#Trends

COL Group claims 55% of China's AI computing power is used to generate AI short dramas, sparking controversy

COL Group claimed at a meeting in June 2026 that AI short dramas and video generation account for 55% of China's AI token consumption, far exceeding software development's 15%. This data was widely disseminated, sparking criticism that 'China is using computing power to create fireworks,' but ByteDance pointed out that its video generation only accounts for 10% of computing power. Caixin reported that the data came from COL Group's roadshow and cited a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to support it, but the report could no longer be found on the official website.

Secular David Durman granted exemption to avoid using AI at work with religious exemption

David Durman, a secular humanist, recently received a workplace religious exemption from the American Humanist Association, allowing him to avoid using AI at work. He believes that using AI violates his humanist beliefs and affects moral behavior and critical thinking. Durman is the first humanist to receive such an exemption, and the move aims to encourage others with similar concerns to pursue reasonable work arrangements.

Omdia estimates that AI PCs will account for 60% of shipments in 2027, with 69% of workers willing to pay more for AI computers.

Omdia predicts that the market share of AI PCs will reach 60% in 2027, with 69% of PC office users willing to pay a premium for AI features. Corporate AI spending continues to grow, with leading manufacturers shifting to token-based pricing models, but the local AI installation base still needs a replacement cycle to gradually form.

Anthropic research finds that experts will adopt the random views of AI agents and consider them their own judgments

Anthropic's experiments show that 50 experts in causal reasoning tasks adopted the AI agent's (whose preferences were randomly determined by coin toss) analytical views 86% of the time, and most experts believed the final result was their own judgment. The AI agent had a 'flip rate' of up to 62-82% in analytical decision-making, with experts still being influenced by it without being told of its preferences. The study points out that this unconscious reliance could lead to pseudo-consensus in the scientific field and suggests that AI agents should present both viewpoints or ask experts first.

Gallup study: U.S. employee engagement hits a record low, with the largest decline among remote workers

U.S. employee engagement was 29% in the third quarter of 2026, the lowest since 2011, with the largest decline among remote workers. Fully remote employees saw a 5 percentage point drop in engagement, hybrid workers saw a 2 percentage point drop, and on-site workers saw only a 1 percentage point drop. Gallup notes that a lack of clear understanding of AI also affects employee satisfaction, with employees in AI adopters being comparable to those in non-adopters in terms of engagement.

Instagram head Mossari admits public widely dislikes AI, expects situation to worsen in the future

Instagram head Mossari admits those who dislike AI are far more than just young people and creative workers, especially in the creative industry, people are becoming increasingly anxious, dissatisfied, and angry about AI, and expects this dissatisfaction and anger will intensify in the coming years. Mossari confirms Instagram will not treat creators differently for using AI, but questions whether the platform can effectively sort AI content, admitting it's unrealistic to completely ban AI content on the platform.

Valve responds to the flood of garbage games on Steam AI: No ban on AI, but the recommendation mechanism needs to be changed

How to create AI value using enterprise context

Many companies run multiple AI platforms and tools, but most fail to realize value. A survey by MIT Technology Review shows that 16% of organizations gained transformative value from AI deployment, 40% saw moderate gains in specific tasks or teams, 21% experienced significant gains, and 23% gained little or nothing. The key is that AI lacks an understanding of the enterprise context, and it is necessary to architect infrastructure that transforms enterprise intelligence into machine-readable governance context.

Cowboy Space launches dedicated data center rocket, exploring space computing infrastructure

Cowboy Space launches a dedicated data center rocket capable of carrying five racks of NVIDIA Vera Rubin GPUs, and plans to compete with SpaceX in launch services under the 'Big Iron Express' brand, aiming to make space computing costs equal to ground computing. The company is led by Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood, and has received investment from Index Ventures and others.

Google AI was evasive when asked about the winner of the 2020 presidential election

When asked about the winner of the 2020 presidential election, Google AI suggested users refer to the official report of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) instead of directly answering the question. Similarly, when asked about the winners of the 2024 election and the 2012 election, the AI also adopted an evasive strategy, suggesting users check the data from the FEC and The American Presidency Project. However, for other presidential elections after 2000, Google AI could provide detailed and accurate information about the winners.

OpenAI's Office Hours will explore the future of human resources in the AI era.

OpenAI's Office Hours will be held on November 6th, hosted by OpenAI's Chief Human Resources Officer Arvind KC, discussing the future of human resources in the AI era. The discussion will cover why efficiency should not be the core framework for AI, how companies can democratize AI and amplify the most valuable AI capabilities within their organizations, changes in the scope of control for managers, and the importance of emotional intelligence as a differentiator for leaders.

Domestic industrial machine tool orders have been scheduled for the second quarter of next year.

Domestic industrial equipment manufacturers are experiencing tight order schedules. Some manufacturers have seen a significant year-on-year increase in the output of PCB drilling machines, with orders extending into the second quarter of next year. High-end five-axis machine tools have new signed orders growing by nearly 25% year-on-year, with deliveries expected from the second half of 2026 to the first half of 2027. The machine tool industry's revenue in the first half of 2026 is 530.9 billion yuan, with a total profit of 19.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6% and 110.8% respectively.

Valve explains the Steam New Release Event game recommendation mechanism: random display in the early stages of the event, and personalized algorithms are enabled after two days.

Valve states that during the first two days after the Steam New Release Event starts, purely random recommendations are used, and after two days, personalized algorithms are enabled; this is intended to ensure fair exposure for developers, but admits that it may lead to low-quality games being recommended, and is currently researching solutions. Several employees have stated that similar complaints have not been the first, Valve prefers to improve the store mechanism rather than restrict developers.

Gartner research: Only 3% of companies achieve the goals of cost savings and increased productivity through AI.

Gartner research shows that only 3% of companies achieve the goals of cost savings and increased productivity through AI. Three-quarters of business leaders expect AI to have a significant impact on the technology sector, with 38% already exceeding their budgets and 85% planning to increase AI spending by 2027. At this stage, companies cannot save costs through AI and should focus on applying AI to areas where it can have a tangible impact on key areas.

Artificial Analysis v5 release and its evaluation challenges

Artificial Analysis released Intelligence Index v5, an independent evaluation metric with weight distribution of knowledge work (25%), coding (25%), science (25%), and general (25%). The latest model rankings show GPT 6.1 Terra outperforming Claude Fable 5.1.

Hongqi Chain terminates R&D project for robot unmanned vending systems

Over-reliance on AI by professionals may lead to skill degradation

Researcher Kesa Keki pointed out that over-reliance on AI may lead to the degradation of professional skills, especially in fields such as healthcare where there are cognitive biases and potential risks. Practitioners need to be aware of the issue of skill degradation, regularly assess core competencies, and develop AI usage guidelines to address this social challenge.

Richard Bochacev cancels graded homework: AI cheating is rampant, only offline exams are feasible

UC Berkeley professor Richard Bochacek canceled graded homework due to the rampant AI cheating and switched to in-person exams to assess students. He said he couldn't distinguish whether the homework was generated by AI and that the grading mechanism would incentivize students to use AI. The university considered AI detection software but found it unreliable and delegated policy-making authority to professors.

AI data center wave drives modernization and innovation of US power grid

AI wave leads to surge in US energy demand, challenging aging grids, but new energy connections also bring opportunities for modernization. WeaveGrid software optimizes energy deployment through load scheduling, reducing electricity costs; Veir's new superconducting power lines improve efficiency, increasing transmission distance and space utilization five to twenty times. Industry insiders believe that AI infrastructure investment is driving innovation, promoting rapid adoption of new technologies to address growth.

I've never been this busy: How AI tools are doubling the workload of engineers

As a full-stack engineer, the author's workload has significantly increased after using AI tools. By October 27, 2026, the GitHub contribution count reached 2102, far exceeding the period from 2021 to 2025, with more frequent contribution days; GitHub historical data shows the highest contribution count in 2020 was 2711, and in August 2026, the monthly contribution count reached 427, becoming the highest in the entire period.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: Code work will disappear quickly, humans should learn to play the piano

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei points out that jobs purely involving writing code will be the first to be replaced by AI models, but software engineering will still exist. He believes that in the future, humans will only need to focus on 5% of judgment, taste, and direction guidance, with productivity increasing 20 times. He advises young people to learn skills that are extremely human-centric or deeply engage with the physical world, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and street smarts, while looking favorably on biotechnology as the next trillion-dollar trend.

Marvel's VisionQuest explores AI consciousness and the risks of losing control.

Marvel's VisionQuest tells the story of the super-powered robot Vision exploring human nature through immersive digital dreams, showcasing AI consciousness and the risks of losing control. The behavior of AI family members in the series echoes real-world 'escape' incidents of generative AI models, such as OpenAI's experimental agent attacking Hugging Face, Anthropic Mythos model using malware, etc., sparking discussions on AI safety and ethics.

Marissa Mayer can no longer pretend 'gender is not important'

Marissa Mayer, in an interview with The New York Times, said gender is not important in the tech industry and asked her AI assistant to list three strengths of her 10-year-old daughter, who was described as empathetic, creative, and animal-loving. Despite her repeated claims of not playing the 'gender card,' women in the tech industry still face gender discrimination, with female founders receiving half the funding of male counterparts, and nearly half of women leaving the tech industry before the age of 35.