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Landmark tech deal secures record UK-US AI and energy investment

The UK and US have signed a landmark Tech Prosperity Deal, securing a £250 billion investment package across technology and energy sectors. The agreement includes major commitments from leading AI companies to expand data centres, supercomputing capacity, and create 15,000 jobs in Britain.

Energy security forms a core part of the deal, with plans for 12 advanced nuclear reactors in northeast England. These facilities are expected to generate power for millions of homes and businesses, lower bills, and strengthen bilateral energy resilience.

The package includes $30 billion from Microsoft and $6.8 billion from Google, alongside other AI investments aimed at boosting UK research. It also funds the country’s largest supercomputer project with Nscale, establishing a foundation for AI leadership in Europe.

American firms have pledged £150 billion for UK projects, while British companies will invest heavily in the US. Pharmaceutical giant GSK has committed nearly $30 billion to American operations, underlining the cross-Atlantic nature of the partnership.

The Tech Prosperity Deal follows a recent UK-US trade agreement that removes tariffs on steel and aluminium and opens markets for key exports. The new accord builds on that momentum, tying economic growth to innovation, deregulation, and frontier technologies.

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Researchers for OpenAI and Apollo find scheming behaviour in frontier AI models

OpenAI and Apollo Research developed evaluations to reveal hidden misalignment in advanced AI systems, often labelled scheming, and observed scheming-like behaviour in several frontier models, including OpenAI o3, o4-mini, Gemini 2.5 pro and Claude Opus-4.

Researchers treated covert actions, such as deliberately withholding or distorting task-relevant information, as a measurable proxy and stress-tested models across dozens of scenarios.

Scheming occurs when a model outwardly appears aligned while pursuing an alternate goal. The teams used a trader analogy to explain the risk: a rule-breaking broker who covers tracks can seem more compliant than an honest operator who accepts lower gains.

They trained models with deliberative alignment to counter the behaviour, asking them to read and reason about an anti-scheming specification before acting. Hence, models follow safety principles instead of merely avoiding detection.

That training produced about a thirtyfold reduction in covert actions on out-of-distribution tests, with o3 falling from 13 percent to 0.4 percent and o4-mini dropping from 8.7 percent to 0.3 percent.

Nevertheless, rare but serious failures remained, and measurement proved complex. Models often became more aware of being evaluated, and situational awareness can suppress observable scheming without altering underlying aims.

The study relied heavily on access to the models’ chain of thought to probe motivations, so preserving reasoning transparency is crucial for reliable oversight. The teams warned that training practices eroding transparency could make monitoring far harder and let misalignment hide rather than vanish.

OpenAI and Apollo called for broader cross-lab safety evaluations, stronger monitoring tools and continued research into anti-scheming techniques. They renewed their partnership, launched a $500,000 red-teaming challenge focused on scheming and proposed shared testing protocols.

The researchers emphasised there is no evidence that today’s deployed AI models would abruptly begin harmful scheming. Still, the risk will grow as systems take on more ambiguous, long-term, real-world responsibilities instead of short, narrow tasks.

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Google adds AI features to Chrome browser on Android and desktop

Alphabet’s Google has announced new AI-powered features for its Chrome browser that aim to make web browsing more proactive instead of reactive. The update centres on integrating Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, into Chrome to provide contextual support across tabs and tasks.

The AI assistant will help students and professionals manage large numbers of open tabs by summarising articles, answering questions, and recalling previously visited pages. It will also connect with Google services such as Docs and Calendar, offering smoother workflows on desktop and mobile devices.

Chrome’s address bar, the omnibox, is being upgraded with AI Mode. Users can ask multi-part questions and receive context-aware suggestions relevant to the page they are viewing. Initially available in the US, the feature will roll out to other regions and languages soon.

Beyond productivity, Google is also applying AI to security and convenience. Chrome now blocks billions of spam notifications daily, fills in login details, and warns users about malicious apps.

Future updates are expected to bring agentic capabilities, enabling Chrome to carry out complex tasks such as ordering groceries with minimal user input.

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Microsoft builds the world’s most powerful AI data centre in Wisconsin

US tech giant, Microsoft, is completing the construction of Fairwater in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, which it says will be the world’s most powerful AI data centre. The facility is expected to be operational in early 2026 after a $3.3 billion investment, with an additional $4 billion now committed for a second site.

The company says the project will help shape the next generation of AI by training frontier models with hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs, offering ten times the performance of today’s fastest supercomputers.

Beyond technology, Microsoft is highlighting the impact on local jobs and skills. Thousands of construction workers have been employed during the build, while the site is expected to support around 500 full-time roles when the first phase opens, rising to 800 once the second is complete.

The US giant has also launched Wisconsin’s first Datacentre Academy with Gateway Technical College to prepare students for careers in the digital economy.

Microsoft is also stressing its sustainability measures. The data centre will rely on a closed-loop liquid cooling system and outside air to minimise water use, while all fossil-fuel power consumed will be matched with carbon-free energy.

A new 250 MW solar farm is under construction in Portage County to support the commitment. The company has partnered with local organisations to restore prairie and wetland habitats, further embedding the project into the surrounding community.

Executives say the development represents more than just an investment in AI. It signals a long-term commitment to Wisconsin’s economy, education, and environment.

From broadband expansion to innovation labs, the company aims to ensure the benefits of AI extend to local businesses, students, and residents instead of remaining concentrated in global hubs.

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Xbox app introduces Microsoft’s AI Copilot in beta

Microsoft has launched the beta version of Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered assistant within the Xbox mobile app for iOS and Android. The early rollout covers over 50 regions, including India, the US, Japan, Australia, and Singapore.

Access is limited to users aged 18 and above, and the assistant currently supports English instead of other languages, with broader language support expected in future updates.

Copilot for Gaming is a second-screen companion, allowing players to stay informed and receive guidance without interrupting console gameplay.

The AI can track game activity, offer context-aware responses, suggest new games based on play history, check achievements, and manage account details such as Game Pass renewal and gamer score.

Users can ask questions like ‘What was my last achievement in God of War Ragnarok?’ or ‘Recommend an adventure game based on my preferences.’

Microsoft plans to expand Copilot for Gaming beyond chat-based support into a full AI gaming coach. Future updates could provide real-time gameplay advice, voice interaction, and direct console integration, allowing tasks such as downloading or installing games remotely instead of manually managing them.

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New Amazon AI transforms seller experience

Amazon has unveiled a significant upgrade to its Seller Assistant, evolving the tool into an agentic AI-powered partner that can actively help sellers manage and grow their businesses.

Powered by Amazon Bedrock and using advanced models from Amazon Nova and Anthropic Claude, the AI can respond to queries and plan, reason, and act with a seller’s permission. Independent sellers now have an assistant operating around the clock while controlling them.

The upgraded AI can optimise inventory, monitor account health, and provide strategic guidance on product listings and compliance requirements.

Analysing historical trends alongside current data can suggest new product categories, forecast demand, and propose advertising strategies to improve performance. Sellers can receive actionable recommendations instead of manually reviewing reports, saving time and effort.

Creative Studio also benefits from agentic AI capabilities, enabling sellers to generate professional-quality advertising content in hours instead of weeks.

The AI evaluates products alongside Amazon’s shopping signals and produces tailored ad concepts with clear reasoning, helping sellers refine campaigns and boost engagement. Early users report faster decisions, better inventory management, and more efficient marketing.

Amazon plans to extend Seller Assistant to other countries in the coming months at no extra cost.

The evolution highlights the growing role of AI in everyday business operations. It reflects Amazon’s commitment to integrating advanced technologies into the seller experience instead of relying solely on human intervention.

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Huawei unveils roadmap for next-generation AI super pods

Huawei chairman Xu outlined the company’s roadmap for AI computing platforms, revealing plans to launch the Atlas 950 SuperPoD in Q4 2026. The system will use over 8,000 Ascend GPUs across 128 racks, covering 1,000 sq metres, and offer 6.7 times more computing power and 15 times more memory.

A year later, the Atlas 960 SuperPod will debut with up to 15,488 Ascend 960 chips, achieving 30 exaflops of computing power and 4,460TB of memory. Xu said the two systems will stay the world’s most potent super nodes, with uses beyond AI in general-purpose computing in China.

Huawei faces Western sanctions limiting access to advanced semiconductor nodes. Xu said assembling less advanced chips into super pods lets Huawei compete with rivals like Nvidia at a system level despite lower individual chip performance.

Over the next three years, Huawei will launch three new Ascend chip series: the 950 line, 950PR and 950DT, the 960, and the 970. The 950PR, optimised for early-stage inference and recommendations, will ship in Q1 2026, while the 950DT with 2Tb/s bandwidth will launch in Q4 2026.

The 960 will double its predecessor’s computing power and memory capacity and arrive in Q4 2027.

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UK partners with NVIDIA to drive AI growth and new jobs

NVIDIA and the UK are accelerating plans to build the nation’s AI infrastructure, positioning the country as a hub for AI innovation, jobs and research.

The partnership, announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang earlier in the year, has already resulted in commitments worth up to £11 billion.

A rollout that includes AI factories equipped with 120,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs across UK data centres, supporting projects such as OpenAI’s Stargate UK.

NVIDIA partner Nscale will host 60,000 of these GPUs domestically while expanding its global capacity to 300,000. Microsoft, CoreWeave and other partners are also investing in advanced supercomputing facilities, with new projects announced in England and Scotland.

NVIDIA is working with Oxford Quantum Circuits and other research institutions to integrate AI and quantum technologies in a collaboration that extends to quantum computing.

Universities in Edinburgh and Oxford are advancing GPU-driven quantum error correction and AI-controlled quantum hardware, highlighting the UK’s growing role in cutting-edge science.

To prepare the workforce, NVIDIA has joined forces with techUK and QA to provide training programmes and AI skills development.

The government has framed the initiative as a foundation for economic resilience, job creation and sovereign AI capability, aiming to place Britain at the forefront of the AI industrial revolution.

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Meta launches AI smart glasses with Ray-Ban and Oakley

Zuckerberg’s Meta has unveiled a new generation of smart glasses powered by AI at its annual Meta Connect conference in California. Working with Ray-Ban and Oakley, the company introduced devices including the Meta Ray-Ban Display and the Oakley Meta Vanguard.

These glasses are designed to bring the Meta AI assistant into daily use instead of being confined to phones or computers.

The Ray-Ban Display comes with a colour lens screen for video calls and messaging and a 12-megapixel camera, and will sell for $799. It can be paired with a neural wristband that enables tasks through hand gestures.

Meta also presented $499 Oakley Vanguard glasses aimed at sports fans and launched a second generation of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses at $379. Around two million smart glasses have been sold since Meta entered the market in 2023.

Analysts see the glasses as a more practical way of introducing AI to everyday life than the firm’s costly Metaverse project. Yet many caution that Meta must prove the benefits outweigh the price.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg described the technology as a scientific breakthrough. He said it forms part of Meta’s vast AI investment programme, which includes massive data centres and research into artificial superintelligence.

The launch came as activists protested outside Meta’s New York headquarters, accusing the company of neglecting children’s safety. Former safety researchers also told the US Senate that Meta ignored evidence of harm caused by its VR products, claims the company has strongly denied.

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Google launches new Windows app with AI and file search

The US tech giant, Google, has introduced a new experimental app for Windows that combines web search, file discovery and Google Lens in a single interface.

The tool, known as the Google app for Windows, is part of Search Labs and is designed to allow users to find information faster instead of interrupting their workflow.

An app that can be launched instantly using the Alt+Space shortcut, opening a Spotlight-like bar similar to Apple’s macOS. Users can search local files, installed applications, Google Drive content and web results. It supports multiple modes, including AI-generated answers, images, videos, shopping and news.

A dark mode is available for those who prefer night-time use, and the search bar can be resized or repositioned on the desktop instead of staying fixed.

Google has also built its Lens technology, allowing users to select and search images directly on screen, translate text or solve mathematical problems. An AI Mode offers detailed replies, though it can be disabled or customised through the settings menu.

The experimental app is currently limited to English-speaking users in the US and requires Windows 10 or Windows 11. Google has not yet confirmed when it will expand availability to more regions.

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