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ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 hits Cannes with 95-minute AI film ‘Hell Grind’
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ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 hits Cannes with 95-minute AI film ‘Hell Grind’

ByteDance’s cloud platform Volcengine brought its Seedance 2.0 model to the 79th Cannes Film Festival and premiered Hell Grind, a 95-minute AI-generated feature film billed as the world’s first full-length AI movie. The film was produced by a team from US-based AI company Higgsfield using ByteDance-developed Seedance 2.0, with reported production taking 14 days, involving 15 people, and costing under $500,000. Its debut points to progress in long-form AI video generation while also raising questions about workforce displacement, authorship, and the role of human creators.

May 30, 2026Read More →
Future Tech: How Many Steps to “Fit” a Startup into the World Artificial Intelligence Conference?
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Future Tech: How Many Steps to “Fit” a Startup into the World Artificial Intelligence Conference?

WAIC Future Tech said its Knowledge Base is now online as a core content asset centered on AI innovation projects, investor insights, event information, and activity updates. The platform said the database will be continuously updated with material ranging from venture capital roadshows and AI singularity talks to venture capital gatherings and AI private director meetings. WAIC Future Tech describes itself as the World Artificial Intelligence Conference’s official global innovation platform for connecting early-stage AI startups with investors, industry, and talent.

May 30, 2026Read More →
Alibaba AI voice model beats OpenAI, xAI to bridge Chinese dialect gap
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Alibaba AI voice model beats OpenAI, xAI to bridge Chinese dialect gap

Alibaba’s Fun-Realtime-TTS-Preview ranked fifth on Artificial Analysis’ Speech Arena, ahead of rivals including OpenAI and xAI and as the only Chinese-engineered system in the global top five. A separate Artificial Analysis index placed Alibaba’s Fun-Realtime-ASR first on word error rate at 1.8 per cent. Alibaba says the model supports more than 30 languages, seven major Chinese dialects and over 20 regional accents, targeting a persistent weakness in speech systems trained on standard Mandarin.

May 30, 2026Read More →
Meta launches paid plans for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp as it tests AI subscriptions
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Meta launches paid plans for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp as it tests AI subscriptions

Meta has rolled out paid subscription plans for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp while keeping the core apps free. The company is also testing paid tiers for its AI assistant, with higher limits for image, video and reasoning tools. The move comes as Meta raises AI infrastructure spending and looks beyond advertising for revenue.

May 30, 2026Read More →
JD.com founder vows to protect Chinese jobs from AI and robots
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JD.com founder vows to protect Chinese jobs from AI and robots

JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong said the company would protect jobs across its 900,000-strong workforce as it adopts automation. Liu said JD.com would not fire front-line workers replaced by machines and pointed to more than 80 training bases for new technical skills. His comments come after Chinese legal moves requiring retraining or reassignment before workers can be terminated.

May 29, 2026Read More →
Gemini 3.5 Flash: Performance Boost Comes with Higher Costs
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Gemini 3.5 Flash: Performance Boost Comes with Higher Costs

Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash has shown a significant performance leap, but the cost of running it has skyrocketed by 5.5 times compared to its predecessor. Despite its advanced capabilities, the model's expenses for agent tasks are 75% higher than the Gemini 3.1 Pro. For readers, the financial implications of adopting such AI technologies are crucial as they balance performance with operational costs.

May 24, 2026Read More →