SAN FRANCISCO — Hugging Face, the AI platform known primarily as a hub for open-source software models, unveiled a small robotic duck Thursday that developers, students and hobbyists can train at home using reinforcement learning, marking the company’s latest push into affordable, open-source physical AI hardware.
The device, called Microduck, is now available for pre-order at $399, with shipments expected before Christmas, according to TechCrunch. The launch was announced by Hugging Face co-founder and CEO Clément Delangue on social media Thursday morning.
Hugging Face Unveils Microduck, a $399 Open-Source Robot Duck You Can Teach New Tricks Right at Home
A tiny robot built for experimentation
Standing just 25 centimeters, or roughly 9.8 inches, tall and weighing about 800 grams, or under 2 pounds, Microduck is designed less as a finished consumer gadget and more as a hands-on platform for people interested in experimenting with reinforcement learning and what the industry calls “physical AI” — systems that learn to interact with the real world rather than operating purely in software.
Delangue described the device in direct terms on social media. “It’s a tiny $399 open-source robot you can teach new tricks with reinforcement learning,” Delangue said, according to TechCrunch.
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What it can do out of the box
Microduck ships with seven pre-trained behaviors, according to a report from Tao Media: it can walk, sit, stand, kick, grab small objects, roller-skate and recover to its feet after falling over. The robot’s articulated beak doubles as a small gripper, allowing it to pick up objects weighing up to 800 grams. A game controller is included with the device to allow immediate hands-on interaction.
Beneath its playful design, Microduck is equipped with a substantial sensor package for a device at this price point. According to Tao Media, the robot packs 15 motors along with a wide-angle camera, LiDAR, microphones, a speaker, two inertial measurement units, near-field communication, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Open source from top to bottom
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Central to Microduck’s design is its fully open software stack. The robot’s software development kit, its MuJoCo-based simulation environment, and its full reinforcement learning training stack are published publicly on GitHub under an Apache 2.0 license, according to Tao Media. Even the seven behaviors that ship with the device can be inspected and retrained by users, meaning nothing about how the robot operates is hidden inside a proprietary black box.
That openness extends to how users can develop new skills for the robot. Because training reinforcement learning models directly on physical hardware would require thousands or even millions of trial-and-error attempts, likely damaging the robot in the process, Hugging Face and its robotics partner have built the system around a “sim-to-real” workflow, according to Hackster.io. Developers train new behaviors virtually in simulation first, then transfer the resulting policy onto the physical robot. Users can run that training locally on their own computers or through Hugging Face’s cloud infrastructure before deploying it to the device.
Part of a broader robotics push
Microduck is not Hugging Face’s first venture into physical hardware. The company acquired French robotics startup Pollen Robotics in April 2025 specifically to build affordable, open-source AI hardware, and the two companies previously launched Reachy Mini, a small desktop robot, months after the acquisition, according to TechCrunch. Hugging Face had also previously released open-source humanoid robots called HopeJR and Reachy Mini at a lower $250 price point.
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The broader strategy reflects a belief within the company that robotics represents the next major frontier for artificial intelligence, extending a technology that has largely been confined to software into systems capable of physically interacting with the world, according to Axios.
Addressing privacy concerns
The launch of a camera-and-microphone-equipped robot designed for home use raises familiar privacy questions that have followed other AI hardware devices. Delangue has previously addressed those concerns directly with TechCrunch, arguing that robots powered by open-source models offer better privacy protections than what he described as “a black box system” controlled by a small number of organizations — a distinction he said matters especially when the leadership of those organizations lacks stability.
Even so, open-source design does not guarantee complete data privacy on its own. Once consumers install third-party software applications on top of an open model, those apps can gain access to a device’s cameras and microphones, and depending on how they are built, could potentially transmit that data to outside services.
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Launch comes amid acquisition speculation
Microduck’s debut arrives at a notable moment for Hugging Face. The company is reportedly set to be acquired by Nvidia at a valuation of roughly $13 billion, according to a report from The Information cited by TechCrunch. Nvidia and Hugging Face have maintained a partnership for years, with Nvidia providing infrastructure support for the startup’s operations.
When asked about the reported deal, Delangue declined to comment directly on reporting that the company had hired bankers to explore a potential sale valued near $13 billion, according to Axios, and did not immediately respond to questions about the specific report of a possible acquisition by Nvidia.
Lowering the barrier to robotics research
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The broader significance of Microduck, according to those covering its release, lies in its price point relative to the cost of comparable research robots. Much of the current wave of interest in physical AI has centered on expensive humanoid robots and industrial systems that remain largely inaccessible to individual developers, students and hobbyists. By packaging core concepts like embodied perception, reinforcement learning and sim-to-real policy deployment into a $399 device, Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics are betting they can meaningfully broaden who gets to participate in robotics experimentation, much as the company’s model-sharing platform has done for software-based AI development over the past several years.
Market volatility continued during the second quarter, as investors navigated persistent inflation pressures, shifting expectations for U.S. Federal Reserve policy and ongoing geopolitical developments in the Middle East. Economic data remained generally resilient, while still-high energy prices and
Young and less experienced investors now place more trust in artificial intelligence than in television, radio or social media influencers, according to research from the Financial Conduct Authority, which warns that many are leaning on AI without understanding how little protection they have if its guidance goes wrong.
Four in five less experienced investors have used AI for help with investment decisions, and about two thirds reported doing so occasionally or regularly. More than half of those questioned, 56 per cent, said they would trust AI tools, even though almost three quarters, 73 per cent, know that AI can provide inaccurate information.
Traditional sources fare worse. Just under half of respondents, 47 per cent, said they trust television and radio, 46 per cent trust the press, and less than a third, 29 per cent, trust social media influencers, according to the regulator’s survey, which polled 666 UK adults aged 18 to 40 who own investments or would consider buying them in the next year.
The protection gap
The FCA’s bigger concern is what investors believe happens when AI gets it wrong. Almost half, 44 per cent, mistakenly believed AI-generated financial information was regulated, and more than a third, 38 per cent, admitted to thinking an investment decision based solely on AI was fine.
About a third, 32 per cent, wrongly thought they would be entitled to reparation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service if AI advice were to be wrong. In reality those protections are limited to people who have received advice that causes harm through an authorised financial adviser, and an investment is not considered for compensation simply because it subsequently performs poorly.
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General purpose AI chatbots are not regulated, although tools specifically set up to provide financial advice could fall within the FCA’s remit. If a firm regulated by the FCA were to launch its own AI tool providing regulated financial advice, those using it may be eligible for protection. The regulator has been running live trials of such technology, with Barclays and Lloyds among the banks testing AI tools in its AI sandbox programme.
Use your own judgment
Lucy Castledine, director of consumer investments at the FCA, said: “AI can help you research companies, understand jargon or explore options before you make a decision. But you need to understand how you’re protected and continue to use your own judgment.”
The FCA advised those thinking of investing to make the final decision themselves, to verify the information AI offers, to think long term, and to remember that AI can only work from historical data, meaning it cannot predict how a future investment will perform.
While AI can summarise complex topics and make research more time-efficient, it can also produce incorrect information, known as hallucinations. The regulator publishes guidance on using AI for investment research on its InvestSmart website, alongside explanations of different schemes, golden rules for smart investors, and material on crypto and high-risk investments. It also offers a tool to help investors understand whether they are informed or likely to act rationally, so they can better understand what influences their decision-making.
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Jamie Young
Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk
Corby Spirit and Wine Limited (CSW.A:CA) Q4 2026 Earnings Call August 27, 2026 9:00 AM EDT
Company Participants
Florence Tresarrieu – President, CEO & Director Juan Alonso – VP, CFO & Director
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Conference Call Participants
Nick Corcoran – Acumen Capital Finance Partners Limited, Research Division
Presentation
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Operator
Good morning. Welcome to the Corby Spirit and Wine Fiscal Year 2026 Q4 Financial Results Conference Call for the period ended June 30, 2026. Joining me on the call this morning are Florence Tresarrieu, President and Chief Executive Officer; Juan Alonso, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Hopefully, you’ve had the opportunity to review the press release, which was issued yesterday.
Before we begin, I would like to inform listeners that information provided on today’s call may contain forward-looking statements, which can be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated.
Risks and uncertainties about the company’s business are more fully discussed in Corby’s materials, including annual and interim MD&A filed with the securities and regulatory authorities in Canada as required.[Operator Instructions]
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Now I would like to turn the call over to Ms. Tresarrieu.
Florence Tresarrieu President, CEO & Director
Thanks, Elad. Thank you. So good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to review Corby Spirit and Wine Fourth Quarter and Full Year fiscal 2026 results. Despite a challenging market, fiscal 2026 was very much a record year for Corby with a strong top line growth, continued momentum in RTDs and further market share gains in spirits. We delivered double-digit revenue growth with net sales increasing 10% on a reported basis and 11% organically, driven by continued momentum in RTDs and ongoing market share gains in spirits. These results reflect the strength of our portfolio and the consistency of our execution. Across both spirits and RTD, strong sales execution drove market share gains across our portfolio, supported in
Seeking Alpha’s transcripts team is responsible for the development of all of our transcript-related projects. We currently publish thousands of quarterly earnings calls per quarter on our site and are continuing to grow and expand our coverage. The purpose of this profile is to allow us to share with our readers new transcript-related developments. Thanks, SA Transcripts Team
EY is urging its junior staff to get back into the office more often to sharpen the softer skills that industry executives believe will become increasingly important as the use of artificial intelligence grows.
The Big Four firm has not made any formal changes to its working from home policy, but confirmed that partners are reminding younger consultants about “the importance of meaningful time spent together” in the office for their personal development.
The consensus in the industry is that interpersonal skills are becoming a key part of the job, with AI equalising the technical work and data that firms can produce. Senior partners believe that how staff present that work and interact with clients will determine which firms win new business, and argue that those skills are best learnt in person from more experienced colleagues.
“This change we’ve seen in the last few years where people have set up their lives to be … at home a lot is just not the route to success in the world of AI,” Sayeh Ghanbari, EY’s UK head of consulting, told the FT.
She added that, with AI increasingly doing more of the routine work, human consultants will “have to be good at what we’re really good at, which is to be human. To build a career in consulting and develop all of those human skills … you cannot do that through so much remote work”.
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A spokeswoman for EY said that although the firm would not be changing its “longstanding approach to flexibility”, spending more time with colleagues in the office can “strengthen how our people develop their skills, build relationships and serve our clients”.
Echoes across white-collar Britain
Leaders in other white-collar industries have made similar arguments for in-person working. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan, has long said that younger bankers need to be in the office to learn professional judgment from their seniors, while Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, believes the rapid rise of AI has made working at the office “even more important”.
The big accounting and consulting firms noticed that the generation of school leavers and graduates who joined during the pandemic were slower to develop the softer skills than previous cohorts of new starters, who had not been forced to work from home.
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In response, firms have put on training sessions to show junior workers how to present work and speak with clients. More senior staff, who may have lost some of their sharpness while working from home, have also been encouraged to attend.
Even so, most firms remain reluctant to update their hybrid working policies while rivals are still offering flexibility, and hybrid working remains entrenched across much of the UK workforce. For now, EY’s message to its juniors is encouragement rather than mandate: the office is where careers in the age of AI will be built.
Jamie Young
Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk
Some 240 people declared more than £1 million each in capital gains from cryptoassets in the 2024 to 2025 tax year, according to figures published by HM Revenue and Customs, with the group reporting £717 million in gains between them.
In total, 17,600 individuals made disposals of cryptoassets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin that were liable to Capital Gains Tax during the year. Between them they reported disposal proceeds of £13.8 billion and gains of £1.38 billion, an average gain of £78,000 per person. Around 87 per cent of those reporting cryptoasset gains were male and around 13 per cent were female.
The figures, published as part of HMRC’s annual Capital Gains Tax statistics, are the first of their kind. HMRC has been able to isolate crypto gains following the introduction of a dedicated part of the Self Assessment return for cryptoasset capital gains, giving the tax authority, and the wider public, a first clear view of how much money is being made from digital assets in the UK.
Exchanges will hand over customer data from 2027
The disclosure comes as HMRC prepares for a step up in its visibility of crypto trading. From January 2026, the UK began implementing the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, an international standard developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Under the framework, cryptoasset service providers will be required to report customer information to tax authorities, and HMRC will start receiving that data from 2027, helping it to identify cryptoasset gains and income that have not been declared. Service providers that fail to comply may face penalties of up to £300 per user, under data sharing rules for crypto platforms that mirror the information banks already pass to the taxman.
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James Murray MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General, said: “Taxes are due on cryptoasset gains just like any other gains, and we want to make sure people making gains from crypto know about what taxes they owe.
“This important work is supporting the Government’s efforts to close the tax gap, so that everyone pays their fair share towards our vital public services.”
What business owners need to check
For company directors and the self-employed who hold or accept crypto, the tax treatment reaches further than many assume. Capital Gains Tax may apply when an individual disposes of cryptoassets, and that includes exchanging one type of cryptoasset for another, not just cashing out into pounds. Income Tax and National Insurance may apply to cryptoassets received through employment, self-employment, mining, staking or lending.
John-Paul Marks, HMRC’s Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to understand and meet their tax obligations when it comes to cryptoassets.
“As new international reporting rules come into force, it’s more important than ever for people to check they are paying any tax owed.”
Anyone with undeclared income or gains from cryptoassets can put their affairs in order through the Crypto Disclosure Service on GOV.UK. Gains above the tax free allowance for the 2025 to 2026 tax year must be declared, and any tax paid, through Self Assessment by the deadline of 31 January 2027.
Jamie Young
Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. — Red Diamond Coffee & Tea, a company that sources, roasts, blends and distributes coffee and tea and related beverages for retail and foodservice businesses, has hired Mike Mehrotra as senior vice president of its Away From Home Division.
As senior vice president, Mehrotra will drive growth and market share for products sold through foodservice distributors, convenience stores and national chain accounts. He also will oversee strategic operations, the company said.
Mehrotra joins the company from EY Parthenon, where he most recently was director and previously was a senior consultant. He also has held finance positions at McKesson and business manager positions at Capital Marine LLC.
“We are pleased to have Mike join us during this milestone year in our organization’s history,” said William A. Bowron III, executive vice president at Red Diamond. “His strategic vision, operational discipline and deep commitment to building strong relationships with our partners make him the ideal leader to elevate our business.”
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The company’s Away From Home Division supplies bulk coffee, tea, lemonade and related beverage solutions to institutional and commercial customers, Red Diamond said.
Three major UK airports have been hit by a “cyber security incident” in which criminal hackers accessed the data of almost nine million people and demanded a ransom.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns Manchester, East Midlands and London Stansted airports, said customers’ contact details, vehicle registrations and postcodes were obtained by hackers at the weekend.
MAG told the BBC the hackers demanded a ransom fee for the return of the data, which the group said it refused to pay. The sum of the ransom fee was not disclosed.
MAG said “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised” and the system hacked did not hold customers’ bank or payment details.
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The data of about 8.7 million customers was accessed.
The majority of the data accessed was restricted to customer email addresses and related to WiFi sign-ups within the airports’ terminals, MAG said.
MAG said in a statement: “We would like to reassure customers that Manchester Airport Group takes the security of customer information extremely seriously and we apologise for any inconvenience or concern caused.”
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