Overview
- Geoffrey Hinton warned on CNN that 2026 could bring substantial job displacement as AI now handles tasks like call-center work and advances at a pace he likened to an Industrial Revolution–level shift.
- Meta reached a deal to acquire Singapore-based Manus, an SMB-focused AI agent company with about $125 million in annualized revenue, with LatePost reporting a multibillion-dollar price tag and the founder set to become a Meta vice president.
- Manus’s subscription-based agents handle tasks such as résumé screening, trip planning and basic stock analysis, positioning Meta to monetize its AI investments more directly while keeping the unit operating independently.
- Beijing-backed funds led a new strategic round for Jiuzhang Cloud, which announced a goal to build 100,000 PFLOP of inclusive AI compute over three years to expand training, reinforcement learning and a broader智算云 platform.
- Counterpoint projected consumer generative AI spending to grow from $225 billion in 2023 to $699 billion by 2030, with software usage expanding sharply and OpenAI retaining the largest user base as Google and Microsoft post strong mobile gains.