an AI Vulnerability Reward Program to incentivize the discovery of AI-related issues in its products, reinforcing its commitment to AI-driven security. ...

MIT Unveils TX-GAIN, The Most Powerful University AI Supercomputer MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has launched the TX-Generative AI Next (TX-GAIN) computing system, now the most powerful AI supercomputer at any U.S. university. Optimized for generative AI, TX-GAIN is set to drive innovation in critical research areas such as biodefense, materials discovery, and cybersecurity. With a peak performance of two AI exaflops, the supercomputer will support a wide range of research and development projects at Lincoln Laboratory and across the MIT campus. Researchers are already utilizing TX-GAIN to model complex protein interactions for biological defense, demonstrating its significant impact on scientific breakthroughs. The system is housed in an energy-efficient data center in Holyoke, Massachusetts. ...

AI Framework ‘SegFusion’ Achieves 99% Melanoma Detection Accuracy Researchers at Northeastern University have developed a groundbreaking AI-powered framework, SegFusion, capable of detecting melanoma with 99.01% accuracy. This hybrid system enhances skin cancer diagnosis by combining two deep learning models. The first model identifies suspicious spots on skin images, and the second analyzes these areas to determine if they are cancerous. The high accuracy of SegFusion is a significant advancement in medical imaging AI and is expected to aid medical practitioners in the early diagnosis of this serious form of skin cancer. Early cancer detection is crucial, as melanoma can become life-threatening if it metastasizes. The United States is projected to have about 212,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in 2025. ...

Cornell’s ME-AI Model Captures Human Intuition for Quantum Materials Discovery Researchers at Cornell University have introduced a novel machine-learning model, Materials Expert-Artificial Intelligence (ME-AI), designed to quantify and encapsulate the intuition of human experts to accelerate the discovery of new quantum materials. The model effectively “bottles” expert knowledge into descriptors that can accurately predict a material’s functional properties. In a proof-of-concept test, ME-AI was trained on expert-curated data to identify a specific desirable characteristic across 879 materials. The model not only reproduced the human expert’s intuition but also expanded upon it, proving its ability to generalize predictions to other compound sets. This research establishes a powerful model for future collaborations between materials scientists and AI experts to push the boundaries of scientific discovery. ...