Latest AI News

Tesla has hired Henry Kuang, former Cruise executive, as its new Director of Artificial Intelligence to strengthen its autonomous driving initiatives. Kuang previously led autonomy teams at GM's Cruise subsidiary before the service was suspended in 2023. His experience includes developing perception systems for driverless vehicles and prior roles at Meta. The strategic hire comes as Tesla faces pressure to deliver on CEO Elon Musk's promises of fully autonomous vehicles and a functional robotaxi fleet, though there are conflicting reports about whether the hire has been officially confirmed.

Microsoft's "Maia" AI chip production has been delayed from 2025 to 2026 due to design changes, staffing issues, and development complexity. When released, the chip is expected to underperform compared to Nvidia's Blackwell chip. This setback impacts Microsoft's goal to reduce dependency on Nvidia and places the company behind competitors like Amazon and Google in creating custom AI silicon. Despite Microsoft's substantial investment, the delay highlights the significant challenges tech giants face in competing with Nvidia's dominance in the AI hardware market.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached record highs on Friday, driven by AI technology enthusiasm and hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. All three major indices gained at market open, with the Dow up 0.27%, S&P 500 up 0.16%, and Nasdaq up 0.24%. Recent data showing subdued inflation strengthened expectations for a more dovish Fed policy. The rally is largely attributed to excitement about AI applications like ChatGPT and their potential to transform business performance. With easing inflation pressures and prospects of less restrictive monetary policy, markets appear poised to maintain upward momentum.

Global AI company DeepSeek faces mounting governmental scrutiny as its DeepSeek-R1 model gains worldwide popularity. Several nations have launched investigations or banned the platform over national security and privacy concerns. Authorities specifically worry about potential vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, data harvesting capabilities, and surveillance risks. This regulatory trend mirrors similar concerns with other generative AI platforms like ChatGPT. The situation highlights increasing tensions in balancing AI innovation with security, with implications for international AI collaboration and competition.