CES 2026 Announcements and the Week's AI Summary

New AI Models

This week, new foundation models focused on different use cases were introduced. In particular, developments in on-device inference and healthcare stand out:

• Falcon H1R 7B: Developed by TII, this small and hybrid reasoning tool delivers higher performance than rivals of its size on math and coding tasks and doubles inference speed.
• LFM 2.5: Liquid AI’s open-weight model family developed for on-device use; it has text, image, and audio processing capabilities.
• LTX-2: Lightricks released its AI video model, which can generate natural 4K visuals and synchronized audio, as open source.
• SleepFM: Stanford researchers announced the foundation model that can predict more than 130 health conditions from sleep records.

CES 2026 and Hardware Developments

The CES 2026 trade show became the main platform where AI-focused hardware and integrations were showcased:

• Nvidia Rubin Platform: The new AI supercomputer architecture was introduced, offering 5 times more training compute power than the Blackwell series.
• Lenovo Qira: A system-level AI assistant was announced that provides contextual continuity between PCs and Motorola phones.
• Razer Project AVA: A holographic AI assistant concept based on Grok, running inside a physical cylinder, was showcased.
• Automotive Integrations: While Ford plans to add AI assistants to its vehicles starting in 2027, Boston Dynamics announced that it will use Google DeepMind infrastructure in the next-generation Atlas robot.

Platform and Application Updates

On the software side, product-focused expansions continue on the OpenAI and Google fronts:

• ChatGPT Health: OpenAI announced its new module for health questions, offering personalization, separate memory, and chat history.
• Google Gemini Integrations: Gemini features were integrated more deeply into Google TV, Classroom, and Gmail services.
• Traffic Data: After the Gemini 3 launch, a decline in ChatGPT web traffic was observed, while an increase in Gemini traffic was reported.
• Amazon Alexa: The Alexa+ experience was brought to web browsers, and content creation and smart home management features began to be offered.

Investment and Acquisition Agenda

The capital flow in the AI ecosystem continues with large-scale rounds and strategic acquisitions:

• xAI: Elon Musk’s company received a $20 billion investment in its Series E round.
• Anthropic: It was reported to be preparing for a new $10 billion investment round at a $350 billion valuation.
• Acquisitions: Snowflake acquired observability platform Observe, while Mobileye acquired humanoid robotics startup Mentee Robotics ($900 million). OpenAI also brought the Convogo team in-house.
• Other Investments: LMArena ($150 million), Articul8 ($35 million), and Protege ($30 million) completed their investment rounds.