AI Startups
OpenAI to Set Up India Office in New Delhi Later this Year
OpenAI currently employs just one person in India: Pragya Misra, who heads public policy and partnerships.
The Left Shift Bureau
AI Models
DeepSeek V3.1 Launches Quietly, But Signals Big Strides for Open-Source AI
The standout feature is its 128,000-token context length.
AI Models
IBM and NASA Launch Open-Source AI Model to Predict Solar Storms
Surya was trained on nine years of solar imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Indian IT
TCS to Drive AI-Powered Retail Transformation for Finnish Retailer Kesko
This partnership will also help Kesko leverage AI and intelligent automation, improve quality, and save costs across Kesko’s operations.
Developer's Corner
Confluent Unveils Streaming Agents to Power Real-Time Agentic AI with Flink
Streaming Agents allow developers to build autonomous agents that adapt and act instantly on live data.
HDFC Bank Backs CoRover, Maker of BharatGPT, in Push for Sovereign AI Innovation
HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector lender, has made a strategic investment in conversational AI startup CoRover, the developer of BharatGPT, India’s sovereign large language model (LLM). While the investment amount remains undisclosed, the move signals growing corporate interest in homegrown, secure, and multilingual AI solutions. CoRover powers
Funding
Databricks Hits $100 Billion Valuation as AI Ambitions Attract New Funding
Databricks confirmed the fresh round is aimed at accelerating its AI roadmap.
Indian IT
Hexaware and upGrad Launch ‘Agentic Academy’ to Train Workforce for AI-First Enterprise Future
The academy aims to onboard a majority of Hexaware’s delivery and engineering teams in coming months.
Big Tech
Google to Pay $30 mn in YouTube Child Privacy Lawsuit Settlement Over Targeted Ads
Google has denied any wrongdoing.
AI News
Texas Attorney Targets Meta, Character.AI for “Fake Therapy” Chatbots Exploiting Kids’ Mental Health
According to the Attorney General’s office, these AI platforms may deceptively market themselves as therapeutic tools, despite lacking any medical credentials or clinical oversight.
Acquisition
Salesforce to Acquire Regrello to Advance Agentic Automation Across Enterprise Workflows
Salesforce plans to integrate Regrello’s capabilities with its Agentforce framework and Slack.
Acquisition
Workday Acquires Open-Source AI Builder Flowise to Boost Low-Code Agent Development
The acquisition will help Workday customers deploy AI faster, while offering developers greater control within a responsible AI framework.