Microsoft, in collaboration with NVIDIA and WeTransact, has launched the Agentic Launchpad to drive AI innovation across the UK and Ireland. Built on Microsoft’s $30 billion investment in UK AI infrastructure, the initiative aims to help start-ups and scale-ups develop intelligent, next-generation AI platforms.
The programme provides participants with access to cutting-edge technologies, expert guidance, and global go-to-market support. Companies benefit from technical sessions, co-innovation opportunities, and marketing support to ensure their products reach the marketplace quickly.
Selected participants will also gain exposure through Microsoft and partner communications, networking events, and industry summits.
Agentic Launchpad is open to UK-based software companies developing agentic applications, autonomous systems, or generative AI platforms. Applicants should highlight their vision and technical strengths; submissions are open from 4 November to 28.
Microsoft and NVIDIA highlight the programme’s potential to foster innovation and leadership in the emerging era of agentic AI, offering training, infrastructure, and expert networks to accelerate development and performance.
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French lawmakers approved a proposal to expand the wealth tax to cover ‘unproductive assets’ like luxury goods, property, and digital currencies. The amendment by centrist MP Jean-Paul Matteï narrowly passed the National Assembly, 163 to 150, with support from socialist and far-right members.
The proposal will now move to the Senate for further debate as part of the 2026 national budget process.
Under the plan, individuals holding ‘unproductive wealth’ valued above €2 million would face a new 1% flat tax. The measure replaces the existing progressive real estate wealth tax, which currently charges up to 1.5% on assets exceeding €10 million.
Matteï argued that the change would promote ‘productive investment’ and address inconsistencies in the current system, which excludes assets like gold, classic cars, and cryptocurrencies.
The inclusion of digital assets has drawn criticism from the local crypto community. Éric Larchevêque, co-founder of crypto wallet maker Ledger, warned that the move sends a negative message, portraying crypto as economically ‘unproductive.’
He cautioned that investors could be forced to liquidate their holdings to pay the tax, and expressed concern that the threshold might later be reduced.
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The European Commission has unveiled RAISE, a new virtual institute designed to unite Europe’s AI research and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.
The launch, announced in Copenhagen, marks a flagship moment in the EU’s strategy to strengthen its leadership in science and technology through collective action.
Funded with €107 million under Horizon Europe, RAISE will bring together Europe’s best resources in data, computing power, and research talent.
An initiative that will help scientists apply AI to pressing challenges such as cancer treatment, climate change, and natural disaster prediction, while promoting innovation that serves humanity instead of commercial interests alone.
RAISE will work with the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to secure access to AI Gigafactories and will dedicate €75 million to train and attract global researchers through Networks of Excellence.
The Commission also plans to double Horizon Europe’s annual AI investments to more than €3 billion, ensuring that the EU remains a global leader in scientific AI.
A project that reflects the EU’s ambition to achieve technological sovereignty and create an inclusive AI ecosystem. As RAISE grows in phases towards 2034, it will strengthen cooperation among Member States, academia, and industry, setting a benchmark for responsible and innovative AI in science.
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The European Commission has approved the creation of the Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (DC-EDIC), designed to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The new body unites France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy as founding members.
DC-EDIC aims to build open, interoperable and sovereign digital systems, reducing reliance on imported technologies. Its work will focus on shared data infrastructure, connected public administration and collaborative digital tools to support both governments and businesses.
The Paris-based consortium will coordinate funding access, offer legal and technical guidance, and support the scaling of open-source digital solutions across Europe. Future projects will include a one-stop shop for resources, an expertise hub and a Digital Commons Forum.
All jointly developed software will be released under free, open-source licences, ensuring transparency and reuse whilst being GDPR compliant. The official launch is expected in December 2025, with the first annual State of the Digital Commons report planned for 2027.
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Organisations across public and private sectors are using Salesforce’s Agentforce to engage people whenever and wherever they need support.
From local governments to hospitals and education platforms, AI systems are transforming how services are delivered and accessed.
In the city of Kyle, Texas, an Agentforce-driven 311 app enables residents to report issues such as potholes or water leaks. The city plans to make the system voice-enabled, reducing traditional call volumes while maintaining a steady flow of service requests and faster responses.
At Pearson, AI enables students to access their online learning platforms instantly, regardless of their time zone. The company stated that the technology fosters loyalty by providing immediate assistance, rather than requiring users to wait for human support.
Meanwhile, UChicago Medicine utilises AI to streamline patient interactions, from prescription refills to scheduling, while ambient listening tools enable doctors to focus entirely on patients rather than typing notes.
Salesforce said Agentforce empowers organisations to save resources while enhancing trust, accessibility, and service quality. By meeting people on their own terms, AI enables more responsive and human-centred interactions across various industries.
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI have entered a $38 billion, multi-year partnership that will see OpenAI run and scale its AI workloads on AWS infrastructure. The seven-year deal grants OpenAI access to vast NVIDIA GPU clusters and the capacity to scale to millions of CPUs.
The collaboration aims to meet the growing global demand for computing power driven by rapid advances in generative AI.
OpenAI will immediately begin using AWS compute resources, with all capacity expected to be fully deployed by the end of 2026. The infrastructure will optimise AI performance by clustering NVIDIA GB200 and GB300 GPUs via Amazon EC2 UltraServers for low-latency, large-scale processing.
These clusters will support tasks such as training new models and serving inference for ChatGPT.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the partnership would help scale frontier AI securely and reliably, describing it as a foundation for ‘bringing advanced AI to everyone.’ AWS CEO Matt Garman noted that AWS’s computing power and reliability make it uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s growing workloads.
The move strengthens an already active collaboration between the two firms. Earlier this year, OpenAI’s models became available on Amazon Bedrock, enabling AWS clients such as Peloton, Thomson Reuters, and Comscore to adopt advanced AI tools.
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Meta has introduced a new Facebook update allowing group administrators to change their private groups to public while keeping members’ privacy protected. The company said the feature gives admins more flexibility to grow their communities without exposing existing private content.
All posts, comments, and reactions shared before the change will remain visible only to previous members, admins, and moderators. The member list will also stay private. Once converted, any new posts will be visible to everyone, including non-Facebook users, which helps discussions reach a broader audience.
Admins have three days to review and cancel the conversion before it becomes permanent. Members will be notified when a group changes its status, and a globe icon will appear when posting in public groups as a reminder of visibility settings.
Groups can be switched back to private at any time, restoring member-only access.
Meta said the feature supports community growth and deeper engagement while maintaining privacy safeguards. Group admins can also utilise anonymous or nickname-based participation options, providing users with greater control over their engagement in public discussions.
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Mercedes-Benz reported faster decisions and better on-time delivery at Celosphere 2025. Using Celonis within MO360, it unifies production and logistics data, extending visibility across every order, part, and process.
Order-to-delivery operations use AI copilots to forecast timelines, optimise sequencing, and cut delays. After-sales teams surface bottlenecks in service parts logistics and speed customer responses. Quality management utilises anomaly detection to identify deviations early, preventing them from impacting production output.
Executives say complete data transparency enables teams to act faster and with greater precision across production and supply chains. The approach helps anticipate change and react to market shifts. Hundreds of active users are expanding adoption as data-driven practices scale across the company.
Celonis positions process intelligence as the backbone that makes enterprise AI valuable. Integrated process data and business context create a live operational twin. The goal is moving from visibility to action, unlocking value through targeted fixes and intelligent automation.
Conference sessions highlighted broader momentum for process intelligence and AI in industry. Leaders discussed governance, standards, and measurable outcomes from digital platforms. Mercedes-Benz framed its results as proof that structured data and AI can lift performance at a global scale.
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Nissan and Monolith have extended their strategic partnership for three years to apply AI across more vehicle programmes in Europe. The collaboration supports Nissan. RE: Nissan Plans to Compress Development Timelines and Improve Operational Efficiency. Early outcomes are guiding a wider rollout.
Engineers at Nissan Technical Centre Europe will utilise Monolith to predict test results based on decades of data and simulations. Reducing prototypes and conducting targeted, high-value experiments enables teams to focus more effectively on design decisions. Ensuring both accuracy and coverage remains essential.
A prior project on chassis bolt joints saw AI recommend optimal torque ranges and prioritise the following best tests for engineers. Compared with the non-AI process, physical testing fell by 17 percent in controlled comparisons. Similar approaches are being prepared for future models beyond LEAF.
Leaders say that a broader deployment could halve testing time across European programmes if comparable gains are achieved. Governance encompasses rigorous validation before changes are deployed to production. Operational benefits include faster iteration cycles and reduced test waste.
Monolith’s toolkit includes next-test recommendation and anomaly detection to flag outliers before rework. Nissan frames the push as an innovation with sustainability benefits, cutting material use while maintaining quality across a complex supply chain. Partners will share results as adoption scales.
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AI summaries can speed learning, but an extensive study finds they often blunt depth and recall. More than 10,000 participants used chatbots or traditional web search to learn assigned topics. Those relying on chatbot digests showed shallower knowledge and offered fewer concrete facts afterwards.
Researchers from Wharton and New Mexico State conducted seven experiments across various tasks, including gardening, health, and scam awareness. Some groups saw the same facts, either as an AI digest or as source links. Advice written after AI use was shorter, less factual, and more similar across users.
Follow-up raters judged AI-derived advice as less informative and less trustworthy. Participants who used AI also reported spending less time with sources. Lower effort during synthesis reduces the mental work that cements understanding.
Findings land amid broader concerns about summary reliability. A BBC-led investigation recently found that major chatbots frequently misrepresented news content in their responses. The evidence suggests that to serves as support for critical reading, rather than a substitute for it.
The practical takeaway for learners and teachers is straightforward. Use AI to scaffold questions, outline queries, and compare viewpoints. Build lasting understanding by reading multiple sources, checking citations, and writing your own synthesis before asking a model to refine it.
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