Quantum

Zoox Robotaxi Service Expands to Austin, Miami & More San Francisco Neighborhoods Amazon’s autonomous vehicle company, Zoox, is significantly expanding its robotaxi service in the United States. The company is quadrupling its service area in San Francisco to include key neighborhoods like Chinatown, Marina, and Pacific Heights. In a major move, Zoox is also launching its autonomous driving technology in Austin, Texas, and Miami. This expansion is backed by impressive milestones, with Zoox having driven nearly 2 million autonomous miles and transported over 350,000 riders. In Las Vegas, the service will soon be available to popular destinations such as the Sphere and the Las Vegas Convention Center. Furthermore, Zoox has partnered with Uber to integrate its vehicles into the Uber app in Los Angeles by mid-2027, broadening its reach in the competitive ride-hailing market. ...

ZKBoost Protocol Unveiled for Private, Verifiable XGBoost AI Model Training Researchers have introduced ZKBoost, a groundbreaking cryptographic protocol designed to verify XGBoost machine learning model training on sensitive datasets without revealing the underlying data or model parameters. ZKBoost is the first zero-knowledge proof of training (zkPoT) protocol specifically developed for XGBoost, a widely-used algorithm for tabular data. This innovation addresses the critical need for cryptographic guarantees of model integrity in high-stakes applications. The system employs a fixed-point implementation of XGBoost compatible with arithmetic circuits, enabling efficient zero-knowledge proofs. Research indicates this implementation maintains accuracy within 1% of the standard XGBoost, making practical verification on real-world data a reality. ...

Apple Partners with Google to Power Siri with Gemini AI In a landmark deal, Apple has announced a multi-year collaboration with Google to integrate the powerful Gemini AI models into its Siri voice assistant. This partnership is set to bring a new wave of services and more personalized experiences to Apple’s devices. The core AI foundation will be hosted on Google’s infrastructure, while Apple maintains strict control over user devices and privacy. This strategic move allows Apple to rapidly scale its AI capabilities. The deal provides Google’s Gemini access to Apple’s extensive ecosystem of over 2 billion devices, positioning it as the primary intelligence layer for Siri’s enhanced functionalities. This collaboration relegates OpenAI’s ChatGPT to a more secondary role, handling specific, complex queries on an opt-in basis. ...

OpenAI Invests in Thrive Holdings to Accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption OpenAI is taking an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence in enterprise settings. This strategic partnership will initially focus on the accounting and IT services industries, which feature workflow-heavy processes that can see immediate benefits from OpenAI’s platform. As part of the collaboration, OpenAI will embed its research, product, and engineering teams directly within Thrive Holdings’ companies. The primary goal is to enhance speed, accuracy, and cost-efficiency while improving the overall quality of services. This initiative aims to create a repeatable model for AI integration that can be expanded to other industries, representing a significant move to more deeply integrate AI into core business operations. ...

Ant Group Challenges OpenAI with Ling-1T, a Trillion-Parameter Open-Source AI Model Ant Group has announced the release of Ling-1T, a new trillion-parameter large language model, intensifying the global competition in artificial intelligence. This general-purpose model is engineered for complex reasoning and logic-based tasks, demonstrating strong performance in code generation, software development, and competition-level mathematics. According to Ant Group, Ling-1T has shown superior problem-solving skills compared to rivals from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and OpenAI. The company reported that Ling-1T achieved high scores on benchmark platforms such as LiveCodeBench and the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). On the AIME benchmark, the model reached an accuracy of 70.42%, a result comparable to Google’s Gemini-2.5-Pro. Ling-1T is the second trillion-parameter model from Ant Group and is part of the company’s Ling AI model family. The release of Ling-1T as an open-source model is a strategic move to promote transparency and collaboration in AI development. ...

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. ...