Applications
Where AI is actually being used: products, industries, and the work it changes.
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Google Translate launches to the public
Google launches a free statistical machine-translation service built from bilingual web text.
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Dragon ships continuous-speech dictation
Dragon Systems releases NaturallySpeaking, the first continuous-speech dictation software for PCs.
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USPS rolls out handwriting-reading mail sorters
The Postal Service begins installing handwriting recognition across mail-processing centres.
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FICO launches the first universal credit score
Fair, Isaac and Company launches the FICO Score as a single standardised credit-risk formula.
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OpenAI puts conversational ads inside ChatGPT
A US test lets users who click an ad talk to a business-sponsored agent first.
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OpenAI opens its agent harness as a managed API
The Codex harness behind ChatGPT and Codex enters public beta as the Agents API.
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Mistral’s models go into Firefox’s Smart Window
Mistral Small 4 lands in Firefox’s Smart Window beta, with the two companies’ own posts not quite matching on regions or on…
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OpenAI puts sponsored agents inside ChatGPT
Click an ad in ChatGPT and you can now talk to a business-sponsored agent, with HubSpot and Shopify distribution, and no stated…
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Gates Foundation commits $1bn to AI tools, with 40% going to education
The Gates Foundation pledged at least $1bn over two years for AI tools for teachers, health workers and farmers.
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MediaTek Dimensity 9400
First mobile chip with on-device LoRA training: the accelerator moved from inference-only to lightweight personalisation.