Welcome to AI Insider’s The Week Ahead in AI. See the key developments and events we’re watching Jan. 4-Jan. 10.
Weekend AI News Briefs
Orq.ai Announces €5M Seed to Bring Enterprise AI Agents Into Production
Amsterdam-based Orq.ai raised €5 million in an oversubscribed seed round to scale its platform for running and governing AI agents in production, bringing total funding to €7.3 million. The round was led by seed+speed Ventures and Galion.exe as Orq.ai expands adoption of its AI agent control layer, now used by more than 100 organizations across Europe and the U.S. (AI Insider)
European Banks Prepare for Major Workforce Reductions as AI Reshapes Operations
Europe’s banking sector could shed more than 200,000 jobs by 2030 as artificial intelligence automates core functions, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis cited by the Financial Times, with back-office, risk, and compliance roles facing the deepest cuts and efficiency gains projected at up to 30%. The shift aligns Europe with global peers such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, as lenders including ABN Amro and Société Générale move to aggressively reduce costs and restructure around AI-driven workflows.(AI Insider)
An NYU Professor Who Hates that Students’ Work Reads Like McKinsey Memos Held AI Oral Exams to ‘Fight Fire With Fire’
An NYU professor replaced written coursework with AI-powered oral exams after finding students could not defend polished, AI-assisted assignments, using automated questioning and grading to test real understanding at low cost, Business Insider reports. The experiment by Panos Ipeirotis at NYU Stern School of Business reflects a broader push in higher education — echoed by Reid Hoffman -to rethink assessment as generative AI makes traditional essays easier to game. (Business Insider)
LG To Unveil Home Robot At CES 2026, Sharing Vision For The ‘Zero Labor Home’
LG Electronics plans to debut its new home robot, LG CLOiD, at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, positioning the system as part of its long-term push toward automated household assistance. The humanoid-style indoor robot underscores LG Electronics’s strategy to make home robotics a growth pillar, supported by in-house development through its HS Robotics Lab and external partnerships aimed at reducing time spent on routine domestic tasks. (AI Insider)
German Bionic Presents the Exia Robotic Exoskeleton at CES 2026
Reface, a Kyiv-based AI content creation company, secured €15.2 million ($18 million) in non-dilutive user acquisition financing from PvX Partners to support its next growth phase across AI-powered creativity, wellbeing, and health applications. Founded in 2018 and led by Anton Volovyk, Reface has surpassed 300 million downloads globally and is backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, positioning it as a leading AI consumer platform emerging from Eastern Europe. (AI Insider)
Tenniix Unveils Vision-Based AI Tennis Robot at CES 2026
Tenniix plans to demonstrate its AI-powered tennis training robot at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, showcasing the system in Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo as it pushes into technology-assisted sports training. The lightweight, portable robot from Tenniix uses dual-vision tracking to adapt drills in real time and is positioned as a modular training platform with tiered pricing starting at $699 for recreational and advanced players worldwide. (AI Insider)
World ‘May Not Have Time’ to Prepare for AI Safety Risks, Says Leading Researcher
A senior UK AI safety official warned that the pace of artificial intelligence development may outstrip society’s ability to manage its risks, raising concerns that advanced systems could soon outperform humans across most economically valuable tasks. David Dalrymple of Advanced Research and Invention Agency told the The Guardian that governments should focus on mitigating downsides rather than assuming reliability, as evidence from the AI Security Institute shows rapid gains in model capabilities, including autonomous task completion and limited self-replication. (The Guardian)
Conferences & Events
Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2026)
Jan. 6-9, Las Vegas, Nevada, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) remains a central meeting point for the global technology industry, where major companies, startups, and investors gather to showcase products, form partnerships, and assess emerging trends across the tech sector. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association, Consumer Electronics Show 2026 will take place Jan. 6–9 in Las Vegas, continuing its role as a broad, market-facing snapshot of where consumer and enterprise technologies are heading. (CES)
Open Source AI Summit
Jan. 9, Lisbon, Portugal, the Open Source AI Summit will debut in Lisbon as a side event to BUIDL Europe, bringing together developers, researchers, and industry leaders for a full day of talks and fireside chats on open-source AI. Hosted by KryptoPlanet and NEAR Protocol, the eighth summit in the series builds on prior global editions and sets the stage for the upcoming BUIDL AI Hackathon with a focus on community building and practical AI insights. (Sero)
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