Tech companies and artificial intelligence dominated recent headlines, with developments ranging from funding rounds and product launches to privacy concerns and ethical debates. Several companies secured significant investments, while others faced scrutiny over data usage and AI safety.

AI chip startup Ricursive Intelligence, founded by former Google researchers Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini, raised $300 million in Series A funding, valuing the company at $4 billion, according to the company. The funding round was led by Lightspeed. Ricursive aims to automate silicon substrate design using reinforcement learning, building on their work on Google's TPUs, with the goal of accelerating AI chip development. "Rinse and repeat to get to AGI," the founders stated.

SpotDraft, an AI contract review technology company, received an $8 million investment from Qualcomm Ventures, bringing its valuation to approximately $380 million. The funding will be used to scale its on-device AI contract review technology, addressing enterprise concerns about data privacy. SpotDraft's VerifAI, demonstrated on Snapdragon X Elite laptops, enables offline contract analysis, minimizing the need to transmit sensitive legal data to the cloud.

In other funding news, industrial AI startup CVector secured $5 million in seed funding to expand its AI "nervous system" software. The technology optimizes operations for utilities, manufacturers, and chemical producers by translating small actions, like valve adjustments, into measurable cost savings. The funding was led by Powerhouse Ventures with participation from Hitachi's corporate venture arm.

However, the rise of AI also brought concerns about data privacy and ethical considerations. Google agreed to pay $68 million to settle claims that its voice assistant illegally spied on users, according to Reuters. The class-action case accused Google of unlawful and intentional interception and recording of individuals' confidential communications without their consent and subsequent unauthorized disclosure of those communications to third parties. Google did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.

Concerns about AI safety and data privacy extended to other platforms as well. Meta introduced premium subscriptions with AI enhancements amid revenue diversification efforts. X is being investigated by the EU over Grok AI's deepfake potential. YouTubers are suing Snap for unauthorized AI training data usage.

The use of AI in social interactions also raised concerns. Rachel Wood, a cyberpsychology expert and founder of the AI Mental Health Collective, stated, "I wholeheartedly believe that AI is shifting the relational bedrock of society." Wood noted that people are increasingly using AI to manage their social lives, rerouting conversations into chatbots instead of engaging in traditional social interactions.

In the realm of hardware, Phonak introduced the Audeo Infinio Ultra Sphere hearing aid, which utilizes a dual-chip system to improve speech clarity in noisy environments. The hearing aid combines a DeepSonic DNN for advanced noise reduction and speech isolation with an Era chip for core audio processing. Intel's new Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) laptop chips are showing impressive performance and efficiency.

Meanwhile, Y Combinator revised its standard deal terms to exclude Canada as a permitted site of investment, according to The Logic. Canadian startups aspiring to join the accelerator will have to incorporate their companies elsewhere.

Microsoft addressed an anomaly on its network that was routing traffic destined to example.com to a maker of electronics cables located in Japan. The issue was suppressed, but the cause remains unexplained. In early 2025, Microsoft complied with an FBI warrant, providing BitLocker encryption recovery keys for laptops potentially containing evidence of fraud in Guam's COVID-19 unemployment assistance program.

Individuals are increasingly turning to RSS feeds to curate personalized content and bypass algorithmic filtering on social media platforms. This shift allows users to directly follow specific websites and creators, fostering a more intentional and less manipulated information diet.

Finally, Caribbean nations like Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational use, capitalizing on favorable growing conditions and cultural acceptance. These nations are focusing on developing unique cannabis strains with diverse flavor profiles and medicinal benefits.