🛒 SoftBank Buys ABB Robotics in $5.4B AI Push
SoftBank will acquire ABB’s robotics division for $5.4B, scrapping ABB’s planned spin-off and boosting SoftBank’s AI ambitions. CEO Masayoshi Son calls it a step toward “Physical AI” and artificial superintelligence. The deal adds to SoftBank’s tech portfolio, pending global regulatory approval.

👤 Zendesk’s AI Agent Tackles 80% of Support Tickets
Zendesk’s new AI-powered system can resolve 80% of customer service issues without human help. It's part of a broader shift, with co-pilot, voice, and analytics agents supporting the rest. Early results show higher customer satisfaction. The impact could reshape global support roles.

🧩 Google Opens Up Gemini CLI with Developer Extensions
Google’s Gemini CLI now supports third-party extensions, letting developers integrate tools like Figma and Stripe directly into its command-line AI. Unlike OpenAI’s curated ChatGPT apps, Gemini’s ecosystem is open-source and GitHub-hosted. The move positions Gemini CLI as a flexible hub for developer workflows.

🔋 Clean Energy Hits 40% of Global Electricity
Mustafa Suleyman highlights a milestone: clean power now makes up over 40% of global electricity, driven by record renewable growth. Solar generation has doubled its growth rate in just three years. It’s a clear signal that the energy transition is accelerating.

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Matt sits down with OpenAI’s Greg Brockman to discuss AGI, compute limits, and AI’s role in reshaping work, software, and the internet.

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Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. high schoolers say they—or someone they know—have had a romantic relationship with AI, according to new data from the Center for Democracy and Technology. The survey also found that schools with heavy AI use are seeing spikes in data breaches, deepfake harassment, and students relying on AI for companionship and mental health support.

Teachers using AI widely report more tech failures and lower trust from their communities, while students say the tech can leave them feeling isolated from real human connection. The report paints a picture of AI as both a digital confidant and a growing source of concern in classrooms. → Read the full article here.

For the first time, artificial intelligence has generated a working virus genome from scratch. Two models, Evo 1 and Evo 2, created bacteriophages that successfully infected and killed E. coli in lab tests—some outperforming the well-known ΦX174 phage.

The breakthrough opens a path toward using AI in phage therapy, a promising alternative to antibiotics for drug-resistant infections. While safety and oversight remain crucial, the study signals a leap forward in AI’s ability to design complex, functional biological systems—one microscopic genome at a time. → Read the full article here.

Italian startup Ganiga is bringing its robotic waste-sorting bins to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, hoping to raise $3 million to expand beyond Europe. Its flagship product, Hoooly, uses generative AI to sort trash and recycling on the spot, and it’s already deployed in airports like Venice and Madrid, plus offices like Google’s.

With $750K in 2025 revenue and a new food waste-tracking product launching in November, Ganiga’s betting that better data—and smarter bins—can help cut down on global waste. CEO Nicolas Zeoli puts it simply: “We are not a prototype. We are a product.” → Read the full article here.

AI21 Labs has launched Jamba Reasoning 3B, a 3-billion-parameter open-source model that runs advanced reasoning on edge devices—think laptops, not server farms. With a massive 250,000-token context window and speeds of 35 tokens per second on a MacBook, it leverages a hybrid Mamba-Transformer architecture to balance performance and efficiency.

In benchmarks, it outperformed peers like Meta’s Llama and Microsoft’s Phi-4-Mini on most reasoning tasks. The pitch: cut cloud costs, keep data local, and run complex tasks anywhere—no GPU cluster necessary. → Read the full paper here.

🛡️ California Backs AI Whistleblowers: The state’s new SB-53 bill would protect workers who expose unsafe or deceptive AI practices, setting a potential national precedent for tech accountability.

🛠️ Square Boosts Small Biz Tools (Paywall): New AI features include voice ordering, smart insights, and bitcoin payments—aimed at helping local shops compete with big retailers.

💸 EU Unveils $1.1B AI Push: Europe’s new AI plan targets healthcare, energy, and defense—part of a sovereignty drive to reduce reliance on U.S. and Chinese tech giants.

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Thanks for reading today’s newsletter—see you next time!

Matthew Berman & The Forward Future Team

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