The round was backed by big names including Nvidia, AMD and Autodesk.

Fei-Fei Li’s AI start-up World Labs has raised $1bn to advance spatial intelligence – effectively, generative AI “world models” capable of interacting with complex virtual worlds.

Last November, World Labs launched its first commercial product called Marble that generates 3D virtual worlds from image or text prompts.

With this new funding, the start-up wants to continue building AI models to “revolutionise storytelling, creativity, robotics [and] scientific discovery”.

The round was backed by big name investors including Nvidia; AMD; Fidelity Management and Research Company; Autodesk; Emerson Collective; and Sea.

The start-up did not disclose its post-funding valuation, however, reports from last month estimated it to end up at $5bn. Autodesk has invested $200m in World Labs as part of the round, and with the funding, has also taken an advisory role in the start-up.

“Autodesk has long helped people think spatially and solve real-world problems and, together, we share a clear purpose – building physical AI that augments human creativity and puts more powerful tools in the hands of designers, builders and creators,” Li said.

Li is often referred to as the ‘godmother of AI’, thanks to her groundbreaking work on ImageNet. Her start-up World Labs came out of stealth in 2024, and was valued at around $1bn after a $230m investment round that included Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia’s venture arm and Radical Ventures, where she is herself a scientific partner.

World Labs describes itself as a “spatial intelligence company, building frontier models that can perceive, generate, reason and interact with the 3D world”. It describes its AI products as “large world models”.

Li called AI a “civilisational technology” in an interview with Bloomberg late last year. “I believe spatial intelligence is as critical [as] – and complementary to – language intelligence,” she said.

The World Labs co-founder is a professor at the computer science department at Stanford University and has served as director of the university’s AI Lab. She is currently the co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute and has previously served as the chief scientist at Google Cloud.

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Fei-Fei Li, 2024. Image: © Steve Jurvetson via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Tito of Macho Nacho Productions takes out his trusty screwdriver and goes to work on a limited edition Zelda Game & Watch from Nintendo that he received in 2020. This portable includes three iconic games: the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Link’s Awakening from the Game Boy. It comes with a great collection of features out of the box, including a crisp LCD screen, a nice D-pad, and separate start and select buttons. The battery life is adequate, and it even has a USB-C charging connection, but Tito wants to take this device to the next level.

First, he removes four screws from the back plate, disconnects the battery, and then pulls out the two ribbon cables that link to the LCD. The speaker desolders, giving him some freedom to operate with. The motherboard is then released by removing ten additional screws. Tito connects an ST-Link programmer to the SWDIO, ground, and SWCLK pads as he boots up his PC and launches PowerShell as an administrator. He utilizes Chocolatey to install Python, Pipix, OpenOCD, and G&W Manager from GitHub. The unlock command is executed, and the device displays a blue screen. Everything appears to be in order.

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Tito removes the original 16MB flash chip, which is a bit of a bottleneck, and heats it with a hot air station before applying flux to the pads. Tin foil and Kapton tape protect the area to prevent the neighbors from becoming too hot, and then it comes off clean. He cleans the pads, inserts a new 64MB chip, and reconnects the cables. G&W Manager flashes some custom firmware onto the device, which actually works for a second before halting at step 13. A retry resolves the issue, and Tito resumes business.

The next step is to create a custom ribbon cable by soldering a couple of capacitors, a resistor, and an LDO regulator on. He inserts a microSD card slot and reduces the alignment posts flat. He aligns the ribbon pins with the CPU pads, connects a wire to a capacitor, and then uses a rotary tool to scrape off the soldermask and reveal the ground plane. With a little wire and some work, the microSD slot is fully operational. Tito next tackles the rear shell mods, removing the D-pad posts, drilling four holes with 3D-printed jigs, and smoothing out the edges with a file to ensure everything is nice and flush.

With all of the mod completed, it’s time to launch his own firmware. He downloads the firmware update binary from RetroGo SD on GitHub, places it on a FAT32 microSD card, and turns the device on to install it. Once completed, he restarts it and enters RetroGo – from there, it’s as simple as adding some ROMs for the Game Boy, NES, SEGA Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and other systems. Super Mario World works well, and Zelda: A Link to the Past is as crisp as ever.

Ubisoft has had a turbulent few years, but its biggest franchises are clearly not going anywhere. In an interview with Variety, CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that multiple Assassin’s Creed titles and two new Far Cry games are currently in development, signaling a renewed focus on the company’s most reliable blockbuster series.

The update arrives during what Ubisoft has described as a major reset. The company has undergone layoffs, canceled projects, and reorganized studios as it tries to stabilize after several difficult years. Against that backdrop, Guillemot’s message was simple. Ubisoft plans to lean heavily on the franchises that consistently attract massive audiences. For Assassin’s Creed, Guillemot said “several titles” are in development, spanning both single-player and multiplayer experiences. The goal is to keep growing a community that already surpassed 30 million players last year. On the Far Cry side, Ubisoft confirmed two promising projects, widely expected to include the next mainline entry and a long-rumored multiplayer spin-off.

A future built around blockbuster franchises

This renewed emphasis ties directly into Ubisoft’s broader restructuring strategy. The company has created new “creative houses” designed to give major franchises more autonomy while improving accountability and production efficiency. One of those units, Vantage Studios, is responsible for Ubisoft’s biggest brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. The idea is to treat these series as long-term ecosystems rather than standalone releases, helping Ubisoft deliver a steadier pipeline of games and content over time.

The shift also reflects lessons learned from the pandemic era. Ubisoft admitted it had launched too many projects and is now scaling back to focus on fewer, bigger bets. For players, that likely means a more predictable future. Instead of scattered experiments, Ubisoft’s roadmap looks increasingly centered on expanding the worlds fans already know.

While Ubisoft did not share release windows or gameplay details, the confirmation alone matters right now. After months of layoffs and uncertainty, fans finally have reassurance that Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry remain core pillars of Ubisoft’s future. Whether that excites or worries players will depend on how Ubisoft balances quantity with quality.

This self-reloading magnet dispenser is the type of invention you didn’t realize you needed until you see it in action and can’t picture life without it. Maker EmGi has created a handheld tool that places neodymium magnets precisely where you want them, with the correct orientation every time, and loads the next one from a built-in stockpile so you never have to pause to fiddle around for the next one.

EmGi began with a simpler version last year, as the original tool employed a simple plunger with a fixed magnet on the end to pick up and pop discs in without getting your fingers in the way or worrying about the polarity flipping at the last second. It did the trick for casual use, but the tip was a little awkward to get into tight spaces, and reloading required stopping to search for individual magnets in a clump. Anyone who has ever attempted to assemble a grid of magnets or arrange them in small pockets understands the irritation, as magnets appear to snap together out of nowhere, stick to your tools, or spin to the incorrect side just as you are ready to push them into place.

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The new design resolves both of these issues. EmGi has managed to reduce the tip size so that it can fit into confined areas, and added a self-feeding magazine. Simply pack a stack of magnets into the body, and each press of the lever moves the next one to the ready position. The mechanism is based on a rack and pinion system that converts the plunger’s motion into a precise tiny nudge. One press separates the bottom magnet from the rest of the stack while dragging it along a guided path to the tip, where a permanent magnet keeps it in place and the attraction pulls the disc along without allowing it to spin or flip over.

Nailing that sequence took a bit of trial and error. Magnets can be stubborn since their fields resist movement. Press too quickly, and the disc will shoot right off. If you press too slowly, it will stick back to the stack. Emgi experimented with various slopes, adding a tiny edge to the tip to give it more control over speed, and modified the design until the magnet simply slides into position. Slow motionfootage shows the disc tipping smoothly onto the tip and remaining in the proper orientation. Then it’s merely a clean press into its slot, a release, and the next one is ready for you when the lever returns.

If you have a 3D printer, assembly is a breeze because the body, case, tip, gear, picker, and lever are all printed in PLA. Five screws hold all of the main parts together, a rubber band provides the tension that causes the lever to spring back into place, and a few little neodymium magnets simply slot into pre-drilled holes, one at the tip to keep things secure and a few more in the mechanism to help guide things along. They’ve created variations for the most common sizes, such as 6x2mm, 5.1mm, and 8.2mm discs. If you’re feeling daring, head over to MakerWorld and get the files for free; printing one should be as simple as getting some filament and waiting for it to print.
[Source]

As video advertising output accelerates across platforms, a new challenge has emerged: volume alone no longer guarantees effectiveness. Brands are producing more content than ever, yet performance remains uneven – often because creative decisions are reviewed subjectively and far too late in the process. A growing class of AI-driven validation tools is attempting to change that by bringing predictive analysis earlier into the creative lifecycle.

Instead of relying solely on post-campaign metrics or human interpretation, these systems use machine learning to assess whether an ad is structurally sound before it goes live. The goal isn’t to replace creativity, but to give teams clearer, earlier signals about what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Why creative validation is becoming a tech priority

For many marketing teams, the bottleneck isn’t a lack of ideas – it’s a lack of confidence. Human review cycles are slow, subjective, and inconsistent. Meanwhile, performance feedback usually arrives only after media budgets have already been spent, meaning weak creative can slip through despite heavy investment.

AI-driven validation offers a different path. By analyzing large libraries of historical ads, these tools identify patterns linked to engagement, brand recall, and call-to-action clarity. The promise is consistency at scale – evaluating creative quality using the same criteria, every time, across formats and channels.

Merging production insight with media planning

A key trend is the integration of creative assessment directly into media planning workflows. Rather than treating production and distribution as separate stages, some platforms now evaluate creative readiness during planning itself, helping teams decide which assets are worth amplifying.

Alison.ai’s Preflight Plus tool exemplifies this approach. It runs automated checks based on Google’s ABCD framework – Attract, Brand, Connect, Direct – to determine whether a video ad meets foundational best practices. While not the only platform in this space, it reflects a broader shift toward validating creative structure before budget commitments are made.

How computer vision is transforming creative analysis

At a technical level, these systems rely heavily on computer vision, scanning video content frame by frame to identify elements such as logo visibility, pacing, facial presence, text overlays, and visual hierarchy. These signals are then quantified, enabling creatives to be scored and compared more precisely.

Alison.ai describes this as its “Creative Genome” – a model that breaks ads into discrete visual and conceptual components. Similar techniques are emerging across ad-tech, signaling a move toward more granular, data-driven creative decision-making.

Reducing bias and increasing alignment

The practical benefit for marketing teams is alignment. Objective scoring helps bridge the long-standing divide between creative teams prioritizing storytelling and performance teams focused on measurable outcomes. Instead of debating subjective opinions, teams can work from shared data points that highlight where an ad may need refinement.

This shift also reduces dependence on multiple fragmented tools. When validation, feedback, and planning live inside a single workflow, teams spend less time navigating systems and more time improving the work itself.

Toward accountable AI in creative workflows

More broadly, this marks a push toward accountability in AI-assisted and AI-generated content. As generative tools speed up production, validation layers are becoming essential to ensure that increased output doesn’t come at the cost of effectiveness.

Preflight Plus – and tools like Alison.ai’s Agentic Video Ideation Flow – reflect an emerging creative model: AI that not only generates concepts but also evaluates whether those ideas are structurally prepared to perform. While implementation varies across platforms, the direction is clear – creative technology is moving upstream, closer to the moment decisions are made.

In a landscape where attention is expensive and mistakes are costly, early-stage creative intelligence may soon shift from competitive advantage to industry standard.

Digital Trends partners with external contributors. All contributor content is reviewed by the Digital Trends editorial staff.

Samsung appears to be tightening internal security as it heads toward its next major product cycle.

According to reports from The Korea Herald, the company has introduced a new secure chat mode within its internal communications system. This was done in an effort to curb leaks surrounding upcoming Galaxy devices, including the expected Z Fold 8 and Galaxy S27 lineup.

If you follow Samsung launches closely, you’ll know how early details tend to surface. By mid-2025, much of the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera upgrades had already leaked, and most of it turned out to be accurate.

Additionally, well-known tipsters often reveal specs and design changes months ahead of launch. As a result, there is little surprise when Samsung takes the stage.