
Swedish creative director Petter Rudwall launched Pharmaicy, an online marketplace selling code modules that make chatbots behave as if they are under the influence of substances such as cannabis, ketamine, and ayahuasca. The service requires a paid ChatGPT tier to upload the code, and early customers claim the altered prompts generate more creative and emotionally nuanced responses. Sales have been modest but spread through Discord and word‑of‑mouth in Sweden. The venture sparks debate over AI welfare, ethical boundaries, and the future of synthetic "intoxication" for language models.
St. Jude researchers unveiled Combocat, an open‑source platform that merges acoustic liquid handling with machine‑learning models to screen drug combinations at unprecedented scale. The system tested 9,045 drug pairs on a neuroblastoma cell line, identifying multiple synergistic hits that were...

Apple engineers have customized an open‑source computer‑vision AI to spot color errors on ImageTek's bacon label prints, preventing a major client loss. The effort is part of Apple’s broader $600 billion U.S. manufacturing investment and its newly launched Apple Manufacturing Academy,...

Eleanor Margolis describes a deteriorating UK job market where 40% of 2024 listings are "ghost jobs"—vacancies posted to project growth rather than fill roles. Applicants now face AI‑driven resume filters that prioritize keyword matches, often reproducing bias. Even when a CV...

Mastercard is urging payment acquirers to shift focus from consumer‑centric models to B2B card acceptance, highlighting an estimated $80 trillion addressable opportunity in accounts payable and receivable. It argues that commercial‑card economics now outpace legacy B2B2C margins, especially as acceptance moves...

Nokia’s latest research warns that AI traffic is overwhelming Europe’s internet infrastructure, with 86% of European enterprises saying current networks can’t keep pace. The study also shows similar concerns in the United States, where 88% of telecoms and enterprises cite...

Kharon and Digital Science have announced a strategic integration that embeds Kharon’s sanctions, export‑control and affiliation risk intelligence into the Dimensions Research Security platform. The joint solution lets universities, funders and government agencies automatically surface foreign affiliations of concern, export‑control...

PayPal has filed applications with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the FDIC to launch PayPal Bank, marking its first attempt to obtain a U.S. banking charter. The move would shift the company from a pure payments platform to...

Netlify announced the general availability of three new platform capabilities—Observability, AI Gateway, and Prerender extensions—designed to streamline the post‑deployment phase of AI‑accelerated development. The features give developers real‑time insight into production behavior, simplify integration of multiple AI models, and ensure...

Optimizely released a new report revealing that today’s marketing ecosystem contains over 15,000 tools, a ten‑fold increase in the past 14 years. The study introduces the concept of “agentic content ecosystems,” where AI actively creates, shapes, and optimizes content across...

Uberall, together with AthenaHQ, launched the industry’s first Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Studio to make multi‑location brands AI‑ready. The platform lets brands monitor how AI systems view each location, generate structured, locally relevant content, and distribute it across Google Business...

Roblox has embedded generative AI directly into its Studio development environment, giving creators on‑demand tools for asset generation, text‑to‑speech and real‑time translation. The new Assistant can turn simple prompts into fully functional objects, initially for vehicles and weapons, and connects...

Fast Company columnist Pete Pachal outlines five predictions for AI’s influence on media in 2026. He emphasizes that copyright disputes will intensify as publishers block AI crawlers while AI firms cling to fair‑use defenses. Google retains a competitive edge because...

The BIO IP Counsel Committee Conference addressed growing skepticism toward patents in biopharma, amplified by pandemic‑era messaging that frames IP as a barrier to care. Panelists argued that patents remain vital incentives for costly research and development, despite public concerns...

The Autumn Budget introduced modest tweaks to the UK startup tax regime, notably expanding the EMI share‑scheme and doubling investment limits under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). While the EIS increase was praised as a positive surprise, the reduction of...

Dr. Eric Wengrowski, a Rutgers PhD graduate, turned his decade‑long steganography research into Steg AI, a startup that embeds invisible watermarks in images to track their movement online. The technology has gained unprecedented attention as AI‑generated imagery proliferates, prompting the...

Patient advocates at BIO’s December Coffee Chat urged Congress to reauthorize the Pediatric Priority Review Voucher (PPRV) program before year‑end. The voucher scheme, which expired in 2024, has awarded 63 vouchers for 47 rare pediatric diseases, turning four treated conditions...

Strategic communications agency Strata has launched to serve deep‑tech B2B brands, leveraging the founders’ decades of experience from Publitek and McClenahan Bruer. The firm employs an earned ecosystem approach that aligns media, analyst, social, and community channels to match how engineers...
Small and mid‑size businesses are rapidly deploying AI at the edge, moving workloads from centralized data centers to retail stores, clinics, and remote sites. This shift delivers real‑time insights, resilience, and faster deployment but strains network bandwidth and security controls....

Later announced that its unified creator commerce platform now runs at a $2.4 billion annual GMV run rate, more than $1 billion higher than a year ago, and has paid over $250 million to creators since acquiring Mavely. The company highlighted a record...

Insightly announced Copilot, a generative AI‑powered assistant designed for mid‑market CRM users. The tool lets sales, marketing and customer‑success teams issue natural‑language commands to automate tasks, retrieve insights, and maintain data hygiene. By turning the CRM into a conversational partner,...

Vonage announced a native integration of its Contact Center with Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 voice AI, creating a single AI‑powered platform for voice and digital interactions. The solution combines Vonage’s skills‑based routing and network APIs with Salesforce’s Agentforce Voice, enabling automated fraud...

Mundial Media announced the hiring of Junelle Cavero Harnal, a veteran political strategist, to head its new AI‑driven political campaign division. The move positions the company to serve electoral campaigns, advocacy groups, and nonprofits ahead of the 2026 midterms and...

Persistent Systems and DigitalOcean have forged a strategic partnership to run Persistent’s SASVA AI platform on DigitalOcean’s Gradient AI Agentic Cloud. The collaboration promises to make artificial intelligence more accessible, scalable, and secure for enterprises and developers by combining Persistent’s...

ClaimScore has rebranded as Covalynt, shifting from a single fraud‑detection tool to a full‑service data‑science platform for complex litigation. The new suite includes ClassResolution, DeepValidation, an expanded ClaimScore engine, and Bespoke Data Solutions, covering the entire case lifecycle from discovery...

Law‑enforcement officials from more than 40 African countries gathered in Algiers for Afripol’s sixth heads‑of‑national‑liaison meeting, focusing on cross‑border cybercrime, equipment standardisation, and investigator training. The forum highlighted a surge in digital adoption that has produced an average of 3,153...
Chris Skinner’s daily reading roundup spotlights a sweeping set of financial‑sector developments. It highlights the European Central Bank’s ambitious banking‑rules overhaul and a forward‑looking analysis of how central banks should steer through the uncertainty of 2026. The list also captures fintech’s...

Thinking Machines Lab has moved its Tinker training API to general availability, removing the waitlist and opening access to all developers. The update adds three major capabilities: support for the 1‑trillion‑parameter Kimi K2 Thinking reasoning model, an OpenAI‑compatible sampling interface, and multimodal...
Monzo’s board asked chief executive TS Anil to step down amid a dispute over the timing of the bank’s initial public offering. Anil favored an earlier IPO and hinted at leaving post‑listing, while directors wanted more time to expand internationally...
The episode explores Scale AI's launch of its inaugural "Models of the Year" awards and the company's ambition to host an Oscars‑style ceremony for AI models next year. Host Bing Liu, Scale’s head of research, explains that the awards, based...
ETH Zurich’s Soft Robotics Lab unveiled an AI‑driven robotic hand that mimics human anatomy using artificial tendons instead of joint motors. The 21‑degree‑of‑freedom hand learns dexterous tasks through a blend of reinforcement and imitation learning powered by transformer models. Data...
RTW Therapeutics announced a strategic partnership with GenSci to form a new joint‑venture focused on developing an ocular autoimmune therapy. The collaboration adopts a NewCo model, with both parties contributing capital and expertise to accelerate drug discovery for non‑infectious uveitis....

A California high‑school junior, Vaishnav Anand, built an AI model to detect manipulated satellite imagery after becoming a victim of a personal deepfake. He presented his research at MIT’s IEEE Undergraduate Research Technology Conference, highlighting a largely unexplored field known...

The SaasRise Enterprise Mastermind call on Dec 16, 2025 dissected the year‑end slowdown in the UK, high churn, and a 50‑60% pipeline drop, urging SaaS leaders to double‑down on enterprise accounts and multi‑year contracts. Participants debated whether slipping product‑market fit or macro‑economic...
Brands scaling Shopify often hit revenue plateaus due to performance bottlenecks, unstructured UX redesigns, app overload, and limited internal expertise. Netalico, a Shopify Plus specialist, tackles these issues through systematic code audits, server‑side rendering, modular design systems, and API‑first custom...
Sanofi’s Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor failed to meet its primary endpoint in a pivotal trial for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, while the company awaits an FDA decision on a secondary progressive indication. Roche, meanwhile, reported encouraging efficacy and safety...

The article likens SOC development to triathlon training, urging teams to boost data coverage, standardize evidence, and apply AI selectively. It highlights that limited retention (7‑14 days) hides attacker dwell time, and that inconsistent log definitions stall investigations. By extending...

The episode explores how drug targets are identified and validated, highlighting genetic, animal, and in‑vitro evidence as key sources. It discusses the limited predictive power of pre‑clinical data, noting that genetically validated targets double the odds of clinical success while...
.png)
Clay, a B2B SaaS startup, vaulted from near‑zero to over $100 million in annual recurring revenue and a $3 billion valuation in under five years. The growth stemmed from five disciplined decisions: a razor‑thin ideal customer profile, a frictionless product‑led trial, a...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits against Samsung, Sony, LG, TCL and Hisense, alleging their smart TVs use Automated Content Recognition (ACR) to collect viewing data without consent. The suit claims ACR can capture screen images as often as...
Venture capital activity in life sciences has surged in 2025, with at least 27 firms announcing new funds. Collectively, these vehicles have attracted more than $12 billion in capital, marking a record inflow for the sector. Notably, four of the funds...

George Osborne, former UK chancellor, has been hired by OpenAI to head its new "OpenAI for Countries" division, which focuses on building relationships with governments worldwide. Based in London, Osborne will spearhead national‑level AI infrastructure projects and expand existing partnerships...

Pornhub disclosed that a supply‑chain breach of Mixpanel, a third‑party analytics provider, exposed some Premium‑member activity data. The compromised information includes emails, viewing timestamps, and video metadata, but passwords, payment details, and government IDs were not taken. Mixpanel has denied...

The U.S. Space Force has launched an SBIR solicitation to develop compact, high‑performance boost‑phase interceptors that can destroy ballistic missiles within the atmosphere. The program seeks high‑G propulsion, advanced seekers, and low‑SWaP designs capable of intercepting missiles below 120 km in...

SoundCloud disclosed a cyber‑attack that compromised roughly 20% of its user base, about 28 million accounts, exposing email addresses and publicly visible profile data. The breach is attributed to the ShinyHunters ransomware group, which reportedly focuses on data exfiltration rather than...

Meta has released software version 21 for its Ray‑Ban and Oakley Meta smart glasses, adding a conversation‑focus mode that amplifies the voice of the person you’re speaking with. The update also introduces a Spotify integration that can cue music based...

The episode highlights the shift in AI infrastructure from experimental pilots to production‑scale workloads, emphasizing the need for integrated solutions that balance compute, networking, storage, and operations. It introduces the Forrester Wave™: AI Infrastructure Solutions, Q4 2025, which evaluates vendors on...

The BIO IP panel highlighted that joint inventorship is now the norm in biotech, replacing the lone‑inventor myth. It outlined the legal elements—conception, collaboration, corroboration—and illustrated them with real and hypothetical cases, including AI‑driven research. Panelists warned that mis‑attributing inventors...
Google has introduced CC, an experimental email‑based productivity assistant powered by Gemini, through its Google Labs program. The service delivers a daily “Your Day Ahead” email that aggregates tasks, calendar events, and key updates from Gmail, Drive, and Calendar. Users...

Amazon’s security team has identified a sustained Russian GRU‑linked cyber campaign that has been compromising misconfigured edge devices in Western critical infrastructure, especially the energy sector, since 2021. The attackers, including the group known as Curly COMrades, exploit virtualization features such...