Governance and Regulation
How do we protect our information ecosystem? ‘Embrace ownership, openness and oversight’
(Almar Latour, Bill Ready-World Economic Forum) Generative AI models that scrape proprietary data and creative work without providing fair compensation threaten the media ecosystem, say CEOs of Dow Jones and Pinterest. Leaders must prioritize ownership through licensing agreements that respect intellectual property and reward original content creators. Leaders are gathering at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 to explore how the ethical use of AI and other emerging technologies will translate into solutions for real-world challenges. – https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/protect-information-ecosystem-embrace-ownership-openness-and-oversight/
Meta’s $2B Manus Acquisition Faces Scrutiny From Chinese Regulators
(AI Insider) Meta’s proposed $2 billion acquisition of AI assistant platform Manus is facing growing regulatory scrutiny from Chinese authorities, even as U.S. regulators appear comfortable with the deal’s structure. According to the Financial Times, officials in Beijing are reviewing whether the transaction violates China’s technology export controls, following Manus’s earlier relocation from Beijing to Singapore. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/metas-2b-manus-acquisition-faces-scrutiny-from-chinese-regulators/
Legislation
California Lawmaker Proposes Four-Year Ban on AI Chatbot Toys for Children
(AI Insider) California State Senator Steve Padilla has introduced legislation seeking a four-year ban on the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for children under 18. The bill, known as SB 867, is intended to give safety regulators time to develop protections against harmful AI interactions involving minors. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/california-lawmaker-proposes-four-year-ban-on-ai-chatbot-toys-for-children/
Geostrategies
US To Leave Global Forum on Cyber Expertise
(Kevin Poireault-Infosecurity Magazine) The Trump administration is suspending US support for the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) as part of an exit from international organizations. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 7 that withdraw the US from 66 international organizations, 31 of which are UN entities. The have determined that it is contrary to the interests of the United States to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/us-leave-global-forum-on-cyber/
Report Sets Engineering Priorities to Protect U.S. Lead in Quantum
(Quantum Insider) A new ERVA report funded by the NSF warns that the United States risks losing leadership in quantum-enabled technologies and calls for targeted engineering research to move quantum systems from laboratory demonstrations to scalable, deployable platforms. The roadmap identifies four priority areas with the highest potential impact—quantum and materials, quantum and biology, quantum and computing, and quantum and AI—focused on overcoming engineering, manufacturing, and system-integration barriers. The report urges coordinated investment across academia, industry, and government to accelerate translation of quantum research into production-ready technologies amid rising global competition, particularly from China and the European Union. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/01/07/report-sets-engineering-priorities-to-protect-u-s-lead-in-quantum/
Security and Surveillance
Phishing Attacks Exploit Misconfigured Email Routing Settings to Target Microsoft 365 Users
(Danny Palmer – Infosecurity Magazine) A surge in phishing attacks which exploit email routing settings and misconfigured domain spoofing protections to spoof domains and make malicious emails appear as if they were sent from within the organization are targeting Microsoft 365 accounts. Microsoft Threat Intelligence has warned that the attacks are themed around phoney messages from HR departments and IT security teams and are being deployed in attempts to steal login credentials. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/phishing-exploits-misconfigured/
Fifth of Breaches Take Two Weeks to Recover From
(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine) Endpoint disruption following a serious security breach can take up to two weeks to recover from and cost millions for most (87%) US and UK organizations, a new report has revealed. Absolute Security polled 750 CISOs on both sides of the Atlantic to compile the first in a new e-book series, The Resilient CISO: The State of Enterprise Resilience. It revealed that, over the past 12 months, more than half (55%) of respondents had suffered a cyber-attack, ransomware infection, compromise or data breach that took mobile, remote or hybrid endpoint devices out of action. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fifth-breaches-two-weeks-recover/
Maximum Severity “Ni8mare” Bug Lets Hackers Hijack n8n Servers
(Phil Muncaster-Infosecurity Magazine) Security experts have warned of a critical new vulnerability in popular AI workflow automation platform n8n that could enable adversaries to take over locally deployed instances and compromise enterprise secrets. Cyera revealed the “Ni8mare” vulnerability (CVE-2026-21858) in a blog post yesterday. It has a CVSS score of 10.0, reflecting the fact that remote, unauthenticated hackers can exploit the bug with potentially severe consequences. – https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/maximum-severity-ni8mare-bug/
CrazyHunter Ransomware Attacking Healthcare Sector with Advanced Evasion Techniques
(Tushar Subhra Dutta-Cyber Security News) CrazyHunter ransomware has emerged as a critical and evolving threat that specifically targets healthcare organizations and sensitive medical infrastructure. This Go-developed malware represents a significant escalation in ransomware sophistication, employing advanced encryption methods and delivery mechanisms designed to bypass modern security defenses. Healthcare institutions in Taiwan have experienced repeated attacks, with at least six known organizations falling victim to this aggressive campaign. – https://cybersecuritynews.com/crazyhunter-ransomware-attacking-healthcare-sector/
New cyber action plan to tackle threats and strengthen public services
(Gov UK) New measures will be introduced to make online public services more secure and resilient, so people can use them with confidence – whether applying for benefits, paying taxes or accessing healthcare. Backed by over £210 million, the Government Cyber Action Plan published on Tuesday 6 January sets out how government will rise to meet the growing range of online threats. Driven by a new Government Cyber Unit, the plan will rapidly improve cyber defences and digital resilience across government departments and the wider public sector, so people can trust that their data and services are protected. – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-cyber-action-plan-to-tackle-threats-and-strengthen-public-services
Frontiers and Markets
Ford has an AI assistant and new hands-free BlueCruise tech on the way
(Sean O’Kane-TechCrunch) Ford is developing an AI assistant that will debut in the company’s smartphone app, before expanding to its vehicles in 2027, the company announced Wednesday at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. The company also teased a next-generation of its BlueCruise advanced driver assistance system that is both cheaper to make and more capable — ultimately leading to eyes-off driving in 2028. – https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/07/ford-has-an-ai-assistant-and-new-hands-free-bluecruise-tech-on-the-way/
AI-generated sensors open new paths for early cancer detection
(Anne Trafton-MIT News) Detecting cancer in the earliest stages could dramatically reduce cancer deaths because cancers are usually easier to treat when caught early. To help achieve that goal, MIT and Microsoft researchers are using artificial intelligence to design molecular sensors for early detection. The researchers developed an AI model to design peptides (short proteins) that are targeted by enzymes called proteases, which are overactive in cancer cells. Nanoparticles coated with these peptides can act as sensors that give off a signal if cancer-linked proteases are present anywhere in the body. – https://news.mit.edu/2026/ai-generated-sensors-open-new-paths-early-cancer-detection-0106
Seeing thyroid cancer in a new light: When AI meets label-free imaging in the operating room
(SPIE) Advanced label-free optical imaging for faster and more precise identification of thyroid cancer during surgery – https://spie.org/news/seeing-thyroid-cancer-in-a-new-light-when-ai-meets-label-free-imaging-in-the-operating-room
AI model can predict a person’s disease risk using sleep data
(News Medical Life Sciences) A poor night’s sleep portends a bleary-eyed next day, but it could also hint at diseases that will strike years down the road. A new artificial intelligence model developed by Stanford Medicine researchers and their colleagues can use physiological recordings from one night’s sleep to predict a person’s risk of developing more than 100 health conditions. Known as SleepFM, the model was trained on nearly 600,000 hours of sleep data collected from 65,000 participants. The sleep data comes from polysomnography, a comprehensive sleep assessment that uses various sensors to record brain activity, heart activity, respiratory signals, leg movements, eye movements and more. Polysomnography is the gold standard in sleep studies that monitor patients overnight in a lab. It is also, the researchers realized, an untapped gold mine of physiological data. – https://www.news-medical.net/news/20260106/AI-model-can-predict-a-persons-disease-risk-using-sleep-data.aspx
Quantum Computing Versus AI: Why The Quantum-Replaces-AI Hype is Wrong, But The Potential of Quantum AI is Real
(Quantum Insider) Researchers argue that quantum computing and artificial intelligence are being developed as complementary technologies, not rivals, with hybrid systems emerging in which classical computing remains dominant, AI provides control and learning, and quantum hardware is used selectively as an accelerator. AI already plays a critical role in making quantum computers usable by supporting experiment design, hardware calibration, error mitigation, and system optimization, without which scaling quantum systems would be significantly slower. Quantum computing is being explored to address specific computational bottlenecks inside AI workflows—such as optimization, sampling, and reinforcement learning at scale—rather than to replace neural networks or existing AI systems. – https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/protect-information-ecosystem-embrace-ownership-openness-and-oversight/
Monarch Quantum Launches Integrated Photonics Systems for Quantum Hardware
(Quantum Insider) Monarch Quantum has launched as a privately held San Diego–based company focused on building integrated photonics systems for quantum computing, sensing, and communications. The company’s Quantum Light Engines consolidate hundreds of optical components into factory-aligned modules to reduce system size and integration complexity in quantum hardware. Monarch Quantum designs and manufactures its systems in-house using hybrid optical packaging, robotic assembly, and machine learning–assisted processes. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/01/07/monarch-quantum-launches-integrated-photonics/
D-Wave Announces Agreement to Acquire Quantum Circuits Inc.
(Quantum Insider) D-Wave Quantum Inc. agreed to acquire Quantum Circuits Inc. for $550 million in stock and cash to combine annealing systems with error-corrected superconducting gate-model technology and accelerate a dual-platform roadmap. The deal integrates D-Wave’s scalable superconducting control and cloud platform with Quantum Circuits’ dual-rail, hardware-integrated error-detection approach to reduce physical resources for logical qubits and target a commercially available gate-model system in 2026. The acquisition adds a New Haven R&D center led by Quantum Circuits’ team, including Yale physicist Rob Schoelkopf, and is expected to close in late January 2026 subject to regulatory and listing approvals. – https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/01/07/d-wave-announces-agreement-to-acquire-quantum-circuits-inc/
Benteler Acquires Deutsche Bahn Company ioki to Scale Autonomous Mobility
(AI Insider) Benteler Group agreed to acquire ioki GmbH from Deutsche Bahn, combining vehicle manufacturing, mobility software and fleet operations to form a single European autonomous mobility provider, with closing expected in the near term. The deal brings together holon’s autonomous urban shuttle, ioki’s on-demand routing and simulation software and Benteler Mobility’s fleet operations and financing, offering cities and transit agencies an integrated vehicles-to-operations package. Benteler said ioki will remain system-agnostic and expand internationally, supporting mixed fleets as operators transition from human-driven services toward autonomous public transport. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/benteler-acquires-deutsche-bahn-company-ioki-to-scale-autonomous-mobility/
Mobileye To Acquire Humanoid Startup Mentee Robotics for $900M
(AI Insider) Mobileye agreed to acquire Mentee Robotics for $900 million in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, marking the company’s formal expansion from automotive autonomy into humanoid robotics and broader Physical AI. The acquisition brings together Mobileye’s perception, planning and safety systems with Mentee’s vertically integrated humanoid platform, which is designed for cost-efficient deployment using simulation-first training and few-shot learning rather than continuous teleoperation. Mobileye said initial autonomous proof-of-concept deployments are planned for 2026 with series production targeted for 2028, while the transaction modestly increases operating expenses and positions the company to apply a shared autonomy stack across vehicles and robots. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/mobileye-to-acquire-humanoid-startup-mentee-robotics-for-900m/
EngineAI Robotics Technology Introduces the T800 Humanoid Robot at CES 2026
(AI Insider) EngineAI Robotics Technology showcased two embodied intelligence platforms at CES 2026—the PM01 lightweight general-purpose agent and the T800 full-scale humanoid—positioning both as application-oriented systems rather than experimental prototypes. Live demonstrations emphasized full-body coordination and fine motor control, drawing sustained interest from industry partners and developers and prompting discussions around deployment scenarios for human–robot collaboration across multiple sectors. EngineAI said the PM01 is moving toward scaled deployment in areas such as transportation services, retail guidance, and inspection, while the T800 highlights the company’s system-level integration capabilities as it advances toward real-world industrial use cases. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/engineai-robotics-technology-introduces-the-t800-humanoid-robot-at-ces-2026/
Hexagon Robotics Partners with Microsoft to Develop Humanoid Robots
(AI Insider) Hexagon Robotics has entered a strategic partnership with Microsoft to advance humanoid robotics for data-driven manufacturing, focusing on scaling physical AI frameworks from imitation and reinforcement learning to multimodal vision-language-action models. The collaboration combines Hexagon Robotics’ sensor fusion, robotics, and spatial intelligence with Microsoft’s cloud and edge platforms, including Azure, Fabric Real-Time Intelligence, Azure IoT Operations, and Azure App Service, to deliver production-ready humanoid systems for manipulation and inspection. Initial deployments are expected to target automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, and logistics, with Hexagon’s industrial humanoid robot AEON already demonstrating real-time defect detection and operational intelligence in industrial environments. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/hexagon-robotics-partners-with-microsoft-to-develop-humanoid-robots/
i10X Announces $1M Pre-Seed Round to Build the Discovery & Distribution Layer for AI
(AI Insider) i10X closed a $1 million pre-seed round in Q4 2025 with backing from Iterative, Antler AI Disrupt, and PPR Ventures to accelerate product development, infrastructure, and team growth. The platform provides a unified workspace offering access to major AI models and more than 500 specialized agents, orchestrating workflows across tools to enable end-to-end automation. i10X is targeting SMBs, creators, and solo professionals by simplifying AI discovery and usage into a single subscription amid growing fragmentation in the AI tools landscape. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/i10x-announces-1m-pre-seed-round-to-build-the-discovery-distribution-layer-for-ai/
Linker Vision Raises $35M Series-A to Accelerate Global AI Ecosystem
(AI Insider) Linker Vision raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Abico Group, with participation from NVIDIA, Yun-Hsien Enterprise, CIDC Co., Hotung Venture Group, ITIC’s Noah GT Fund, ChangHwa Bank Venture, and Yuanta Venture. The company develops Physical AI and Reasoning AI platforms for large-scale deployment across smart cities, smart spaces, industrial AI, telecom, robotics, and autonomous services. The new funding will support global expansion across the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, alongside accelerated product development, platform integration, and talent acquisition. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/linker-vision-raises-35m-series-a-to-accelerate-global-ai-ecosystem/
LMArena Secures $150M to Build the World’s Most Trusted AI Evaluation Platform
(AI Insider) LMArena raised $150 million in new funding at a $1.7 billion post-money valuation, led by Felicis and UC Investments with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, and others. The company will use the capital to scale its AI evaluation platform, expand its technical and research teams, and deepen real-world model assessment using feedback from over 5 million monthly users worldwide. LMArena works with major AI labs including OpenAI, Google, and xAI, generating revenue through paid evaluation services, with annualized consumption surpassing $30 million within months of its first commercial launch. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/lmarena-secures-150m-to-build-the-worlds-most-trusted-ai-evaluation-platform/
MilkStraw AI Closes $2M Seed Round to Expand AI-Driven Cloud Optimization Platform
(AI Insider) UAE-headquartered artificial intelligence startup MilkStraw AI has raised $2 million in seed funding to scale its AI-powered cloud optimisation platform. The round was led by VentureSouq, with participation from Ibtikar Fund and M Capital. The company was founded in 2023 by Jawad Shreim and develops software that automates cloud infrastructure cost management for businesses. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/milkstraw-ai-closes-2m-seed-round-to-expand-ai-driven-cloud-optimization-platform/
xAI Raises $20B in Series E to Scale Grok and Data Center Infrastructure
(AI Insider) xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk and developer of the Grok chatbot, announced it has raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round, marking one of the largest AI financings to date. The company said the round includes participation from Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, and the Qatar Investment Authority, with Nvidia and Cisco joining as strategic investors. xAI did not disclose whether the funding was structured as equity or debt. – https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/01/07/xai-raises-20b-in-series-e-to-scale-grok-and-data-center-infrastructure/