Welcome to AI Insider’s The Week Ahead in AI. See the key developments and events we’re watching Dec. 21 – Dec. 27.
Weekend AI News Briefs
AI Hiring is Here. It’s Making Companies — And Job Seekers — Miserable
As AI tools reshape hiring, job seekers are increasingly using chatbots to generate applications while employers deploy AI-led interviews to manage surging applicant volumes, altering how candidates are evaluated. CNN reports that recent research and surveys suggest the trend may be backfiring, with AI use making applicants harder to differentiate, lowering hiring rates and wages, and raising concerns about bias, accessibility, and growing regulatory pushback even as adoption accelerates. (CNN)
Galbot Secures Over $300M in New Funding, $3B Valuation in China’s Humanoid Robot Sector
Galbot has raised more than $300 million in a new round, bringing total funding to about $800 million and valuing the embodied AI and humanoid robotics company at $3 billion, a record for the sector. Backed by investors from China, Singapore, and the Middle East, the company is scaling a full-stack embodied AI platform with active deployments across manufacturing, logistics, retail, and healthcare, including autonomous humanoids operating in factories, warehouses, stores, and pilot hospital settings. (AI Insider)
Al Jazeera Launches New Integrative AI model, ‘The Core’
Al Jazeera Media Network is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud to launch “The Core,” an integrated AI model designed to embed artificial intelligence across its news operations and shift AI from a support tool to an active partner in journalism. The initiative will use AI to help journalists analyze complex data, create immersive content, and automate workflows, reflecting a broader push to modernize newsroom production and audience engagement through advanced cloud-based AI systems. (Al Jazeera)
Wharton Professor Weighs In On AI Bubble Speculation
Investor Michael Burry’s renewed skepticism toward Big Tech’s AI spending has revived concerns that the current AI-driven market rally may be showing early bubble dynamics concentrated among a small group of dominant technology companies. Itay Goldstein, a financial crises expert at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, says bubbles emerge when prices drift beyond contested fundamentals and momentum overtakes valuation, warning that rising household exposure to tech stocks and growth in lightly regulated private credit could amplify risks if AI valuations fall. (AI Insider)
Are These AI Prompts Damaging Your Thinking Skills?
AI chatbots are becoming embedded in education and work, but a growing body of research suggests heavy reliance on them may reduce critical thinking and learning, even when short-term performance improves. The BBC reports that studies from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Microsoft, and others indicate that while AI can boost efficiency and output, overuse risks cognitive atrophy and diminished problem-solving skills unless the tools are used deliberately as aids to learning rather than substitutes for thinking. (BBC)
Closer Robotics Raises ¥420M Pre-Series A Round
Closer Robotics Co., Ltd. has raised ¥420 million in a Pre-Series A first close through a mix of equity led by Angel Bridge, participation from Deepcore, and debt financing from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to accelerate commercialization of its AI-powered industrial robots. The Japan-based startup is targeting labor-constrained sectors such as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and packaging, with proceeds earmarked for product development, manufacturing scale-up, sales expansion, and hiring as it moves from pilots to broader commercial deployment. (AI Insider)
Policy & Governance
HHS Announces Request for Information to Harness Artificial Intelligence to Deflate Health Care Costs and Make America Healthy Again
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued a Request for Information seeking public input on how it can use regulation, reimbursement, and research and development to accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence in clinical care across the U.S. health system. The effort, led by the Office of the Deputy Secretary, focuses on improving patient outcomes, reducing provider burden and costs, strengthening interoperability and data protections under HIPAA, and shaping future regulatory and reimbursement frameworks to support AI-driven care. (HHS)
Upcoming Conferences & Events
International Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (ICRM)
Dec. 25–26, 2025, Istanbul, Turkey, the 19th International Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (ICRM 2025) is an interdisciplinary research-focused event bringing together academic scientists, industry researchers, and practitioners to present and discuss advances, innovations, and practical challenges across robotics and mechatronics, with an emphasis on scholarly exchange, emerging trends, and real-world applications. (ICRM)
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