On January 18, 2026, Tencent Holdings urged major tech firms to collaborate on improving chatbots and digital assistants for seniors, left-behind children, and other vulnerable users. The company's research team is developing specialized training data and reports that leading Chinese and U.S. models, including Hunyuan, underperform on sensitive topics such as sex education.

On January 18, 2026, Chinese technology shares were reported to be outpacing global benchmarks. A domestic Nasdaq‑like index gained nearly 13% for the month, while a Hong Kong gauge rose 6%, even as housing and consumption stayed weak. Jefferies said 33 Chinese AI stocks added $732 billion in market value over the past year.

On January 18, 2026, Samsung Electronics said it will distribute record performance bonuses as AI-fueled demand lifts profits. Its Device Solutions unit will pay up to 47% of base annual salary this month, while the MX division's OPI reaches 50%. SK Hynix plans to allocate 10% of operating profits to bonuses and pay 80% upfront.

On January 18, 2026, Chartbeat data covering 2,756 news sites, including 797 in the U.S., showed a sharp year-over-year drop in Google search referrals: down 33% worldwide and 38% in the United States. The analysis also flagged declines from Google Discover, Facebook, and X, while Google disputed the methodology and highlighted recent product adjustments.

OpenAI has locked in $10 billion of chip and cloud commitments, including a $10 billion agreement with Cerebras in November. In September Nvidia pledged $100 billion for 10 gigawatts of systems and Broadcom followed with another 10 gigawatts of custom XPUs, while Amazon and Google's in-house chips are not being used. Intel remains behind after unveiling Crescent Island in October with sampling slated for late 2026.

On January 17, 2026, Japan's government said it is investigating X over sexually suggestive images generated by Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok and has demanded immediate improvements. Officials in Tokyo are weighing legal options, while other countries and regions including the Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, California, the EU and several European states are already examining or restricting Grok over explicit or degrading image outputs.

On January 17, 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT has begun testing advertisements for a subset of users in the United States who do not want to pay for AI access. The company states that paid subscribers will not see ads, user conversations will not be shared with advertisers, and ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses, framing the experiment as a way to support growing operational costs while maintaining privacy protections.

On January 17 2026, Germany and several Holocaust memorial institutions called on major social media platforms to curb the spread of misleading AI-generated Holocaust images. The organizations urged platforms to clearly label such content, proactively remove certain manipulated depictions, and restrict monetization of the fabricated imagery. Experts have also warned that the growing volume of AI "slop" risks distorting historical facts and undermining trust in authentic records.