Amazon’s Ring Adds Facial Recognition, Raising Privacy Questions

Amazon has begun rolling out Alexa+ on the web to early access users, introducing features such as chat functionality, smart home controls, file management, and cross-device conversations. This launch represents a significant step in Amazon's vision for integrating its AI-powered Alexa technology into everyday online experiences.

Alexa+ has been updated to enable it to answer Ring doorbell notifications and communicate with visitors, enhancing the integration between Amazon's voice assistant and home security systems.

China is advancing its efforts toward chip self-reliance by testing a secret extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography prototype, a critical technology for semiconductor manufacturing, amid increasing export controls and rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Amazon has launched a new feature for its Alexa+ service that integrates conversational AI capabilities into Ring doorbells, allowing the device to identify visitors based on their appearance and actions. This enhancement utilizes video descriptions from the Ring doorbell to recognize individuals, improving user interaction with the home security system.

Microsoft has outlined its product plans for 2026, emphasizing a significant push towards artificial intelligence (AI) with a focus on expanding AI agents, enhancing Microsoft 365, and investing in global infrastructure. This strategy reflects the company's commitment to integrating AI into its core offerings, aiming to improve user experience and operational efficiency.

A new method for the exact verification of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) has been developed, focusing on providing guarantees against adversarial attacks through incremental constraint solving. This approach allows for the verification of GNNs under budget constraints, addressing vulnerabilities in high-stakes applications such as fraud detection and healthcare.

A recent study has revealed that Amazon's algorithmic pricing practices are leading to erratic and inflated costs for school districts, raising concerns about the financial implications for educational institutions. The findings suggest that the pricing strategies employed by Amazon may not be conducive to the budgeting needs of these districts.

The demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is driving a new gold rush for data centers, with power availability becoming a critical factor in their location. Companies are increasingly prioritizing proximity to energy sources over traditional considerations like closeness to urban centers.