Ukraine's bet on drone swarms. Lyiv, Ukraine - Hundreds of AI-controlled robots operating in unison, talking to each other to autonomously attack targets -- a dystopian vision of the future of war that Ukraine's defense industry wants to make a reality. Four years into the Russian invasion, the idea -- known as drone swarms -- is one of the hottest topics in military tech in a country that describes itself as the world-leader in drone warfare. There is a huge interest, military expert Yury Fedorenko told a recent Drone Autonomy conference, held in an undisclosed location in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Students at one of Russia's leading engineering universities are getting a lucrative offer: ditch their studies for a year, fly drones for the military and earn more than 5 million rubles ($68,275) in pay as well as free tuition on their return. Pamphlets distributed at Bauman Moscow State Technical University promise students who sign up for the unmanned systems forces will fly drones from far behind the front lines, but still qualify for combat veteran status. It's part of a broader push across Russia to recruit university and college students, using lavish signing bonuses, academic leave and even outright coercion to convince young men to join the fight. At least 270 institutions are actively promoting military contracts, according to the independent magazine Groza, which specializes in higher education and student issues. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

OpenAI floats idea of global AI governance body with U.S. and China The U.S. has an opportunity to use its lead in artificial intelligence technology to create a global governance mechanism to ensure safer, more resilient systems, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, Chris Lehane, said. OpenAI would support the creation of a global governance body for artificial intelligence led by the U.S. and including China as a member, a top company executive said, hours before the start of U.S. President Donald Trump's high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. When asked about the China summit, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, Chris Lehane, said Wednesday that the U.S. has an opportunity to use its lead in AI technology to create a global governance mechanism resulting in safer, more resilient systems. "AI, in some level, transcends a lot of the prevailing or traditional trade type of issues," Lehane told reporters during a briefing at the company's offices in Washington. "There is an opportunity to really start to build something up globally, and have countries around the world, including China, potentially participate." In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Amazon is hoping that AI-powered answers will help keep shoppers from defecting to other sites or chatbots. Artificial intelligence algorithms are coming to some of the most valuable real estate in retail: the Amazon.com Queries typed into Amazon's website and mobile app will soon reply, depending on the context, with product comparisons or suggestions generated by AI large language models, the online retailer said Wednesday. The new tool -- called Alexa for Shopping -- supplants Rufus, the shopping assistant bot that summarized product reviews and suggested purchases. To invoke Rufus, users had to click a blue and orange icon. The new search experience will appear by default, beginning this week for users in the U.S. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

A worker arranges packets of condoms at a pharmacy in Dhaka. Bangladesh's family planning system is buckling under severe contraceptive shortages. DHAKA - Bangladesh's once-praised family planning system is buckling under severe contraceptive shortages, raising fears of a rise in unplanned pregnancies in one of the world's most densely populated countries. For decades, the South Asian nation was hailed as a success for slashing birth rates through an expansive state-backed family planning program that sent field workers door to door with pills, condoms and advice on birth spacing. But that system is now faltering, with government clinics across the country of 170 million people running out of basic contraceptives after procurement failures and administrative disruption left supplies depleted in nearly a third of districts. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

TDK CEO Noboru Saito says the firm is prepared to add investments to ride the global boom in generative artificial intelligence. Electronics component linchpin TDK is prepared to add to what is already its biggest capital spending campaign ever in a push to ride the global boom in generative artificial intelligence. The company has added ¥100 billion ($640 million) to its multiyear investment plan each year since it rolled it out in 2024, and now CEO Noboru Saito says the effort may accelerate to match an expected surge in orders and demand. "Should promising prospects arise, our commitment is to make timely and opportunistic investments," Saito, 59, said in an interview. "If we don't sow the seeds for medium-to long-term growth now, we won't be able to reap the harvest later." In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking are all likely to gain access to Anthropic's artificial intelligence model, Mythos. Japan's three megabanks are set to secure access to Anthropic's artificial intelligence model, Mythos, according to a person familiar with the matter, after its limited release last month sparked fears of a new age of cybersecurity risks. MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank are all likely to gain access to the artificial intelligence model developed by the U.S. firm, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The planned access was earlier reported by Nikkei. The move comes as financial institutions around the world grow alarmed about the risks created by Mythos, which has an unprecedented ability to detect software vulnerabilities. That has raised concerns that hackers could use Mythos to disrupt critical infrastructure, and access has so far been limited to a small number of U.S. companies and organizations.

Musk's xAI races to get Wall Street firms to use Grok chatbot A chat window for chatbot Grok. Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is moving with urgency to boost revenue by selling chatbot subscriptions and access to its computing resources before SpaceX's expected IPO next month. Billionaire Elon Musk's xAI has recruited multiple Wall Street firms with ties to his business empire to test its Grok chatbot, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a push to bolster revenue ahead of parent company SpaceX's initial public offering. Apollo Global Management and Morgan Stanley have begun using Grok internally alongside software from other AI model makers, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public. Valor Equity Partners is also using Grok, the people said. Despite some banks signing up for Grok, financiers are rarely using the chatbot for work, some of the people said.

SoftBank Group has reported a surge in quarterly profit due to valuation gains on its OpenAI investment, boosting confidence at the Japanese company to bet even more on the ChatGPT-maker. The gains on OpenAI outweighed lackluster investment gains elsewhere in the Tokyo-based technology group's portfolio while war in the Middle East roiled markets. That points to growing reliance on the U.S. startup, which faces rising competition from Anthropic and Google and is reportedly trailing its highest internal targets. SoftBank earned a net income of ¥1.83 trillion ($11.6 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of ¥295.2 billion. The profit could be attributed entirely to its booking $25 billion in valuation gains on OpenAI in the quarter, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kirk Boodry. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Science fiction has long imagined a world where our brains interact with machines to restore and augment our abilities -- think of the neural implants that connected to Geordi La Forge's visor in Star Trek or allowed Alex Murphy to be reborn as cyborg law enforcer in RoboCop. In the real world, researchers have been working for decades on so-called brain-computer interfaces to help people who suffer from paralysis, blindness, hearing loss, and more, regain function. Some individuals have used these devices to control a computer cursor with their minds; others have managed to move a robotic arm or transcribe some of their thoughts into text. The technology is still nascent and the number of people who have received implants is only in the hundreds. Just a few companies have received regulatory approval to progress beyond clinical trials to commercial use -- and even that's for limited applications.