Welcome to AI Insider’s The Week Ahead in AI. See the key developments and events we’re watching Jan. 25-Jan. 31.
Weekend AI News Briefs
OpenAI Accelerates Global and Enterprise Strategy With India Engagement and Leadership Shift
OpenAI is accelerating its enterprise and international expansion as CEO Sam Altman plans a mid-February visit to India alongside the India AI Impact Summit 2026, signaling India’s growing importance as a major ChatGPT market and strategic hub for enterprise adoption and regulatory engagement. The company has also reshuffled leadership to prioritize business customers, appointing Barret Zoph to lead global enterprise sales and expanding partnerships such as a multi-year deal with ServiceNow as competition with Google and Anthropic intensifies. (AI Insider)
Meta Pauses Teen Access to AI Characters as It Rebuilds Safety-Focused Experience
Meta has paused access to AI characters for teens across all of its apps worldwide as it rebuilds the feature with stronger safety and parental controls, amid rising regulatory pressure including an upcoming New Mexico trial over protections for minors. The pause applies to self-identified and system-flagged underage users, with Meta planning to relaunch age-appropriate AI characters limited to themes such as education, sports, and hobbies as part of broader industry efforts to tighten safeguards around generative AI. (AI Insider)
AI Leaders Diverge on Monetization and Personalization Strategies as Chatbots Evolve
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis used Davos to caution against the early introduction of advertising into AI assistants, saying he was surprised by OpenAI’s move to test ads in chatbots and warning that monetization choices could undermine user trust and experience. Instead, Google is prioritizing personalization over advertising, rolling out opt-in features that let Gemini tailor responses using data from services like Gmail and Photos, highlighting a widening divide among AI leaders over how to balance revenue, trust, and long-term assistant strategy. (AI Insider)
Deep33 Emerges from Stealth With $150M to Back AI Infrastructure, Quantum and Deep Tech
Deep33 Ventures has emerged from stealth with plans for a $150 million deep-tech fund, securing a $100 million first close to invest in AI infrastructure, energy systems, autonomous robotics, and quantum computing, with physical constraints on AI deployment central to its thesis, according to the Jerusalem Post. The firm is positioning itself as a bridge between Israel’s research-driven innovation ecosystem and U.S. government and industrial demand, and said it has already made five infrastructure-focused investments as it works toward a full close by the end of the first quarter of 2026. (AI Insider)
What AI Leaders Were Saying at Davos 2026
Tech leaders at Davos signaled that artificial intelligence is moving into a tougher execution phase, with Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis warning that AI risks becoming a bubble if investment outpaces real-world workflow change and deployment outside tech firms. At the same time, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang framed AI as infrastructure constrained by power, compute, and labor, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei called advanced AI chips a national security issue, and OpenAI confirmed plans for a dedicated AI hardware device as control over the interface becomes a strategic priority. (AI Insider)
Anthropic Revamps Technical Hiring Tests as Claude’s Coding Capabilities Advance
Anthropic has repeatedly redesigned its technical interview assessments after rapid improvements in its Claude models made traditional take-home coding tests ineffective at distinguishing human candidates, even when AI tool use was explicitly allowed. As newer Claude versions matched or exceeded top applicant performance, the company shifted toward novel problem structures that current models still struggle with, underscoring how AI-assisted coding is reshaping hiring practices inside AI labs themselves. (AI Insider)
Bolna Raises $6.3M Seed Round as Voice AI Demand Gains Commercial Traction in India
India-based voice AI startup Bolna raised a $6.3 million seed round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Y Combinator and Blume Ventures, as enterprise demand for voice-driven automation begins translating into sustained revenue. Founded by Maitreya Wagh and Prateek Sachan, the company crossed $25,000 in monthly recurring revenue by targeting Indian-specific enterprise use cases such as multilingual support, noisy call environments, and caller verification, helping secure its place in Y Combinator’s Fall 2025 batch. (AI Insider)
Upcoming Earnings
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday January 28, after market close, covering the period ended December 2025. Analysts surveyed by Zacks project earnings of $3.88 per share, up from $3.23 a year earlier.
Meta (META)
Meta Platforms is expected to report earnings on Wednesday, January 28, after market close, covering the fiscal quarter ended December 2025. Analysts surveyed by Zacks project earnings of $8.15 per share, compared with $8.02 in the same quarter a year earlier. (Nasdaq)
Tesla (TSLA)
Tesla is expected to report earnings on Wednesday, January 28, after market close, covering the fiscal quarter ended December 2025. Analysts surveyed by Zacks project earnings of $0.32 per share, down from $0.66 in the same quarter last year. (Nasdaq)
Apple (AAPL)
Apple is expected to report earnings on Thursday, January 29, after market close, covering the fiscal quarter ended December 2025. Analysts surveyed by Zacks project earnings of $2.65 per share, up from $2.40 in the same quarter last year. (Nasdaq)
Upcoming Events
Generative AI Summit Washington D.C.
Jan. 29, Convene Hamilton Square, 600 14th Street Northwest, Washington, D.C., this is D.C.’s focused event for AI builders, engineers, and executives, emphasizing applied generative AI. It covers real-world deployment topics like scaling inference, LLM optimization, agentic/multimodal AI, ethical/regulatory debates, fine-tuning, compute efficiency, and building production-ready AI systems. Features keynotes, sessions on workflows, benchmarks, and networking for technical leaders. It’s geared toward practical, industry-ready AI rather than pure research. (Generative AI Summit)
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