🎯Today's AI Pulse
Updated 1h agoWhat's happening: India AI Impact Summit pledges $240B AI investment
The India AI Impact Summit 2026 announced a historic $240 billion AI investment pledge. Reliance committed $110 billion for AI infrastructure over seven years, Adani pledged $100 billion through 2035, and Google disclosed a $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OpenAI raises $110B in corporate funding
News•Feb 17, 2026
Unilever Turns to AI for ‘New Era of Shopping for Brands’
Unilever has signed a five‑year partnership with Google Cloud to embed advanced AI, data and platform capabilities across its global operations. Leveraging Google’s Vertex AI and Gemini models, the consumer‑goods giant will build an AI‑first digital backbone that powers faster demand generation, real‑time personalization and agentic workflows. The move builds on Unilever’s existing AI portfolio of 500 applications and its recent multi‑year Accenture deal, aiming to reshape how its brands such as Dove and Hellmann’s are discovered and purchased. Unilever reported €50.5 bn revenue in 2025 and serves 3.7 bn daily users.
By DecisionMarketing
News•Feb 17, 2026
Linkhome Launches AI Agent to Enhance the Home Buying and Financing Experience
Linkhome Holdings Inc. unveiled its Linkhome AI Agent, an intelligent conversational assistant designed to simplify property searches, market analysis, and mortgage preparation. The tool leverages natural‑language processing to deliver AI‑assisted property recommendations, multilingual interactions, and real‑time market context. By consolidating...
By AiThority
News•Feb 17, 2026
Trifork Launches Danish Sovereign Data and AI Solution as Alternative to US Hyperscalers
Trifork has introduced a Danish sovereign data and AI solution aimed at public authorities and critical infrastructure, offering an alternative to US hyperscalers. The offering bundles four integrated components—Netic data centers, Corax Data platform, Corax AI platform, and Trifork Group...
By AiThority
News•Feb 17, 2026
AI Consulting Startup Navikenz Raises $7.5 Mn Led by Sekar PRC and Sudip Nandy
Navikenz, a Noida‑based AI consulting firm, closed a $7.5 million funding round led by Sekar PRC and Sudip Nandy, adding to a prior $8 million raise. The capital will fund team expansion and further development of its AI platforms, including RetailBOT and...
By Entrackr
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Share One Base Model, Deploy Many LoRA Adapters Efficiently
Why Fine‑Tuned Models Break the Bank 💸 Every LoRA adapter shouldn’t need its own full base model copy. That’s how dozens become hundreds… and inference becomes impossible. 👉 Multi‑LoRA serving fixes this: one base model, many adapters, applied per request with custom...
By Satya Mallick
News•Feb 17, 2026
AI Can Help Optimise Clean Energy Save Lives and Livelihoods: Ceew CEO
Ceew CEO Anurabha Ghosh highlighted how artificial intelligence can fine‑tune renewable energy dispatch, forecast storm surges and flood risks, and make agriculture more climate‑resilient. She warned that AI’s own resource footprint—energy and water for data centres—must be managed intentionally. India’s...
By ET EnergyWorld (The Economic Times)
Blog•Feb 17, 2026
Samsung Bespoke AI Wants to Run Your Whole Kitchen
Samsung unveiled its Bespoke AI kitchen lineup at KBIS 2026, featuring camera‑enabled Family Hub refrigerators, AI‑powered ovens and Bixby‑driven voice control, all linked through the SmartThings platform. The AI Vision system can recognize up to 37 fresh items and 50 packaged...
By The Gadgeteer
News•Feb 17, 2026
Harnessing AI to Secure the Future of Identity
Artificial intelligence is reshaping identity management, with machine and AI agents now surpassing human users in many environments. This surge creates a broader attack surface, as each automated identity demands governance yet often appears outside IT‑approved systems. Channel partners are...
By ITPro
News•Feb 17, 2026
Singapore’s AI ROI Reality: High Spend, Hard Returns
AI hype in Singapore masks modest financial returns. Enterprises spend an average S$18.9 million per AI initiative in 2025, yet only 23% achieve the projected ROI. A PwC global CEO survey shows just 12% of CEOs see both cost cuts and...
By TechRepublic – Articles
News•Feb 17, 2026
U. Arkansas at Little Rock to Launch AI Undergrad Degree
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will debut an undergraduate artificial intelligence degree in the fall of 2026, becoming the latest institution to embed AI into its core curriculum. The program features a stackable credentials model, allowing students from...
By EdScoop
News•Feb 17, 2026
Swedish-British Unibloom Teams up with SAP to Turn Climate Data Into Daily Purchasing Decisions
Swedish‑British startup Unibloom has partnered with SAP to launch Unibloom Switch AI within SAP’s enterprise ecosystem. The solution uses AI agents and country‑level emissions, land‑use and cost data to let procurement teams compare suppliers, materials and geographies in minutes, balancing...
By ArcticStartup
News•Feb 17, 2026
Agoda Open Sources APIAgent to Convert Any REST Pr GraphQL API Into an MCP Server with Zero Code
Agoda has released APIAgent, an open‑source tool that turns any REST or GraphQL API into a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server with zero code and no deployments. The proxy reads OpenAPI or GraphQL schemas, generates tool definitions, and uses DuckDB...
By MarkTechPost
News•Feb 17, 2026
Netrio Named to CRN’s MSP 500 List For 2026
Netrio has been named to CRN’s 2026 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Elite 150 category, highlighting its role as a leading AI‑driven managed IT and cybersecurity provider for mid‑market enterprises. The Elite 150 spot recognizes Netrio’s end‑to‑end...
By AI-TechPark
News•Feb 17, 2026
Sneak Preview: Finder?s Feat: Optimizing Search & Discovery With Metadata & Machine Learning at Streaming Media Connect
At Streaming Media Connect, a panel titled “Finder’s Feat: Optimizing Search & Discovery With Metadata & Machine Learning” will examine how structured metadata and AI‑driven tools transform content discovery into a revenue engine. Panelists include Tom Gennari (Fabric), Jamie Mackinlay...
By Streaming Media
News•Feb 17, 2026
CraftifAI Raises $3 Mn To Build AI Tools For Embedded Software Development
CraftifAI announced a $3 million seed round, led by Ankur Capital, to accelerate its AI-driven platform for embedded software development. The startup’s Orbit platform uses multi‑agent generative AI to automate code generation, hardware optimization, and AI/ML deployment for edge, IoT and...
By Inc42
News•Feb 17, 2026
DSK 2026 Set to Showcase AI & Autonomous Defense Systems
The 2026 Drone Show Korea (DSK) opens Feb. 25 in Busan, covering 26,508 m² with 318 companies from 23 nations. The event’s AI‑centric theme showcases autonomous, manned‑unmanned combat systems, with dedicated Army, Navy and Air Force pavilions. Major players such as...
By Unmanned Systems Technology – News
News•Feb 17, 2026
Infosys and Anthropic Announce Collaboration to Unlock AI Value Across Complex, Regulated Industries
Infosys and Anthropic announced a strategic partnership to embed Anthropic's Claude models, including Claude Code, into Infosys Topaz AI services. The collaboration launches with a dedicated Anthropic Center of Excellence for telecommunications, targeting AI agents that automate complex, regulated workflows. It...
By MarTech Series
News•Feb 17, 2026
MarTech Interview With Misha Williams, Chief Operating Officer @ GWI
Chief Operating Officer Misha Williams of GWI discusses the launch of Agent Spark, an AI‑powered platform that injects analyst‑grade human insights directly into tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot. He warns marketers that AI outputs must be grounded in representative...
By MarTech Series
News•Feb 17, 2026
With New Subsidiary, Chams Joins Nigeria’s Growing AI Infrastructure Race
Chams Holding Company Plc announced the formation of a new subsidiary, ChamsCorp Plc, to focus on AI infrastructure, data‑centre design, and digital device manufacturing. The move marks a strategic pivot from its legacy payments and identity services toward the foundational...
By TechCabal
Blog•Feb 17, 2026
Launching KORA, the First Public Benchmark for AI Child Safety
In this episode, Mathilde Collin discusses the launch of KORA, the first public benchmark for AI child safety, explaining how her background in tech and concern for youth mental health drove the initiative. She outlines the early challenges of defining...
By Edtech Partnerships
News•Feb 17, 2026
How Should Publishers Respond to AI Models ‘Hoovering up’ Copyrighted Content?
Publishers face mounting pressure as AI developers scrape copyrighted material to train large language models. At the Definitive AI Forum in London, leaders from The Guardian, Alvarez & Marsal, and the PPA argued that no single solution exists, but collective action,...
By Media Voices
News•Feb 17, 2026
AXIS Consulting Shares a Practical Model for Scaling AI, Automation, and CRM Change
AXIS Consulting unveiled a five‑component operating model to help mid‑market and enterprise firms scale AI, automation, and CRM initiatives beyond isolated pilots. The framework aligns use‑case selection, data governance, process‑first design, embedded change management, and continuous measurement to create repeatable,...
By MarTech Series
News•Feb 17, 2026
Anthropic, Infosys to Build Custom AI Agents for Firms
Anthropic and Infosys have announced a partnership to create custom AI agents for enterprises, combining Anthropic's Claude large language models, including Claude Code, with Infosys' Topaz AI platform. The collaboration targets sectors such as telecommunications and financial services, aiming to automate...
By Bloomberg – Technology (sitewide)
News•Feb 17, 2026
Starweaver Expands AI Engineering Presence in Hyderabad
Starweaver announced a major expansion of its AI engineering hub in Hyderabad, planning to quadruple its engineering and data staff within six months. The center will accelerate development of AI‑driven platforms such as Journeybuilder, DesignPilot, and analytics intelligence tools for...
By MarTech Series
Social•Feb 17, 2026
AI Voice Agents Set to Power One‑Third of Brands
Is the future of customer operations conversational and human? "Today, <1% of companies use AI voice agents at scale. In two years? One in three brands will.” — Lauren Rothwell @elevenlabsio made this prediction during #CXOSpice. Instant support + conversational commerce is...
By Helen Yu
News•Feb 17, 2026
AI Is the Future of Warfare and US Is in the Lead
Artificial intelligence is reshaping modern warfare, with the United States far ahead in funding, infrastructure, and operational deployment. The Pentagon now spends at least $2 billion annually on AI‑enabled weapons and billions more indirectly through procurement, while private investment tops $109 billion....
By Asia Times – Defense
News•Feb 17, 2026
Industrial AI Shifting as Enterprises Turn Analytics Into Autonomous Action
IFS posted 23% annual recurring revenue growth and a 114% net retention rate for FY 2025, indicating industrial AI is moving from pilot projects to large‑scale operational use. The company’s new IFS Nexus Black and Agent Studio platforms let enterprises...
By ERP Today
News•Feb 17, 2026
Visual Intelligence Powering Next-Generation Robotics
Machine vision has transitioned from simple part detection to a measurement‑grade sensory core for industrial robots. Advances in high‑resolution cameras, 3D imaging, edge AI and deep‑learning enable sub‑millimeter positioning, real‑time defect recognition and adaptive path correction. This vision‑driven intelligence lets...
By Metrology News
News•Feb 17, 2026
OpenAI Deleted Word ‘Safely’ From Its Mission – Its New Structure Is A Test
OpenAI’s latest IRS filing removed the word “safely” from its mission, replacing it with a broader pledge to benefit all of humanity. The change coincided with a legal restructuring that split the organization into a nonprofit foundation and a for‑profit...
By Claims Journal
Blog•Feb 17, 2026
AI-Intelligentized Naval Mines and U.S. Subsea Access in the Paracel Islands
China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy is modeling AI‑intelligentized seabed mines that could hide in the Paracel Islands’ acoustic shadow zones, creating a persistent anti‑access/area‑denial (A2/AD) field. The concept builds on an estimated 50,000‑100,000 existing Chinese naval mines, adding adaptive target...
By Small Wars Journal
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Quantum Breakthrough Makes Once‑impossible Problems Solvable
I’ve been waiting for a moment like this. Google’s new quantum chip solved a 150-year-old problem in 2 hours. 13,000× faster than one of the world’s best supercomputers. That’s not incremental. That’s a different category. Their Willow chip ran an algorithm that models how atoms...
By Pascal Bornet
Blog•Feb 17, 2026
How AI Can Make Customer Experience More Human with Vinod Muthukrishnan
Vinod Muthukrishnan, Cisco’s VP of Webex Customer Experience, explains how AI is evolving from a simple tool to a collaborative teammate that handles routine tasks and enriches human interactions. By leveraging AI-driven analytics, brands can anticipate issues, personalize engagements, and...
By Shep Hyken – Customer Service Blog
News•Feb 17, 2026
REMnux V8 Brings AI Integration to the Linux Malware Analysis Toolkit
REMnux released version 8, rebuilt on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and introduces a new Cast‑based installer that handles fresh deployments, upgrades, and container installs. The highlight is the REMnux MCP server, which implements the Model Context Protocol to connect AI agents with the...
By Help Net Security
Social•Feb 17, 2026
AI Boosts Productivity but Amplifies Workload and Burnout
A provocative new Harvard Business Review article is challenging everything we thought we knew about #AI in the workplace. “AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It” shares findings from an eight-month study that reveal a counterintuitive truth: instead of lightening workloads, AI...
By Terence Leung
News•Feb 17, 2026
Razorpay Becomes India Payments Partner for Replit’s Global AI Platform
Razorpay and Replit have partnered to embed Razorpay’s payments stack into Replit’s AI development platform for Indian users. The integration, currently in beta, lets Indian developers pay for Replit subscriptions in INR using UPI and cards, and enables AI‑built products...
By Entrackr
News•Feb 17, 2026
China AI Startup Moonshot Targets $10 Billion Valuation
Moonshot, the Chinese AI startup behind the Kimi chatbot, is launching a new financing round that targets a $10 billion valuation. The company previously secured $500 million at a $4.3 billion valuation, and its existing backers—Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital—have already committed more...
By Bloomberg – Technology (sitewide)
News•Feb 17, 2026
Claims that AI Can Help Fix Climate Dismissed as Greenwashing
A new analysis of 154 AI‑related climate claims finds no material, verifiable emissions reductions from popular generative tools such as Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot. The report distinguishes between traditional, predictive AI—which can modestly aid climate modeling—and energy‑intensive generative models...
By The Guardian AI
Podcast•Feb 17, 2026•40 min
Data Is the New Oil, and Your Database Is the only Way to Extract It
In this episode, Ryan interviews Shireesh Thota, Corporate Vice President of Azure Databases at Microsoft, about the rapid evolution of Microsoft's database offerings, including SQL Server, Cosmos DB, and Postgres, and how they fit into a unified Azure data platform....
By Stack Overflow Podcast
News•Feb 17, 2026
Crypto.com Receives ISO/IEC 42001 AI Certification as It Expands Its AI Business
Crypto.com announced it is the first digital‑asset platform to earn ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification, an international standard for AI management systems. The certification confirms that its AI tools are built with security, transparency and regulatory alignment in mind. The firm recently launched...
By Cointelegraph
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Speed, Not Scale, Drives AI Agent Advantage
OpenClaw proved that one person can out-ship billion-dollar labs on agents. What does that say about where the competitive advantage actually is?
By Ahmad Al‑Dahle
Social•Feb 17, 2026
AI Shifts to Edge, Dem
#AI is leaving the data center for robots, sensors, drones, and #XR. 🥽 It needs open, programmable #5G now and AI-native #6G next. 5G SA brings slicing, automation, and open APIs. 🔗 Read more on Börje Ekholm’s blog: https://t.co/0AP5Zz84dm via...
By Harold Sinnott
Podcast•Feb 17, 2026•0 min
Leverage AI to 10x Your OKRs!
In this episode Ben critiques the common practice of using AI merely to draft OKRs, warning that it can bypass the crucial conversations that build clarity, ownership, and commitment. He argues that the real value of AI lies in enhancing...
By OKRs.com
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Tech Backlash Repeats: From “Devil Wagons” To AI “Slop”
When cars first came out, people called them "devil wagons" and literally tried to ban them. When that didn't work, they shot at them and even set traps. Calling AI "slop" is the modern version of this. https://t.co/OoLW0Nl2sq
By Nathan Lands
Social•Feb 17, 2026
VLA Reasoning Lets Vehicles Safely Navigate Complex Edge Cases
VLAs can enable vehicles to better handle complex edge cases: a VLM can "think through" a complex interaction, deduce a common sense behavior, and then a VLA can carry that out to maintain safe(r) behavior even in unusual situations.
By Sergey Levine
News•Feb 17, 2026
How One of Africa’s Fastest Growing AI Platforms Was Built Out of Ethiopia
Ethiopian‑born startup Gebeya has launched Dala, an AI‑powered no‑code app builder, and amassed 85,000 users within four months. The platform boasts an 8% paying‑customer rate, far above the typical 3% conversion for AI products, thanks to mobile‑first design and local...
By Techpoint Africa
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Instantly Compare Mall Prices to Amazon Deals
Why do you need this? So you can look at something in a mall and it will tell you “that is cheaper on Amazon.”
By Robert Scoble
News•Feb 17, 2026
How AI, Automation and Services Drive Synnex’s Value Vision
Australian IT distributor Synnex has opened a $150 million, AI‑enabled logistics centre in Melbourne, marking a shift from traditional distribution to a platform‑focused model. The new facility incorporates advanced automation, improving speed, safety and scalability while supporting a broader suite of...
By ARN (Australia)
Social•Feb 17, 2026
Asian Markets Split: AI Surge vs Old‑Economy Shift Ahead
Asian equity markets are diverging into two camps: AI capex beneficiaries in East Asia and "old economy" companies in Southeast Asia. There will be an inflection point where the former peaks, and flows move towards the latter. But when?
By Michael Fritzell
Podcast•Feb 17, 2026•16 min
OpenClaw Could Be 1st 1-Person $1B Company, OpenAI Buys
The episode examines OpenClaw's potential to become the first one‑person, billion‑dollar company, analyzing its AI‑driven product suite, lean operational model, and market traction. It weighs the plausibility of such rapid scaling against typical growth constraints and highlights the founder’s unique...
By AI Chat
News•Feb 17, 2026
This Company Has Built a Backpack-Style System for Robotics Data Collection
Lumos, a robotics startup founded in September 2024, unveiled FastUMI Pro, a backpack‑mounted universal manipulation interface designed to accelerate embodied AI data collection. The company aims to deploy 10,000 units across six real‑world environments by 2026, targeting one million hours...
By KrASIA