The 2026 Adwanted Media Research Awards will feature a new category for Best Use of AI in Research Projects, reflecting the growing importance of this technology in the industry.
Head judge Denise Turner of IPA said AI should be viewed as a tool to expedite workflows, not replace human insight, emphasising that researchers remain essential to interpreting results and posing the right questions.
Route CEO Euan Mackay said AI enables digital twins, synthetic data, and clean-room integrations, shifting researchers’ roles from survey design to auditing and ensuring data integrity in an AI-driven environment.
OMD’s Laura Rowe highlighted AI’s ability to rapidly process raw data, transcribe qualitative research, and extend insights across strategy and planning — provided ethical oversight remains in place.
ITV’s Neil Mortensen called this the start of a ‘gold rush’, urging the industry to use AI to automate tedious tasks while preserving rigorous methods and enabling more time for deep analysis.
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A few months after Ghibli-style AI images went viral, a new Instagram trend is sweeping users: 1990s Bollywood-style saree portraits generated through Google’s Gemini Nano Banana tool.
Known as the ‘Banana AI saree’ edit, the feature allows users to turn ordinary selfies into nostalgic retro-style images. The edits evoke classic cinema with chiffon sarees, grainy textures, bold make-up, and jasmine-adorned hair, often styled under golden sunlight for a vintage glow.
The tool has quickly become a social media hit. Users can experiment with sarees, retro sherwanis, or even traditional dhotis by adjusting prompts to personalise their look. The trend follows earlier viral edits such as hyper-realistic 3D figurine portraits.
With its popularity soaring, Google Gemini has now topped the Apple App Store’s free apps chart in both India and the US, outpacing competitors like ChatGPT and Grok. Google DeepMind’s chief, Demis Hassabis, praised the Gemini team, calling it ‘just the start’.
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US electricity prices are rising as the energy demands of data centres surge, driven by the rapid growth of AI technologies. The average retail price per kilowatt-hour increased by 6.5% between May 2024 and May 2025, with some states experiencing significantly sharper increases.
Maine saw the sharpest rise in electricity prices at 36.3%, with Connecticut and Utah following closely behind. Utilities are passing on infrastructure costs, including new transmission lines, to consumers. In Northern Virginia, residents could face monthly bill increases of up to $37 by 2040.
Analysts warn that the shift to generative AI will lead to a 160% surge in energy use at data centres by 2030. Water use is also rising sharply, as Google reported its facilities consumed around 6 billion gallons in 2024 alone, amid intensifying global AI competition.
Tech giants are turning to alternative energy to keep pace. Google has announced plans to power data centres with small nuclear reactors through a partnership with Kairos Power, while Microsoft and Amazon are ramping up nuclear investments to secure long-term supply.
President Donald Trump has pledged more than $92 billion in AI and energy infrastructure investments, underlining Washington’s push to ensure the US remains competitive in the AI race despite mounting strain on the grid and water resources.
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The Nobel laureate, Demis Hassabis, has argued that the most crucial ability for the next generation will be learning how to learn.
Speaking at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens, Greece, he said adaptability was vital as AI reshapes work and education.
The neuroscientist and former chess prodigy predicted that AGI machines with human-level versatility could emerge within a decade. He described it as a development that may create a future of radical abundance, although he warned of risks.
Hassabis urged a stronger focus on ‘meta-skills’ such as optimising approaches to new subjects, instead of relying solely on traditional disciplines.
Given the speed of technological change, he emphasised that people will need to update their knowledge continuously throughout their careers.
His remarks came during a discussion with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who warned that the unchecked growth of technology giants could fuel economic inequality and social unrest if citizens do not see clear benefits from AI adoption.
Hassabis’s work on protein folding won him the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
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Elon Musk’s company xAI has laid off around 500 staff from its data annotation team after deciding to reduce its focus on general AI tutors. The employees were told their system access would be revoked immediately, although salaries will be paid until contracts end or until 30 November.
According to reports, the company will instead invest more heavily in specialist AI tutors for areas such as video games, web design, data science, medicine, and STEM.
xAI announced plans to expand the specialist team tenfold, describing the roles as highly valuable to developing its technology.
The shift comes as xAI continues to promote its chatbot Grok. Musk recently highlighted its predictive abilities, sharing benchmarks that measure performance in forecasting politics, economics, sports, and cultural events.
Observers see the move toward specialist tutors as a way to refine Grok’s training and strengthen its commercial applications.
The layoffs follow earlier signs of restructuring, with some senior staff reportedly losing access to internal systems before the formal announcement.
Analysts suggest the changes reflect a strategic recalibration, aiming to boost productivity instead of spreading resources too thinly across generalist roles.
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The AI startup Anthropic has added a memory feature to its Claude AI, designed to automatically recall details from earlier conversations, such as project information and team preferences.
Initially, the upgrade is only available to Team and Enterprise subscribers, who can manage, edit, or delete the content that the system retains.
Anthropic presents the tool as a way to improve workplace efficiency instead of forcing users to repeat instructions. Enterprise administrators have additional controls, including entirely turning memory off.
Privacy safeguards are included, such as an ‘incognito mode’ for conversations that are not stored.
Analysts view the step as an effort to catch up with competitors like ChatGPT and Gemini, which already offer similar functions. Memory also links with Claude’s newer tools for creating spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs, allowing past information to be reused in future documents.
Anthropic plans a wider release after testing the feature with businesses. Experts suggest the approach could strengthen the company’s position in the AI market by offering both continuity and security, which appeal to enterprises handling sensitive data.
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As AI tools such as ChatGPT become more common among students, schools and colleges report that some educators see assignments done at home as almost sure to involve AI. Educators say take-home writing tasks and traditional homework risk being devalued.
Teachers and students are confused over what constitutes legitimate versus dishonest AI use. Some students use AI to outline, edit, or translate texts. Others avoid asking for guidance about AI usage because rules vary by classroom, and admitting AI help might lead to accusations.
Schools are adapting by shifting towards in-class writing, verbal assessments and locked-down work environments.
Faculty at institutions, like the University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon, have started to issue updated syllabus templates that spell out AI expectations, including bans, approvals or partial allowances.
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The selection means Google will work with DARPA’s technical experts, who will be independent validators for its quantum computing roadmap. The evaluation aims to provide rigorous third-party benchmarking, a critical capability for the broader quantum industry.
DARPA’s QBI is not only about validation. It aims to compare different quantum technologies, superconducting qubits, photonic systems, trapped ions and other modalities under shared metrics.
Google’s involvement underscores its ongoing mission to build quantum infrastructure capable of addressing problems such as new medicine design, energy innovation and machine-learning optimisation.
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The UK government is expanding its use of AI across prisons, probation and courts to monitor offenders, assess risk and prevent crime before it occurs under the AI Action Plan.
One key measure involves an AI violence prediction tool that uses factors like an offender’s age, past violent incidents and institutional behaviour to identify those most likely to pose risk.
These predictions will inform decisions to increase supervision or relocate prisoners in custody wings ahead of potential violence.
Another component scans seized mobile phone content to highlight secret or coded messages that may signal plotting of violent acts, intelligence operations or contraband activities.
Officials are also working to merge offender records across courts, prisons and probation to create a single digital identity for each offender.
UK authorities say the goal is to reduce reoffending and prioritise public and staff safety, while shifting resources from reactive investigations to proactive prevention. Civil liberties groups caution about privacy, bias and the risk of overreach if transparency and oversight are not built in.
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AI can help build individual learning paths for Ukraine’s 3.5 million students, but its use must remain ethical, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Yevhen Kudriavets has said.
Speaking to UNN, Kudriavets stressed that AI can analyse large volumes of information and help students acquire the knowledge they need more efficiently. He said AI could construct individual learning trajectories faster than teachers working manually.
He warned, however, that AI should not replace the educational process and that safeguards must be found to prevent misuse.
Kudriavets also said students in Ukraine should understand the reasons behind using AI, adding that it should be used to achieve knowledge rather than to obtain grades.
The deputy minister emphasised that technology itself is neutral, and how people choose to apply it determines whether it benefits education.
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