This Week’s Top 5 Stories in AI

What Are President Trump’s Plans For State AI Laws?

The regulation of AI has become a contested issue between federal and state governments in the US, with dozens of states creating their own rules in the absence of comprehensive national legislation. 

US President Donald Trump has now waded into the debate, announcing plans to sign an executive order this week that would prevent states from creating their own regulations for AI systems.

The move could be interpreted as a victory for technology companies that have spent months lobbying against what they describe as an unworkable patchwork of state-level rules. 

“We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS,” he write on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.

A draft executive order that circulated last month reveals the administration’s hardline approach. 

Why Cristiano Ronaldo is Investing in Perplexity

As the AI search market evolves, it is becoming a battleground for consumer attention – with companies aiming to differentiate themselves from Google’s dominance and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

Into this competition steps an unlikely champion: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Perplexity, the San Francisco-based AI search platform well known for its search with cited sources and direct answers, has signed the Portuguese footballer as both an investor and brand ambassador. 

Ronaldo frames his investment around a philosophy that connects his playing career to how he views AI tools: “Curiosity is a requirement for greatness,” he writes on X. 

“You win when you keep asking new questions every day. That’s why I am proud to announce my investment in Perplexity.”

But why is he investing? And what does his investment show about where the global AI market is heading?

Google Cloud & NextEra: The AI-Energy GW Data Centres Deal

As AI scaling and adoption climbs high, the need for energy efficient data centres are reaching a new peak. 

Painting on this canvas, NextEra Energy and Google Cloud’s latest announcement to deepen their partnership in technology and energy collaboration speaks volumes on the visionary strategy of intertwining energy production with AI scaling. 

The companies are set to partner to develop new gigawatt-scale data centres with their own dedicated power plants to supply them. 

“Our partnership with Google exemplifies this very singular moment when energy and technology are becoming inextricably intertwined,” says NextEra Energy Chairman and CEO John Ketchum. 

“Together, we intend to build data centre capacity and energy infrastructure at scale, advance cutting-edge technology and reimagine how energy companies operate. 

“By combining NextEra Energy’s unmatched skills as America’s leading energy infrastructure builder and operator, with Google’s world-class technology expertise, we will help transform the energy sector.”

Inside Snowflake & Anthropic’s Expanded AI Partnership

Enterprise AI adoption has reached a point where companies want autonomous systems that can work directly with their existing data infrastructure – rather than requiring wholesale changes to how they operate. 

Snowflake and Anthropic are betting US$200m that this shift is happening now.

The cloud data platform provider is expanding its partnership with the AI company behind Claude in a multi-year deal that brings Anthropic’s large language models (LLMs) to more than 12,600 enterprise customers. 

The arrangement goes beyond providing model access by establishing a joint sales initiative focused on deploying AI agents across large enterprises in regulated sectors like financial services, healthcare and life sciences.

Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-founder of Anthropic, says: “Enterprises have spent years building secure, trusted data environments and now they want AI that can work within those environments without compromise.

“This partnership brings Claude directly into Snowflake, where that data already lives. It’s a meaningful step toward making frontier AI genuinely useful for businesses.”

Why Virgin Atlantic Chose OpenAI for its Travel Chatbot

Virgin Atlantic has rolled out its AI-powered Concierge service across the Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Holidays websites. Built with OpenAI and digital design firm Tomoro, the system lets customers plan and book travel through text, voice or image inputs.

The Concierge handles flight searches, holiday bookings, Flying Club loyalty queries and general support questions. It learns preferences from conversations and suggests relevant options. A mobile app launching in 2026 will bring the same functionality to smartphones.

“Our new Concierge reimagines how we connect with our guests. It listens, understands, and responds helping to plan holidays and flights with the same intuitive care you’d expect from our teams,” says Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Experience Officer at Virgin Atlantic.

The airline had been testing enterprise AI for several years before committing to OpenAI as a primary partner. That decision came after running pilots with ChatGPT Enterprise across internal teams, according to Oliver Byers, Chief Financial Officer at Virgin Atlantic.