AI This Week

Amid growing concern over AI in film and TV, a group of entertainment figures has launched the Creators Coalition on AI to defend creators’ rights and set clear standards. The 18 founders include Daniel Kwan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natasha Lyonne, Janet Yang, David Goyer, Paul Trillo, and others. They position CCAI as a cross-industry hub that will pursue four pillars: transparency; consent and compensation for content and data; job protection with transition plans; guardrails against misuse and deepfakes; and safeguarding humanity in the creative process. More than 500 artists back the effort, including Cate Blanchett, Rian Johnson, Phil Lord, Kristen Stewart, and Taika Waititi. The coalition formed after a wave of tech agreements that alarmed creators and sparked demands for shared principles.

The U.S. Department of Energy has signed agreements with 24 organizations, including Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and OpenAI, to advance its Genesis Mission. The initiative seeks to apply artificial intelligence to speed scientific discovery and bolster U.S. energy and security capabilities. It aims to lift scientific productivity and curb dependence on foreign technology. Partners will build AI models for nuclear energy, quantum computing, robotics, and supply chain optimization. The effort follows a White House executive order directing AI deployment in energy innovation, advanced manufacturing, and national security. It extends prior DOE work with industry on high-performance computing at Argonne and Los Alamos labs. The department plans wider ties with universities and non-profits.

Experts at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI forecast a dramatic shift for artificial intelligence in 2026, predicting the year will mark a turn from creative hype to sober measurement. This new era will subject systems to exacting tests for accuracy, risk, and value. Computer scientists anticipate a surge in AI sovereignty, with nations building their own models and data centers. They also project new interfaces will move beyond today’s chatbots. Meanwhile, legal scholars expect domain-specific benchmarks will hold AI accountable, and healthcare leaders predict hospitals will demand strict return-on-investment frameworks for new tools.

Texas startup Last Energy has raised $100 million to build and deploy mini nuclear reactors for AI data centers. The company plans modular units that deliver steady, carbon-free power near compute clusters. The funding backs factory production, site development, and customer agreements aimed at round-the-clock reliability as data center demand surges. Power-hungry AI training strains grids, and companies seek cleaner supply. Last Energy pitches shorter build times, standardized components, and predictable costs compared with large nuclear plants. The company targets private power deals that bypass grid bottlenecks and match data center load. Contracts would supply dedicated, on-site power to new global server farms. Investors are betting that next-generation nuclear can anchor the next wave of AI growth across markets

Nvidia is moving beyond selling AI chips by releasing Nemotron 3, a family of open models plus the training data and tools to customize them. The lineup includes Nano (30B parameters), Super (100B), and Ultra (500B). Nvidia says benchmark scores place the models among the best downloadable options. The company also shipped a hybrid latent mixture‑of‑experts design for agent building and libraries for reinforcement learning. The push arrives as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic develop their own chips and as US firms share less about research, while Chinese companies release powerful open models more frequently. OpenRouter data shows open models handled about a third of tokens in 2025.