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Kashi Vishwanath Temple launches AI chatbot

Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in India has launched an AI-powered chatbot to help devotees access services from anywhere in the world. The tool provides quick information on rituals, bookings, and temple timings.

Devotees can now book darshan, special aartis, and order prasad online. The chatbot also guides pilgrims on guesthouse availability and directions around Varanasi.

Supporting Hindi, English, and regional languages, the AI ensures smooth communication for global visitors. The initiative aims to simplify temple visits, especially during festivals and crowded periods.

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Davos roundtable calls for responsible AI growth

Leaders from the tech industry, academia, and policy circles met at a TIME100 roundtable in Davos, Switzerland, on 21 January to discuss how to pursue rapid AI progress without sacrificing safety and accountability. The conversation, hosted by TIME CEO Jessica Sibley, focused on how AI should be built, governed, and used as it becomes more embedded in everyday life.

A major theme was the impact of AI-enabled technology on children. Jonathan Haidt, an NYU Stern professor and author of The Anxious Generation, argued that the key issue is not total avoidance but the timing and habits of exposure. He suggested children do not need smartphones until at least high school, emphasising that delaying access can help protect brain development and executive function.

Yoshua Bengio, a professor at the Université de Montréal and founder of LawZero, said responsible innovation depends on a deeper scientific understanding of AI risks and stronger safeguards built into systems from the start. He pointed to two routes, consumer and societal demand for ‘built-in’ protections, and government involvement that could include indirect regulation through liability frameworks, such as requiring insurance for AI developers and deployers.

Participants also challenged the idea that geopolitical competition should justify weaker guardrails. Bengio argued that even rivals share incentives to prevent harmful outcomes, such as AI being used for cyberattacks or the development of biological weapons, and said coordination between major powers is possible, drawing a comparison to Cold War-era cooperation on nuclear risk reduction.

The roundtable linked AI risks to lessons from social media, particularly around attention-driven business models. Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest, said engagement optimisation can amplify divisions and ‘prey’ on negative human impulses, and described Pinterest’s shift away from maximising view time toward maximising user outcomes, even if it hurts short-term metrics.

Several speakers argued that today’s alignment approach is too reactive. Stanford computer scientist Yejin Choi warned that models trained on the full internet absorb harmful patterns and then require patchwork fixes, urging exploration of systems that learn moral reasoning and human values more directly from the outset.

Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO of Good Tech Advisory, added that wider AI literacy, shaped by input from workers, parents, and other everyday users, should underpin future certification and trust in AI tools.

Diplo is live reporting on all sessions from the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos.

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AI for MND communication revolutionises voice preservation and independence

AI for MND communication is helping people with motor neurone disease (MND) preserve their voices and independence.

Nick Varley, a councillor from Kippington, is a clear example of the impact of AI for MND communication. used AI to replicate his voice after his diagnosis in November 2024 left him struggling to speak.

The AI for MND communication technology, developed by the MND Association and 11Labs, created a natural-sounding digital voice that Varley used publicly at a council meeting, allowing him to continue participating in work and daily life.

MND progressively weakens muscles, affecting speech, movement, eating, and breathing, and losing the ability to communicate can be isolating. AI for MND communication gives patients control over their voice and helps them stay active in work, family, and community life.

Varley has also raised over £21,000 for MND charities, showing how AI supports both practical communication and emotional resilience.

This technology represents a major advancement in assistive tools, offering hope for patients worldwide to maintain independence and continue contributing to society.

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From chips to jobs: Huang’s vision for AI at Davos 2026

AI is evolving into a foundational economic system rather than a standalone technology, according to NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang, who described AI as a five-layer infrastructure spanning energy, hardware, data centres, models and applications.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Huang argued that building and operating each layer is triggering what he called the most significant infrastructure expansion in human history, with job creation stretching from power generation and construction to cloud operations and software development.

Investment patterns suggest a structural shift instead of a speculative cycle. Venture capital funding in 2025 reached record levels, largely flowing into AI-native firms across healthcare, manufacturing, robotics and financial services.

Huang stressed that the application layer will deliver the most significant economic return as AI moves from experimentation to core operational use across industries.

Concerns around job displacement were framed as misplaced. AI automates tasks rather than replacing professional judgement, enabling workers to focus on higher-value activities.

In healthcare, productivity gains from AI-assisted diagnostics and documentation are already increasing demand for radiologists and nurses rather than reducing headcount, as improved efficiency enables institutions to treat more patients.

Huang positioned AI as critical national infrastructure, urging governments to develop domestic capabilities aligned with local language, culture and industrial strengths.

He described AI literacy as an essential skill, comparable to leadership or management, while arguing that accessible AI tools could narrow global technology divides rather than widen them.

Diplo is live reporting on all sessions from the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos.

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AI model maps how humans form emotions

Researchers in Japan have developed an AI framework designed to model how humans form emotional experiences by integrating bodily signals, sensory input and language. The work was led by scientists at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in collaboration with Osaka University.

The AI model draws on the theory of constructed emotion, which suggests emotions are built by the brain rather than hard-wired responses. Physiological data, visual cues and spoken descriptions were analysed together to replicate how people experience feelings in real situations.

Using unlabeled data from volunteers exposed to emotion-evoking images and videos, the system identified emotional patterns without predefined categories. Results showed about 75 percent alignment with participants’ own emotional assessments, well above chance levels.

The Japanese researchers say the approach could support emotion-aware AI applications in healthcare, robotics and mental health support. Findings were published in IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, with potential benefits for understanding emotions that are difficult to express verbally.

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YouTube’s 2026 strategy places AI at the heart of moderation and monetisation

As announced yesterday, YouTube is expanding its response to synthetic media by introducing experimental likeness detection tools that allow creators to identify videos where their face appears altered or generated by AI.

The system, modelled conceptually on Content ID, scans newly uploaded videos for visual matches linked to enrolled creators, enabling them to review content and pursue privacy or copyright complaints when misuse is detected.

Participation requires identity verification through government-issued identification and a biometric reference video, positioning facial data as both a protective and governance mechanism.

While the platform stresses consent and limited scope, the approach reflects a broader shift towards biometric enforcement as platforms attempt to manage deepfakes, impersonation, and unauthorised synthetic content at scale.

Alongside likeness detection, YouTube’s 2026 strategy places AI at the centre of content moderation, creator monetisation, and audience experience.

AI tools already shape recommendation systems, content labelling, and automated enforcement, while new features aim to give creators greater control over how their image, voice, and output are reused in synthetic formats.

The move highlights growing tensions between creative empowerment and platform authority, as safeguards against AI misuse increasingly rely on surveillance, verification, and centralised decision-making.

As regulators debate digital identity, biometric data, and synthetic media governance, YouTube’s model signals how private platforms may effectively set standards ahead of formal legislation.

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Why AI systems privilege Western perspectives: ‘The Silicon Gaze’

A new study from the University of Oxford argues that large language models reproduce a distinctly Western hierarchy when asked to evaluate countries, reinforcing long-standing global inequalities through automated judgment.

Analysing more than 20 million English-language responses from ChatGPT’s 4o-mini model, researchers found consistent favouring of wealthy Western nations across subjective comparisons such as intelligence, happiness, creativity, and innovation.

Low-income countries, particularly across Africa, were systematically placed at the bottom of rankings, while Western Europe, the US, and parts of East Asia dominated positive assessments.

According to the study, generative models rely heavily on data availability and dominant narratives, leading to flattened representations that recycle familiar stereotypes instead of reflecting social complexity or cultural diversity.

The researchers describe the phenomenon as the ‘silicon gaze’, a worldview shaped by the priorities of platform owners, developers, and historically uneven training data.

Because large language models are trained on material produced within centuries of structural exclusion, bias emerges not as a malfunction but as an embedded feature of contemporary AI systems.

The findings intensify global debates around AI governance, accountability, and cultural representation, particularly as such systems increasingly influence healthcare, employment screening, education, and public decision-making.

While models are continuously updated, the study underlines the limits of technical mitigation without broader political, regulatory, and epistemic interventions.

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How Microsoft is shaping UN reform through digital infrastructure

Microsoft has announced a multi-year pledge to support the United Nations’ UN80 reform initiative, positioning AI and digital infrastructure as central tools for modernising multilateral governance.

The commitment follows agreement among all UN member states on efficiency and financial-stability measures, as the organisation faces growing operational demands amid constrained resources.

The initiative includes a dedicated innovation fund, preferential pricing for digital services, and free AI training for UN staff across agencies and missions.

Rather than focusing on policy direction, Microsoft frames its role as enabling institutional capacity, from procurement and logistics to humanitarian response and development planning, while encouraging other private-sector actors to align behind UN80 priorities.

Microsoft also plans to mobilise partners such as EY to support reform efforts, reinforcing a model where large technology firms contribute expertise, infrastructure, and coordination capacity to global governance systems.

Previous collaborations with UNICEF, UNHCR, ITU, and the ILO are cited as evidence that AI-driven tools can accelerate service delivery at scale.

The pledge highlights how multilateral reform increasingly depends on private technological ecosystems instead of purely intergovernmental solutions.

As AI becomes embedded in the core operations of international institutions, questions around accountability, influence, and long-term dependency are likely to shape debates about the future balance between public authority and corporate power.

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Youth express higher concern over AI job disruption, global survey indicates

A Randstad survey of global workers shows that younger employees are significantly more worried than older counterparts about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs and career prospects.

Respondents aged under 35 reported higher levels of concern that AI could disrupt employment, reshape skill demands and erode job security.

The survey highlights a generational divide in attitudes toward AI adoption: while many older workers express cautious optimism, younger workers often point to risks related to hiring, task automation and future opportunities.

Employers are urged to address these concerns by investing in skills development, training programmes and transparent communication about how AI will be deployed in the workplace.

The findings come amid broader global discussions on the future of work, with AI increasingly integrated into business processes such as recruitment, project planning and administrative automation.

Analysts suggest that targeted education and retraining initiatives could help younger employees adapt and benefit from AI-driven changes rather than feel displaced by them.

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New AI system helps improve cross-neurotype communication

Researchers at Tufts University have developed an AI-based learning tool designed to improve communication between autistic and neurotypical people. The project focuses on helping non-autistic users better understand autistic communication preferences.

The tool, called NeuroBridge, uses large language models to simulate everyday conversations and highlight how wording, tone and clarity can be interpreted differently. Users are guided towards more direct and unambiguous communication styles that reduce misunderstanding.

Unlike many interventions, NeuroBridge does not aim to change how autistic people communicate. The AI system instead trains neurotypical users to adapt their own communication, reflecting principles from the social model of disability.

The research, presented at the ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, received a best student paper award. Early testing showed users gained clearer insight into how everyday language choices can affect cross-neurotype interactions.

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