World Liberty Financial’s WLTC Holdings LLC has applied with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish World Liberty Trust Company, National Association (WLTC), a national trust bank designed for stablecoin operations.
The move aims to centralise issuance, custody, and conversion of USD1, the company’s dollar-backed stablecoin. USD1 has grown rapidly, reaching over $3.3 billion in circulation during its first year.
The trust company will serve institutional clients, providing stablecoin conversion and secure custody for USD1 and other supported stablecoins.
WLTC will operate under federal supervision, offering fee-free USD1 issuance and redemption, USD conversion, and custody with market-rate conversions. Operations will comply with the GENIUS Act and follow strict AML, sanctions, and cybersecurity protocols.
The stablecoin is fully backed by US dollars and short-duration Treasury obligations, operating across ten blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Solana, and TRON.
By combining regulatory oversight with full-stack stablecoin services, WLTC seeks to provide institutional clients with clarity and efficiency in digital asset operations.
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Ford has unveiled plans for an AI assistant that will launch in its smartphone app in early 2026 before expanding to in-vehicle systems in 2027. The announcement was made at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show, alongside a preview of a next-generation BlueCruise driver assistance system.
The AI assistant will be hosted on Google Cloud and built using existing large language models, with access to vehicle-specific data. Ford said this will allow users to ask both general questions, such as vehicle capacity, and real-time queries, including oil life and maintenance status.
Ford plans to introduce the assistant first through its redesigned mobile app, with native integration into vehicles scheduled for 2027. The company has not yet specified which models will receive the in-car version first, but said the rollout would expand gradually across its lineup.
Alongside the AI assistant, the vehicle manufacturer previewed an updated version of its BlueCruise system, which it claims will be more affordable to produce and more capable. The new system is expected to debut in 2027 on the first electric vehicle built on Ford’s low-cost Universal Electric Vehicle platform.
Ford said the next-generation BlueCruise could support eyes-off driving by 2028 and enable point-to-point autonomous driving under driver supervision. As with similar systems from other automakers, drivers will still be required to remain ready to take control at any time.
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Portola has launched Tolan, a voice-first AI companion that learns from ongoing conversations through personalised, animated characters. Tolan is designed for open-ended dialogue, making voice interactions more natural and engaging than standard text-based AI.
Built around memory and character design, the platform uses real-time context reconstruction to maintain personality and track shifting topics. Each turn, the system retrieves user memories, persona traits, and conversation tone, enabling coherent, adaptive responses.
GPT‑5.1 has improved latency, steerability, and consistency, reducing memory recall errors by 30% and boosting next-day retention over 20%.
Tolan’s architecture combines fast vector-based memory, dynamic emotional adjustment, and layered persona scaffolds. Sub-second responses and context rebuilding help the AI handle topic changes, maintain tone, and feel more human-like.
Since February 2025, Tolan has gained over 200,000 monthly users, earning a 4.8-star rating on the App Store. Future plans focus on multimodal voice agents integrating vision, context, and enhanced steerability to expand the boundaries of interactive AI.
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Thyroid cancer, the most common endocrine malignancy, poses challenges for surgeons trying to remove tumours while preserving healthy tissue.
Fine-needle aspiration and pathology are accurate but slow, providing no real-time guidance and sometimes causing unnecessary or incomplete surgeries. Dynamic Optical Contrast Imaging (DOCI) uses cells’ natural light to quickly distinguish healthy tissue from cancer.
The technique captures 23 optical channels from freshly excised tissue, creating detailed spectral maps without dyes or contrast agents. These optical signatures allow for rapid, label-free tissue analysis.
Researchers at Duke University and UCLA combined DOCI with AI to improve accuracy in classification and localisation. A two-stage machine-learning approach first categorised tissue as healthy or cancerous, including common and aggressive thyroid cancer subtypes.
Deep-learning models then produced tumour probability maps, pinpointing cancerous regions with minimal false positives.
Although initial studies focused on post-excision tissue, the technology could soon offer surgeons real-time guidance in the operating room. By combining optical imaging with AI, DOCI may reduce unnecessary surgery, preserve healthy tissue, and improve outcomes for thyroid cancer patients.
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The UK government has announced new measures to strengthen the security and resilience of online public services as more interactions with the state move online. Ministers say public confidence is essential as citizens increasingly rely on digital systems for everyday services.
Backed by more than £210 million, the UK Government Cyber Action Plan outlines how cyber defences and digital resilience will be improved across the public sector. A new Government Cyber Unit will coordinate risk identification, incident response, and action on complex threats spanning multiple departments.
The plan underpins wider efforts to digitise public services, including benefits applications, tax payments, and healthcare access. Officials argue that secure systems can reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency, but only if users trust that their data is protected.
The announcement coincides with parliamentary debate on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which sets clearer expectations for companies supplying services to the government. The legislation is intended to strengthen cyber resilience across critical supply chains.
Ministers also highlighted new steps to address software supply chain risks, including a Software Security Ambassador Scheme promoting basic security practices. The government says stronger cyber resilience is essential to protect public services and maintain public trust.
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UMG has entered a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to reshape how billions of fans discover, experience and engage with music by using advanced AI.
An initiative that combines NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure with UMG’s extensive global catalogue, aiming to elevate music interaction instead of relying solely on traditional search and recommendation systems.
The partnership will focus on AI-driven discovery and engagement that interprets music at a deeper cultural and emotional level.
By analysing full-length tracks, the technology is designed to surface music through narrative, mood and context, offering fans richer exploration while helping artists reach audiences more meaningfully.
Artist empowerment sits at the centre of the collaboration, with plans to establish an incubator where musicians and producers help co-design AI tools.
The goal is to enhance originality and creative control instead of producing generic outputs, while ensuring proper attribution and protection of copyrighted works.
Universal Music Group and NVIDIA also emphasise responsible AI development, combining technical safeguards with industry oversight.
By aligning innovation with artist rights and fair compensation, both companies aim to set new standards for how AI supports creativity across the global music ecosystem.
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OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Health, a secure platform linking users’ health information with ChatGPT’s intelligence. The platform supports, rather than replaces, medical care, helping users understand test results, prepare for appointments, and manage their wellness.
ChatGPT Health allows users to safely connect medical records and apps such as Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal. All data is stored in a separate Health space with encryption and enhanced privacy to keep sensitive information secure.
Conversations in Health are not used to train OpenAI’s models.
The platform was developed with input from more than 260 physicians worldwide, ensuring guidance is accurate, clinically relevant, and prioritises safety.
HealthBench, a physician-informed evaluation framework, helps measure quality, clarity, and appropriate escalation in responses, supporting users in making informed decisions about their health.
ChatGPT Health is initially available outside the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK, with wider access coming in the coming weeks. Users can sign up for a waitlist and begin connecting records and wellness apps to receive personalised, context-aware health insights.
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The online gaming platform, Roblox, has begun a global rollout requiring facial age checks before users can access chat features, expanding a system first tested in selected regions late last year.
The measure applies wherever chat is available and aims to create age-appropriate communication environments across the platform.
Instead of relying on self-declared ages, Roblox uses facial age estimation to group users and restrict interactions, limiting contact between adults and children under 16. Younger users need parental consent to chat, while verified users aged 13 and over can connect more freely through Trusted Connections.
The company says privacy safeguards remain central, with images deleted immediately after secure processing and no image sharing allowed in chat. Appeals, ID verification and parental controls support accuracy, while ongoing behavioural checks may trigger repeat age verification if discrepancies appear.
Roblox plans to extend age checks beyond chat later in 2026, including creator tools and community features, as part of a broader push to strengthen online safety and rebuild trust in youth-focused digital platforms.
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Stanford Medicine researchers have developed an AI model that can analyse a single night of sleep to predict long-term disease risk. Known as SleepFM, the system uses physiological signals recorded during overnight sleep studies to identify early indicators of future health conditions.
The model was trained on nearly 600,000 hours of polysomnography data from 65,000 participants. Polysomnography captures brain activity, heart rhythms, breathing patterns, eye movements, and muscle signals, creating one of the most data-rich assessments used in medicine.
SleepFM was designed as a foundation model that learns how multiple biological signals interact during sleep. By reconstructing missing data streams, the system identifies patterns across different physiological systems rather than analysing signals in isolation.
After training, the model matched or outperformed existing tools in standard sleep data assessments, including sleep stage classification and sleep apnoea severity. Researchers then linked sleep data with long-term health records to evaluate its ability to predict future disease onset.
The model demonstrated strong predictive performance across 130 conditions, encompassing various diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders. Researchers say the findings position sleep data as an early warning signal, while further work will focus on interpretation and real-world clinical use.
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Identical twins were briefly delayed at Mumbai airport after Digi Yatra facial recognition failed to distinguish between them. The incident occurred during automated entry at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Mumbai airport staff stepped in quickly, carrying out manual identity checks using physical documents. Both passengers were cleared to travel without missing their flight.
Digi Yatra officials stated that such mismatches are rare and can occur in cases of identical twins. Passengers always retain the option of conventional ID-based verification.
The episode has renewed debate around biometric reliability and the need for human oversight. Experts stress technology must support, not replace, assisted passenger checks.
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