180489303
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
SoftBank has completed its full $40 billion commitment to OpenAI, finalizing a $22.5 billion second closing in late December and bringing its ownership stake to roughly 11 percent. The investment was made entirely through Vision Fund 2 and follows an earlier $7.5 billion tranche completed in April. With an additional $11 billion coming from oversubscribed third party co investors, the overall round reached $41 billion, underscoring how aggressively capital is still flowing into OpenAI despite rising scrutiny around AI costs, governance, and safety.
The move reinforces Masayoshi Son’s long standing strategy of placing massive, conviction driven bets on technologies he believes will reshape society. For OpenAI, the funding provides scale and runway to expand infrastructure and model development without immediate pressure to optimize for short term returns. At the same time, SoftBank’s growing financial stake highlights broader questions around concentration of influence in frontier AI systems that are increasingly treated as strategic infrastructure rather than conventional software products.
180484801
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
The United States is rapidly building a society that assumes artificial intelligence will always be available. AI now sits at the center of banking, healthcare, logistics, education, media, and government workflows, increasingly handling not just automation but decision-making and cognition itself. The risk is not AI being “too smart,” but Americans slowly losing the ability — and habit — of thinking and functioning without it. As more writing, research, planning, and judgment are outsourced to centralized systems, human fallback skills quietly atrophy, making society efficient but brittle.
That brittleness becomes a national risk when AI’s real dependencies are considered. Large-scale AI depends on data centers, power grids, and stable infrastructure that can fail due to outages, cyber incidents, or geopolitical pressure. Foreign adversaries do not need to defeat the US militarily to cause disruption; they only need to interrupt systems Americans assume will always work. A society optimized for AI uptime rather than resilience may discover, very suddenly, that when the intelligence layer goes dark, confusion spreads faster than solutions.
180466779
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
South Korea has unveiled a massive 519B-parameter AI model designed as national infrastructure, not a consumer chatbot. Backed by SK Telecom and major universities, the system is framed as a sovereign âoeteacher modelâ meant to power smaller AIs, validate domestic chips, and reduce reliance on American and Chinese platforms.
180465223
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
TikTok users are increasingly claiming that time feels âoeoff,â with many saying December vanished and Christmas arrived without warning. Some online are framing the sensation as a timeline shift or a break in reality itself. A new opinion piece argues the cause is far more mundane: short-form video and streaming culture may be flattening memory, erasing shared experiences, and compressing how time is perceived.
The article points to TikTokâ(TM)s endless scroll, lack of natural stopping points, and constant novelty as factors that prevent the brain from forming clear memory anchors. Combined with the decline of synchronized TV viewing and shared cultural moments, the result is a growing sense that time is accelerating — even though the clock has not changed. The author suggests that restoring structure, rituals, and uninterrupted experiences can make time feel âoenormalâ again.
180446521
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
MAINGEAR has introduced a new option called BYO RAM Builds that lets buyers order a fully built desktop without purchasing DDR5 memory through the system configurator. Customers can supply their own compatible RAM kit or buy one separately and ship it to MAINGEAR, which will then install it and run the system through its normal validation process before shipping. The goal is to remove memory pricing from the equation when locking in a new gaming or creator PC.
The move comes as DDR5 prices remain volatile due to demand from AI infrastructure, tighter manufacturer allocations, and spotty retail availability. By separating the system purchase from memory sourcing, MAINGEAR is effectively acknowledging that RAM has become one of the least predictable components in a modern PC build. It is a consumer friendly nod to how enthusiasts already shop, and an unusual level of flexibility for a prebuilt system vendor.
180435547
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Samsung is bringing Google Gemini directly into the kitchen, starting with a refrigerator that can see what you eat. At CES 2026, the company plans to show off a new Bespoke AI Refrigerator that uses a built in camera system paired with Gemini to automatically recognize food items, including leftovers stored in unlabeled containers. The idea is to keep an always up to date inventory without manual input, track what is added or removed, and surface suggestions based on what is actually inside the fridge. It is the first time Googleâ(TM)s Gemini AI is being integrated into a refrigerator, pushing generative AI well beyond phones and laptops.
The pitch sounds convenient, but it also raises familiar questions. This is vision based AI tied to cloud services, not just local smarts, and it depends on cameras watching what goes in and out of your fridge over years of ownership. Samsung is framing this as friction free food management, but critics may see it as another example of AI being embedded into everyday appliances whether consumers asked for it or not. The real test will be whether this becomes a genuinely useful background feature, or just another smart screen that people stop paying attention to once the novelty wears off.
180435541
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Visa says it has completed hundreds of secure, AI initiated transactions with partners, arguing this proves agent driven shopping is ready to move beyond experiments. The company believes 2025 will be the last full year most consumers manually check out, with AI agents handling purchases at scale by the 2026 holiday season. Nearly half of US shoppers already use AI tools for product discovery, and Visa wants to extend that shift all the way through payment using its Intelligent Commerce framework.
The pilots are already live in controlled environments, powering consumer and business purchases through AI agents tied to Visaâ(TM)s payment rails. To prevent abuse, Visa and partners have introduced a Trusted Agent Protocol to help merchants distinguish legitimate AI agents from bots, with Akamai adding fraud and identity controls. While the infrastructure may be ready, the bigger question is whether consumers fully understand the risks of letting software spend their money.
180381163
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Googleâ(TM)s Gemini Live API is not just another customer support tool. It is a direct replacement for human workers at scale. By combining real time voice, vision, and text with low latency and emotional awareness, Google is giving enterprises a clear path to eliminate large portions of Tier 1 and Tier 2 customer service. When companies talk about removing ticketing workflows and deploying lifelike AI receptionists that book appointments and close sales, what they really mean is fewer people answering phones, chats, or video calls. This is automation that finishes the job earlier systems only started.
Customer service has long functioned as an economic pressure valve, offering accessible jobs and a path upward for millions of workers worldwide. Gemini Live API threatens to hollow that out. The remaining roles will be fewer, more specialized, and harder to enter, while entry level positions quietly vanish. Google frames this as better experiences and efficiency, but the labor impact is displacement, not assistance. As this technology becomes normalized, executives will ask an uncomfortable question. Why are humans still doing this at all? For an entire industry built around human availability, the answer may not matter anymore.
180346513
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
OpenAI and several other AI giants have launched the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, describing it as a neutral home for standards as agentic systems move into real production. But Iâ(TM)m not buying the narrative. Instead of opening models, training data, or anything that would meaningfully shift power toward the community, the companies involved are donating lightweight artifacts like AGENTS.md, MCP, and goose. Theyâ(TM)re useful, but theyâ(TM)re also the safest, least threatening pieces of their ecosystem to âoeopen.â From where I sit, it looks like a strategic attempt to lock in influence over emerging standards before truly open projects get a chance to define the space.
I see the entire move as smoke and mirrors. With regulators paying closer attention and developer trust slipping, creating a Linux Foundation directed fund gives these companies convenient cover to say theyâ(TM)re being transparent and collaborative. But nothing about this structure forces them to share anything substantial, and nothing about it changes the closed nature of their core technology. To me, it looks like big tech trying to set the rules of the game early, using the language of openness without actually embracing it. Slashdot readers have seen this pattern before, and this one feels no different.
180277049
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Micron has announced that it will shut down its entire Crucial consumer business, ending nearly three decades of SSDs and RAM that many PC builders depended on. The company says soaring AI related demand in the data center is forcing it to redirect supply and engineering resources toward large enterprise customers. Crucial products will keep shipping only until February 2026, and while warranties will continue, the brand itself is effectively dead.
For consumers, the loss removes one of the few straightforward and trustworthy SSD options in a market already heavy with confusing controllers and marketing noise. Micron frames the move as a necessary shift toward enterprise growth, but longtime Linux users and home lab builders may see it as another casualty of the AI land grab.
180251077
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
OpenAI has partnered with NORAD for this yearâ(TM)s NORAD Tracks Santa event, introducing a set of ChatGPT-driven holiday tools. One of them, âoeElf Enrollment,â lets parents upload a photo to generate an âoeofficial Santaâ(TM)s helperâ image. While the feature is promoted as a lighthearted seasonal add-on, it immediately raises questions about data retention, face processing, and whether a holiday tradition should funnel families into an AI system that depends on user-submitted imagery. NORADâ(TM)s program historically centered on radar, satellites, and public outreach; this year, parents are being asked to hand over their childrenâ(TM)s faces for a digital keepsake.
The other two tools â" a coloring-page generator and a custom story creator â" donâ(TM)t require photos, and therefore avoid the privacy and surveillance concerns that Elf Enrollment introduces. Still, OpenAIâ(TM)s involvement in a long-standing government-adjacent tradition feels like a shift, especially as AI companies face ongoing scrutiny over training data and model inputs. Whether families embrace the new features or avoid them entirely will likely depend on their comfort level with an AI company operating in the middle of a holiday ritual that once felt much simpler.
180217631
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
CyberPowerPC is warning customers that system prices will jump on December seventh due to what it describes as a five-hundred-percent spike in RAM prices and a doubling of SSD costs since October. While those numbers sound extreme, they track with broader supply chain pressure driven by AI datacenter expansion. Hyperscalers are consuming enormous amounts of DRAM and NAND for training clusters, pushing manufacturers to prioritize enterprise production over consumer hardware. When supply gets tight, prebuilt system builders feel the squeeze first.
Thereâ(TM)s also a political component beneath the surface. Tariff uncertainty on electronics coming out of China continues to raise baseline costs for system builders that rely on imported cases, motherboards, PSUs, and cooling hardware. Combined with AI demand, it creates a pricing environment that is brutal for anyone trying to ship affordable gaming PCs heading into the holiday season. Whether the exact numbers CyberPowerPC cites are precise or rounded up for impact, the trend itself is real and unlikely to reverse quickly.
180217437
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Neweggâ(TM)s new partnership with PayPal is another sign that mainstream e commerce is shifting control from users to AI driven intermediaries. Instead of shoppers visiting Newegg directly, PayPalâ(TM)s agentic commerce system pushes product discovery through AI platforms like Perplexity where recommendations, checkout, and fraud checks all happen inside someone elseâ(TM)s controlled environment. Newegg stays the merchant of record, but the real influence shifts to the platforms that decide which products their AI agents mention. That may sound convenient, but it also means discovery becomes guided by training data and commercial integrations rather than user intent.
Slashdot readers will likely notice the other issue. This setup puts PayPal deeper into the shopping pipeline at a time when many users already avoid the company over account freezes and dispute policies. An AI mediated shopping experience where PayPal becomes the silent gatekeeper by default is not going to sit well with everyone. And with AI agents shaping purchasing decisions based on behavior and context, the concept of intent driven shopping starts to look a lot like quiet nudging rather than empowerment. Newegg may see this as the future, but the community will probably ask whether users truly want AI systems and PayPal deciding how they shop.
180197367
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
President Trump has issued a sweeping executive order that creates the Genesis Mission, a national AI program he compares to a Manhattan Project level effort. It centralizes DOE supercomputers, national lab resources, massive scientific datasets, and new AI foundation models into a single platform meant to fast track research in areas like fusion, biotech, microelectronics, and advanced manufacturing. The order positions AI as both a scientific accelerator and a national security requirement, with heavy emphasis on data access, secure cloud environments, classification controls, and export restrictions.
The mission also sets strict timelines for identifying key national science challenges, integrating interagency datasets, enabling AI run experimentation, and creating public private research partnerships. Whether this becomes an effective scientific engine or another oversized federal program remains to be seen, but the administration is clearly pushing to frame Trump as the president who put AI at the center of U.S. research strategy.
180110911
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Grok 4.1 is now rolling out across grok.com and the X apps, and xAI is calling it a major step for how its model handles creativity, emotional prompts, and everyday conversation. The timing is hard to ignore since GPT 5.1 just landed, and the back and forth between OpenAI and xAI is starting to feel like a real rivalry. Grok 4.1 now tops LMArenaâ(TM)s text leaderboard in its reasoning mode, with the fast version beating many competitors even when they are using full thinking. xAI also claims big improvements in empathy tests, creative writing scores, and reduced hallucinations when paired with search.
What makes this interesting for Slashdot readers is how quickly the model race is accelerating. Grok 4.1 represents xAI trying to close the gap with OpenAI while showing it can produce a model with personality rather than just raw output speed. With GPT 5.1 pushing in its own direction and Grok 4.1 arriving right behind it, both companies clearly want to shape the next phase of AI in very different ways. If the pace keeps up, users are going to be seeing upgrades faster than the ecosystem can fully adapt.
