Tsinghua University in northwest Beijing has emerged as a core hub for China’s AI strategy, with government backing, homegrown chips, and startups like DeepSeek founded by its alumni. Between 2005 and the end of 2024, the university filed 4,986 AI and machine learning patents, while students developed models that reportedly rivaled larger systems from US labs. China has expanded AI education from elementary school onward and dramatically increased its share of the world’s top AI researchers, even as US institutions still lead in the most influential patents and top-performing models.

On Thursday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Grok, X's AI chatbot, makes the platform more truth-seeking by challenging users' assumptions. He argued it is a net improvement despite concerns about fine-tuning and recent hallucinations, while Elon Musk blamed adversarial prompting for errors.

By late 2025, investors began to separate AI companies that generate strong cash flows from those pouring capital into infrastructure with uncertain returns. Asset-heavy spending by Big Tech on data centers and GPUs contrasts with suppliers like Nvidia and Broadcom that collect the revenue. Market strategists warn that high valuations, debt-funded AI build-outs, and unproven startups could tighten profit margins and force sharper differentiation among AI players.

AI-enhanced phishing now produces tailored messages, look‑alike sites, and synthetic voice or video lures that are harder to detect. This overview outlines five tactics attackers use and offers practical safeguards such as verification, URL inspection, and basic security tools. With awareness and routine checks, users can reduce exposure to these evolving threats.

AI-focused crypto tokens have fallen about 75% year over year, erasing roughly $53 billion, according to CryptoPresales.com. Losses intensified into December, which alone accounted for nearly $10 billion, and the combined market value stood around $16.8 billion at the time of writing.

Nvidia has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence chip maker Groq in a $20 billion all-cash transaction, marking the biggest acquisition in the company's history. The deal, which follows Groq's $750 million fundraise at a $6.9 billion valuation three months earlier, excludes the Groq Cloud division. Nvidia will fund the purchase from its $60.6 billion reserves of cash and short‑term investments, significantly expanding its AI hardware capabilities.

On December 24, 2025, Italy's competition authority AGCM said it issued an interim order directing Meta to suspend a WhatsApp policy that bars rival general‑purpose AI chatbots from the platform. The watchdog warns the conduct could threaten competition in Italy, and Meta also faces a parallel EU antitrust probe triggered after the company's October policy announcement.

On December 24, 2025, Oracle, Meta, xAI, and CoreWeave were channeling more than $120 billion of AI data center spending off balance sheet through SPVs. Highlights include Meta's $30 billion Hyperion vehicle in October and Oracle's packages of $13 billion, $38 billion, and $18 billion for sites in Texas, Wisconsin, and New Mexico, with assets leased back to the firms.