Overview
- Geoffrey Hinton told CNN, as reported by Business Insider, that AI will materially displace many jobs in 2026, highlighting growing capability to handle longer white‑collar tasks and warning about deceptive behavior in advanced systems.
- Meta agreed to acquire Singapore‑based Butterfly Effect, developer of the Manus AI agent for SMEs, with terms undisclosed as LatePost reports a multibillion‑dollar price and notes the unit will operate independently with founder Xiao Hong becoming a Meta vice president.
- AI infrastructure provider Jiuzhang/Alaya NeW Cloud announced a new financing round led by the Beijing Information Industry Development Fund and the Beijing AI Industry Investment Fund, with a three‑year target to build 100,000 PFLOPs of accessible compute.
- Counterpoint Research forecasts consumer generative AI spending to rise from $225 billion in 2023 to $699 billion by 2030, with faster growth expected in software such as chatbots, personal assistants, and content tools.
- Investor Jeffrey Katzenberg said 2026 could mark a clearing point that separates companies delivering practical AI results from those relying on storytelling, suggesting multiple winners rather than a winner‑takes‑all outcome.