Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Salesforce and Nvidia launched KOA, a CRM inference model built for Salesforce’s Agentforce, the company said. Salesforce also expanded its enterprise AI partnerships with Google Cloud and AWS. No financial terms, timelines or launch dates were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: CATL said its wholly owned subsidiary Ningbo Wending signed a partnership agreement with Xiamen Puquan and Xiamen Ruiting to invest in the Xiamen Shidai Yiyuan venture capital fund. Ningbo Wending will subscribe 1.12 billion yuan, a 19.4175% stake in the fund, which has total committed capital of 5.768 billion yuan and targets the new energy supply chain, AI and embodied intelligence applications, and tech innovation.

TREE NEWS update: White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said President Trump’s view is that the United States already has existing tools to regulate AI. Hassett also said AI companies warning each other does not constitute an antitrust issue. He made the remarks in comments on AI regulation.

TREE NEWS update: German theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder said a lobbying group offered to pay her to front the claim that AI will destroy humanity, with a pre-written script, in a video published September 5, 2026. She declined. She said both doom and optimism narratives are funded, and that most such deals are never disclosed. Separately, the Future Life Institute launched Protect What’s Human on February 9, 2026, with a budget of up to $8 million.

TREE NEWS update: Honor released MagicOS 11 at its developer conference on September 15, calling it the first phone operating system to commercially deploy a system-level Agent Harness. The company said the OS can interpret complex user intent and remember daily habits, combining automated execution with proactive service. Honor CEO Li Jian said at the event that AI is rewriting the future of mobile operating systems.

TREE NEWS update: Wang Xin, director-general of the People’s Bank of China’s Research Bureau, said the rapid global expansion of computing centers is driving up direct water consumption. In China, computing centers still account for a small share of total water use, but structural problems are emerging. He proposed stronger water metering, verification and disclosure, water-saving technology, green data-center efficiency standards, water pricing reform and green finance to support AI and water resource coordination.

TREE NEWS reports: Model ML, a startup selling AI software to investment banks and other financial institutions, is in talks to raise more than $100 million at a valuation above $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The round is not yet closed and terms could still change, with one person saying the raise could reach $150 million depending on investor interest.

TREE NEWS update: WeChat said its native AI assistant Xiaowei cannot access more information than the user can already view, calling posts claiming it “directly reads chat records” and “spies on all privacy” false. The statement came from WeChat employee @客村小蒋 as privacy concerns around the assistant trended online. Xiaowei, developed by the WeChat team, is in limited beta and lets users check weather, track packages and order takeout via text or voice.

TREE NEWS reports: AllianceBernstein fixed-income strategist Thierry Taglione said calls to slow AI development will not stop large technology companies from proceeding with their financing and capital expenditure plans. He pointed to hyperscalers and data center operators, saying these are long-term financing programs spanning a decade or more, and that weekend news will not affect them.

TREE NEWS update: Sugon Smart Computing president He Mujun said on September 15 at the 2026 Computing Power Network Development Conference that China’s national supercomputing internet platform has built six major agent matrices covering more than 170 core computing scenarios, with over 500 agents and 10,000-plus skills launched cumulatively. Users can assemble custom scientific computing agents using more than 16,000 content components and conversational building tools without coding expertise.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Academy of Information and Communications Technology launched the “Compute-Power Grid” project bank at the 2026 China Computing Conference on September 12, 2026, alongside an upgraded version 2.0 of the compute-power coordination public service platform. The repository collects nationwide engineering practices in compute-power coordination to set industry benchmarks and move the concept toward large-scale deployment.

TREE NEWS update: The Gates Foundation plans to spend at least $1 billion over the next two years to widen access to artificial intelligence. Co-founder Bill Gates warned that how AI is built, funded and deployed in the next 12 to 18 months will determine whether the technology mainly benefits those who already have the most resources. The foundation intends to distribute $200 billion in total before it closes permanently in 2045.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s Information Security Testing and Certification Center released “Zhi Ce Neng Shou,” billed as China’s first public service platform for generative AI safety testing, on September 14 at the opening ceremony of the National Cybersecurity Week Shanghai events. The platform was built under the guidance of the Shanghai Cyberspace Administration and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and is presented as a public-service approach to domestic AI governance.

TREE NEWS update: BYD is working with Alibaba Cloud to upgrade its next-generation smart cockpit, integrating the Qwen large model into its in-car system. The tie-up was announced on September 14 at BYD’s launch event for its “Super Agent Didixia” and the all-electric Denza N8L. The model will handle multi-turn dialogue, complex intent recognition, task orchestration, long-term memory and ecosystem service connections.

TREE NEWS update: StepFun released its Step Audio 3 series of models on September 15, comprising StepAudio 3 Realtime, StepAudio 3 ASR, StepAudio 3 TTS, StepAudio 3 Gen and StepAudio 3 Music. All five models are now available on the StepFun open platform.

TREE NEWS update: Alibaba Cloud notified users on September 15 that its universal vouchers will no longer be usable for Qoder CN products or fee deductions starting September 30, 2026. Qoder CN is Alibaba Cloud’s AI agent product line, covering software development and office scenarios, including the Qoder CN IDE and JetBrains plugin, QoderWork CN desktop app, Qoder CN CLI, QoderWake CN digital employee and Qoder Cloud Agents.

TREE NEWS update: TSMC is taking a “conservative” approach to applying AI in its technology development, the chipmaker’s co-chief operating officer said. The executive did not elaborate on specific applications or timelines. TSMC is the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to AI chip designers including Nvidia.

TREE NEWS update: Apple released iOS 27 on September 15, supporting iPhone 11 and later models. Apple customer service advised against updating iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 devices to the new system, saying iPhone 13 and later models can update normally. Some users reported smoother performance, while others flagged dropped frames and lag.

TREE NEWS update: UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury Louise Haigh is expected to tell the Trades Union Congress annual conference today that Britain must “heed the warnings of those at the frontier of AI development” and be ready to work with international partners on public safety and national security. She said AI holds “huge potential” to transform public services, strengthen businesses and deliver scientific breakthroughs.

TREE NEWS update: Feishu CEO Xie Xin said at the 2026 Feishu Infinite Future Conference and Doubao Work Kickoff on September 15 that the company’s annual recurring revenue growth in the first half of 2026 reached 2.5 times the year-earlier pace, the highest since its founding. More than 90% of new customers also purchased Feishu AI products, while its small and medium-sized enterprise customer base grew 70% over the past year.