Latest AI News
YouTube expands AI deepfake detection to politicians, government officials, and journalists
YouTube is expanding its likeness detection technology, which identifies AI-generated deepfakes, to a pilot group of government officials, political candidates, and journalists, the companyannouncedTuesday. Members of the pilot group will gain access to a tool that detects unauthorized AI-generated content and lets them request its removal if they believe it violates YouTube policy. The technology itselflaunched last yearto roughly 4 million YouTube creators in the YouTube Partner Program, followingearlier tests. Similar to YouTube’s existingContent ID system, which detects copyright-protected material in users’ uploaded videos, the likeness detection feature looks for simulated faces made with AI tools. These tools are sometimes used to try to spread misinformation and manipulate people’s perception of reality, as they leverage the deepfaked personas of notable figures — like politicians or other government officials — to say and do things in these AI videos that they didn’t in real life. With the new pilot program, YouTube aims to balance users’ free expression with the risks associated with AI technology that can generate a convincing likeness of a public figure. “This expansion is really about the integrity of the public conversation,” said Leslie Miller, YouTube’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, in a press briefing ahead of Tuesday’s launch. “We know that the risks of AI impersonation are particularly high for those in the civic space. But while we are providing this new shield, we’re also being careful about how we use it,” she noted. Miller explained that not all of the detected matches would be removed when requested. Instead, YouTube would evaluate each request under its existing privacy policy guidelines to determine whether the content is parody or political critique, which are protected forms of free expression. The company noted it’s advocating for these protections at a federal level, too, with its support for theNO FAKES Actin D.C., which would regulate the use of AI to create unauthorized recreations of an individual’s voice and visual likeness. To use the new tool, eligible pilot testers must first prove their identity by uploading a selfie and a government ID. They can then create a profile, view the matches that show up, and optionally request their removal. YouTube says it plans to eventually give people the ability to prevent uploads of violating content before they go live or, possibly, allow them to monetize those videos, similar to how its Content ID system works. The company would not confirm which politicians or officials would be among its initial testers, but said the goal is to make the technology broadly available over time. These AI videos will be labeled as such, but the placement of these labels isn’t consistent. For some, the label appears in the video’s description, while videos focused on more “sensitive topics” will apply the label to the front of the video. This is the same approach YouTube takes with all AI-generated content. “There’s a lot of content that’s produced with AI, but that distinction’s actually not material to the content itself,” explained Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s Vice President of Creator Products, as to the label’s placement. “It could be a cartoon that is generated with AI. And so I think there’s a judgment on whether it’s a category that maybe merits from a very visible disclaimer,” he said. YouTube isn’t currently sharing how many removals of these sorts of AI deepfakes have been managed by this deepfake detection technology in the hands of creators, but noted that the amount of content removed so far has been “very small.” “I think for a lot of [creators], it’s just been the awareness of what’s being created, but the volume of actually removal requests is really, really low because most of it turns out to be fairly benign or additive to their overall business,” Hanif said. That may not be the case with deepfakes of government officials, politicians, or journalists. In time, YouTube intends to bring its deepfake detection technology to more areas, including recognizable spoken voices and other intellectual property like popular characters.
View
Legora reaches $5.55 billion valuation as AI legaltech boom endures
Legora, an AI platform for lawyers, is now valued at $5.55 billion following a $550 million Series D set to fuel its growth in the U.S. That’s despite growing competition with rivalHarvey, but also with Microsoft Copilot and generalist large language models (LLMs). Publicly listed legal software companiessaw their stocks dropwhen Anthropicunveiled a legal plugin for Claude. Legora is built on top of LLMs, andmostly on Claude, but its positioning as a platform that supports lawyers with complex cases gives CEO Max Junestrand some peace of mind. “It’s amazing that everybody can have their own pocket lawyer in Claude, but we’re not solving for the same use case,” he said via livestream at the Techarena conference in Stockholm. With a focus on embedding itself into its clients’ workflows, Legora’s platform is now used by 800 law firms and legal teams — and investors took note. Its Series D was led by Accel, with participation from existing investors Benchmark, Bessemer, General Catalyst, ICONIQ, Redpoint Ventures, and Y Combinator; and new backers including Alkeon Capital, Bain Capital, Firstmark Capital, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sands Capital, and Starwood Capital. There are other signs that investors are bullish about AI legaltech. Legora’s Series D and valuation jump come just a few months after its October 2025$150 million Series C roundled at a $1.8 billion valuation. Its competitor, Harvey, which is backed by a16z, is alreadyvalued at $8 billion, and is now reportedlyseeking to raise at a $11 billion valuation. According toDealroom, they are also on almost identical trajectories with regard to revenue. Both are also branching out globally; Harvey ispushing hard into Europe, and Legora in the opposite direction.Formerly known as Judilica, then Leya, the startup is an alum of Stockholm’s SSE Business Lab, aknown breeding ground for unicorns. But after participatingin YC’s winter 2024 batch, Legora is now headquartered in New York and keen to keep on pushing in the U.S. market, where its growth exceeded its expectations coming out of Europe. “It’s nine to one in terms of legal spending; it turns out the Americans love to sue each other much more than we like to do in Europe,” Junestrand joked while speaking to Techarena’s audience. But the team has grown globally — from 40 to 400 team members over the past year, according to a press release. In addition to New York and Stockholm, Legora has offices in Bangalore, London, and Sydney, with more to follow. Alongside its Series D, Legora announced it would open offices in Houston and Chicago, with plans to open additional local hubs and grow to more than 300 employees across its U.S. offices by the end of 2026.
View
Google gives in to users’ complaints over AI-powered ‘Ask Photos’ search feature
In a slight capitulation to those who don’t want AI infused into their everyday apps, Google said it’s now offering a toggle that will allow users of its Google Photos app to return to the previous and often faster “classic” search experience instead of the newer AI-powered option known as “Ask Photos.” The Ask Photos feature,launchedin the U.S. in 2024, lets users search their photos using natural language queries, including complex requests. The product’s rollout was brieflypausedlast summer as the company worked to address issues around latency, following user feedback. Some Google Photos users never warmed up to the AI-powered experience,complainingthat Ask Photos still failed to find some of their photos and that searches were less accurate than before. While Google offered anoption to disablethe use of Gemini in Google Photos, it was buried in the settings and was often overlooked. The company said it will offer users an easier and more visible way to switch between the two search experiences. Via a new toggle button on the search screen, users can turn the Ask Photos AI search off and view the classic results instead. Google said it will still lead with whichever results best fit the user’s query, however. In the announcement,sharedby Google Photos lead Shimrit Ben-Yair, the company suggested that the move was driven by users’ complaints about the Ask Photos feature. In a post on X, Ben-Yair wrote, “We’ve heard your feedback that you want more control over the type of results you see when searching in Google Photos.” The exec also noted that Google had improved the quality of some of the most popular searches, also based on user feedback. “We know search in Photos is one of the most loved and used features and we’re committed to getting this experience right, so please keep the feedback coming! It helps us build a more magical experience for everyone,” she said.
View
Thinking Machines Lab inks massive compute deal with Nvidia
OpenAI co-founder Mira Murati’s two-year-old AI research lab has signed a sizable deal with semiconductor giant Nvidia. Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab announced it entered into amulti-year strategic partnership with AI semiconductor giant Nvidiaon Tuesday. The size of the deal was not disclosed and includes the AI research lab deploying at least one gigawatt ofNvidia’s Vera Rubin systems, which was released earlier this year, starting in 2027. Nvidia is also making a strategic investment in Thinking Machines Lab, which has raised more than $2 billion since its February 2025 founding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and Nvidia, among others, including rival chipmaker AMD’s venture arm. The seed-stagecompany is valued at more than $12 billionand is working to build AI models that create reproducible results. The company has not released any products. TechCrunch reached out to Thinking Machines Lab and Nvidia for more information regarding the specifics surrounding the deal terms and investment. Thinking Machines Lab declined to comment beyond the release. The partnership also includes a commitment to develop training and serving systems for Nvidia architecture, according to an Nvidia press release. “Nvidia’s technology is the foundation on which the entire field is built,” Murati said in the deal’s blog post. “This partnership accelerates our capacity to build AI that people can shape and make their own, as it shapes human potential in turn.” Thinking Machines Lab has seen a number of recent high-profile exits in its young history. The company’s co-founder,Andrew Tulloch, left the startupfor a role at Meta in October. Earlier this year,three additional co-founders, Barret Zoph, Luke Metz, and Sam Schoenholz, left to return to OpenAI. This deal comes as AI companies remain hungry for any compute that they can get. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted that companies could spend$3 trillion to $4 trillion on AI infrastructureby the end of the decade. While we don’t know the value of this specific deal, it’s believable. In 2025, rival OpenAI allegedly inked a historic$300 billion compute deal with Oracle.
View
Nasscom to Train 1.5 Lakh Developers in AI Skills, Host ₹10 Lakh AI Hackathon
Three-phase program to culminate in national Agentic AI hackathon with ₹10 lakh prize.
View
The Hardest Part of AI Adoption Isn’t the Technology
Deloitte’s Rohit Tandon believes organisations often treat AI as an experiment rather than a business transformation opportunity.
View
NVIDIA Invests in Thinking Machines Lab, Plans 1GW AI Deployment
The first phase of the deployment is expected to begin next year.
View
Meta Acquires AI Agent Social Network Moltbook, Brings Founders to Superintelligence Labs
The two founders will join MSL on March 16, the division led by former Scale AI chief Alexandr Wang
View
OpenAI to Acquire AI Security Platform Promptfoo, Build New Enterprise Capabilities in Frontier
OpenAI announced its plans to acquire the artificial intelligence (AI) security platform Promptfoo on Monday. The San Francisco-based AI giant said that it was in the process of finalising the deal, which is currently subject to customary closing conditions. The acquisition will allow the ChatGPT maker to integrate Promptfoo's technology stack into OpenAI Frontier, an enterprise-grade platform designed to build, deploy, and manage fleets of AI agents. The company highlighted that the security platform's library will continue to remain open-source under its current licence.
View
25 Factories, 10K Engineers: How Siemens is Backing India's Advanced Manufacturing Push
Siemens India CEO Sunil Mathur highlights the growing opportunities across data centres, industrial parks, and semiconductor fabs.
View
OpenAI Acquires AI Security Startup Promptfoo to Secure its AI Agents
The deal comes amid growing pressure on AI developers to demonstrate that autonomous systems can operate safely.
View
AquaExchange Raises $8M Funding to Accelerate Tech Automation of Aquaculture Markets
The company has built a full-stack technology ecosystem that integrates IoT automation, proprietary AI/ML analytics, and real-time farm monitoring.
View