AI News

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17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Light Origins Open-Sources LightNav-0 Generalist Navigation Brain

Light Origins has announced the launch of LightNav-0, an open-source generalist navigation model built on the Qwen3-VL-4B backbone. The model is released with weights, code, a technical report, and the INSIGHT-Bench evaluation kit, marking an innovative step in navigation technology. The model functions as a navigation brain that shares a single interface across instruction following, open-vocabulary object navigation, and visual tracking, eliminating the need for task-specific prediction heads. Its training process consists of three stages, including online reinforcement learning to improve the policy based on failures.

Agents

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Scalabot HERON-CRA Adds Context Memory and RL Engine for Embodied Control

Songyan Dynamics has launched the HERON-CRA model, the second in its HERON stack following the HERON-World Model. HERON-CRA aims to assist robots in remembering task history, correcting mistakes, and transferring skills across different robot bodies. The model comprises three main components, with the Context Expert encoding multimodal history as structured spatiotemporal tokens, allowing policies to condition on more than the current frame. The model shows a significant performance improvement, with success in a sock-folding task rising from 38.5% to 97.8% when the RL Engine is activated.

Infrastructure

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Huawei Unveils Ascend 960 SuperPoD With Near-Package Optics at Connect 2026

At Huawei Connect 2026 in Shanghai, David Wang, the rotating chairman, introduced the Ascend 960 SuperPoD, marking Huawei's next-generation AI supernode. This system is notable for being the first SuperPoD to utilize near-package optics (NPO), allowing it to interconnect about 4,096 cards with a round-trip latency close to 2 microseconds. The Ascend SuperPoD systems have already shipped over 1,000 units to more than 370 customers, indicating a shift from demonstration to commercial deployment. Additionally, Huawei has accelerated its chip roadmap, planning to release the Ascend 960DT in Q1 2027 and the Ascend 960PR in Q3 2027.

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Snap Partners to Enhance Specs AR Glasses for Workplace Use

How might Snap's partnerships impact the future of augmented reality technology?

Models

Huawei to Launch Two New AI Chips in 2027

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Models

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Huawei to Launch Two New AI Chips in 2027

Huawei plans to launch two new AI chips in 2027, starting with the 960DT in Q1 and followed by the Ascend 960PR in Q3. This initiative aims to enhance its competitive edge against NVIDIA, particularly amid U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductor access for Chinese companies. The company is also focusing on the UnifiedBus technology, designed to connect numerous AI chips to function as a single computing system. Huawei has developed 11 semiconductors based on this technology, highlighting the growing importance of interconnectivity in advancing sophisticated AI models.

Agents

Iceland-based Treble raises $18 million for its voice simulation platform

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Agents

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Iceland-based Treble raises $18 million for its voice simulation platform

Treble has announced the launch of its new voice simulation platform, aimed at AI model developers and robotics companies. The platform allows users to easily create custom voices, enhancing companies' ability to develop innovative voice applications. This move is significant given the increasing demand for AI technologies across various sectors. This platform is expected to positively impact the AI market by providing new tools for developers, contributing to faster innovation in voice applications and robotics.

Agents

Your startup’s next teammate might be an AI agent: Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland explain what that changes at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Agents

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Your startup’s next teammate might be an AI agent: Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland explain what that changes at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

This session will explore how early-stage companies are building teams where humans and AI agents work together. Founders will learn how to achieve this without sacrificing speed, accountability, or culture. The session is part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where participants can explore effective strategies for enhancing collaboration between humans and AI. Registration is open until September 25, with the opportunity to save up to $200.

Models

DeepCybo PhysBrain 1.5 Posts 72.5 on 28 Benchmarks as Open Physical Foundation Model

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Models

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

DeepCybo PhysBrain 1.5 Posts 72.5 on 28 Benchmarks as Open Physical Foundation Model

DeepCybo has launched PhysBrain 1.5, a physical foundation model that integrates embodied understanding, action generation, and future-state prediction. Built on a Qwen3-VL base, it scores 72.5 across 28 public benchmarks, ranking first among open-source models. The PhysBrain 1.5-8B model ranks first on 14 benchmarks and second on 10 among open-source entries, focusing on visual-spatial perception and embodied planning. A lighter version, PhysBrain 1.5-2B, achieves a score of 66.6 as a deployable companion rather than a ranking competitor.

Agents

Infinigence AI Open-Sources APXInf for Embodied Edge Inference on Jetson Thor

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Agents

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Infinigence AI Open-Sources APXInf for Embodied Edge Inference on Jetson Thor

Infinigence AI has announced the launch of the APXInf edge inference engine in collaboration with Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The open-source engine is designed for robotic models that need to close the perceive-decide-act loop locally rather than in the cloud. It supports Jetson-class devices and desktop GPUs, achieving a significant reduction in inference time from about 278 ms to under 26 ms.

Agents

Introducing Astra for Law

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Agents

17 Sept 20266 Rabiʻ II 1448 AH

Introducing Astra for Law

OpenAI has announced the launch of a new platform tailored for the legal sector, aimed at enhancing workflow efficiency through AI integration. The new platform offers customized workflows and connects legal data sources, facilitating quick and effective access to essential information. It also provides legal-grade controls to ensure confidentiality in client work. This development is significant for lawyers and legal firms, as it enhances their ability to deliver high-quality legal services while maintaining information confidentiality, ultimately improving client experience and productivity.