Amazon has unveiled Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent capable of controlling a web browser to perform simple tasks like making reservations or filling out forms. Released as a research preview, Nova Act comes with a developer toolkit (SDK) and is accessible via nova.amazon.com.

Developed by Amazon’s AGI lab in San Francisco—led by former OpenAI and Covariant founders David Luan and Pieter Abbeel—Nova Act will also power features in the upcoming Alexa+ voice assistant upgrade. Amazon claims Nova Act outperforms OpenAI and Anthropic's agents in internal tests, though it hasn’t been benchmarked against broader industry standards like WebVoyager.

Positioned as Amazon’s answer to OpenAI’s Operator and Anthropic’s Computer Use, Nova Act focuses on reliably automating short, simple web tasks while giving developers control over human intervention points. It’s a pivotal move for Amazon in the growing race to build useful, real-world AI agents.

The European Union has announced a €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) investment plan to accelerate advancements in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and digital skills from 2025 to 2027. Part of the broader €8.1 billion Digital Europe Programme, this move aims to close the technology gap with the U.S. and reinforce Europe's digital sovereignty.

The funding will focus on deploying AI in practical sectors like healthcare, strengthening cyber defenses, expanding access to data infrastructure, and enhancing digital competencies across the EU. Initiatives like Destination Earth for climate modeling and the EU Digital Identity Wallet are also set to benefit.

This announcement follows France’s $112 billion AI plan and comes amid increasing global investment in emerging technologies. With the EU AI Act already in effect, the bloc is now backing its regulatory leadership with serious capital.

Microsoft has introduced two powerful AI agents—Researcher and Analyst—into its Microsoft 365 Copilot suite, aiming to redefine how professionals handle research and data-heavy tasks.

Unveiled by CEO Satya Nadella, these “first-of-their-kind reasoning agents” function as expert assistants embedded directly in Word, Excel, Teams, and more. Researcher focuses on in-depth research by pulling insights from internal company data and the web, while Analyst acts as an in-house data scientist for non-technical users, analyzing complex data with step-by-step Python code.

These agents, built on OpenAI models, will be available in April 2025 via Microsoft’s new Frontier program, allowing early access and feedback. Alongside, Microsoft is upgrading Copilot Studio with deeper reasoning capabilities and autonomous workflows, further integrating AI into everyday tasks.

With these innovations, Microsoft strengthens its push to make AI a must-have tool in the workplace—not just for support, but for smart decision-making and execution.

OpenAI has launched a powerful new lineup of audio AI models aimed at revolutionizing voice technology. The release includes gpt-4o-mini-tts, a text-to-speech model with fine-tuned control over tone and timing, and two advanced speech-to-text models, gpt-4o-transcribe and gpt-4o-mini-transcribe, which outperform the previous Whisper model, especially in noisy environments and with diverse accents.

Available via OpenAI’s API and Agents SDK, these models are competitively priced, enabling developers to build more expressive voice applications and accurate transcription tools. OpenAI also launched OpenAI FM, a platform to demo the text-to-speech tech, along with a contest to spur creative uses. The release has sparked major interest across the tech community, signaling a new era for voice-driven AI.

Meta AI is officially rolling out across 41 European countries and 21 overseas territories, marking its largest global expansion yet. After its 2023 debut in the US, Meta AI now brings its intelligent chat assistant to Europe in six languages, with plans to expand its capabilities to match the US version.

Already engaging over 700 million monthly users worldwide, Meta AI is designed to enhance social experiences through personalized, conversational interactions. Accessible for free via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, users can find Meta AI through a new blue circle icon.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

• Group Chat Integration: Use "@MetaAI" in WhatsApp group chats (coming soon to Messenger and Instagram).

• Curated Content Discovery: Instantly access relevant posts, reels, and web info without leaving your chat.

• On-the-Go Assistance: Get help with questions, how-tos, or ideas anytime, directly within your favorite apps.