🗞 AI Device Collaboration, Anthropic's European Expansion, and Shopify's AI-First Strategy

🔎 The Latest on the AI Frontier:

• Jony Ive and Sam Altman Team Up on Screenless AI Device

• Anthropic Ramps Up European Presence with Major Hiring Push

• Shopify CEO Requires Teams to Try AI Before Adding Headcount

• Hyundai Invests $21B in US Operations with Boston Dynamics Focus

• Google DeepMind Pays Some Staff During Year-Long Noncompetes

• Study Shows Visibility of Creative Process Enhances AI Perception

• Other news you might find interesting

🔮 Former Apple design chief Jony Ive is developing a new AI device in partnership with OpenAI's Sam Altman, with potential acquisition talks underway

• The device has been described as a "phone without a screen" and may incorporate AI-enabled household functionality, though sources close to the project insist it is "not a phone."

• OpenAI has recently discussed acquiring the startup behind this project, called io products, which already uses OpenAI's technology.

• Unlike previous unsuccessful AI hardware like the Humane Ai Pin, this device appears designed from the ground up for the AI era and could potentially replace smartphones rather than just complement them.

🌍 Anthropic accelerates European expansion with plans to hire 100+ employees and appoints EMEA leader

• The AI company will add more than 100 roles across Europe in sales, engineering, research, and business operations, with hiring primarily focused in Dublin and London.

• Former Stripe executive Guillaume Princen has been named as Anthropic's head of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as the company deploys its recent $3.5 billion funding round toward global growth.

• According to analysts, this expansion brings Anthropic into direct competition with firms like Cohere that have positioned themselves as regionally compliant AI providers in Europe, while also potentially helping navigate the EU's distinct regulatory approach to AI.

🤖 Shopify CEO mandates teams must prove AI can't do a job before hiring new employees

• In a memo sent to employees last month, Tobi Lütke stated that "before asking for more Headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI."

• Lütke emphasized that "reflexive AI usage" is now a "baseline expectation" at Shopify, calling it "the most rapid shift to how work is done that I've seen in my career" and noting that AI usage questions will be added to performance reviews.

• The CEO encouraged teams to consider "what would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team," stressing that success requires "our collective sum total skill and ambition at applying our craft, multiplied by AI, for the benefit of our merchants."

🤝 Hyundai and Boston Dynamics deepen partnership with $21 billion US investment plan including robotics expansion

• Hyundai will invest $21 billion in the US over the next three years, with $6 billion allocated to collaborations and future industry investments, making Hyundai Boston Dynamics' largest customer.

• The partnership has already deployed Spot quadruped robots in Hyundai plants for predictive maintenance and industrial inspection, with plans to implement Atlas humanoid robots throughout its factories in the future.

• According to Goldman Sachs, the humanoid robotics market is projected to reach over $38 billion by 2035, with Hyundai executive Chang stating that "Humanoid robots and physical AI will revolutionize our business environment."

🔒 Google's AI division DeepMind is reportedly paying some staff to do nothing for a year to prevent them from joining competitors

• DeepMind is using "aggressive" noncompete agreements in the UK that bar AI staff from working for rivals for up to a year, with some employees receiving full pay during this period.

• The practice has led to frustration among researchers who feel left out of the rapid pace of AI advancement, with Microsoft's VP of AI claiming DeepMind staff have reached out "in despair" over difficulties escaping these clauses.

• While the FTC banned most noncompetes in the US last year, this regulation doesn't apply to DeepMind's London headquarters, and Google told Business Insider it uses noncompetes "selectively."

🧠 New research reveals people perceive AI as more creative when they can see more elements of the creative process

• A study published in ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction found that participants rated robot-created drawings as more creative when they could see not just the final product, but also the drawing process and the robot creating it.

• Lead author Niki Pennanen from Aalto University states they're "the first to study the effects of perceiving product, process and producer in a separate and controlled manner," with implications for how creative AI systems are designed and evaluated.

• Contrary to expectations, researchers found no significant difference in creativity ratings between drawings made by a sleek arm-like robot versus a more mechanistic plotter robot, challenging previous theories about the connection between robot shape and perceived creativity.

More news you might find interesting:

• Amazon upgrades Nova Reel AI video model to generate clips up to two minutes long.

• Trump threatens to increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 104% from current 54% if China doesn't withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariffs.

• ₿ US crypto stocks drop as Bitcoin hits its lowest point in 2025, falling below $75,000 amid market anxiety over Trump's tariffs.

• EU antitrust chief Ribera says decisions on Apple and Meta DMA violations expected in coming weeks.

• Apple rushes to stockpile iPhones via air freight from Asia ahead of Trump's escalating tariffs.

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