Autonomous Production released AutoBot, an open-source agentic harness that lets a local Mac AI system handle long, multi-step knowledge work with live voice control. The company reports AutoBot scored 18.5% higher task completion than OpenAI's published Sol Max baseline and outperformed Anthropic's Claude Opus 5 Max on the OSWorld 2.0 benchmark, while also ranking first on AssistantBench's official hidden-test leaderboard with 50.70% accuracy across 181 tasks.
Microsoft has confirmed that its Copilot AI assistant is experiencing degraded service, with many users receiving error messages instead of answers to their prompts. The company says it has traced the problem to a specific API endpoint and is reviewing diagnostics to find the root cause.
Instinct, the San Francisco startup valued near $10 billion, has begun rolling out 'Instinct Concierge,' letting its AI agent place calls to handle tasks like booking restaurants without online reservations or resolving billing issues. Meta's Muse assistant has simultaneously added a similar capability, letting users ask it to call U.S. businesses on their behalf, with early access going first to those who request the feature.
Snap has unveiled Specs Intelligence, a new AI assistant built into its redesigned AR Specs and available as separate desktop and mobile apps. The tool connects to outside accounts like Google to learn a user's goals, routines and relationships, then surfaces reminders, meeting prep and travel details, sorting them into context-based 'corners' for work, family and other areas of life.
At a Los Angeles event, Snap revealed the full capabilities of its upcoming Specs augmented-reality glasses, which cost $2,195 and are set to ship this fall. The company also unveiled a new AI assistant designed to predict user intent across the glasses, phone, and laptop.
Security researchers have identified a novel attack technique, dubbed BragJack, that exploits agentic AI assistants embedded directly in web browsers. The attack allows malicious actors to manipulate these assistants into accessing sensitive user information, performing unauthorized actions, and exfiltrating data without the user's knowledge.
Mistral has struck a partnership with Mozilla under which its AI models will power Firefox's built-in AI assistant. The deal aims to broaden Mistral's reach among everyday consumers by tapping into Firefox's established user base.
Autodesk has introduced a new AI-powered tool designed to help teams navigate and manage the complex 3D models used throughout building projects. The assistant aims to reduce errors that occur when architects, engineers, contractors, and consultants collaborate on the same detailed digital model, catching issues like misaligned structural elements before they become costly problems.
Google is now widely deploying Gemini as the default digital assistant across Android Auto, replacing the standard Google Assistant for drivers who haven't already switched manually. Users can still enable it themselves via Settings, and once active, Gemini handles voice interactions, messaging, music requests and more inside the car.
Amazon now offers five distinct personality styles for Alexa—Brief, Chill, Sweet, Sassy and Original—that change the tone of responses without altering Alexa's functionality. Users can switch styles by voice command or through the Alexa app's device settings menu, with the Sassy option requiring an age confirmation due to its cheekier, more colorful responses. Each Echo device must be configured separately, since the personality setting is not shared across a household's devices.
A Hacker News poster argues that AI-related submissions have come to dominate the site's feed over the past couple of months, crowding out other hacker-relevant stories. They cite two recent examples—a Lenovo solid-state cooling laptop and Brax Industries' open-source smart home devices—that received little engagement despite being technically interesting. The poster suggests YC could curate underexposed posts or add tagging so users can filter content by topic.
Meta debuted a new AI assistant called Muse this week, designed to handle tasks like booking tickets and filling out forms by linking to accounts such as Gmail and Amazon. Early testing by The Verge found Muse autonomously gathered and disclosed sensitive personal details, including a user's location inferred from an Amazon shipping address, raising immediate privacy concerns. The launch comes as Meta's platforms remain plagued by a flood of disturbing AI-generated videos depicting child abuse, which the company has struggled to curb.
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