DoorDash announced on Thursday that it’s launching a new AI chatbot that lets users order food and groceries with text prompts and photos in its latest AI push.

The chatbot, called “Ask DoorDash,” allows users to search the app for what they’re looking for in their own words instead of having to scroll through restaurants and stores to build a cart. You can tell the chatbot what you’re in the mood for, share a recipe link to find the items, or describe the reservation you’re looking for.

“Traditional search works best when you know the exact restaurant or table you’re looking for,” DoorDash wrote in the blog post. “Ask DoorDash is designed for the moments when you don’t.”

Food delivery apps and tech giants are betting that AI can help make shopping more conversational and personalized, as companies race to make AI assistants a standard part of everyday life. In February, Uber Easts launched an AI-powered “Cart Assistant,” while Instacart has rolled out an AI shopping assistant that grocers can offer to their customers.

DoorDash’s app can build your grocery cart based on a photo from a cookbook, a picture of your grocery list, or a recipe. DoorDash will then add all the items and their correct quantities to your cart. It will prompt users to check if they already have staples like sugar and butter, so they don’t buy something they already have.

You can also ask the chatbot to reorder your last grocery cart or suggest new items based on your previous orders, DoorDash says.

As for ordering food, you can tell the chatbot that you want a “filling dinner for a family of 4.” The app will then surface restaurants alongside a personalized blurb explaining why it matches your search. You can narrow the results even further with a query like, “Show me kid-friendly vegetarian spots with mild options.”

Once you select a place, you can ask DoorDash to build a cart with suggestions based on your dietary preferences, budget, group size, or past orders.

With Ask DoorDash for Reservations, users can ask the chatbot to find a “table for two downtown for a date-night dinner around 8 PM.” The app will then surface restaurants with availability. You can refine the results further by asking for something a little more intimate.

The chatbot is rolling out on iOS in select regions for restaurant search and grocery shopping, and within DoorDash Reservations. It will reach more users across the U.S. in the coming weeks, the company says.

Reddit has launched video comments for all users. The feature lets any Redditor upload or record a short-form video reply directly in the comments of any post. It rolls out across all public, safe-for-work communities starting Thursday.

A video icon now appears alongside the existing image and GIF options in the comment box. Users can either upload an existing video or record one in place. Videos do not autoplay. Reddit’s safety systems check video comments before they are posted.

“We are continually evolving Reddit to deliver a more immersive and authentic human experience,” said Chief Product Officer Maria Angelidou-Smith. “The ability to reply with video gives users more creative ways to engage in communities they love.”

The feature has been in limited testing. Reddit pointed to a video AMA with Mel C from the Spice Girls, conducted two months ago, as an example of the intended use case. Celebrity and expert AMAs are a natural fit: a host can record personalised video responses to individual questions in the thread.

Reddit’s user base has traditionally favoured anonymity and text-based discussion. There is no requirement that a posted video show the user’s face. In practice, video comments are likely to become another meme format, with users replying to posts with reaction clips rather than showing themselves on camera.

Subreddit moderators can disable the feature for their communities. Only public, SFW subreddits are eligible. Private and NSFW communities are excluded.

The launch reflects Reddit’s broader push to become a more visual platform as it competes for engagement with TikTok and YouTube. Reddit’s share price has risen sharply since its 2024 IPO, driven in part by its role as a training data source for AI models. Adding video to comments increases time on platform and creates more content, both of which support ad revenue and the data licensing deals that have become a growing part of its business.

A team of researchers at Georgia Tech has developed a new smartphone-based system that could dramatically simplify how people interact with robots. Called COBALT, the platform allows users with little to no computing experience to remotely control robot arms from virtually anywhere in the world using just a phone and an internet connection.

The project, developed at Georgia Tech’s People, AI & Robotics (PAIR) Lab, transforms smartphones into motion controllers for robotic arms. Users simply move their phones in different directions, and the robot mirrors those movements in real time. Basic tasks such as grabbing, moving, and releasing objects can be performed through simple on-screen controls, making the experience feel more like playing a mobile game than operating industrial machinery.

Ayush Agarwal, a Ph.D. student in Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing who leads the COBALT research team, said the system was intentionally designed to make robotics accessible to beginners rather than experts. During testing, participants from countries including India, Indonesia, and Pakistan remotely controlled robot arms located inside Georgia Tech’s lab despite having no prior robotics experience.

Researchers believe crowdsourcing could shape the future of robotics

The broader goal behind COBALT extends beyond convenience. Researchers believe the platform could solve one of robotics’ biggest challenges: collecting enough real-world training data to improve AI-powered robotic systems.

Modern robots require enormous amounts of policy training data to learn how to perform physical tasks reliably. According to Assistant Professor Animesh Garg, who directs the PAIR Lab, simulation alone is not enough to train robots for large-scale deployment. Instead, researchers envision a crowdsourced network where millions of smartphone users passively contribute operational data by remotely interacting with robots.

Garg compared the idea to tapping into the nearly five billion smartphone users worldwide. By lowering the barrier to entry, the team hopes to create a scalable global system capable of accelerating robotic learning and automation.

The technology could also have major educational implications. Georgia Tech researchers recently demonstrated COBALT to students from Midtown High School in Atlanta, allowing them to remotely operate robot arms using smartphones. The simplicity of the interface could make robotics education more accessible in classrooms without expensive equipment or specialized hardware.

A future “gig economy” for robots may not be far away

The researchers also believe COBALT could eventually support entirely new forms of remote work. Garg described the possibility of a robot-powered gig economy where people remotely operate assistive robots in homes, warehouses, or factories from anywhere in the world.

In practical terms, that could mean a factory robot autonomously handles most tasks but requests human assistance when it encounters a difficult situation. Instead of requiring on-site workers, remote operators could briefly take control through their phones before handing the operation back to the AI system.

Agarwal said user studies showed smartphones were preferred over VR headsets, keyboards, or traditional controllers because they felt more intuitive while still providing high-quality control data. The system also minimizes latency by using WebRTC technology, similar to platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, ensuring that robot movements and live video streams remain responsive even across long distances.

The research paper on COBALT is being presented this week at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Vienna, where the team is showcasing not just the technology itself, but the large-scale remote operation network built around it.

If you have ever sat through a Google Meet call and later struggled to figure out what was actually decided, Google just made your life a little easier. The company has rolled out a meaningful upgrade to its “Take notes for me” feature, giving you more control over what gets captured and making it easier to track outcomes after the meeting wraps up.

Meeting notes just got a serious upgrade.

You can now toggle specific sections (like Decisions or Next Steps) with Take notes for me in Meet. Plus, our new “Decisions” tracker helps you categorize outcomes like Aligned or Needs Further Discussion so nothing falls through the… pic.twitter.com/vuot3EBI97

— Google Workspace (@GoogleWorkspace) June 5, 2026

What’s new in “Take notes for me” feature?

The biggest addition here is the ability to toggle specific sections of your meeting notes on or off during the call itself. From the in-call menu, you can now choose which of the four sections you want included: Summary, Decisions, Next Steps, or Details. These toggles only apply to your current meeting and do not change your default settings for future calls.

The Summary section has also been tightened up. It is now designed to be more concise and scannable, so you can catch up on the key points of a meeting quickly without having to wade through a wall of text.

What is the new Decisions section and how can it help you?

The Decisions section is the most interesting part of this update. Rather than just listing what was discussed, it explicitly tracks the outcome of each decision with a status label. Those labels are Aligned, Needs Further Discussion, Disagreed, and Shelved.

So instead of scanning through a long notes doc to figure out where things landed, you get a clear snapshot of what was resolved and what still needs work. For now, the Decisions section is only available in English. We can expect more languages to be added in the future.

The update is available for Enterprise Standard and Plus, Business Standard and Plus, Frontline Plus, and Google AI Pro for Education subscribers, as well as Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

AI researchers and labs have advanced by leaps and bounds in evaluating AI models for everything from safety and compliance to sycophancy and alignment. But it appears companies and developers are faced with a new, specific need: making sure that their AI system behaves as intended for their specific product or service.

In a bid to make that testing process simpler, Microsoft on Tuesday took the wraps off ASSERT, short for Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing.

The open-source framework, Microsoft says, makes evaluating application-specific AI behavior easy by using AI to turn high-level, natural-language descriptions of goals, policies, or intended behaviors into thorough, scored tests that can be investigated.

ASSERT takes plain-language descriptions of an AI model’s expected behavior and policies, turns them into a structured set of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, generates problem scenarios and test cases, runs them against the target system, and scores the results. It can also record the paths the AI system takes, including intermediate actions and tool calls, so developers can inspect where failures happen.

Devs can provide system context, tools, and constraints, too, if they want to further customize what the evaluations cover.

For example, a developer could specify that a document research AI agent shouldn’t send emails to people outside the company, limit confidential information to C-level executives, and provide concise summaries with prior context in mind. ASSERT will use those rules to generate test cases that check whether the system follows those rules on an ongoing basis.

The framework, according to Microsoft, fills a gap that broader, more general evaluations cannot when AI models are intended to behave in a manner that is shaped by an application or product’s context, policies, and tools.

“One of the things we’ve learned is that evaluations are absolutely critical to making good decisions,” said Sarah Bird, chief product officer of Responsible AI at Microsoft. “Because if you don’t understand the behavior of the AI system, it’s really hard to know if it’s meeting your organization’s bar […] What we found is that if you really want to have a trustworthy system, you should evaluate many more dimensions that are application-specific.”

Bird said ASSERT can be used to evaluate systems when they’re being built, after deployment, and even for continuous monitoring.

The release comes amidst a gradual but broader shift in the AI industry. As models grow more capable, researchers are focusing on repeatable testing and regression checks, with Stanford’s HELM, MLCommons’ AILuminate, and evaluation groups like METR rolling out benchmarks to measure how models behave under different conditions.

If you have spent any time scrolling Instagram Reels or TikToks, you have come across a video format in which a creator overlays their video on top of the content they are talking about. This has become a popular format with creators, as these videos often go viral. 

X, a platform that has become a home for unnecessary outrage, wants to ride this wave of trendy reaction videos by allowing users to record them directly inside the app. The feature lets creators react with video on X posts, giving them even more opportunity to express themselves. 

Commentary is one of the most important pillars of X. And sometimes the best way to share your thoughts is with video.

Today we’re launching a whole new way to make them:
React with Video

Tap the repost button and start recording with green screen, split screen, or… pic.twitter.com/iF3f8wctbK

— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) June 2, 2026

If you ever felt that a text reply wasn’t enough to express your outrage, this new feature will be right up your alley.

How does React with Video work?

The feature dubbed “React with Video” appears as one of the options in an overlay menu when you hit the Repost button on a post. When you tap on it, X opens the post in the background with your video overlayed at the top. 

You can then hit the record button and start recording your thoughts. I like that you get the option to pause the recording, giving you ample time to recollect your thoughts. Once you are finished recording your thoughts, you can hit the checkmark button to preview your content. 

If you are happy with the result, you can post it as a reaction reply to the original post. 

What are your options when reacting with video?

It seems that X has put considerable thought into developing this feature, giving users ample customization options. By default, your video appears as an overlay, where X automatically removes your background. You can resize the video and move it to any part of the screen. 

If the original post has media attached, you can choose to make it full-screen and hide the text. This will come in handy if you want to focus more on the image than the post’s text. You can also choose to show your video in other styles, including picture-in-picture and split-screen modes. 

If you love making reaction videos, this will considerably decrease the effort required to create them. As for why anyone would choose to spend time on such an endeavor, that’s a question only they can answer.

TL;DR

Tencent will let PayPal users make cashless payments in China through WeChat Pay’s QR code merchant network, starting with US users. The move targets foreign tourists who struggle with China’s cashless economy, as visitor numbers surpass 35 million.

Tencent has announced that PayPal users will be able to make cashless payments in China by scanning QR codes through WeChat Pay’s merchant network. The integration, which will be available to US-based PayPal users first with more markets to follow, connects PayPal’s 400 million-plus user base to the payment infrastructure that covers virtually every taxi, restaurant, and shop in mainland China.

The move addresses a specific pain point. China’s economy runs on mobile payments, with WeChat Pay and Ant Group’s Alipay processing trillions of dollars in transactions annually. Foreign visitors who arrive without access to either platform often find themselves unable to pay for basic goods and services, since many Chinese merchants no longer accept cash and few accept international credit cards at the point of sale. Both WeChat Pay and Alipay have allowed foreigners to link international bank cards since 2019, but adoption has been limited by a cumbersome onboarding process that requires downloading Chinese apps and navigating interfaces designed for domestic users.

Why PayPal matters

PayPal integration sidesteps the onboarding problem entirely. A US tourist arriving in Beijing does not need to download WeChat, create an account, or link a bank card to a Chinese payment platform. They scan a WeChat Pay QR code with their existing PayPal app, the transaction processes through WeChat Pay’s merchant network, and the charge appears on their PayPal balance or linked card. The friction reduction is significant for a demographic that currently struggles with China’s cashless infrastructure.

Tencent is also waiving transaction fees for first-time users who link international bank cards directly to WeChat, a separate incentive aimed at encouraging deeper integration beyond the PayPal pathway. The company reported that foreign traveller transactions in China jumped nearly 80% year on year in the January-to-April period of 2026, suggesting that China’s broader tourism push is already driving payment volume growth.

China’s tourism strategy

The PayPal deal is part of a coordinated effort by Beijing to attract more foreign tourists after the pandemic-era collapse in international arrivals. China has expanded visa-free access to travellers from dozens of countries, including the UK, Spain, and Australia, though US travellers still require a visa except for brief transits to third countries.

The strategy is working by the numbers. Foreign visitors to China, excluding those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, surpassed 35 million in 2025, exceeding the pre-pandemic record of nearly 32 million set in 2019. Tourism contributed more than 4% of China’s GDP in 2024. China’s approach to technology adoption has created an economy where digital infrastructure is more advanced than in most Western countries, but that very advancement creates barriers for visitors who are not part of the domestic digital ecosystem.

Gary Ng, a senior economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis, said the move aligns with a global trend of payment platform integration through mutually recognised cross-border QR codes. The same dynamic is playing out in Southeast Asia, where Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia have established bilateral QR code payment links.

Limited near-term impact

The practical significance of the PayPal integration depends on the volume of US travellers to China, which remains relatively low compared to pre-pandemic levels and is further constrained by the ongoing visa requirement. Ivan Su, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said the initial impact may be limited in terms of overall benefit for Tencent given those volumes.

The competitive dynamic between WeChat Pay and Alipay adds another dimension. As fintech platforms globally expand into cross-border payments, both Chinese platforms are racing to be the preferred gateway for foreign visitors. Alipay has its own international partnerships and has been more aggressive in marketing to tourists through in-app translation features and curated city guides. Alibaba’s broader technology ambitions give Alipay a parent company with deep resources to invest in cross-border payment infrastructure.

For Tencent, the PayPal deal is less about immediate revenue and more about positioning WeChat Pay as the default payment rail for international visitors. Chinese platform companies are navigating a regulatory environment that encourages international engagement while maintaining domestic control over data and financial flows. Connecting PayPal to WeChat Pay’s merchant network threads that needle, giving foreign users access to the payment infrastructure without giving them direct access to the underlying Chinese financial system.