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Chinese tech firm Honor bets big on AI devices

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has unveiled a $10 billion investment plan aimed at advancing AI technologies across its product ecosystem. The announcement was made by CEO James Li at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where he outlined the company’s ambition to evolve beyond smartphones and expand into AI-powered PCs, tablets, and wearables.

The major funding initiative comes as Honor prepares for a public listing, following a shareholder restructuring completed in December. While a date for the IPO has yet to be confirmed, the company appears to be positioning itself as a key player in China’s AI race, spurred by growing domestic interest in large language models like those developed by DeepSeek.

Despite slipping to fourth place in China’s smartphone market last year, Honor continues to receive strong backing from the Shenzhen local government. Support has included R&D funding, tax incentives, and assistance with international expansion. The company’s strategic pivot to AI reflects broader trends in China’s tech sector, as firms seek to integrate smart features into a wider range of consumer devices.

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Tim Cook donates to Zhejiang University on China visit

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a surprise visit to China last week, marking the 10th anniversary partnership between Apple and Zhejiang University. During the visit, Cook announced a donation of RMB 30 million (£3.4 million) to support programming education and cultivate future talent in app development. The funds will establish the Apple Mobile Application Incubation Fund, offering training and connecting students to industry mentors and opportunities.

Zhejiang University, located in Hangzhou and considered one of the top institutions in China, has worked with Apple on mobile app innovation since 2015. Their long-standing collaboration has already reached over 30,000 students through competitions and workshops across the country. The new investment brings the total funding from Apple over the decade to RMB 80 million (£9.1 million).

Apple’s move reinforces its commitment to the Chinese market amid ongoing regulatory challenges. Some Apple Intelligence features remain unavailable in China, prompting the company to explore partnerships with local AI firms. While no formal agreements have been announced, the tech giant’s engagement with Chinese academia may also pave the way for future tech integration and regulatory compliance.

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OpenAI CEO says India leads in AI creativity

Sam Altman sparked interest among Indian users on X after praising the country’s rapid AI adoption and sharing an AI-generated image of himself playing cricket. In his 2 April post, the OpenAI CEO called India’s AI creativity an ‘explosion,’ claiming the country was outpacing the world in adoption rates.

Users questioned why Altman singled out India, with some turning to AI chatbots like Perplexity and Grok for verification. His comments followed a February visit to India, where he met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and highlighted India as OpenAI’s second-largest market.

Altman’s remarks also came shortly after OpenAI’s GPT-4o update, which enhanced AI-generated images and illustrations. To showcase this, he shared an anime-style image of himself as a cricket player, sporting a Team India jersey.

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Bill Gates foresees AI-driven two-day work weeks

Bill Gates has predicted that AI will reduce work hours significantly, with two-day work weeks becoming a reality in the next decade.

His vision contrasts with views in India, where figures like Narayana Murthy and S.N. Subrahmanyan argue for longer work hours instead of reducing them, believing they are crucial for economic growth.

However, Harsh Goenka and Harish Mariwala, who focus on ambition and productivity instead of hours worked, have a different take. They stress the importance of quality instead of quantity in work hours.

Studies, such as those from Iceland and New Zealand, suggest that reduced working hours can lead to higher productivity and a better work-life balance.

In Iceland, trials reducing weekly hours from 40 to 35 saw workers feeling more energised and less stressed, while New Zealand’s Perpetual Guardian found that employees completed tasks in fewer hours, raising engagement and reducing stress.

Despite Gates’ prediction, the idea of working only two days a week seems extreme, especially considering his past work ethic.

Gates himself worked long hours instead of fewer ones during his early career, fearing mistakes could cost him his company, but he acknowledges that AI and technology have shifted the landscape.

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AI transforms autism therapy in China

In Shenzhen, a quiet breakthrough is unfolding in autism rehabilitation as AI-powered tools begin to transform how young children receive therapy.

At a local centre, a therapist guides a three-year-old boy through speech exercises, while an AI system documents progress and instantly generates a tailored home-training plan, offering much-needed support to both therapists and families.

China faces a severe shortage of autism therapists, with only around 100,000 professionals serving a community of over 10 million individuals, including 3 million children.

Traditional diagnosis and treatment rely on time-consuming behavioural assessments. Now, AI is streamlining this process.

Centres like Dami & Xiaomi, in partnership with Amazon Web Services, have developed RICE AI, a system trained on over 80 million behavioural data points to generate faster, personalised interventions and even custom visual materials for home learning.

By dramatically reducing workloads and enhancing precision, AI is helping to close the gap in early intervention and support.

More facilities are following suit, with efforts underway to unify and open-source these tools across the country. As one mother tearfully recalled her autistic son’s first spoken word, the emotional impact of this technological shift was clear, AI is not replacing care, but deepening it.

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Emergence AI launches platform that builds AI with AI

The startup Emergence AI has launched a new no-code platform that allows users to generate custom AI agents simply by describing tasks in natural language.

These agents can then autonomously create other, more specialised agents to complete complex work, in real time and without requiring human coding expertise.

The system, which the company calls a breakthrough in ‘recursive intelligence’, checks its registry of agents for task compatibility. If existing agents aren’t suitable, new ones are created instantly to handle the job.

These can also anticipate related tasks, boosting automation across enterprise operations. Emergence AI claims the platform can seamlessly orchestrate collaboration among multiple agents, bringing a new level of efficiency to data transformation, migration, analytics, and even code generation and verification.

Users can select from a range of major large language models including OpenAI’s GPT-4.5, Anthropic’s Claude, and Meta’s Llama. Enterprises can also integrate their own models.

With safety and oversight in mind, Emergence AI has built in access controls, performance verification tools, and human review processes to ensure responsible deployment. Pricing has yet to be disclosed, but interested parties are encouraged to contact the firm directly.

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Qualcomm taps Vietnamese talent to push AI innovation

Qualcomm has acquired MovianAI, the generative AI division of Vietnam’s VinAI, in a move aimed at enhancing its capabilities across smartphones, PCs, and automotive technologies.

The US chipmaker described the acquisition as a strategic step to fuel future innovation in AI, with particular emphasis on customised models and advanced engineering.

MovianAI brings expertise in machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Qualcomm highlighted the value of adding ‘high-calibre talent’ to its engineering team, with MovianAI’s founder and CEO Hung Bui, who previously worked at Google DeepMind, set to join the company.

Bui stated that his team is eager to contribute to Qualcomm’s mission of scaling foundational AI breakthroughs across industries.

Qualcomm has a two-decade history of working with Vietnamese companies, particularly in 5G, IoT, and AI development. While the financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Vietnamese outlet VNExpress International reported that Qualcomm has acquired a 65 per cent stake in MovianAI.

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Studio Ghibli director warns AI can’t replicate emotional depth

AI may soon be capable of producing entire animated films, warns Goro Miyazaki, son of the iconic Hayao Miyazaki and managing director at Studio Ghibli.

Amid a viral trend of AI-generated images mimicking Ghibli’s hand-drawn style, Goro reflected on both the potential and risks of generative technology. While automation could ease Japan’s animator shortage, he believes the emotional depth that defines Ghibli’s work cannot be replicated by machines.

Speaking from Ghibli’s atelier in Tokyo, Goro acknowledged that AI could soon produce full-length features, yet questioned whether audiences would accept creations lacking human touch.

He also noted that the new wave of tools may unlock creative opportunities for previously overlooked talent.

Nonetheless, he stressed the irreplaceable vision of artists like his father, whose Oscar-winning final film The Boy and the Heron continues to embody themes of loss and mortality, drawn from postwar experience.

OpenAI, whose ChatGPT image generator has fuelled the online Ghibli-style craze, claims to block imitations of living artists while allowing broader studio aesthetics.

As AI redefines content creation, Goro warned against losing the uniquely human elements, both light and dark, that have given Studio Ghibli’s films their enduring depth and resonance.

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South Korea faces industry pushback on AI Basic Act

Global tech companies, including OpenAI and Google, have urged the South Korean government to take a flexible approach to its upcoming AI regulations.

Representatives from OpenAI, Google, and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) met with the Ministry of Science and ICT to discuss the AI Basic Act, which takes effect in 2026.

The AI Basic Act, passed in December, aims to promote AI development while ensuring safety, making South Korea the second region after the European Union to introduce such legislation.

Tech firms raised concerns over potential regulatory burdens, particularly in defining high-impact applications and operator liability.

South Korean officials are now drafting enforcement ordinances for the new law. Industry representatives have requested a less rigid approach compared with the stricter AI regulations in the EU, hoping to balance innovation with compliance.

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TikTok bidding war intensifies as Amazon enters the fray

The roster of potential acquirers is expanding as the deadline for TikTok to secure a non-Chinese buyer approaches.

Amazon and a consortium led by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely have recently expressed interest in purchasing the popular short-video platform.

The US government has set a 5 April deadline for TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban due to national security concerns.

Stokely’s new venture, Zoop, in collaboration with the Hbar Foundation, which manages the Hedera cryptocurrency network, has submitted a late-stage bid to acquire TikTok.

Their proposal emphasises a novel ownership model to benefit creators and their communities directly.

Zoop positions itself as a mainstream, family-friendly platform, distinct from the adult-content focus of OnlyFans.

The consortium has partnered with undisclosed investors to support their bid.

Amazon has also entered the fray, confirming its interest in TikTok through a letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

While Amazon has not publicly commented on the specifics, this move aligns with its longstanding ambition to establish a foothold in social media.

The tech giant previously acquired live-streaming platform Twitch and book review site Goodreads and has experimented with short-form video features akin to TikTok.

Other contenders include a group led by Oracle, with participation from venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Blackstone, all exploring potential investments in TikTok’s US operations.

The White House oversees negotiations, aiming to restructure TikTok into a US-based entity with Chinese ownership reduced below 20% to comply with legal requirements.

The urgency surrounding TikTok’s sale stems from a 2024 law mandating ByteDance to divest the app by 19 January, citing national security risks.

US officials have expressed concerns that ByteDance’s ownership could enable the Chinese government to conduct influence operations and collect data on American users.

As the deadline looms, TikTok’s future in the US remains uncertain, with multiple parties vying for platform control.

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