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North America
CNBC Finance

GM to launch proprietary in-vehicle AI system later this year

DETROIT — General Motors plans to launch a proprietary in-vehicle artificial intelligence system that's better tailored for its customers later this year. The new GM AI assistant is expected to be more integrated with the vehicle as well as its capabilities and telematics information than the company's recently launched Gemini AI assistant from Google, according to Anna Santos, GM director of product management of voice and AI/machine learning. "Later this year, we'll be launching a more deeply integrated native AI assistant that combines conversational AI with GM vehicle knowledge and OnStar intelligence to create those capabilities that go beyond what a general purpose assistant can do," she told CNBC. GM last year announced the Gemini AI bot would launch this year in millions of 2022 model-year vehicles and newer, followed by a GM AI assist, but did not provide additional details on the technology. Santos said the new GM assistant, which she declined to disclose a name for, will be able to better "understand the vehicle, the drive and our customers' needs, and make everyday ownership simpler." With Gemini, customers can speak naturally without memorizing commands or repeating context. It also is beginning to offer "live sessions" in which the bot will speak conversationally or play games such as trivia or 20 questions. It also can control some aspects of GM vehicles, such as temperature and radio controls, but in general operates as it would through a phone. "This is the beginning of a broader AI journey for us," Santos said. "There's a limit to what an AI that's just sort of sitting at the top level of the vehicle can do." The Detroit automaker is working with an unnamed large language model provider on its technology to assist GM and its owners with predictive maintenance, vehicle telemetry and other more auto-focused features. That also could include commands such as "kids setting" that would tailor music, seats, heating/cooling and door lock controls for children. "It's data that's going to be proprietary to GM, and our goal is to make sure that we're bringing the right technology forward to enable us to build the deep vehicle expertise that we want to be able to bring to the AI assistant," Santos said. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

GM to launch proprietary in-vehicle AI system later this year
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Muthoot Finance announces leadership succession: Names Alexander George as MD

The Board of Directors of Muthoot Finance Limited has recommended the appointment of Alexander George as the Managing Director of the company, effective October 1, 2026. The appointment is subject to shareholders’ approval at the upcoming AGM of the company. George Alexander Muthoot, the current Managing Director, will assume the role of Executive Vice Chairman. In his new role, George Alexander Muthoot will continue to guide the organisation, mentor the next generation of leadership, and provide strategic direction as the company enters its next phase of growth, a press release said. Alexander George spearheaded several transformation initiatives across technology, digital banking, customer experience, marketing, brand building, operational excellence and people development, helping build a future-ready organisation while maintaining the trust and values that define the Muthoot brand. The Board has also recommended the elevation of K. R. Bijimon to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He currently serves as the company’s Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer. The leadership transition comes at a time when Muthoot Finance has recorded sustained business growth. The Company has, as on June 30, 2026, crossed ₹1.91 trillion consolidated Loan Assets Under Management, and achieved a historic milestone by crossing ₹106.06 billion in consolidated profit after tax during the financial year 2025-26. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Muthoot Finance announces leadership succession: Names Alexander George as MD
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Kia India July sales up 27.4% at 28,200 units

Automaker Kia India on Saturday reported a 27.4 per cent rise in wholesale dispatches at 28,200 units in July 2026 as compared to 22,135 units in the same month last year. This marks Kia India's best-ever July wholesale performance since inception, the company said in a statement. "Our best-ever July wholesale performance reflects the continued trust of our customers and the strong acceptance of Kia's diverse product portfolio. Building on our record H1 performance, we have maintained healthy momentum across key segments," Kia India Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Atul Sood, said. The company said July sales were on the back of continued momentum driven by Seltos and Sonet, supported by sustained demand for Carens Clavis, Clavis EV, and MY26 Syros. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Kia India July sales up 27.4% at 28,200 units
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Coal India production rises 8% to 50.36 MT in July

State-owned CIL on Saturday said its production grew 8.4 per cent to 50.36 million tonnes (MT) in July. Despite challenges posed by the rains, the company recorded healthy growth in coal production. Simultaneously, it has sustained strong momentum in coal supplies through a demand-responsive inventory optimisation strategy, enabling it to maintain a comfortable balance between production and supplies. "Coal India Ltd recorded a robust operational performance in July 26-27, registering an 8.44 per cent growth in coal production," it said in a statement. Coal supplies also increased 18.38 per cent to 64.19 MT during July, over the year-ago period. "Coal supplied in July FY27 marks the highest-ever coal offtake for the month in any financial year. The previous highest July supply stood at 60.5 MT, achieved in FY 24-25," the statement said. The strong operational momentum follows another record performance in June FY27, when CIL supplied 65.95 MT of coal, its highest-ever supply for June. Consequently, the company's cumulative coal supplies during the first four months of FY27 (April-July) rose 6.9 per cent at 262.04 MT, the highest-ever volume supplied for the corresponding period. Coal supplies to the power sector -- the company's largest consumer segment -- also grew 18 per cent, increasing to 49.77 MT in July from 42.35 MT in the corresponding month of the previous year. Supplies to the non-regulated sector also registered healthy growth, rising 21 per cent to 14.42 MT from 11.89 MT during the same period. CIL also recorded a significant improvement in overburden (OB) removal, a key mining activity that supports sustained coal production. During July, overburden removal increased 21.11 per cent to 120.35 million cubic meters (MCuM) from 99.36 MCuM in July FY26. On a cumulative basis, overburden removal during April-July FY27 stood at 625.02 MCuM, registering a growth of 2.85 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Coal India production rises 8% to 50.36 MT in July
Europe
BBC Business

Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots

The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a ban on new foreign-made humanoid robot imports to the US over "unacceptable risks" to America's national security. The move applies to advanced robots - including humanoid and four-legged machines. Many of them are made in China, which is competing with the US to develop robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also banned imports of power inverters - devices used in data centres and solar panels - which it said could also pose a risk to the US economy. The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing has long opposed the US' "politicising" of trade issues and sanctions based on "groundless pretexts". FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the agency was doing its part "to secure America's critical supply chains". The FCC has added the items to its Covered List - a register of goods and services that are deemed a risk to US national security. The ban applies to new foreign-produced advanced robotic devices and power inverters and does not prevent the sale or import of any existing models that had been previously authorised by the FCC. The FCC cited concerns that the use of foreign-made inverters could allow overseas firms to turn them off, steal data, facilitate remote access and surveillance by "foreign government actors, or be otherwise exploited through a cyberattack." It added that the use of robots made outside the US could allow "malign actors to surveil Americans, enhance the capabilities of foreign intelligence services, or to remotely commandeer the robots." The Chinese embassy in Washington also said Beijing will "take all necessary measures" in response to any moves that harm its interests, urging all countries to work together to develop AI "for the positive and for good". It called on the US to "abandon its hegemonic mindset, and stop smearing Chinese companies and threatening them with sanctions." The BBC has contacted major Chinese robot manufacturers Unitree, UBTech and AgiBot for comment.

Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots
Europe
BBC Business

Snapchat joins other popular platforms in fight against 'AI slop'

Image source, ReutersImage caption, Snapchat is trying to tamp down on AI-generated videos. Snapchat has joined the likes of YouTube, LinkedIn and Substack in a growing effort to combat fake writing, images and videos that are entirely created by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Such content, commonly called "AI slop", has proliferated online as the tech industry has raced to create a greater number of easier to use generative AI tools that can create anything from essays to realistic videos. Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, said on Friday that the platform would stop recommending "wholly AI-generated videos" in its popular Spotlight feed in favour of "authentic, human-made content." Over the past two weeks, YouTube, LinkedIn and Substack have unveiled similar strategies. Snap did not go so far as to try and prohibit all AI-generated content from Snapchat. The platform offers its own AI tools to alter content, and so AI "enhanced or edited" content will still be part of its recommendations to users. However, Snap acknowledged that entirely AI-generated content is typically "low-quality", "repetitive", and generally not what Snapchat users want to see. Recent research into the reception of AI-generated content shows that people tend to agree, external with those descriptions. Moreover, the more fake AI-generated content that people see in a social media feed, the less likely, external they are to think that any of the content they're being shown online is genuine, according to a separate survey. As Chris Best, the co-founder and chief executive of Substack put it last week: "It's getting harder to tell what's real on the internet." LinkedIn, a social media platform focused on work, introduced a button on its platform this week that allows any user to report if a post or a comment appears to be AI-generated. "AI slop is a top priority for all of us," LinkedIn's chief product officer Hari Srinivasan wrote on the platform.

Snapchat joins other popular platforms in fight against 'AI slop'
North America
CNBC Economy

China's factory activity unexpectedly contracts in July on demand slump, typhoons

China's factory activity unexpectedly contracted in July for the first time since February, as domestic orders slumped and typhoons disrupted production, while part of the front-loading momentum began to unwind, piling pressure on Beijing to boost domestic demand. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49.2 from 50.3 in June, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Friday, dropping below the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction. Economists' median forecast had pegged PMI at 50. The gauge — the weakest since February — ended a four-month run at or above 50, a stretch propped up by exporters rushing shipments ahead of U.S. tariff increases. The headline figure was dragged down by the new orders sub-index, which fell to 48.5, the lowest in 38 months, according to official data accessed via Wind. "Domestic weakness appears largely to blame – while the export orders index softened a bit," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, who expects local governments to follow through on Beijing's policy support pledges to prop up domestic demand. The sub-index for factory-gate prices extended its decline after a brief war-driven energy spike earlier this year, signaling producer price weakness. Weakness spread well beyond manufacturing. The construction PMI slumped to a record low of 47.0, the services gauge fell to its weakest since the initial Covid-19 lockdowns, and the composite PMI dropped to 49.3, the lowest since the pandemic ended in 2022, Wind data showed. A statistics bureau spokesperson attributed part of the PMI weakness to a recent spate of typhoons that halted work on many projects. Amid downbeat readings, indices tracking firms' expectations for future output held up well across all the official PMIs in July, including an improvement in the construction sector. "Firms believe the latest deterioration in activity will prove short-lived, perhaps because they anticipate a stronger tailwind from fiscal policy over the rest of the year," said Evans-Pritchard. The print lands a day after the country's top policymakers acknowledged "difficulties and challenges facing the economy" at its mid-year meeting, pledging to accelerate fiscal spending and roll out "incremental policies" to shore up growth in the second half. China's economy in the second quarter expanded 4.3% from a year earlier, the slowest pace in more than three years, missing the lower end of the full-year target of 4.5% to 5%. Exports have been one of the economy's few reliable growth engines this year — and that engine is now showing signs of strain. "U.S.-bound shipments fell outright for the first time in several months," according to a survey conducted by China Beige Book.

China's factory activity unexpectedly contracts in July on demand slump, typhoons
Europe
The Guardian

‘It ain’t the same’: inside the bitter battle to free Ben & Jerry’s

Ben Cohen says there are ‘millions of people who support Ben and Jerry’s and support its social mission’. Composite: The Guardian/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenBen Cohen says there are ‘millions of people who support Ben and Jerry’s and support its social mission’. Composite: The Guardian/Getty ImagesBusiness‘It ain’t the same’: inside the bitter battle to free Ben & Jerry’sBen Cohen says his ice-cream company has been silenced by corporate ownership – and a boycott of Magnum brands could force a sale Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream in the tub is still great, but the brand’s newest chocolate-covered ice-cream bar on a stick? “It ain’t the same,” Ben Cohen, the company co-founder, told the Guardian. Sure, the chocolate coating is still thick enough, but the ice cream itself is “kinda fluffy”, Cohen said – an insult in the ice-cream world that suggests extra air was added to cut costs. The criticism is surprising coming from Cohen, who opened his eponymous ice-cream shop in Burlington, Vermont, with childhood friend, Jerry Greenfield, in 1978. But it’s perhaps an apt metaphor of how he feels amid a simmering fight to take back Ben & Jerry’s from a parent company he says has silenced the brand’s trademark activism. For Cohen, 75, the battle is legal and existential. Ben & Jerry’s social and economic value was protected for decades, he says, by an independent board with final say on the brand’s voice, values and ice-cream quality. But that independence has all but disappeared, Cohen said. In November 2024, Ben & Jerry’s board sued parent company Unilever, claiming it was blocked from voicing support for Gaza, and accusing Unilever of breaching their agreement. The lawsuit is still making its way through federal court. In September 2025, after Unilever said it would spin off its ice-cream brands into the Magnum Ice Cream Company, Cohen started his campaign to “Free Ben & Jerry’s” – asking Magnum to sell the brand so it can be independently owned and operated. Social activism is a core part of why people buy Ben & Jerry’s, Cohen says. “What consumers want above all is authenticity and attitude,” he said. Ben & Jerry’s could be valued at $1bn or more, Cohen estimates, but says Magnum won’t give him or potential investors numbers that could help value it more accurately. Magnum has insisted Ben & Jerry’s is not up for sale, so Cohen is amping up his campaign. In recent weeks, Cohen has started calling for a boycott of Magnum’s other brands, including Yasso, Breyers, Talenti and Klondike, with the idea that tanking the company’s overall sales will pressure it to sell back the company. “We didn’t want it to have to come to this,” he said of the boycott, but Magnum is “destroying a brand” that stands for values its customers believe in. What Cohen is trying to do – force an $11bn conglomerate into divesting a star brand – is highly unusual, and unlikely to succeed, some industry and management experts predict.

‘It ain’t the same’: inside the bitter battle to free Ben & Jerry’s
North America
CNBC Finance

Chipotle hikes same-store sales forecast, says cyclospora fears hit sales in late July

Chipotle Mexican Grill on Wednesday raised its same-store sales growth forecast for the year after topping analysts' quarterly earnings and revenue expectations. The restaurant company is now projecting that its same-store sales will increase by a low single digit percentage in 2026, higher than its previous outlook of flat same-store sales for the full year. After a shaky 2025, Chipotle is successfully luring customers back — even with spiking gas prices and other higher costs pressuring dining budgets. "We're seeing encouraging progress because we're focused on the right growth drivers—bringing meaningful menu innovation to our guests, deepening engagement through Chipotle Rewards, elevating hospitality in every restaurant, and expanding opportunities to serve more group occasions," CEO Scott Boatwright said in a statement. The report came amid heightened scrutiny of food safety at chains serving fresh lettuce due to the U.S. cyclospora outbreak. Company executives on a call with analysts said that Chipotle "maintains a very robust food safety program." The company said its lettuce is sourced from California and is not impacted by the outbreak. Still, Chipotle said the cyclospora outbreak had about a 2 percentage point impact on sales in the second half of July, which it incorporated into its guidance. Chipotle reported second-quarter net income of $403.5 million, or 32 cents per share, down from $436.1 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding impairment and restructuring costs and other items, the company earned 33 cents per share. Same-store sales rose 2.2%, lifted by a 1% increase in traffic to restaurants. Total check size inched up 1.2% compared with the year-ago period. On a call with analysts, Boatwright said the company's performance was driven by strength in its seasonal Chipotle Honey Chicken and recently introduced cilantro lime sauce, as well as its rewards program. Boatwright also said Chipotle's menu innovation had an "outsized impact" on it winning over both younger consumers and lower-income diners. "We believe Chipotle continues to offer one of the strongest value propositions in the industry," Boatwright said on the call. During the quarter, Chipotle opened 100 new locations and one international restaurant operated by a partner.

Chipotle hikes same-store sales forecast, says cyclospora fears hit sales in late July