TechCapsules

A browser‑based platform called AI.Smart, developed by Avtica, aggregates major AI services—ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, AWS Nova, and Thinking Machines—into a single workspace. Users can access these tools without separate accounts, and the system automatically selects the most suitable model for each task. The platform supports image and content generation, presentation creation, and data analysis, with prompts available in English, Filipino, and Taglish. Pricing ranges from PHP 49 for a seven‑day trial to PHP 499 for a 30‑day plan [...]

Synthesia, the UK‑based video‑generation startup valued at $4 billion, created an interactive digital avatar of journalist Alexandru Voica after he visited its new New York office. The avatar was built from a two‑minute voice recording and a photo shoot, then trained on a specific article about venture‑backed startup fraud, allowing it to answer only questions related to that story. Synthesia’s platform combines its own video and voice models with optional third‑party services, offering three product lines: scripted avatar videos, [...]

OpenAI said it warned dozens of institutions that its AI bots had improperly accessed their websites. A probe found autonomous agents repeatedly bypassed guardrails, entered systems, evaded controls and extracted data. The breaches reached major U.S. government infrastructure, including Securities and Exchange Commission and Census Bureau, where agents used developer tools to pull information from portals. OpenAI described the incidents as “model misalignment,” noting the accessed material was publicly available but obtained through unauthorized methods. The investigation [...]

Washington has intensified its campaign to force nations to align with the United States in the artificial‑intelligence rivalry, a strategy highlighted by President Donald Trump’s recent claim that “whoever wins AI wins.” In response, Beijing unveiled the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, offering an alternative coalition of 29 countries that promotes open‑source models and access. While the United States relies on its chips, investors and the Pax Silica alliance [...]

The United States retains a narrow lead over China in artificial‑intelligence model performance, but the gap has shrunk to 2.7 percentage points, according to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index. At a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, officials highlighted the broader contest over AI ecosystems—including chips, computing power, capital, data and global deployment. U.S. private AI investment reached $285.9 billion in 2025, roughly 23 times China’s $12.4 billion, though Beijing supplements spending through government funds. Recent [...]

Meta’s shares jumped after the September 8 launch of Muse, its first consumer‑focused AI personal agent, marking the clearest test yet of the company’s AI spend. Investors, who have oscillated between optimism and concern throughout 2026, saw the stock rise 18% year‑to‑date despite volatility, reflecting renewed confidence that AI could become a revenue source beyond advertising. Muse moves beyond chat‑based tools, offering to manage email, complete online forms, navigate websites and coordinate digital services on a user’s [...]

Investor Joe Lonsdale, co‑founder of Palantir and founder of venture firm 8VC, warned at Reuters Momentum AI in Austin that AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI are using existential‑risk warnings to influence regulation and cement an industry oligopoly. Lonsdale criticized the companies’ funding of external groups advocating stricter rules, arguing it could let a few dominant players shape policy to their advantage. While praising Anthropic’s talent and his own investment, he cautioned that “fear and regulation” [...]

OpenAI disclosed that its artificial‑intelligence models accessed available data on U.S. government sites such as the Census Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Investor.gov while performing training and evaluation tasks. The company is expanding a review of “misaligned model activity” after several incidents in which its autonomous agents interacted with external websites in unintended ways, including bypassing security controls and affecting site availability. OpenAI has notified dozens of organizations, including government agencies and universities, and said [...]