This is once again the news digest that Gemini 3 Pro (and now Perplexity too) compiles for me. Let's go!
CES 2026 wrapped up with robot and chip announcements, while big tech continues the capital race: Anthropic is aiming for a $350B valuation while xAI burns billions on hardware. Gmail now understands natural language, and ChatGPT is officially entering healthcare. And today rumors surfaced about a new "GPT killer" from China that could launch as early as next month.
🤖 AI and Software
- **DeepSeek v4 launching in February to beat everyone?** According to The Information, the Chinese unicorn is [preparing](http://www.theinformation.com/articles/deepseek-set-to-launch-nextgen-v4-model) a v4 model release for the Lunar New Year. Insiders claim it already surpasses GPT-5 and Claude 3.5 in coding tasks while remaining cheaper than competitors.
- **Gmail got Gemini's "brains"** Google [rolled out](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/gmail/gmail-is-entering-the-gemini-era/?utm_source=tw%26utm_medium=social%26utm_campaign=og%26utm_content=%26utm_term=) a major email update: you can now search emails using natural language queries, and Help Me Write features are now free for everyone.
- **OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health** The company [introduced](https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-health/) a specialized service that allows safe uploading of medical records and helps navigate insurance.
- **Claude Code updated to version 2.1.0** Anthropic [released](https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/claude-code-2-1-0-arrives-with-smoother-workflows-and-smarter-agents) an update to their terminal coder focusing on agentic workflows and "hot-reload" skills.
- **Amazon turned Alexa into a web chatbot** Competing with ChatGPT and Gemini, Amazon [launched](https://alexa.amazon.com/about) Alexa+ — you can now chat with the voice assistant directly in a browser.
- **AI taught not to lie (almost)** OpenAI researchers [trained](https://info.deeplearning.ai/e3t/Ctc/LX+113/cJhC404/VXdk3p55mWMLW7ZrnGb5Zr_NpW430FVB5J4hrZN861KBn3prCCW8wLKSR6lZ3nfW6611-D5FSXqhW4YH-W526nszlW5B-cjz3NqHf4VsbvJl33Nx-sW3WP4nb2WlKjrW6XnTd25rlglSN8kDscsK0xm8W8x82gn8brTsQVdm6wp4mB-BpW1M4Qxm5ZR3lwW3vKt495Gg7J0W5Yc-kc1q9lmVW5B2kY_9kjWv7W8Yltv_1NBDdyW3hrDj02bJ0f2W7D2yhP85ZK7LW90hZb07PVxwnW3HP79T8X463dVHh4W_75djFmW3tDB2H7s5ghCW7MRYwL13MQjlW10cN3B69Jqf3W4CNRMy4QJNvtW7H1p4H41qw7FV5GbXD1RfmzGW6mqSd_1yzL9TW4D6p2Z4V9qhlN1lZR5VNBjNQf30H8Rs04) GPT-5 Thinking model to admit when it violates instructions or starts hallucinating.
⚙️ Hardware and Robots
- **Nvidia showed the future of chips** Jensen Huang at CES [announced](https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/05/nvidia-launches-powerful-new-rubin-chip-architecture/) the Vera Rubin architecture, promising to speed up AI training by 3.5x compared to Blackwell.
- **Atlas robot heads to the factory** Boston Dynamics [announced](https://links.tldrnewsletter.com/Jij45L) the start of serial production of their humanoid — Hyundai and Google DeepMind will be the first to receive them.
- **Waymo prepares a new autonomous vehicle** The company is [deploying](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/08/waymo-zeekr-robotaxi.html) the autonomous Waymo Ojai minivan on US roads, built in partnership with Zeekr.
💰 Big Tech and Money
- **Anthropic worth $350 billion?** The creators of Claude are [planning to raise](https://links.tldrnewsletter.com/Jij45L) $10B in a new round, inflating the company's valuation to cosmic proportions.
- **Elon Musk's xAI burning billions** Leaked documents [showed](https://links.tldrnewsletter.com/Jij45L) the startup "burned" nearly $8B in cash over 9 months on chip purchases and data center construction.