Cohere hires long-time Meta research head Joelle Pineau as its chief AI officer ↗
Canadian AI startup Cohere has hired Joelle Pineau, former Meta VP of AI research, as its first Chief AI Officer. Pineau will lead Cohere’s research, product and policy strategy, aiming to fast-track practical AI breakthroughs for enterprise and government clients. The move comes as Cohere seeks up to $500 million in funding at a $6.3 billion valuation to close the gap on rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. Pineau’s focus on secure, real-world AI agents and talent recruitment underscores Cohere’s pivot to privacy-focused, enterprise-grade models.
HTC is getting in on AI glasses, too ↗
HTC’s new Vive Eagle AI glasses, launched in Taiwan for $520, pack a 12MP ultrawide camera, built-in speakers, Zeiss sun lenses, and an AI voice assistant. Weighing just 49g, they rival Meta’s Ray-Ban smart specs and offer real-time translation in 13 languages, voice reminders, restaurant recommendations, and note-taking. Available in red, brown, gray, or black frames, HTC hasn’t yet confirmed a North American or European release—potentially heating up the AI eyewear race.
These smart glasses use AI to help low-vision users ↗
Envision has teamed up with eyewear maker Solos to introduce the Ally Solos Glasses, a $399 (introductory price) pair of smart specs for blind and low-vision users. Equipped with cameras and open-ear speakers, they can read text, describe surroundings, search the web, and identify people or objects. Powered by Envision’s “Ally” AI (using Meta’s Llama, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity), the IP67-rated frames offer up to 16 hours of use, 90-minute full charging, and 15-minute fast charging for three hours of battery life. Shipping starts October 2025.
Judge criticises lawyers acting for boy accused of murder for filing misleading AI-created documents ↗
A judge criticised lawyers for a 16-year-old accused of murder in Melbourne after they filed AI-created court documents with fake case citations and quotes. The teen was found not guilty by reason of mental impairment, having suffered schizophrenic delusions during the 2023 killing. Both defence and prosecution failed to verify the AI content. The judge warned that unchecked AI use undermines justice and urged strict adherence to court guidelines on AI in litigation.
Co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI departs the company ↗
Igor Babuschkin, who co-founded Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI in 2023, announced his departure to launch Babuschkin Ventures, a firm focused on AI safety research and startups. His exit follows recent scandals at xAI involving its chatbot Grok spouting antisemitic rants and generating nude deepfake videos. Babuschkin praised his work building xAI’s leading AI models but says his new venture aims to “advance humanity” and ensure safe AI’s future.
Waymo finally has a music experience worthy of its robotaxi ↗
Waymo has rolled out direct Spotify integration, letting robotaxi riders link accounts in the Waymo app and stream their own music and podcasts without messy workarounds. Previously limited to basic genre stations or fiddly Google Assistant hacks, passengers can now seamlessly resume playlists, enable autoplay, and tweak audio settings via the backseat touchscreen or their phones. The feature adds much‐needed personalization to the futuristic rides, boosting comfort and loyalty. Apple Music integration may follow.
Apple's plan for AI could make Siri the animated center of your smart home ↗
Apple’s big AI play reportedly spans dancing tabletop robots, Siri supercharged by large language models, and a Google Nest Hub–style smart display. One arm-mounted “iPad on a stick” bot could roll out in 2027 with an animated Siri for natural chat. A wheel-based home rover and even humanoid prototypes are in the works. By mid-2026, a face-aware smart screen will let you control devices, make calls, and stream music. New security cameras and a unified OS wrap up the lineup.
Pocket FM gives its writers an AI tool to transform narratives, write cliffhangers, and more ↗
Pocket FM, the India-based audio platform, has launched CoPilot, an AI-powered writing suite that helps authors craft engaging audio scripts—suggesting cliffhangers, plot beats, and even localized adaptations. The tool boosts writer productivity by up to 50%, cuts production costs 2–3x, and has driven 10% of US playtime and $7M revenue. With plans for its own LLM next year and expansion into comics and video, Pocket FM aims to scale rapidly, though critics warn AI reliance risks quality and job displacement.
Anthropic nabs Humanloop team as competition for enterprise AI talent heats up ↗
Anthropic has scooped up the co-founders and core team of Humanloop—a YC-backed platform for prompt management, LLM evaluation and observability—to fuel its enterprise AI push. While no IP was bought, Anthropic gains seasoned engineers who’ll bolster its safety-first tooling and monitoring capabilities. The move, part of a wider AI talent war, strengthens Anthropic’s bid to outpace OpenAI and Google DeepMind in performance and compliance.
Google's Gemini AI will get more personalized by remembering details automatically ↗
Google’s Gemini AI chatbot will now automatically recall past conversations to personalize responses—no prompting needed. The “Personal Context” feature is on by default in Gemini 2.5 Pro (select countries) but can be toggled off in settings. Google is also renaming “Gemini Apps Activity” to “Keep Activity” for clearer privacy controls, and introducing 72-hour “temporary chats” that vanish and won’t train its models.