Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
Following Alphabet’s stellar earnings report Wednesday, analysts were quick to declare that the Google parent had blossomed from an AI laggard into a leader. The company posted strong revenue and profit growth, driven in part by heavy investment in artificial intelligence, and noted that its Gemini app had grown to more than 750 million monthly active users.
Still, usage data suggests Gemini remains far behind the market leader — at least as far as usage.
While Gemini is growing faster than OpenAI’s ChatGPT — up 19% month over month versus 4% — it still trails by a wide margin in overall usage. In January, Gemini logged more than 2 billion global visits, according to new data from Similarweb, less than half of ChatGPT’s 5.7 billion.
Amazon’s AI tool Kiro, which launched in July and can code autonomously, was behind a 13-hour interruption to Amazon Web Services in December, according to reporting by the Financial Times.
The FT reports that the company’s AI tools have caused AWS service disruptions at least twice in recent months.
In the December outage, which Amazon called an “extremely limited event” that did not have an impact on customer-facing service, engineers allowed Kiro to make changes and the tool opted to “delete and recreate the environment.”
Amazon has a closely tracked internal target that 80% of its developers use AI to code once a week, employees told the FT. The company says the December incident was a “user access control issue” and not an issue with Kiro’s permissions.
AWS accounted for 57% of Amazon’s operating profit in 2025. In December, following a larger outage months earlier, AWS and Google announced a partnership to attempt to prevent massive network outages.
Update, February 20, 5:50 p.m. ET: In a statement to Sherwood News, an AWS spokesperson disputed the report, writing:
“These brief events were the result of user error—specifically misconfigured access controls—not AI. The December service interruption was an extremely limited event when a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our two Regions in Mainland China was affected. This event didn't impact compute, storage, database, AI technologies, or any other of the hundreds of services that we run. We are not aware of any related customer inquiries resulting from this isolated interruption. Following these events, we implemented numerous additional safeguards, including mandatory peer review for production access, enhanced training on AI-assisted troubleshooting, and resource protection measures. Kiro puts developers in control—users need to configure which actions Kiro can take, and by default, Kiro requests authorization before taking any action.”
In the December outage, which Amazon called an “extremely limited event” that did not have an impact on customer-facing service, engineers allowed Kiro to make changes and the tool opted to “delete and recreate the environment.”
Amazon has a closely tracked internal target that 80% of its developers use AI to code once a week, employees told the FT. The company says the December incident was a “user access control issue” and not an issue with Kiro’s permissions.
AWS accounted for 57% of Amazon’s operating profit in 2025. In December, following a larger outage months earlier, AWS and Google announced a partnership to attempt to prevent massive network outages.
Update, February 20, 5:50 p.m. ET: In a statement to Sherwood News, an AWS spokesperson disputed the report, writing:
“These brief events were the result of user error—specifically misconfigured access controls—not AI. The December service interruption was an extremely limited event when a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our two Regions in Mainland China was affected. This event didn't impact compute, storage, database, AI technologies, or any other of the hundreds of services that we run. We are not aware of any related customer inquiries resulting from this isolated interruption. Following these events, we implemented numerous additional safeguards, including mandatory peer review for production access, enhanced training on AI-assisted troubleshooting, and resource protection measures. Kiro puts developers in control—users need to configure which actions Kiro can take, and by default, Kiro requests authorization before taking any action.”
OpenAI is finalizing commitments on a funding round that could climb beyond $100 billion at a valuation of $830 billion, according to a report from The Information.
Per The Information, SoftBank is expected to invest $30 billion into the ChatGPT maker, spread across the year in three installments of $10 billion. Up to $50 billion could come from Amazon and $30 billion from Nvidia (up from the $20 billion Bloomberg reported earlier this month). An additional investment in the low billions could come from Microsoft.
OpenAI was last valued at $500 billion following a fundraising round completed in October. Earlier this month, its rival Anthropic took in $30 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia at a $380 billion valuation.
Since launching in June 2025, Tesla’s 45 Austin Robotaxis have been involved in 14 crashes, per Electrek reporting citing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
Electrek analysis found that the vehicles have traveled roughly 800,000 paid miles in that time period, amounting to a crash every 57,000 miles. According to the NHTSA, US drivers crash once every 500,000 miles on average.
The article says Tesla submitted five new crash reports in January of this year that happened in December and January. Electrek wrote:
“The new crashes include a collision with a fixed object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a crash with a bus while the Tesla was stationary, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, and two separate incidents where the Tesla backed into objects, one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a fixed object at 2 mph.”
Tesla updated a previously reported crash that was originally filed as only having damaged property to include a passenger’s hospitalization.
Last month, Tesla shares climbed after CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that the company’s Austin Robotaxis had begun operating without a safety monitor.
The article says Tesla submitted five new crash reports in January of this year that happened in December and January. Electrek wrote:
“The new crashes include a collision with a fixed object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a crash with a bus while the Tesla was stationary, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, and two separate incidents where the Tesla backed into objects, one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a fixed object at 2 mph.”
Tesla updated a previously reported crash that was originally filed as only having damaged property to include a passenger’s hospitalization.
Last month, Tesla shares climbed after CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that the company’s Austin Robotaxis had begun operating without a safety monitor.
Anthropic is moving to put the pieces in place for a successful IPO this year.
Today, the company announced that Chris Liddel would join its board of directors.
Liddel is an seasoned executive who previously served as CFO for Microsoft, GM, and International Paper.
Liddel also comes with experience in government, having served as the deputy White House chief of staff during the first Trump administration.
Ties to the Trump world could be helpful for Anthropic as it pushes to enter the public market. It’s reportedly not on the greatest terms with the current administration, as the startup has pushed back on using its Claude AI for surveillance applications.
Liddel is an seasoned executive who previously served as CFO for Microsoft, GM, and International Paper.
Liddel also comes with experience in government, having served as the deputy White House chief of staff during the first Trump administration.
Ties to the Trump world could be helpful for Anthropic as it pushes to enter the public market. It’s reportedly not on the greatest terms with the current administration, as the startup has pushed back on using its Claude AI for surveillance applications.
Meta is reviving its highly controversial facial recognition efforts, with plans to incorporate the tech into its smart glasses as soon as this year, The New York Times reports.
In 2021, around the time Facebook rebranded as Meta, the company shut down the facial recognition software it had used to tag people in photos, saying it needed to “find the right balance.”
Now, according to an internal memo reviewed by the Times, Meta seems to feel that it’s at least found the right moment, noting that the fraught and crowded political climate could allow the feature to attract less scrutiny.
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” the document reads.
The tech, called “Name Tag” internally, would let smart glass wearers identify and surface information about people they see with the glasses by using Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.
Now, according to an internal memo reviewed by the Times, Meta seems to feel that it’s at least found the right moment, noting that the fraught and crowded political climate could allow the feature to attract less scrutiny.
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” the document reads.
The tech, called “Name Tag” internally, would let smart glass wearers identify and surface information about people they see with the glasses by using Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.