Internet of things

AI-powered Google Photos features land on iOS, search expands to 100+ countries

Google Photos is introducing prompt-based edits, an ‘Ask’ button, and style templates across iOS and Android. In the US, iPhone users can describe edits by voice or text, with a redesigned editor for faster controls. The rollout builds on the August Pixel 10’s debut of prompt editing.

Personalised edits now recognise people from face groups, so you can issue multi-person requests, such as removing sunglasses or opening eyes. Find it under ‘Help me edit’, where changes apply to each named person. It’s designed for faster, more granular everyday fixes.

A new Ask button serves as a hub for AI requests, from questions about a photo to suggested edits and related moments. The interface surfaces chips that hint at actions users can take. The Ask experience is rolling out in the US on both iOS and Android.

Google is also adding AI templates that turn a single photo into set formats, such as retro portraits or comic-style panels. The company states that its Nano Banana model powers these creative styles and that templates will be available next week under the Create tab on Android in the US and India.

AI search in Google Photos, first launched in the US, is expanding to over 100 countries with support for 17 languages. Markets include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and South Africa. Google says this brings natural-language photo search to a far greater number of users.

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Vision AI Companion turns Samsung TVs into conversational AI platforms

Samsung has unveiled the Vision AI Companion, an advanced conversational AI platform designed to transform the television into a connected household hub.

Unlike voice assistants meant for personal devices, the Vision AI Companion operates on the communal screen, enabling families to ask questions, plan activities, and receive visualised, contextual answers through natural dialogue.

Built into Samsung’s 2025 TV lineup, the system integrates an upgraded Bixby and supports multiple large language models, including Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.

With its multi-AI agent platform, Vision AI Companion allows users to access personalised recommendations, real-time information, and multimedia responses without leaving their current programme.

It supports 10 languages and includes features such as Live Translate, AI Gaming Mode, Generative Wallpaper, and AI Upscaling Pro. The platform runs on One UI Tizen, offering seven years of software upgrades to ensure longevity and security.

By embedding generative AI into televisions, Samsung aims to redefine how households interact with technology, turning the TV into an intelligent companion that informs, entertains, and connects families across languages and experiences.

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Researchers urge governance after LLMs display source-driven bias

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to grade, hire, and moderate text. UZH research shows that evaluations shift when participants are told who wrote identical text, revealing source bias. Agreement stayed high only when authorship was hidden.

When told a human or another AI wrote it, agreement fell, and biases surfaced. The strongest was anti-Chinese across all models, including a model from China, with sharp drops even for well-reasoned arguments.

AI models also preferred ‘human-written’ over ‘AI-written’, showing scepticism toward machine-authored text. Such identity-triggered bias risks unfair outcomes in moderation, reviewing, hiring, and newsroom workflows.

Researchers recommend identity-blind prompts, A/B checks with and without source cues, structured rubrics focused on evidence and logic, and human oversight for consequential decisions.

They call for governance standards: disclose evaluation settings, test for bias across demographics and nationalities, and set guardrails before sensitive deployments. Transparency on prompts, model versions, and calibration is essential.

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Appfigures revises iOS estimates as Sora’s launch on Android launch leaps ahead

Sora’s Android launch outpaced its iOS debut, garnering an estimated 470,000 first-day installs across seven markets, according to Appfigures. Broader regional availability, plus the end of invite-only access in top markets, boosted uptake.

OpenAI’s iOS rollout was limited to the US and Canada via invitations, which capped early growth despite strong momentum. The iOS app nevertheless surpassed one million installs in its first week and still ranks highly in the US App Store’s Top Free chart.

Revised Appfigures modelling puts day-one iOS installs at ~110,000 (up from 56,000), with ~69,300 from the US. On Android, availability spans the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. First-day US installs were ~296,000, showing sustained demand beyond the iOS launch.

Sora allows users to generate videos from text prompts and animate themselves or friends via ‘Cameos’, sharing the results in a TikTok-style vertical feed. Engagement features for creation and discovery are driving word of mouth and repeat use across both platforms.

Competition in mobile AI video and assistants is intensifying, with Meta AI expanding its app in Europe on the same day. Market share will hinge on geographic reach, feature velocity, creator tools, and distribution via app store charts and social feeds.

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ACCC lawsuit triggers Microsoft’s rethink and apology on Copilot subscription communications

Microsoft apologised after Australia’s regulator said it steered Microsoft 365 users to pricier Copilot plans while downplaying cheaper Classic tiers. The move follows APAC price-rise emails and confusion over Personal and Family increases.

ACCC officials said communications may have denied customers informed choices by omitting equivalent non-AI plans. Microsoft acknowledged it could have been clearer and accepted that Classic alternatives might have saved some subscribers money under the October 2024 changes.

Redmond is offering affected customers refunds for the difference between Copilot and Classic tiers and has begun contacting subscribers in Australia and New Zealand. The company also re-sent its apology email after discovering a broken link to the Classic plans page.

Questions remain over whether similar remediation will extend to Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, which also saw price hikes earlier this year. Consumer groups are watching for consistent remedies and plain-English disclosures across all impacted markets.

Regulators have sharpened scrutiny of dark patterns, bundling, and AI-linked upsells as digital subscriptions proliferate. Clear side-by-side plan comparisons and functional disclosures about AI features are likely to become baseline expectations for compliance and customer trust.

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Snap brings Perplexity’s answer engine into Chat for nearly a billion users

Starting in early 2026, Perplexity’s AI will be integrated into Snapchat’s Chat, accessible to nearly 1 billion users. Snapchatters can ask questions and receive concise, cited answers in-app. Snap says the move reinforces its position as a trusted, mobile-first AI platform.

Under the deal, Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million in cash and equity over a one-year period, tied to the global rollout. Revenue contribution is expected to begin in 2026. Snap points to its 943 million MAUs and reaches over 75% of 13–34-year-olds in 25+ countries.

Perplexity frames the move as meeting curiosity where it occurs, within everyday conversations. Evan Spiegel says Snap aims to make AI more personal, social, and fun, woven into friendships and conversations. Both firms pitch the partnership as enhancing discovery and learning on Snapchat.

Perplexity joins, rather than replaces, Snapchat’s existing My AI. Messages sent to Perplexity will inform personalisation on Snapchat, similar to My AI’s current behaviour. Snap claims the approach is privacy-safe and designed to provide credible, real-time answers from verifiable sources.

Snap casts this as a first step toward a broader AI partner platform inside Snapchat. The companies plan creative, trusted ways for leading AI providers to reach Snap’s global community. The integration aims to enable seamless, in-chat exploration while keeping users within Snapchat’s product experience.

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Material-level AI emerges in MIT–DeRucci sleep science collaboration

MIT’s Sensor and Ambient Intelligence group, led by Joseph Paradiso, unveiled ‘FiberCircuits’, a smart-fibre platform co-developed with DeRucci. It embeds sensing, edge inference, and feedback directly in fibres to create ‘weavable intelligence’. The aim is natural, low-intrusion human–computer interaction.

Teams embedded AI micro-sensors and sub-millimetre ICs to capture respiration, movement, skin conductance, and temperature, running tinyML locally for privacy. Feedback via light, sound, or micro-stimulation closes the loop while keeping power and data exposure low.

Sleep science prototypes included a mattress with distributed sensors for posture recognition, an eye mask combining PPG and EMG, and an IMU-enabled pillow. Prototypes were used to validate signal parsing and human–machine coupling across various sleep scenarios.

Edge-first design places most inference on the fibre to protect user data and reduce interference, according to DeRucci’s CTO, Chen Wenze. Collaboration covered architecture, algorithms, and validation, with early results highlighting comfort, durability, and responsiveness suitable for bedding.

Partners plan to expand cohorts and scenarios into rehabilitation and non-invasive monitoring, and to release selected algorithms and test protocols. Paradiso framed material-level intelligence as a path to gentler interfaces that blend into everyday environments.

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MAI-Image-1 arrives in Bing and Copilot with EU launch on the way

Microsoft’s in-house image generator, MAI-Image-1, now powers Bing Image Creator and Copilot Audio Expressions, with EU availability coming soon, according to Mustafa Suleyman. It’s optimised for speed and photorealism in food, landscapes, and stylised lighting.

In Copilot’s Story Mode, MAI-Image-1 pairs artwork with AI audio, linking text-to-image and text-to-speech. Microsoft pitches realism and fast iteration versus larger, slower models to shorten creative workflows.

The rollout follows August’s MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview. Copilot is shifting to OpenAI’s GPT-5 while continuing to offer Anthropic’s Claude, signalling a mixed-model strategy alongside homegrown systems.

Bing’s Image Creator lists three selectable models, which are MAI-Image-1, OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o. Microsoft says MAI-Image-1 enables faster ideation and hand-off to downstream tools for refinement.

Analysts see MAI-Image-1 as part of a broader effort to reduce dependence on third-party image systems while preserving user choice. Microsoft highlights safety tooling and copyright-aware practices across Copilot experiences as adoption widens.

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Bahrain’s 5G network expansion will boost connectivity

Bahrain’s 5G network expansion takes a major step forward as Ericsson renews its partnership with Batelco to enhance the kingdom’s digital infrastructure.

The agreement, finalised during the Gateway Gulf Investment Forum, aims to boost Bahrain’s 5G Network connectivity, drive digital transformation, and support Bahrain’s growing demand for high-speed mobile services.

The Bahrain 5G network expansion will extend 5G coverage to residential, commercial, hospitality, and industrial zones, including major areas such as Diyar Al Muharraq, Salman City, Bahrain Bay, and Ras Zuwaied. This rollout ensures faster, more reliable 5G connectivity, catering to both consumers and businesses across the kingdom.

Ericsson will deploy its latest Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies, featuring advanced radios, efficient power systems, and eco-friendly battery solutions. These upgrades optimise network performance, energy efficiency, and reduce hardware footprint.

Additionally, Batelco’s cloud infrastructure will be modernised, improving scalability, operational efficiency, and support for IoT, 5G Advanced applications, and AI-driven operations.

According to Batelco’s CEO, these initiatives will keep Bahrain’s 5G network innovative, reliable, and high-performing, delivering an exceptional digital experience for all users.

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Perplexity’s Comet hits Amazon’s policy wall

Amazon removed Perplexity’s Comet after receiving warnings that it was shopping without identifying itself. Perplexity says an agent inherits a user’s permissions. The fight turns a header detail into a question of who gets to intermediate online buying.

Amazon likens agents to delivery or travel intermediaries that announce themselves, and hints at blocking non-compliant bots. With its own assistant, Rufus, critics fear rules as competitive moats; Perplexity calls it gatekeeping.

Beneath this is a business-model clash. Retailers monetise discovery with ads and sponsored placement. Neutral agents promise price-first buying and fewer impulse ads. If bots dominate, incumbents lose margin and control of merchandising levers.

Interoperability likely requires standards, including explicit bot IDs, rate limits, purchase scopes, consented data access, and auditable logs. Stores could ship agent APIs for inventory, pricing, and returns, with 2FA and fraud checks for transactions.

In the near term, expect fragmentation as platforms favour native agents and restrictive terms, while regulators weigh transparency and competition. A workable truce: disclose the agent, honour robots and store policies, and use clear opt-in data contracts.

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