News•Feb 18, 2026
Google Adds Lyria 3 AI-Music Model to Its Gemini App
Google has integrated DeepMind’s Lyria 3 generative‑music model into its Gemini app, expanding the multimodal AI assistant’s capabilities to include music creation. The update reaches Gemini’s more than 750 million monthly active users, allowing them to generate 30‑second tracks from text, images or video prompts, with AI‑generated cover art via Nano Banana. Lyria 3 also powers YouTube’s Dream Track tool, now available beyond the United States for Shorts creators. Google emphasizes responsible training, copyright filters, and embeds its SynthID watermark to identify AI‑generated audio.
By Music Ally
News•Feb 18, 2026
Finpace Introduces Halcyon AI Layer to Its Core Banking Stack
Finpace unveiled Halcyon, an AI‑driven layer integrated with its core banking platform, aimed at accelerating change management for African financial institutions. The solution interprets business intent, orchestrates actions across data and workflow systems, and embeds governance to ensure compliant, auditable...
By IT News Africa
News•Feb 18, 2026
Successfully Implementing AI in Banking: Insights From Allica Bank CEO Richard Davies
Allica Bank CEO Richard Davies outlined how the UK fintech is scaling AI across its organization, emphasizing company‑wide adoption, engineering productivity, and cultural change. He highlighted that AI tools have delivered productivity improvements of two to ten times for engineers...
By Finovate
News•Feb 18, 2026
EDGX CEO Details the Startup’s Push for AI-Enabled Onboard Processing
Belgian AI space startup EDGX secured €2.3 million funding to accelerate its Sterna edge‑AI computer for satellites and has already signed a €1.1 million multi‑unit contract with a satellite operator. CEO Nick Destrycker says the company will focus on European defense and...
By Via Satellite
News•Feb 18, 2026
Ambient AI in the Exam Room: For Better Care and Better Caring
Leonard Calabrese argues that ambient artificial intelligence—low‑cost, always‑on tools integrated into the exam room—can free clinicians from the constant EMR distraction and restore genuine face‑to‑face interaction. By handling routine documentation and patient‑message drafting, AI lets physicians focus on non‑verbal cues...
By Healio – All News
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Claim Assistant Now Taking Auto Damage Claims Calls at Travelers
Travelers Companies has launched an AI Claim Assistant, an agentic voice service built on OpenAI’s models, to field auto‑damage claim calls. The system guides callers from initial consultation through claim submission, provides policy details, and enables photo uploads, appraisals, rental...
By Carrier Management
News•Feb 18, 2026
Architecting Agentic Operations for Supply Chain – A Practical View of A2A and MCP
The article proposes a layered architecture—Agent‑to‑Agent (A2A) for coordination and Model Context Protocol (MCP) for capability—to move AI in supply chains from isolated pilots to production‑scale operations. By publishing Agent Cards, A2A lets specialized agents discover and invoke each other...
By Logistics Viewpoints
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI in Healthcare Starts Long Before the Exam Room
AI-driven clinical tools are rapidly improving diagnosis and treatment, but they leave patients exposed to hidden financial risks. A case of an autonomous AI ER physician resulted in a $37,000 out‑of‑network bill, highlighting systemic navigation failures. While clinical AI promises...
By Employee Benefit News
News•Feb 18, 2026
Microsoft Says Office Bug Exposed Customers’ Confidential Emails to Copilot AI
Microsoft confirmed a bug in its 365 Copilot Chat that allowed the AI to read and summarize customers' confidential emails for weeks, even when data‑loss‑prevention policies were in place. The issue, tracked as CW1226324, affected both draft and sent messages...
By TechCrunch (Cybersecurity)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Deploying AI 'Allows Doctors to Be Doctors' Again
Innovaccer released the whitepaper "Autonomous Healthcare" outlining AI’s role in alleviating clinicians’ administrative load. The report highlights AI‑powered documentation, scheduling, and data integration tools that can reclaim up to 30% of physicians’ time. CEO Abhinav Shashank argues that these efficiencies...
By Healthcare Finance News (HIMSS Media)
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Figures Heavily Into CMOs’ Strategic Considerations
Chief marketing officers are increasingly prioritizing emerging media such as entertainment IP and FAST platforms, with Black audiences driving a disproportionate share of streaming time. CMOs expect most of their revenue in five years to stem from products that do...
By MarketingCharts
News•Feb 18, 2026
Rox Heart Radio: Why AI?
Rox Heart Radio released a new episode titled “Why AI?” featuring host Roxana Mehran in conversation with cardiology researchers Ami Bhatt and Rohan Khera. The trio explores how artificial intelligence is poised to reshape cardiovascular care, from imaging interpretation to risk prediction....
By TCTMD
News•Feb 18, 2026
Unity Says It Has a New Product That Cooks Up Entire Games Using AI
Unity announced a new AI-powered tool that can generate entire casual games from natural‑language prompts, aiming to eliminate traditional coding. The company will showcase a beta version at the Game Developers Conference in March. Unity frames the technology as a...
By Futurism AI
News•Feb 18, 2026
Canva Gets to $4B in Revenue as LLM Referral Traffic Rises
Canva closed 2025 with a 20% jump in monthly active users, reaching over 265 million, and pushed its annual recurring revenue to $4 billion. The platform’s AI‑driven tools, including a mini‑app creator used by more than 10 million users, helped double its B2B...
By TechCrunch Apps
News•Feb 18, 2026
From Pilot Purgatory to Productive Failure: Fixing AI's Broken Learning Loop
AI pilots frequently stall between proof‑of‑concept and production, often due to outdated quarterly KPIs, governance vacuums, and slow feedback loops. Executives argue that linear metrics clash with AI’s dynamic nature, causing drift and delayed corrective action. To close the gap,...
By InformationWeek
News•Feb 18, 2026
Livi Partners with CloudFit to Bridge Healthcare and Holistic Wellbeing Through AI-Powered Preventative Health Platform
Livi, Europe’s leading digital‑first healthcare provider, has partnered with AI‑driven holistic platform CloudFit to launch an integrated preventative health solution. The collaboration lets Livi GPs refer patients to CloudFit’s fitness, nutrition and lifestyle coaching, creating a continuous care loop between...
By Health Tech Digital (UK)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Wabash Unveils AI-Powered TrailerHawk to Combat Cargo Theft
Wabash introduced TrailerHawk, an AI‑driven trailer system that combines computer vision, facial recognition, and digital seals to create an end‑to‑end chain of custody for freight. The solution issues real‑time alerts, geofenced lock controls, and automatically documents loading activities, integrating directly...
By FleetOwner
News•Feb 18, 2026
“End-to-End AI” Films Are Here: Kuku’s AI Impact Summit Demo Hints at a Content Flood
At the AI Impact Summit 2026, Kuku FM CEO Lal Chand Bisu unveiled India’s first “AI‑first micro drama,” a short‑form film produced entirely by artificial intelligence across script, dialogue, post‑production, and marketing assets. Bisu announced that Kuku already releases hundreds...
By YourStory
News•Feb 18, 2026
India’s Fintech Powerhouse Cashfree Payments Expands AI Ambitions with ‘Cashfree Here’ Launch
Cashfree Payments introduced Cashfree Here, an in‑chat payment solution unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, allowing users to complete transactions directly within AI chat applications. The product leverages Cashfree’s existing API banking infrastructure to embed checkout, tokenised card...
By PaySpace Magazine
News•Feb 18, 2026
New Ecommerce Tools: February 18, 2026
This week’s ecommerce rollout spans AI‑driven marketing, new payment options, and expanded livestream shopping. Mailchimp unveiled predictive analytics, ChatGPT‑powered content tools, and an omnichannel dashboard, while Klarna entered Google Pay in the UK and Amazon launched Pay by Bank for...
By Practical Ecommerce
News•Feb 18, 2026
Tech-Powered Credit Reform Could Add £7bn to the UK’s GDP, Report Claims
ClearScore’s new white paper argues that modernising credit‑worthiness assessments with open‑banking data and AI could add up to £7 bn to the UK’s annual GDP. It highlights that 17 million adults face a £2 bn credit supply gap, with up to 60% of...
By UKTN (UK Tech News)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Vantor Partners with Google AI to Automate Intelligence Reports for Government Agencies
Vantor, a commercial Earth‑observation satellite operator, announced a partnership with Google to run Google Earth AI models inside classified, air‑gapped government networks. The AI will automatically generate text‑based intelligence reports from Vantor’s own, third‑party, or sovereign imagery, cutting analysis time...
By SpaceNews
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Enables a Who’s Who of Brown Bears in Alaska
In this episode, researchers from EPFL and Alaska Pacific University discuss PoseSwin, an AI system that identifies individual brown bears in Alaska despite seasonal changes in weight and coat. By focusing on stable head features and incorporating pose-aware transformer models,...
By AIhub
News•Feb 18, 2026
Brightpick Partners with NAPA on Robotic Fulfillment Deployments at DCs
Brightpick announced a strategic partnership with NAPA to roll out AI‑powered robotic fulfillment across the retailer’s distribution centers. After a successful 2025 pilot, the 2026 agreement will see more than 100 Brightpick goods‑to‑person robots deployed at an initial site, with...
By Modern Materials Handling
News•Feb 18, 2026
Agentic Siri From Apple Benefits for Healthcare Technology
Apple’s new Apple Intelligence platform transforms Siri into an autonomous, agentic health assistant that blends on‑device generative models with Private Cloud Compute. The system can traverse HealthKit, Mail, and other apps to execute multi‑step clinical tasks, from real‑time vitals monitoring...
By healthcare.digital
News•Feb 18, 2026
1606 Corp to Acquire Plot of Land in Texas for AI Data Center Development
1606 Corp signed a non‑binding term sheet to acquire roughly 132 acres in Lufkin, Texas, including a 55 MW natural‑gas power plant and a 50,000 sq ft warehouse for an AI‑focused data center. The transaction is priced at about $11.67 million, combining $7.5 million in...
By Data Center Dynamics
News•Feb 18, 2026
EU Needs to Abandon AI ‘Doomerism,’ White House Official Says
U.S. White House senior AI adviser Sriram Krishnan warned the EU to abandon its "doomerism" and focus on innovation rather than heavy regulation. He criticized the 2024 EU AI Act as stifling for entrepreneurs, citing Austrian coder Peter Steinberger’s move...
By Politico Europe – Technology
News•Feb 18, 2026
Why Corporate Reputation Matters More than Ever in the Age of AI and Polarization
Corey duBrowa, CEO of Burson, argues that corporate reputation is the most valuable yet misunderstood asset in today’s AI‑driven, politically polarized market. Executives face heightened pressure to navigate AI governance debates, regulatory uncertainty, and a global rightward shift while maintaining...
By Fast Company AI
News•Feb 18, 2026
Kingland Announces New Applied-AI Solutions with the Cloud & AI Platform
Kingland Systems unveiled a new suite of applied‑AI solutions built on its Cloud & AI platform, aimed at automating document‑heavy processes for public accounting firms, banking and capital‑markets institutions, and insurers. The platform adds an orchestration layer that combines document...
By AiThority
News•Feb 18, 2026
Smart Moves: The Man Overseeing Balfour Beatty’s AI Plan
Balfour Beatty has launched a multimillion‑pound artificial intelligence programme aimed at a "productivity revolution" across its construction portfolio. The initiative is being led by a newly appointed AI chief, who will embed machine‑learning tools into design, scheduling and site safety...
By Construction News – Tech (UK)
News•Feb 18, 2026
How Can AI Support Knowledge Management
AI is becoming a core enabler for knowledge management, helping firms capture, organize, and reuse both tacit and explicit knowledge as senior employees retire. Research shows only 8% of organizations consistently retain retiring workers' expertise, while AI tools can automate...
By APQC Blog
News•Feb 18, 2026
Building and Testing in One Flow: BrowserStack Meets Cursor
BrowserStack announced a new plugin for the AI‑native editor Cursor, embedding its testing cloud, test‑management tools, and AI agents directly into the IDE. The integration lets developers generate test cases from requirement documents with a single prompt, launch real‑device sessions...
By BrowserStack – Blog
News•Feb 18, 2026
Circuit Raises $30M in Funding
Circuit, an Austin‑based AI platform for manufacturing and service firms, announced a $30 million financing round. The round was led by a roster of high‑profile backers including Jim Breyer, Lew Cirne, and other tech investors. CEO Tyson Tuttle said the capital...
By FinSMEs
News•Feb 18, 2026
Q&A with Synthesia Founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli on Growing the London-Based Enterprise AI Video Platform, Hitting a $4B Valuation,...
Synthesia, the London‑based AI video platform, has scaled to a $4 billion valuation as it expands its enterprise customer base. Founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli discussed the company’s mission to overhaul content creation using synthetic video and the strategic steps driving...
By Techmeme
News•Feb 18, 2026
Westcon-Comstor and UiPath Forge Closer Ties in EU Growth Drive
Westcon‑Comstor has signed a pan‑European distribution agreement to become UiPath’s strategic distributor, creating a unified route‑to‑market for AI‑powered automation services. The partnership equips channel partners with professional services, presales expertise, and a flexible Flex financing solution to speed deal closures....
By ITPro
News•Feb 18, 2026
Pathologists, Vendors Talk LIS-IMS Integration
Pathology labs are accelerating digital transformation, but integrating laboratory information systems (LIS) with imaging management systems (IMS) remains a hurdle. Cybersecurity and image management top the agenda as AI-driven diagnostics expand. Cloud‑based LIS‑IMS solutions promise stronger security controls and scalable...
By CAP Today
News•Feb 18, 2026
Businesses Move to Rein In AI in the Shift to Autonomous Finance
Enterprises are granting AI agents authority to initiate payments, approve refunds, and orchestrate cross‑functional workflows, shifting from assistance to autonomous action. Security researchers warn that more than 1.5 million deployed agents could be exposed to misuse, expanding the attack surface faster...
By PYMNTS
News•Feb 18, 2026
ADLM Urges Federal Action to Ensure Safe, Equitable AI in Clinical Labs
The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) has issued a position statement urging Congress and federal regulators to update the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to explicitly govern AI tools used in clinical laboratories. ADLM warns that without modernized...
By Dark Daily
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Threatens Staffing Industry as Companies Bring Recruitment In-House
Artificial intelligence is rapidly automating core recruitment tasks, enabling employers to screen resumes, rank candidates, and conduct initial interviews without external recruiters. This technological shift allows companies to bring talent acquisition in‑house, diminishing reliance on traditional staffing firms such as...
By Bloomberg – Technology (sitewide)
News•Feb 18, 2026
SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 Returns to Spotlight AI, Robotics, and Urban Resilience
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 will run April 27‑29 at Tokyo Big Sight, marking its fourth edition and the largest innovation gathering in Asia. The conference will focus on AI, robotics, urban resilience and entertainment, drawing...
By e27
News•Feb 18, 2026
3 Ways to Start Your Intelligent Workflow Program
Security, IT and engineering teams face pressure to accelerate outcomes while extracting AI value, yet 88% of AI proofs‑of‑concept never reach production despite 70% of workers seeking time‑saving automation. The Hacker News article outlines three pre‑built intelligent‑workflow use cases—automated phishing response,...
By The Hacker News
News•Feb 18, 2026
How Agentic AI Is Driving the Property Operating System in Hotels
Hospitality technology is evolving from a patchwork of point solutions toward a Property Operating System (PropOS), an AI‑driven decision layer that coordinates actions across PMS, RMS, BMS and other platforms. Agentic AI enables these systems to act autonomously within defined...
By Hospitality Net – Technology
News•Feb 18, 2026
ISA Unveils Global Mission to Fast-Track AI-Enabled Clean Energy over 120 Countries
The International Solar Alliance announced a Global Mission on AI for Energy at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, targeting more than 120 member countries. The programme aims to fast‑track AI‑enabled clean‑energy solutions for planning, grid management and decentralized solar,...
By ET EnergyWorld (The Economic Times)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Galgotias Controversy Shouldn’t Overshadow Efforts at India AI Summit: Meity Secy on Chinese Robot Row
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) ordered the removal of Galgotias University stalls from the India AI Impact Summit 2026 after a controversy erupted. The secretary emphasized that the summit should remain focused on advancing India’s artificial‑intelligence agenda,...
By Mint AI
News•Feb 18, 2026
Microsoft on Pace to Invest $50B Into AI for Global South
Microsoft announced a $50 billion commitment to accelerate artificial‑intelligence adoption across the Global South by 2030. The plan, unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit, follows a five‑pronged approach covering infrastructure, skills training, multilingual models, local innovation and impact measurement. Microsoft...
By YourStory
News•Feb 18, 2026
Red and Blue States Alike Want To Limit AI in Insurance. Trump Wants To Limit the States.
A bipartisan wave of state legislation is targeting the use of artificial intelligence in health‑insurance decisions, with at least nine states passing or proposing limits on AI‑driven claim denials and prior authorizations. President Trump’s December executive order seeks to preempt...
By KFF Health News
News•Feb 18, 2026
How Agentic AI Helps Prospective and Existing Students at DeVry
DeVry University, serving over 32,000 adult learners, launched DeVryPro – an agentic AI built on Salesforce Agentforce – to provide 24/7 enrollment and support assistance. The AI extracts information from handbooks, catalogs and career services, automating course enrollment, payments and...
By CIO.com
News•Feb 18, 2026
A New Approach for GenAI Risk Protection
Generative AI’s rapid consumer adoption has exposed enterprises to data leakage risks, prompting security teams to reassess protection strategies. Traditional DLP solutions are expensive and cumbersome, limiting their use to large organizations. Two viable paths emerge: purchasing enterprise‑grade GenAI licenses...
By CSO Online
News•Feb 18, 2026
AI Likely to Put a Major Strain on Global Networks—Are Enterprises Ready?
Enterprise networks face unprecedented strain as AI workloads surge, generating unpredictable, high‑volume traffic across regions. A recent Broadcom study shows only 49% of organizations believe their networks can meet AI’s bandwidth and latency demands, despite 99% adopting cloud strategies. Retrieval‑augmented...
By Network World (sitewide)
News•Feb 18, 2026
Ericsson’s AI Network Optimisation Platform Live
Ericsson has launched Agentic rApp as a Service, an AI‑powered network optimisation platform available through AWS Marketplace. The solution leverages agentic AI and a natural‑language interface to reason about network conditions and execute closed‑loop optimisations via the O‑RAN R1 interface,...
By Telecoms Tech News