automation

ABB posts record Q2 orders, raises 2026 outlook again

Shares of ABB India soared nearly 10% on Thursday to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 7,924.50, after Swiss parent ABB Ltd reported record quarterly orders and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance.

DeepMind warns AI outpacing labs’ ability to test discoveries

Google DeepMind Alphabet Inc. published a new essay on Tuesday warning that AI agents are generating scientific hypotheses and designing experiments faster than laboratories can physically test them, creating what the company called a "growing validation bottleneck" that threatens to…

ABB agrees to buy UK’s Rotork in $5.5 billion deal

Swiss industrial technology giant ABB announced on Thursday its largest-ever acquisition, agreeing to buy British flow-control equipment maker Rotork in an all-cash deal valued at an enterprise value of approximately $5.5 billion. The news sent Rotork shares surging roughly 67%…

SoftBank’s Son predicts 1 billion humanoid robots by 2040

SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son predicted on Tuesday that one billion AI-powered humanoid robots will be in operation by 2040, as he dismissed concerns about an AI bubble as "absurd" and called for $5 trillion in annual global…

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work, its AI agent for enterprise task automation

OpenAI on Thursday unveiled ChatGPT Work, an AI agent embedded in its flagship chatbot that can autonomously execute workplace tasks across corporate applications, files, and workflows — the company's most ambitious move yet into enterprise automation.

1X unveils 25-degree-of-freedom hands for NEO robot

Robotics company 1X Technologies has revealed a new generation of hands for its NEO humanoid robot, upgrading the platform from 22 to 25 degrees of freedom and bringing what the company says is near human-level dexterity to a consumer robot…

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Work alongside public GPT-5.6 rollout

OpenAI on Thursday unveiled ChatGPT Work, a new AI agent embedded in its popular chatbot that can execute complex tasks across different applications and files for hours at a time. The launch coincides with the public release of GPT-5.6, the…

China, India shed over 130,000 tech jobs in AI-driven shift

A sweeping wave of AI-driven job cuts is reshaping the technology workforces of Asia's two largest economies, with China's internet giants quietly eliminating more than 130,000 positions and India's IT sector bracing for tens of thousands of "silent layoffs" as…

Allianz Partners to cut up to 1,800 jobs as AI replaces call center roles

Allianz Partners will eliminate between 1,500 and 1,800 positions across Europe as the travel insurance subsidiary accelerates its adoption of artificial intelligence, CEO Tomas Kunzmann confirmed at an event in Munich on Tuesday evening.

Fitch flags AI-driven job losses as emerging global credit risk

Fitch Ratings has flagged artificial intelligence and heavy digital infrastructure spending as emerging global credit risks, warning that AI-driven labor displacement could erode tax revenues in developed economies. The warning, issued this week, comes amid mounting data showing accelerating job…

Google launches Gemini Spark on macOS with new app integrations

Google Alphabet Inc. on Tuesday rolled out Gemini Spark to its macOS desktop app, bringing the company's always-on AI agent to local file systems for the first time. The update, available in beta to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the…

BMW deploys Figure 03 robots as Figure AI’s fleet surpasses its human workforce

Humanoid robotics startup Figure AI has crossed a threshold that until recently belonged to science fiction: the company now has more robots than people on its payroll. Founder and CEO Brett Adcock announced on X this week that roughly 740…

Google adds screen-control tool to Gemini 3.5 Flash

Google Alphabet Inc. on Tuesday launched computer use as a built-in tool in Gemini 3.5 Flash, enabling developers to build AI agents that can see, reason about, and interact with screens across browser, mobile, and desktop environments. The capability, previously…

China’s Agibot livestreams humanoid robots on active factory line

Chinese robotics company Agibot launched a six-day global livestream on Tuesday showcasing its G2 humanoid robots autonomously performing quality inspection and sorting tasks on a live tablet assembly line at Longcheer Technology's factory in Nanchang, China. The broadcast, running June…

JD.com boss warns robots will replace 700,000 couriers

Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD.com, has warned that robots will replace the company's 700,000 delivery workers "sooner or later," according to the Financial Times, as China's largest retailer accelerates its push into autonomous logistics and embodied intelligence.

SAP CEO says AI could replace all human coders within four years

Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, told the Australian Financial Review that artificial intelligence advances in "vibe coding" could eliminate the need for human software developers at his company within four years — a stark prediction from the leader of one…

Figure AI now has more robots than human employees

Figure AI has crossed a threshold its founder calls a first: the humanoid robotics startup now employs more robots than people. CEO Brett Adcock announced on X this week that the company's robot headcount has surpassed its human staff, with…