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Top 3 Things in Today’s Latestly AI Edition

• Humans& raised a $480M seed to build the human control layer for AI, betting that governance and oversight, will define the next AI moat.

• Apple choosing Google Gemini as Siri’s default intelligence layer quietly hands Google access to 2+ billion devices, reshaping the AI distribution war overnight.

• Global AI regulation is accelerating (EU, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam), signaling that “human-in-the-loop” systems are about to become mandatory, not optional.

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AI STORY OF THE WEEK

Humans& : The $480M Seed That Signals Where AI Is Actually Going

In January 2026, Humans & did something that immediately reset expectations in the AI world.

A $480M seed round.
Backed by credibility, not hype.
Founded by alumni from Anthropic, xAI, and Google.

On paper, it looks absurd.
In reality, it makes uncomfortable sense.

Because Humans & isn’t building another AI tool.

They’re building the control layer between humans and AI systems — and that’s where the real power is emerging.

The Real Problem Humans& Is Solving

AI capabilities are no longer the bottleneck.

What’s breaking adoption now is:

• Lack of trust

• Loss of agency

• Unclear ownership

• Humans being treated as training data, not stakeholders

Most AI products optimize for output.
Humans & optimizes for human authority in the loop.
That distinction is everything.

What Is Humans & Actually Building?

A Human-Centric AI Operating Layer

Humans & positions itself as an AI orchestration platform that ensures humans:

• Stay in control of AI decisions

• Can intervene, override, or audit AI behavior

• Retain authorship, accountability, and intent

This isn’t about making AI nicer. It’s about making AI governable.

Human-in-the-Loop by Design (Not as a Patch)

Most systems add “human review” after things break.

Humans & embeds humans directly into:

• Model workflows

• Decision pipelines

• Autonomous agent systems

The result:
AI systems that can scale without removing human judgment.

This is critical for:

• Enterprises

• Governments

• Regulated industries

• High-stakes decision environments

Built by People Who’ve Seen the Failure Modes Up Close

This matters more than the funding.
Founders coming from Anthropic, xAI, and Google have:

• Seen alignment problems firsthand

• Lived inside model deployment chaos

• Watched safety become an afterthought

Humans & is a reaction to that experience.

Not theory.
Not ethics theatre.
Operational reality.

Why the $480M Seed Actually Makes Sense

Governance Is the Next AI Moat

Models will commoditize.
Infrastructure will standardize.

What won’t commoditize is:

• Control

• Accountability

• Compliance

• Human oversight at scale

Humans & sits exactly there.

That’s why the round is large.
And why it’s early.

Enterprises Don’t Trust Black Boxes

Startups can gamble on speed.
Enterprises can’t.

Any AI system touching:

• Finance

• Health

• Legal

• Hiring

• Policy

needs explainability and human checkpoints.
Humans & is building the missing layer enterprises require before they deploy AI seriously.

This Is a Bet on Regulation Catching Up

Regulation isn’t a question of if.
It’s when.
When it does, most AI products will scramble.
Humans& is compliant by construction.
That’s not ideology — it’s positioning.

Lessons for Founders

Don’t build features. Build control points.

Features get copied.
Control layers get entrenched.

The second wave of AI isn’t generative — it’s supervisory.

Generation got us here.
Governance keeps us alive.

Credibility compounds faster than virality

Deep tech doesn’t need noise.
It needs trust from the right buyers.
Humans & understands that.

What to Watch Next

Will “human-centric AI” become mandatory?

In regulated sectors, yes.
Voluntarily or by force.

Will this become the standard layer for AI agents?

If autonomous agents scale, someone has to own the decisions they make.
Humans & is positioning itself as that owner.

Will Big Tech acquire or compete?

They’ll try to compete.
But retrofitting human control into existing stacks is painful.
Acquisition is the cleaner move.

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GLOBAL AI NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

The Most Important AI Developments Happening Now : Region by Region

🌎 Americas

1. Humans& raises $480 million at $4.5 billion valuation to build human-centric collaboration agents founded by former OpenAI, Alphabet and xAI researchers. Reuters, Jan 20, 2026

2. Apple chooses Google Gemini as default intelligence layer for Siri and future Apple Intelligence features, giving Google direct access to Apple's 2+ billion active devices. Marketing Profs, Jan 16, 2026

3. OpenAI launches ChatGPT Translate, a standalone translation service supporting 50+ languages with stylistic controls for tone and formality, entering direct competition with Google Translate. Marketing Profs, Jan 16, 2026

4. xAI restricts Grok image editing globally after regulators flag generation of sexualized images of women and minors, implementing location-based safeguards. Marketing Profs, Jan 16, 2026

🌍 Europe

1. Germany's SPRIND launches Next Frontier AI Initiative, a €125 million competition to build three European frontier AI labs with €1 billion scale-up funding targets by 2028. SPRIND, Jan 3, 2026

2. UK regulator sets out new scrutiny of AI compute concentration, eyeing hyperscalers' GPU dominance and data center infrastructure. Osborne Clarke, Jan 12, 2026

3. South Korea becomes first nation to implement comprehensive AI regulatory framework as AI Basic Act takes effect on January 22, 2026, requiring transparency and safety disclosures. CSIS PacTech Pulse, Jan 12, 2026

4. European Commission proposes delaying high-risk AI Act compliance deadlines to December 2027, extending implementation timeline to allow standards and guidance development. Osborne Clarke, Jan 12, 2026

🌏 Asia-Pacific

1. DeepSeek publishes breakthrough training method called Manifold-Constrained Hyper-Connections (mHC), enabling stable model scaling on lower-cost compute infrastructure. Business Insider, Jan 1, 2026

2. DeepSeek announces next-generation V4 model launching mid-February 2026, with internal tests showing superior performance in coding tasks versus OpenAI and Anthropic models. Marketing Profs, Jan 16, 2026

3. Taiwan passes Artificial Intelligence Basic Act, establishing legal framework with National Science and Technology Council as central authority and privacy protection as core principle. CSIS PacTech Pulse, Jan 12, 2026

4. Vietnam enacts Law on Artificial Intelligence effective March 1, 2026, creating national AI Development Fund and risk-based classification system for developers and suppliers. Linklaters, Jan 15, 2026

🌏 Oceania

1. Australia releases National AI Plan and voluntary guidance for disclosing AI-generated content, relying on existing laws to manage risks instead of new high-risk regulations. CSIS PacTech Pulse, Jan 12, 2026

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