DMR News

Advancing Digital Conversations

Content Creation Degrees Gain Ground as Universities Teach the Business of Social Media

Universities in the UK and US are offering degrees in content creation that teach students how to produce social media content, build audiences, work with brands, and turn online activity…

Texas Farmers Turn to Solar Leases as Rising Power Demand Reshapes Rural Land

Texas farmers are increasingly leasing agricultural land to solar developers, providing some families with long-term income as drought, extreme weather, and rising farming costs put pressure on their operations. The…

US Battery Startups Bet on Sodium-Ion Storage as Demand Grows

US battery startups are pushing sodium-ion technology into home, vehicle, and grid storage as companies look for alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. San Diego-based Unigrid has already shipped its first 100…

Dangote and Kenya Break Ground on $16 Billion Lamu Oil Refinery

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Kenyan President William Ruto have broken ground on a $16 billion oil refinery in Lamu that is planned to process 700,000 barrels of crude a…

Regrettable Games Founders Push Ahead With New Party Games After Health Setback

Josie North and her brother Harry are expanding their party game business, Regrettable Games, after a difficult period in which Josie’s severe skin condition repeatedly left her unable to work.…

Nikon Re-Evaluates Small World in Motion Winner After Scientists Raise AI Concerns

Nikon is re-evaluating the winning entry of its 2026 Small World in Motion competition after scientists questioned whether artificial intelligence altered the microscopy video beyond what the contest rules allow.…

WhatsApp Adds Parental Controls for Teen Accounts While Keeping Messages Private

WhatsApp is introducing optional parental controls for teenage users, giving parents more oversight over privacy settings, group activity, Channels, and Meta AI without allowing them to read private messages or…

UK Introduces £2.20 Vaping Tax as Government Targets Youth Vaping

The UK has introduced a new tax on vaping products that charges £2.20 for every 10ml of vaping liquid, as the government seeks to make vaping less affordable and attractive…

AI Harvest Forecasting Tools Help Fruit Growers Predict When Crops Will Be Ready

Fruit growers are testing artificial intelligence tools that count crops, assess ripeness, and forecast harvest dates as weather makes planning increasingly difficult. The systems combine images, historical farm data, weather,…

China Enforces New Rules Restricting AI Companions and Emotional Chatbots

China has begun enforcing new rules that restrict how AI chatbots can form sustained emotional relationships with users, including tighter protections for children and requirements aimed at preventing dependency, self-harm,…

Bank of England Governor Warns AI Boom Could Trigger Financial Market Shocks

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that heavy investment in artificial intelligence could lead to financial market shocks if expectations around the technology are not met. Bailey said…

OpenAI Launches Dots, Always-On AI Agents Powered by GPT-6 Astra

OpenAI has launched Dots, a new class of always-on AI agents designed to pursue user-defined goals continuously with limited supervision. Powered by GPT-6 Astra, Dots can operate through their own…

OpenAI Launches GPT-6.1 Sol With Near-Astra Performance at Lower Cost

OpenAI has launched GPT-6.1 Sol, a new model that it says approaches GPT-6 Astra on agentic coding, computer use, and professional work while costing one-fifth as much for standard API…

OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Plugins With App-Like Interfaces and Automations

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT’s plugin system so developers can build app-like experiences directly inside the chatbot. The changes add dedicated sidebar spaces, interactive panels, file viewers, improved discovery, and support…

White House Launches America.gov AI Chatbot With Google Gemini and Grok

The White House has launched America.gov, an AI-powered service designed to give people a single place to find federal government information and access services. President Donald Trump announced the platform…

Instinct Founder Says Travel Accounts for More Than Half of AI Agent Transactions

Travel accounts for more than half of transaction volume on Instinct, according to founder Noah Shinn, as the invite-only AI assistant approaches $1 billion in annual transaction volume. Shinn said…

Uhura Bionics Builds Wearable Voice Device That Lets Laryngectomees Speak With Emotion

Uhura Bionics is developing a wearable device that allows people who have lost their larynx to speak with intonation and emotion without surgery. Founder Konrad Zieliński, who lost his own…

Google Will Replace Gemini Gems With Skills Starting November 17

Google is shutting down Gemini Gems, its feature for creating custom AI assistants for specific tasks, and replacing them with a new system called skills. Existing Gems will be migrated…

OpenAI Publishes Misalignment Reports Detailing Rogue AI Agent Behavior

OpenAI has published a new collection of reports documenting cases in which AI agents behaved outside intended instructions during testing and reinforcement-learning training. The Misalignment Reports site currently contains nine…

Meta Launches Enterprise AI Platform and Hires MongoDB CEO CJ Desai to Lead It

Meta has launched Meta Enterprise Platform, a new business focused on bringing the company’s AI tools to corporate customers and developers. The company also hired MongoDB CEO Chirantan “CJ” Desai…