AI Daily: Samsung nearing deal to invest in Perplexity

Catch up on the top artificial intelligence news and commentary by Wall Street analysts on publicly traded companies in the space with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

INVESTMENT DEAL: Samsung (SSNLF) is nearing a deal to invest in Perplexity AI and integrate Perplexity’s search technology into Samsung devices, including preloading Perplexity’s app and assistant on upcoming devices, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The wide-ranging deal would allow Samsung to reduce its reliance on Google (GOOGL) and work with a mix of AI developers, with plans to announce the integrations as early as this year, including as a default assistant option in the Galaxy S26 phone line, Gurman writes.

AD CREATION WITH AI: Meta (META) is aiming to enable brands to fully create and target ads using AI by the end of next year, Meghan Bobrowsky and Patrick Coffee of The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The company’s ad platform currently offers some AI tools to generate variations of existing ads and make minor changes, but now the company aims to help brands create advertising concepts from scratch.

PRODUCT RISK ASSESSMENTS: Meta plans to use AI to automate up to 90% of its privacy and integrity risk assessments, including sensitive areas like AI safety and youth risk, according to internal documents viewed by NPR, Bobby Allyn and Shannon Bond reported on Friday. Under the new system, Meta says product teams will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about their work, then will receive an “instant decision” with AI-identified risks, along with requirements that an update or feature must meet before it launches. Meta said in a statement that it has invested billions of dollars to support user privacy and that the product risk review changes are intended to streamline decision-making, adding that “human expertise” is still being used for “novel and complex issues,” and that only “low-risk decisions” are being automated.

PARTNERSHIP: Pony AI (PONY) announced a strategic partnership with Shenzhen Xihu Corporation, the city’s largest taxi operator, to jointly deploy a fleet of more than 1,000 Pony.ai’s seventh-generation Robotaxis in Shenzhen in the coming years. This partnership marks a significant milestone in integrating autonomous driving with local mobility networks by adopting an “asset-light + AI-empowered model”, accelerating the large-scale deployment of safe, efficient, and intelligent mobility services to a broader passenger base in tier-one cities in China. Xihu Group has extensive experience in fleet management with decades of experience in taxi fleet operation, local regulatory compliance and services and maintenance network, playing a crucial role in enabling Pony.ai to scale up Robotaxi services. By integrating Xihu Group’s expertise with Pony.ai’s proprietary hardware-and-software technology, AI-powered order dispatch capability and deep understanding of user needs, both parties will work together to deliver a seamless autonomous mobility experience. Under the terms of the agreement, Pony.ai and Xihu Group will jointly deploy more than 1,000 Pony.ai’s Gen 7 Robotaxis in Shenzhen in the coming years. In addition, it is expected to be further empowered by an “asset-light + AI-empowered model”, wherein Xihu Group will leverage its strength on fleet and asset operations, safety and service guarantees, and benefit economically from the fleet and asset operations. Meanwhile, Pony.ai will focus on AI technology innovations and scalable Robotaxi dispatch and service, creating a mutually beneficial outcome and accelerating the large-scale development.