The global AI landscape continues to heat up: U.S. lawmakers are zeroing in on Chinese AI disruptor DeepSeek with a possible government-device ban, while open-source challenger Hugging Face fires back at proprietary tools. OpenAI is targeting education and the public sector—both in the U.S. and through a newly forged partnership with SoftBank in Japan—just as…
Eureka 2.0: AI is beginning to ace grad-level science, but can you trust it?
Remember when AI couldn’t crack a tough math problem without hallucinating formulas? Those days could soon be over. Maybe they already are. We could already have experimental AI systems that surpass 90% accuracy on the graduate-level Google-Proof Q&A benchmark GPQA Diamond), a test of graduate‐level reasoning in biology, physics, and chemistry. For context, in-domain experts…
5 neurotech trends to watch in 2025: From paralysis recovery to prosthetics that feel and beyond
Paralyzed patients are walking again. Silent minds are finding their voice. Robotic limbs are feeling. Neurotechnology is now merging human intention with machine intelligence, transforming concepts once confined to science fiction—like the cyberspace decks from William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and the neural implants from his 1981 story Johnny Mnemonic—into clinical reality. Think AI-powered brain implants that decode…
Ericsson launches Cognitive Labs to advance AI research in telecom, healthcare
Ericsson has introduced Cognitive Labs, a virtual research initiative dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), Active Learning, and Large-Scale Language Models (LLMs). The program operates with teams in Madrid, Málaga, and Cairo. Focus areas include enhancing mobile communications and exploring emerging technology applications in sectors like healthcare. The…
Analysis of 2,347 tweets shows signs of DeepSeek eating into ChatGPT’s market share
DeepSeek has surged ahead of ChatGPT among X users, commanding 86.8% of stated preferences among 2,347 analyzed X/Twitter posts, based on an analysis from Topview. In the dataset, 86.8% expressed a preference for DeepSeek compared to 12.1% for ChatGPT, 0.8% for Claude and 0.3% for Gemini. Overall, close to seven times more users expressing a…
2025 R&D layoffs tracker
As January concludes, Teradyne’s robotics division layoffs (140 positions, 10% workforce reduction) punctuate a month marked by significant restructuring across research-intensive sectors. The robotics group’s consolidation, which reduces operational breakeven from $440M to $365M, exemplifies broader industry trends toward operational efficiency and strategic realignment. Build, cut, scale: Tech’s 2025 trifecta for AI dominance The allure…
Within hours, open source AI developer releases tool similar to OpenAI’s Deep Research
The Jina AI CEO Han Xiao has replicated OpenAI’s newly launched Deep Research system within hours of its debut, releasing an open-source alternative that demonstrates the accelerating pace of AI innovation. The project, node-DeepResearch, uses a modular architecture to mirror OpenAI’s agentic search-and-analysis capabilities at minimal cost. For context, Jina AI is a neural search…
OpenAI launches “Deep Research,” an agent to automate complex online research tasks
OpenAI has launched a new offering known as “Deep Research,” which can plan and execute multi-step online research tasks. Potential uses of the product, as OpenAI outlined in an announcement include navigating scientific literature or analyzing UI/UX research data. In an internal evaluation, the agent shows strength in automating routine online research tasks, achieving nearly…
Q&A: How BD-Biosero robotics alliance can bridge automation gaps in complex flow cytometry workflows
As therapeutic pipelines grow more complex — with multispecific antibodies, cell therapies, and genomic medicines demanding rigorous immunological characterization — flow cytometry is a core enabler of advanced immunophenotyping and functional analysis. Yet while experiments require unprecedented precision (high parameters are commonplace with sometimes 18+ color panels), manual workflows can struggle to meet throughput demands…
This week in AI research: OpenAI eyes $340B valuation, partners with national labs
Here’s the scoop: AI is still on fire, despite bubble talk, and OpenAI’s rumored $40B capital raise—driving its valuation up to $340B—could be one of the biggest bets yet. But this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Competition from China’s DeepSeek, fresh AI model launches by Alibaba, and rumored next-gen offerings from Google and others mean…
R&D 100 winner of the day: Traffic Violation Catcher
In Taiwan, traffic violations, especially those involving motorcycles, remain a problem. In 2022 alone, traffic accidents resulted in 3,085 deaths and nearly 500,000 injuries, the highest in a decade. Limited police resources make traffic violation enforcement difficult, leading to a gap between issued penalties and actual infractions. Traditional enforcement methods pose safety risks to officers,…
Proprio CEO charts the future of surgical robotics as a shortage of surgeons looms
A looming U.S. surgeon shortage—projected to reach up to 19,900 unfilled positions by 2036 per AAMC data—is set to collide with an aging population and frequently crumbling rural healthcare infrastructure. Rural communities face the sharpest edge of this predicament: 136 rural hospitals closed between 2010–2021, leaving 60% of non-metro counties lacking adequate surgical care in…
AI takes center stage at ORNL, where potential meets risk
In the early 1990s, the internet seemed poised to improve our lives by democratizing knowledge, publishing, and communication. While it did achieve many of these goals, it also introduced security risks ranging from malware to phishing. The online world of 2024 feels more like a war zone than a digital playground, “If you connect a…
10 hot R&D and STEM roles in 2025 featured in LinkedIn report
The race for AI adoption is reshaping the R&D workforce, with AI Engineer (#1) and AI consultant (#2) securing top spots in LinkedIn’s 2025 Jobs on the Rise report. Meanwhile, sustainability specialist (#9) and semiconductor-oriented roles such as instrumentation & control engineer (#24) reflect continued growth in both “pure tech” and physical-world sectors. Although AI…
New model sharpens antibody predictions, aiding faster vaccine and biologics development
Researchers have made significant strides in predicting a protein’s structure from its sequence using large language models. However, this method hasn’t been as effective for antibodies, primarily due to their hypervariability. This makes it challenging to identify treatments for SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases. MIT researchers have developed a computational technique that more accurately predicts…
Hestus secures $1.5M seed funding to streamline CAD workflows with targeted AI
Hestus, a Y Combinator S24 startup, secured $1.5 million in seed funding led by Liquid2 and Rock Yard Ventures to automate repetitive CAD tasks and boost engineers’ efficiency. Additional investment came via Y Combinator, Kyle Vogt (Cruise and Twitch co-founder), and Eric Migicovsky (Pebble founder and former YC partner). Hestus was founded by Sohrab Haghighat…
Meet Reactor Mk.1, an LLM developed under $1M
The AI landscape has long been dominated by a “bigger is better” mantra. The basic thinking is that bigger and better GPUs, more sophisticated algorithms, and more data translates into better performance. And while that is generally true, those assumptions can be simplistic. “DeepSeek is really, really good,” wrote one anonymous employee at Google on…
How trade secrets, green tech, and Asia’s rise redrew the 2024 USPTO patent map
Artificial intelligence is everywhere—yet AI patents aren’t exploding the way you might expect. Could it be that innovators are keeping their best secrets out of the USPTO’s public view? “When we look at AI patents, we see machine learning going down, likely because AI is absorbing it. It’s not necessarily that there’s less AI activity;…
Uncorking the genAI genie: DeepSeek’s image model is the latest to rattle closed-model rivals
The generative AI (GenAI) genie is out of the bottle, and developers of closed models now confront new challenges in monetizing reasoning systems and image generation tools—the latter already widely accessible at low or no cost. The Chinese startup DeepSeek, once a niche player, has launched Janus-Pro, an open-source multimodal AI that reportedly rivals mainstream…
Tech’s trillion-dollar tumble and 7 other major R&D moves this week
Welcome to our weekly briefing on R&D headlines for January 27, 2025. In this edition, we cover the disruption from China’s DeepSeek reasoning AI model R1, which punches above its weight class. Ostensibly trained on a shoestring budget, it outperforms OpenAI’s o1 by some measures, according to DeepSeek’s technical report. The company also has publicly…
Can AI improve mental health therapy?
Some individuals with mental health disorders hesitate to discuss personal issues with a clinician due to concerns about judgment or stigma. This is especially true for people with addiction disorders, yet foregoing professional help can harm both mental and physical health. Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai say artificial intelligence (AI) may play a role in addressing…
Think AI is a bubble? Avnet’s survey of 1,200 engineers reveals it has penetrated almost every stage of product creation
Think the AI boom is a bubble? While the current surge in AI interest is likely to cool eventually, it would be wrong to suggest that an AI winter is coming any time soon. Consider that Avnet’s latest survey of 1,200+ electronics engineers found that eight out of 10 are actively engaged in AI, with…
This week in AI research: Latest Insilico Medicine drug enters the clinic, a $0.55/M token model R1 rivals OpenAI’s $60 flagship, and more
While OpenAI charges $60 per million tokens for its flagship reasoning model, a Chinese startup just open-sourced an alternative that matches its performance—at 95% less cost. Meet DeepSeek-R1, the RL-trained model that’s not just competing with Silicon Valley’s AI giants, but in some cases running on consumer laptops in some configurations rather than in data…
Big tech’s AI can’t keep its facts straight and why ‘bolt-on’ fixes don’t work, according to Copyleaks’ CEO
Why can’t Big Tech’s billion-dollar AI stop making stuff up? Apple recently hit the brakes on its AI-generated news alerts after a BBC complaint pointed out a false and misleading headline. And as Apple has partnered with OpenAI push ChatGPT functionality into Siri, lawsuits over ‘hallucinated’ legal cases and viral confabulated ‘AI-enhanced’ search queries expose…
9 major R&D moves this week: NVIDIA expands, Google targets 500M Gemini users, plus J&J’s $15B bid and more
Welcome to our weekly briefing on R&D headlines that are shaping technology, healthcare, and industry. In this edition, we explore NVIDIA’s global expansion plans (plus a sharp rebuttal to new U.S. AI policy), Google’s ambitious Gemini user goals, a big-ticket pharma acquisition, tighter U.S. chip controls, and more. Keep reading for the latest developments and…