Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reveals the Muse Charm device during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday. MENLO PARK, California - Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled a small handheld gadget called Meta Charm for using its new Muse AI assistant, taking the company's hardware efforts beyond its successful smart glasses. The AI device, about the size of an Apple AirPods case, features a roughly 2-inch (5 centimeter) touchscreen and a built-in 5G connection. Meta said Charm would be ready to ship for the holidays in December but did not give a price. "We pack the whole Muse experience, including the whole real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to," Zuckerberg said at Meta's annual device event, Meta Connect, in Menlo Park, California. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

SoftBank Group has raised roughly $11 billion in debt, spread across dollars and euros, making the Japanese conglomerate the biggest corporate junk-bond borrower in the world. Billionaire Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group has pushed through one of the largest junk-bond offerings on record, dangling yields above anything it's paid before in an effort to fund its massive artificial intelligence ambitions. The company raised roughly $11 billion in debt, spread across dollars and euros, making the Japanese conglomerate the biggest corporate junk-bond borrower in the world, data shows. While it drew enough demand to lower pricing, borrowing costs were still largely higher than it has had to pay before, according to the data. The firm sold $1 billion of 3.5-year bonds at a yield of 8.625% and $4.5 billion of 5.5-year securities at a yield of 9.25%, according to a person familiar with the matter. The longer-dated $4.5 billion 7.5-year tranche priced to yield 9.75%, the person added, asking not to be identified because they're not allowed to speak publicly.

NEC's five different aromas developed through the use of artificial intelligence are displayed at the company in Tokyo. An increasing number of companies are turning to fragrance as a way to foster a sense of unity across corporate groups and promote their corporate brand strategy. By tapping into the sense of smell, which is considered an intuitive and memorable form of sensory stimulation, companies aim to establish a consistent corporate image while creating pleasant workplace environments. Fragrance is also expected to help improve work efficiency. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has selected a signature scent, dubbed "MUFG Fragrance," as part of its efforts to create a comfortable workplace and strengthen its brand strategy. The chosen scent is a refreshing fragrance reminiscent of a forest.

Meta's Muse rekindles fears over winners and losers as personal AI agent emerges Meta's Muse allows users to delegate tasks such as shopping, travel booking and form-filling to an AI agent. Meta's Muse, the first major consumer product to emerge under Alexandr Wang since he was hired to head its AI efforts last year, has split the fortunes of U.S. stocks this week. Muse, which allows users to delegate tasks such as shopping, travel booking and form-filling to an AI agent, overtook ChatGPT as the top free app on Apple's App Store and Google Play Store in the U.S. and Canada. The app recorded 2.8 million downloads within two weeks of its launch, posting an average daily download growth of 55% in the first 10 days, according to market intelligence company Sensor Tower. 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.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at a news conference during the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, revealing that an artificial intelligence agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent hacked a government website, with the artificial intelligence firm taking three months to alert the government about the breach. Albanese said he had spoken with OpenAI's Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on Wednesday in New York to express "extreme concern about this incident." The hack occurred on June 18, OpenAI detected it in August and the Australian government was told on Sept. 10. "I also expressed my disappointment that it took the company way too long to inform the government what had occurred," Albanese said at a news conference in New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly. "The nature of the way that the notification occurred as well was unacceptable."

A campaign for Chinese self-sufficiency in artificial intelligence technology has led to intense local competition and a vicious price war, while export-oriented companies have thrived on surging global demand for infrastructure such as data centers. China's push for global supremacy in artificial intelligence technology is increasingly benefiting companies that supply the rest of the world, with investors favoring such stocks as fierce competition hurts their domestically focused peers. A Bloomberg gauge tracking 30 Chinese technology stocks with the biggest overseas revenue exposure has delivered a return of 36% this year, versus 9% for those more dependent on local sales. A separate measure of the export-oriented firms' outperformance over the other group is set for the strongest-ever reading this year. The contrasting fortunes partly result from Beijing's ambition to build its own AI ecosystem.

SoftBank Group, led by billionaire Masayoshi Son, has committed close to $65 billion to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, making it one of the world's biggest investors in artificial intelligence along with its other investments in the sector. SoftBank Group has drawn more than $20 billion of preliminary demand for what's shaping up to be one of the biggest junk bond deals ever, people familiar with the matter said, as investors rush to capture record yields likely to be offered to help fund the firm's investments in OpenAI. The potential interest reflects early, nonbinding indications from investors and serves as an initial gauge ahead of pricing, which is still expected Thursday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. SoftBank was seeking to raise the equivalent of more than $11 billion in the deal including a $10 billion dollar part and a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) euro portion, other people said Monday. There's no cap for the size, and no final decisions have been made, they added.