Meta, TikTok, and YouTube face a landmark trial in Los Angeles, where they are accused of deliberately addicting children to their platforms. Jury selection began this week, with a central case from a 19-year-old plaintiff, “KGM,” who claims that social media exacerbated her depression. The lawsuit argues that design choices aimed to maximize youth engagement mirror tactics used in the tobacco industry. If successful, it could redefine the liability landscape for social media companies regarding youth mental health.
Deloitte's enterprise AI report reveals that AI agent adoption is rapidly outpacing safety and governance measures, with only 21% of firms having strong oversight. Currently, 23% of companies utilize AI agents, expected to rise to 74% within two years, while non-users drop from 25% to 5%. Beena Ammanath from Deloitte states, "Governance for agents differs greatly from traditional AI." Urgent implementation of real-time monitoring and defined policies is essential to mitigate risks as AI agents intensify.
OpenAI introduces ChatGPT Prism, leveraging the capabilities of GPT-5.2, now accessible to all personal ChatGPT account users. Key advancements include improved contextual understanding and real-time collaboration features, which enhance user interaction. “Prism transforms how users engage with AI,” says OpenAI's CTO, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize communication. The launch positions OpenAI at the forefront of AI innovation, significantly impacting user experience across various applications.
WhatsApp launches its new "Strict Account Settings" feature aimed at enhancing user security amid allegations about its privacy protections. This setting blocks media from unknown senders and silences calls from unfamiliar numbers. Moreover, it enforces two-step verification and restricts visibility of last seen, profile details, and group additions. Will Cathcart states, “This feature reduces your vulnerability to cyber attack,” a significant step for privacy-conscious users and public figures.
France plans to replace Microsoft Teams and Zoom with its domestically developed videoconferencing platform, Visio, by 2027 across all government departments, as announced by Minister David Amiel. This shift aims to enhance digital sovereignty and security while potentially saving €1 million annually for every 100,000 users. Hosted on Outscale's sovereign cloud, Visio features AI-powered transcription and speaker diarization, reflecting France's commitment to reducing reliance on foreign IT infrastructure amidst heightened geopolitical tensions.
Alibaba-backed Moonshot has launched its Kimi K2.5 model, positioned as a cutting-edge open-source solution for "vibe coding." This model can craft web interfaces from images or videos, utilizing its training on 15 trillion text and visual tokens. Features include an "agent swarm" beta that enhances task performance by running up to 100 sub-agents simultaneously, potentially reducing end-to-end latency by 80%. If successful, Kimi K2.5 could redefine coding for non-experts.
Waabi, the autonomous trucking startup led by former Uber scientist Raquel Urtasun, has secured $1 billion in funding, including $750 million in a Series C round. This capital backs their strategic partnership with Uber, aiming to deploy at least 25,000 robotaxis, a significant pivot from trucking. Urtasun describes this as a "massive partnership" that leverages Waabi's advanced AI technology. However, challenges in urban passenger transport remain, raising questions about scalability.
Amazon's planned layoffs of 16,000 employees highlight AI's growing impact on corporate workforce dynamics. CEO Andy Jassy noted that AI tools prompt increased automation, contributing to job losses. This move represents nearly 10% of Amazon's 1.58 million-strong corporate workforce, although the majority remains in fulfillment centers. Industry leaders at the World Economic Forum echoed this sentiment, suggesting companies may use AI as a rationale for workforce reductions. The company reports quarterly results next week.
On January 22, 2026, Microsoft suffered a major outage that disrupted Outlook, Microsoft 365, Teams and related services for thousands of users, particularly across North America. Downdetector showed tens of thousands of reports at the peak, with users unable to send or receive emails or access collaboration tools. Microsoft said the issue stemmed from a portion of its service infrastructure not processing traffic as expected and worked to rebalance and restore systems. Services gradually returned after about eight hours, though recovery continued.
Elon Musk predicts that Tesla's robotaxi service will be prevalent in the U.S. by the year's end, supported by VP of AI software Ashok Elluswamy's statement on starting with a few unsupervised vehicles. Despite facing skepticism from consumers regarding safety and competition from firms like Waymo and Baidu's ApolloGo, Musk remains optimistic. He also revealed plans for public sales of Tesla's Optimus robots by 2027, highlighting rapid advancements in AI.