Cloud Computing

Leaked Trump Administration Draft Order Aims to Block State AI Laws A leaked draft executive order from a potential Trump administration reveals a plan to preempt states from enacting their own artificial intelligence laws. The proposed order suggests using the withholding of federal funds, including from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, as leverage against states that implement “onerous” AI regulations. The document also outlines the creation of a Department of Justice task force to legally challenge state-level AI legislation. This move is widely seen as an attempt to establish a single federal standard for AI, a position President Trump has previously supported on social media. The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from civil society groups, who argue it represents federal overreach and undermines state-level consumer protection efforts. ...

China’s Photonic Quantum Chip Aims for 1,000x Speedup in AI Tasks Researchers in China have unveiled a new photonic quantum chip that promises to accelerate complex calculations by over a thousand times, marking a significant leap for next-generation computing. Developed by Chip Hub for Integrated Photonics Xplore (CHIPX) and Turing Quantum, the chip is claimed to process specific AI tasks 1,000 times faster than high-end Nvidia GPUs. Its design utilizes co-packaging technology for photons and electronics, integrating over 1,000 optical components on a single 6-inch silicon wafer. This allows for dense optical integration and is supported by a pilot production line capable of producing 12,000 wafers annually. ...

New AI Assistant ‘Denario’ Aims to Accelerate Scientific Discovery Researchers have introduced Denario, an AI-powered scientific assistant designed to accelerate the research process. This multi-agent system can assist with numerous tasks, including generating new research ideas, reviewing existing literature, creating research plans, writing and executing code, producing plots, and drafting scientific papers. Developed by a team from the University of Cambridge, the Flatiron Institute, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Denario is a modular tool for scientists at various stages of their work. While it has demonstrated the ability to generate entire research papers across disciplines like astrophysics and biology, its creators emphasize that it is a tool to augment, not replace, human scientists. They note the current version has limitations, with only about one in ten outputs providing significant insights and instances of data fabrication, making human oversight essential. The project’s code is publicly available, with a demo version accessible online. ...

Keenon Robotics Deploys Humanoid Service Robot in World-First Smart Hotel Scenario Keenon Robotics has deployed its humanoid service robot, the XMAN-R1, at the Shangri-La Traders Hotel at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. This deployment establishes what is being called the world’s first smart scenario model demonstrating collaborative operations between general-purpose and special-purpose robots. The XMAN-R1 will serve as a greeter, using natural language and anthropomorphic actions to interact with guests. Meanwhile, other specialized Keenon robots will handle tasks like in-room deliveries, luggage transport, cleaning, and food delivery. This initiative is part of Keenon’s broader strategy to integrate its embodied robot solutions into various industries, with over 100,000 units already deployed in more than 60 countries. ...

University of Alabama Boosts AI Research with New High-Performance Computing Center The University of Alabama is making a significant investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure to accelerate scientific research across various disciplines. To overcome the limitations of computing power, the university is constructing a new High Performance Computing and Data Center. This state-of-the-art center will provide faculty and students with access to the necessary GPUs to conduct high-level scientific and AI research. The university already leverages AI in diverse fields, from developing tools to recognize pain in premature infants to studying dark matter. The new facility, slated for completion in 2026, will dramatically enhance research capabilities and offer students invaluable hands-on experience. ...

Tech & AI News: Quantum Leaps, Autonomous Driving, and Generative AI Updates GM Unveils ‘Eyes-Off’ Autonomous Driving for 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ General Motors has announced its next-generation autonomous driving technology, enabling hands-free and eyes-free operation on highways. This advanced system is set to debut on the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV. The system will leverage a combination of lidar, radar, and cameras to build a comprehensive understanding of the vehicle’s environment. ...

Breakthrough in AI: Fine-Tuning LLMs with Less Data and Power Researchers at the University of California San Diego have pioneered a new method for fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) that requires significantly less data and computing power. This innovative technique avoids retraining a model’s entire parameter set, instead selectively updating only the most critical components. This approach dramatically reduces costs and minimizes the risk of overfitting. In tests on protein language models, the method achieved high accuracy with limited training data, proving to be 326 times more parameter-efficient than traditional fine-tuning. This breakthrough is poised to democratize AI, enabling smaller organizations with limited resources to customize powerful AI models for specialized applications. The findings were published in Transactions on Machine Learning Research. ...

Google DeepMind Reveals AI Agents with Human-Like Computer Skills Google’s DeepMind has made a significant advancement in agentic AI, developing agents that can interact with computers in a manner similar to humans. This development is seen as a major step forward in creating more capable and autonomous AI systems. Researchers at the Bay Area Machine Learning Symposium also discussed the future of AI, with a focus on creating models that can learn through interaction and exploration rather than just being trained on massive datasets. The goal is to achieve systematic generalization, allowing AI to combine known elements into novel meanings and learn with significantly less data than current models require. Google DeepMind’s work on models for more intelligent robots, including the recently released Gemini Robotics 1.5 and E.R. 1.5, further illustrates this push towards more interactive and intelligent AI. ...

Today’s Top Tech Stories: Waymo, NASA, Oracle, and Quantum Breakthroughs Here’s a summary of the most significant developments in AI, autonomous driving, cloud infrastructure, and quantum computing for October 15, 2025. Waymo Announces 2026 London Robotaxi Service Launch Waymo, the autonomous driving technology company under Alphabet, has officially announced its plan to launch a driverless robotaxi service in London. The full rollout is scheduled for 2026, making London the first European city to host Waymo’s autonomous ride-hailing service. Initial vehicle testing with safety drivers will commence in the upcoming weeks. The service, accessible via the Waymo app, will directly compete with established ride-hailing platforms. This expansion represents Waymo’s second international market after Tokyo. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander voiced support, emphasizing the initiative’s potential to advance the UK’s autonomous vehicle sector and enhance transportation accessibility. ...

NVIDIA Unveils RLP: A New Era of Reinforcement Learning for AI Pretraining NVIDIA researchers have developed a groundbreaking training objective called Reinforcement Learning Pretraining (RLP), which integrates reinforcement learning directly into the pretraining stage of AI model development. The core concept of RLP treats a short chain-of-thought as an action that is rewarded based on the information gain it provides for the model’s next-token prediction. This innovative method creates a verifier-free and dense reward system that can be applied at scale to standard text streams. Unlike previous methods that depend on sparse signals or external verifiers, RLP’s approach allows for updates at every single token position. Experiments demonstrate that RLP can yield significant improvements in a model’s reasoning capabilities, with one model showing a substantial increase in its average score on scientific reasoning benchmarks. ...