The latest:

A small group of exchange traded funds that hand research and stock selection entirely to artificial intelligence models are outperforming the S&P 500 in their first months of trading, Reuters reported. Fewer than half a dozen such funds exist, managing roughly $30 million against an ETF industry holding close to $17 trillion. Their managers argue performance will eventually pull in investors.

Details:

• The scale: Fewer than six ETFs currently rely solely on AI bots to control everything from research to stock selection, according to Reuters. Their combined assets of about $30 million represent a fraction of a percent of the roughly $17 trillion managed across the wider ETF industry.
• The pitch: Tal Schwartz, founder and CEO of Ai Funds, said investors have until now chosen between owning an index passively or paying a human to pick stocks, and he wants a third option in which AI does all of it. He said machines process more data faster and strip out human emotion and cognitive bias.
• The returns: Schwartz’s High Conviction US Equity AI-Managed ETF has gained 2.7% since its August 21 launch, against 1.1% for the S&P 500 over the same stretch, according to Reuters. The fund has drawn under $20 million in assets, per data from ETF.com.
• The outliers: Two funds launched in February by Israeli asset manager FinQ have far outpaced the S&P 500’s 11.0% gain since then. Its dollar-neutral US Large-Cap AI-managed ETF is up 25.35%, while the unhedged version has risen 23.98% since inception.
• The newcomers: The Pacer S&P 500 3AI Top 100 ETF and the Pacer S&P World 3AI Top 100 ETF are up 10.34% and 10.33% respectively since launching in early May, compared with a 5.8% gain for the S&P 500 across that period.
• The skeptics: Jeff Judge, a financial adviser at Chesapeake Financial Planners in Maryland, said advisers are comfortable with AI that informs a decision and uneasy with AI that makes it, adding that his clients are not asking for these products. Advisers and analysts cited short track records and above-average fees as limits on demand.
• The stress test: Todd Sohn, ETF analyst at Strategas, said proof the approach works will come down to which managers can thoughtfully handle risk and survive a falling market. None of the fully AI-run funds cited has yet traded through a sustained downturn.
• The milder version: AI-enhanced ETFs, which use the technology for quantitative analysis, stock screening or risk monitoring rather than final decisions, are the more common industry approach, insiders told Reuters.
• Pictet’s record: David Wright, head of quantitative investments at Pictet Asset Management in Geneva, said the firm has trained models using AI for seven or eight years and run live capital with them for about four. Its AI Enhanced US Equity ETF, launched in February, has gathered $163 million and gained 14.8% against 11.4% for the S&P 500.
• The wider adoption: A Mercer survey earlier this year found 91% of asset managers planned to expand their use of AI-based portfolio management tools during the year, with firms still working out which tasks can safely be handed to machines.

Between the lines:

The asset gap tells the real story: Pictet’s AI-assisted fund alone holds more than five times the combined assets of every fully autonomous AI fund cited. Investors are buying AI as an input, not as a decision-maker. Sohn’s point sharpens that — every return figure here was earned in a rising market, and none of these models has been tested by a falling one.

What’s next

Watch whether the FinQ and Pacer funds hold their leads through a market decline, and whether asset inflows follow the performance claims. Mercer’s next survey of asset manager AI adoption is the other signal.

The post AI-run stock funds beat the market but hold just $30 million appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Five new stadiums proposed for the 2034 men’s World Cup are set to be scrapped, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund preparing to tell organizers it will narrow its focus to three new venues, people familiar with the matter said. The revised plan, still being finalized before submission to FIFA, would leave the kingdom with 10 stadiums for the tournament instead of 15.

Details:

• The venues dropped: PIF is looking to abandon stadium plans at King Abdullah Economic City and Qiddiya Coast, both near Jeddah; Roshn and New Murabba in Riyadh; and NEOM in the northwest, the people said. Several are attached to broader property developments that have been halted or slowed.
• The NEOM stadium: Reuters earlier reported the cancellation of the NEOM venue, designed to sit on the roof of The Line, a 500-meter-tall skyscraper. Work on The Line has effectively ground to a halt, and NEOM has not allocated funding for the project until after at least 2030, according to earlier Semafor reporting.
• Qiddiya Coast: The kingdom had proposed a 45,000-seat stadium at Qiddiya Coast, a planned entertainment and tourism destination north of Jeddah. That development has also been put on hold, the people said.
• New Murabba: Another 45,000-capacity stadium in Riyadh’s New Murabba district is also set to be dropped. Work on the wider development slowed after the departure of Chief Executive Michael Dyke and the suspension of its centerpiece, a 400-meter-tall cube-shaped skyscraper with screens lining its interior.
• Still proceeding: Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead with other new stadiums, including one in Dhahran being developed by Saudi Aramco, plus the King Salman International Stadium and the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium in Riyadh, the people said.
• The new math: The cuts could leave the kingdom building just six new stadiums and refurbishing four existing ones for 2034. Saudi officials are still working on the updated proposals, and the plans could change, the people said.
• The 2027 test: Four of the stadiums earmarked for 2034 are also due to host matches at the 2027 Asian Cup, which starts in January, making it the first live test of the kingdom’s revised venue lineup.
• Security risk: The outlook for the Asian Cup going ahead in Saudi Arabia has been thrown into doubt by the kingdom’s involvement in the war in Yemen against Houthi militias. The group has launched multiple attacks on Saudi cities in recent weeks, shutting the capital’s airport and killing at least 18 people.
• No comment: PIF and the Saudi Ministry of Sport did not respond to requests for comment on the revised plan.

Background:

Qatar made a similar retreat before 2022, dropping four of the stadiums it had originally planned to build as the tournament drew closer. World Cup hosts routinely trim venue lists between bid and kickoff.

Between the lines:

The stadium cuts track the fate of the megaprojects they sit inside: The Line is stalled and unfunded until at least 2030, Qiddiya Coast is on hold, and New Murabba’s centerpiece tower is suspended. The venues surviving the cut — Dhahran, King Salman International, Prince Mohammed bin Salman — are standalone builds rather than showpieces of unfinished cities.

What’s next

Watch for the revised plan Saudi Arabia submits to FIFA and any confirmation of the final venue list. The 2027 Asian Cup kicks off in January, the first competition staged at four of the 2034 stadiums.

The post Saudi fund set to drop five 2034 World Cup stadiums appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

More than 100 files described as highly confidential, covering at least one unreleased OpenAI device in development, were sent by a departing employee before he returned to Apple, OpenAI claimed in a legal filing Wednesday. Apple said it found no evidence supporting the allegations. The filing escalates a trade secret case Apple opened in July against its AI rival.

Details:

• The allegation: OpenAI’s filing claims the former employee sent himself more than 100 files it describes as highly confidential, concerning at least one unreleased device under development. OpenAI does not name the person, though it refers to him using a male possessive adjective.
• What was taken: The material included engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information and project files, according to the filing. OpenAI alleges some files were sent just after midnight on June 2, the employee’s final day of a six-month stint before he returned to Apple, where he had worked previously.
• The Apple briefing: OpenAI further alleges the former employee delivered a presentation on OpenAI’s product plans to Apple leadership, including a vice president of operations in Asia. The filing does not identify that executive by name.
• The causation claim: OpenAI alleges Apple used the information to advance its push into AI-enabled products, pointing to the smart home devices Apple announced Tuesday. Apple products typically take years to develop, and it is not established how recently received information would have shaped the new HomeView smart hub, which resembles an Apple Watch on a stand.
• Apple’s response: Apple said it had found no evidence supporting the new allegations, and that OpenAI had not answered its request for further information to assist its own investigation. Apple said the claims are an attempt to shift attention away from evidence that OpenAI took Apple’s confidential material.
• The original case: Apple filed the underlying suit in July, alleging its own confidential information was carried out by employees who left for OpenAI. OpenAI’s Wednesday filing is a counterpunch within that proceeding rather than a separate action.
• The talent flow: OpenAI has hired hundreds of Apple employees to support its hardware ambitions, and hopes to build AI-driven devices capable of competing with the iPhone. The June departure described in the filing ran in the opposite direction, back toward Apple.
• The Siri factor: Apple’s latest iPhone software update shipped a rebuilt Siri that more closely resembles a modern chatbot. It still trails rivals, leaving room for companies pairing advanced AI with their own hardware.
• Disclosure: News Corp, parent of The Wall Street Journal, holds a content deal with OpenAI and a commercial agreement supplying news through Apple services.

Background:

The two companies signed a deal in 2024 to connect ChatGPT with Apple’s Siri assistant. That partnership has deteriorated as OpenAI moved toward building its own consumer devices, turning a supplier relationship into a direct contest over hardware and talent.

Between the lines:

Each side now accuses the other of taking confidential material, and both accusations sit inside the same case. The timing argument is the weakest link in OpenAI’s version: Apple’s hardware cycles run years, so information allegedly passed in June would struggle to explain devices unveiled this week. Apple’s counter-framing, that the filing is a diversion, targets exactly that gap.

What’s next

Watch for Apple’s formal response in the July case, any court move to compel identification of the unnamed ex-employee, and whether OpenAI supplies the information Apple says it requested for its internal investigation.

The post OpenAI claims ex-employee sent 100 secret device files to Apple appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Medical researchers used a Meta-built AI coding scaffold to conduct original health research over four weeks, the company said in a post dated October 14, 2026. The scaffold combined Muse Spark 1.3 and Muse Wonder, and had access to a licensed retrospective database of 5 million de-identified electronic health records. Meta described the exercise as an initial exploration rather than a finished method.

Details:

• The system: Meta said it built an internal coding scaffold powered by a combination of two models, Muse Spark 1.3 and Muse Wonder. The scaffold could query publicly available data alongside a licensed retrospective database. Meta did not name the provider of that licensed database.
• The data: The retrospective database holds 5 million de-identified electronic health records, according to Meta. Records of that type are historical rather than collected for the study, meaning researchers worked with data generated in routine clinical care rather than in a trial designed around their questions.
• The researchers: Meta said it recruited a cohort of medical researchers with backgrounds in cardiology, epidemiology, infectious disease and internal medicine. The company did not disclose how many researchers took part, which institutions they came from, or how they were compensated.
• The workflow: Researchers used the scaffold to brainstorm hypotheses, write and execute all code, and collaborate with the model on drafting manuscripts, Meta said. That spans effectively every stage of a study, from framing a question through to writing it up for publication.
• The timeline: The whole cycle of original research ran over the course of just four weeks, by Meta’s account. The company did not say how many studies were produced, whether any have been submitted to journals, or whether they have undergone peer review.
• The guardrail: Meta described the setup as a human-led AI system in which AI accelerates each stage while domain experts remain responsible for the scientific decisions and conclusions. The framing places accountability for findings with the researchers rather than the models.
• The caveat: Meta said health research depends on imperfect real-world data and on consequential choices about cohorts, variables, methods and interpretation. The company added that understanding of how to use AI to accelerate health science research is still relatively early.
• The rationale: Meta said it is building artificial intelligence in part to accelerate scientific research, and singled out health science because progress there changes lives through earlier diagnosis, personalized treatments and more affordable care.
• The method: Beyond the studies themselves, participants developed a shared framework and set of skills for steering the model at each stage of the work, Meta said. The company did not publish that framework or detail what steering techniques it covers.

Between the lines:

The emphasis on human responsibility sits directly against the risk Meta itself names: in a field built on imperfect records and judgment calls about cohorts and variables, a model that writes all the code and helps draft the manuscript narrows where human oversight actually bites. The four-week figure is a speed claim, not a quality claim, and Meta stops short of asserting the output meets publication standards.

What’s next

Whether any of the four-week studies are submitted to journals, clear peer review, or are published with the underlying code and cohort definitions — and whether Meta releases the steering framework the researchers built.

:

The post Meta says AI scaffold let doctors produce original health research in four weeks appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

The White House briefing room reopened Tuesday under a new voice, and it closed again 14 minutes later. Katie Zacharia, a former Newsmax commentator, took questions from three outlets in her first appearance as press secretary before directing reporters to put their questions to President Donald Trump directly. She made one piece of news: Trump had asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign, and she did.

Details:

• The news made: Zacharia announced the White House had asked Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, to quit, and that she complied immediately. The Associated Press reported the request followed reports of improper conduct. No further detail on the circumstances was given from the podium.
• Who got called on: The three outlets recognized were Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail, all friendly to Trump to varying degrees across his two terms. Zacharia answered one additional question as she prepared to leave the room. The questions she took were nonconfrontational.
• The opening monologue: Most of her prepared remarks praised Trump and recapped second-term priorities, according to AP. Talking points included a booming economy, a historic boom in energy production and a great relationship with Venezuela. She also said Trump is working to secure the Western Hemisphere for centuries to come.
• Her stated mission: Zacharia described the job as amplifying, multiplying and expanding on Trump’s agenda for the American people, continuing what she had been doing before joining the administration. AP noted she did not mention disseminating accurate information to Americans as part of the role.
• The performance: AP reported she looked downward and often read directly from a script, paused and grinned at the words Department of War, stumbled on a question about her background, and mixed up the words husband and president.
• Trump’s verdict: Speaking to reporters outside the White House shortly after the briefing, with Zacharia standing behind him, Trump called the debut “excellent.” He routinely acts as his own spokesman, often commandeering the news cycle several times a day.
• The criticism: MS NOW quoted an unnamed White House official saying she needs to improve fast or she will break Anthony Scaramucci’s record; Scaramucci lasted 11 days as communications director in 2017. He posted on X that he hoped she makes it. Jen Psaki, Joe Biden’s former press secretary, likened the briefing to a sketch comedy skit.
• Access fight: Zacharia said she would keep her predecessor’s policy of bringing in new media, which AP noted has often meant outlets more sympathetic to Trump. CNN, MS NOW and Politico are fighting to regain White House access after Trump banished them last month over coverage he called fake news.
• The predecessor: Karoline Leavitt held the job for 17 months before resigning in August. She took a smiling but combative stance toward reporters, was named in at least one lawsuit over White House media access, and once told a reporter his was a stupid question.

Background:

The press secretary post dates to 1929, when former journalist George E. Akerson served Herbert Hoover. Across nearly 10 decades the role has shifted between delivering information, amplifying policy, sparring with reporters and protecting the president’s reputation, depending on the occupant.

Between the lines:

The structure of the debut answers the question of who the audience is. Three friendly questioners, a scripted monologue built on superlatives, and a stated mission of amplifying the president’s agenda point to an approach aimed at one viewer rather than the room. AP frames the deference to Trump as the defining feature: with the president serving as his own most frequent spokesman, the podium’s informational value shrinks by design.

What’s next

Watch whether Zacharia extends future briefings and widens the pool of questioners, whether CNN, MS NOW and Politico regain White House access, and whether the Greece posting is filled after Guilfoyle’s departure.

The post New Trump press secretary ends first briefing after 14 minutes appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Roughly 8 percent of Google search results pages seen by automated tools are being deliberately altered, according to a new report from SERP monitoring firm Nozzle. The firm said it found more than 660,000 keywords tied to manipulated pages, and argued the distortion appears aimed at AI scrapers rather than at the rank-tracking services that are picking it up anyway.

Details:

• The numbers: Nozzle said it analyzed 27.5 million search engine results pages and found more than 660,000 keywords associated with manipulated results. It put the overall share of affected pages at approximately 8 percent, and said the altered results showed up in both desktop and mobile versions of Google Search.
• What a poisoned page looks like: According to Nozzle, an altered results page looks much like a normal one at first glance. The difference is in the links: results that would usually rank well are replaced with less relevant or less accurate entries, frequently pulled from social media platforms rather than the sites that would ordinarily appear.
• The stated target: Nozzle’s reading is that the distortion is aimed at third-party AI bots that harvest Google’s search data. Those bots can feed rival AI services or be used to reverse-engineer how Google ranks pages, and degraded data would lower the value of everything they collect.
• Who gets hit instead: The report argued that legitimate rank trackers and other SEO tools are caught in the crossfire. Nozzle said Google has little apparent reason to feed misleading data specifically to these services, which exist to measure rankings rather than to rebuild the algorithm behind them.
• The business exposure: Companies pay providers such as Nozzle to watch results pages and track how their sites rank for targeted keywords. If a meaningful share of those pages is manipulated, the rankings being reported back to paying clients do not match what ordinary users see.
• The source of the claim: Nozzle is itself a SERP monitoring firm, meaning the company making the allegation is also among the businesses it says are harmed by the practice. The report is based on its own monitoring data rather than on any disclosure from Google.
• Google’s position: The company has been working against third-party scrapers for some time. It has not set out publicly how it distinguishes AI harvesting bots from commercial rank-tracking tools, nor has it named which queries or categories are affected.

Background:

Search engine results pages are what Google returns for a given query. An entire industry of SEO and rank-tracking firms is built on reading those pages automatically, at scale, to tell clients where their websites stand against competitors.

Between the lines:

The core tension sits in Nozzle’s own framing: the same automated access that lets AI bots harvest Google’s data at scale is the access rank trackers depend on. A defense built on degrading what machines see cannot easily tell a scraper from a paying SEO client, which is why Nozzle describes legitimate tools as collateral damage rather than as targets.

What’s next

Watch for a response from Google, for other SERP monitoring firms to publish their own measurements, and for whether the 8 percent share Nozzle reported rises or falls in subsequent monitoring periods.

The post Google feeds fake search results to rank trackers, AI bots appeared first on Ontime+.

The United States has advised Saudi Arabia not to deploy ground troops to Yemen for as long as the American-Iranian war continues, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The Trump administration is still supplying intelligence, targeting data and refueling, but has stayed out of offensive operations against the Houthis. The disagreement extends beyond aid volume to the military options open to Riyadh.

Details:

• The casualties: Houthi attacks have killed at least 18 people and forced the closure of the kingdom’s main airport, with hundreds of flights suspended, according to Bloomberg. Schools shifted to remote learning and firms in Riyadh’s financial district moved staff online, less than two weeks before the Future Investment Initiative conference convenes.
• The Trump call: Trump spoke with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday after the Riyadh airport attack that killed an American citizen, but offered no pledge to strike the Houthis, Bloomberg reported. He has declined to commit to strikes despite Riyadh’s requests, then issued a warning to the group on social media Tuesday.
• The oil accusation: Trump accused the Houthis of deliberately driving up oil prices at Iran’s direction ahead of the US midterm elections set for 3 November. He reminded the group of the heavy American bombardment it absorbed a year earlier, saying he would return to the file after the vote.
• Riyadh’s calculation: Saudi Arabia shows little appetite for returning to talks with the Houthis and believes it must inflict military punishment first, according to sources familiar with official thinking. Leaders fear negotiating from weakness would convince the group it can dictate terms and widen its gains.
• The Houthi timing: The group chose this moment to escalate in order to maximize the leverage it and Tehran hold in negotiations to end the American-Iranian war, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
• The relationship test: Mohammed bin Salman has sought direct military backing from Trump without securing a commitment, Bloomberg reported. The crown prince spent years cultivating the president and in November raised pledged Saudi investment in the United States to 1 trillion dollars alongside a defense agreement, which has not translated into American participation in the new Yemen war.
• European response: Britain provided an aerial refueling aircraft and France pledged military personnel, radars and air defense systems to protect the Yanbu oil terminal. Saudi requests for additional British defensive assistance have gone unapproved, according to sources familiar with the matter.
• Gulf distance: Other Gulf states have limited themselves to political solidarity rather than joining the war, Bloomberg reported, linking that to Saudi-Emirati differences over Yemen and Sudan and to the region’s continuing recovery from Iranian attacks on their own territory.
• Two fronts: Saudi defenses now face threats from the Houthis in Yemen and Iran-backed factions in Iraq, sources said, straining interception systems and air coverage across a country packed with airports, cities and critical oil facilities.
• The economics: The government now expects the economy to contract 3.6% this year, against pre-war estimates of close to 5% growth. Ziad Daoud, Bloomberg’s chief emerging-markets economist, said Saudi Arabia had already shifted from capital exporter to an economy that needs to import financing, and an escalating war could raise its cost.

Background:

Mohammed bin Salman launched the campaign against the Houthis roughly a decade ago and has been Saudi Arabia’s effective ruler since 2017. Bloomberg describes the current situation as among the largest crises he has faced in that period.

Between the lines:

Bloomberg’s reporting frames an alliance that has not converted into combat support: the trillion-dollar investment pledge and the defense agreement produced intelligence and refueling, not strikes. Barbara Leaf, former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, warned that expanding Saudi offensive operations could prompt the Houthis to widen their own campaign, raising risks to facilities and cities inside the kingdom.

What’s next

The Future Investment Initiative conference opens in under two weeks, a test of investor appetite with the airport closed. Trump has tied any renewed action against the Houthis to the period after the 3 November midterm elections.

The post MBS in Crisis as Houthis Strike Saudi Arabia and Allies Stand Aside appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

Zayed National Museum will open its inaugural temporary exhibition, Tracks Through Time: The Camel in Society, Trade and Art, in early December 2026, the museum announced through WAM. The museum describes it as the world’s first exhibition to comprehensively explore more than 7,000 years of camel history, tracing the animal’s place in the society, trade networks and creative cultures of the UAE and the wider region.

Details:

• The scope: According to the museum, the exhibition follows the camel from the earliest evidence of wild herds on Emirati land through to living traditions still practised today, covering domestication, camel-human bonds and daily life, and ending with Al Hejin camel racing and Mazayna beauty competitions.
• The oldest finds: Wild camel bones excavated at the Baynunah archaeological site in Abu Dhabi, dating to the Neolithic Period between 4,500 and 4,000 BCE, are on loan from Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, the museum said.
• A first for the public: Remains from Al Sufouh in Dubai, dating to the Bronze Age between 2,000 and 1,300 BCE, are loaned from Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The museum said this is the first time detailed evidence of the now-extinct wild camel species will be shown publicly.
• Domestication evidence: Domesticated camel bones from the Saruq Al Hadid site in Dubai, dating to the Iron Age between 2,600 and 550 BCE, also come from Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The museum said these remains offer some of the earliest evidence worldwide for the taming and rearing of camels.
• The director: Peter Magee, Director of Zayed National Museum, said the exhibition reflects a mission to “deepen understanding of the UAE through original research and meaningful public engagement,” and described it as grounded in the latest scientific research and built through collaboration.
• Object highlights: Displays include a rare children’s book from the 1840s detailing camel species and their uses, rock art from Fujairah depicting camels some 3,000 years ago, and representations of camels on UAE postage stamps across the years.
• Sound and film: Audiovisual sections will carry rare archival photography and film footage alongside recordings of Taghrooda and Alheda’a, or camel calling, oral traditions inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, plus oral testimonies from camel herders and community members.
• Around the show: A public programme of workshops, activities, tours and family sessions will run alongside the exhibition, together with a standalone retail offering inspired by its themes. The museum did not give an exact opening date, a closing date, or ticket details.

Background:

Zayed National Museum is the UAE’s national museum project in Abu Dhabi, built around the story of the country and its founder. Tracks Through Time is its first temporary exhibition, following the permanent galleries that define the institution’s core narrative.

Between the lines:

The loan list is as notable as the objects: material from Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi and Dubai Culture and Arts Authority placed in one show points to cross-emirate institutional cooperation. The arc the museum describes, running from Neolithic wild camel bones to Mazayna beauty competitions, frames archaeology and present-day camel culture as a single continuous story rather than separate subjects.

What’s next

The opening in early December 2026 is the next marker, along with the museum’s release of a precise date, ticketing arrangements and the schedule for the accompanying workshops, tours and family programme.

The post Zayed National Museum Explores 7,000 Years of Camel History appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

An AI system that feeds surgeons video from past robotic operations while they operate won first prize at the Robotic Urology Breakthrough Innovation Challenge, held at ERUS26, described as Europe’s largest robotic urology meeting. The system, Janus AI, was built by a team led by researchers from the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, working with two partner universities.

Details:

• How it works: According to MBZUAI, Janus AI is a video-to-video retrieval system. It takes footage captured live in the operating room and matches it against a library of 30-second clips drawn from similar surgeries, putting reference material from earlier procedures in front of the surgeon as the operation is underway.
• The speed question: Features from every clip in the library are precomputed and stored in advance, so only the clip from the ongoing surgery has to be processed live. The similarity search runs in RAM and typically takes milliseconds, according to the university, which is what makes real-time use possible.
• The technical method: Each library clip is represented by features extracted using a neural network, MBZUAI said. Operating-room video is then matched to the library through an exact similarity search across those representations, rather than an approximate one.
• Beyond the clip: Surgeons are not limited to the matched 30-second segment. They can keep watching the full-length reference video to see how the rest of a comparable procedure played out, according to the university.
• The teaching case: The researchers say Janus AI could serve as an educational tool for residents and less experienced surgeons. Cesare Stefanini, Professor of Robotics at MBZUAI, who supervised the work, framed the value in curation: “For a junior surgeon, this is gold.”
• Who built it: The project is a collaboration between MBZUAI, the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Turin. Edoardo Fazzari, a postdoctoral researcher at MBZUAI, was the main contributor, under Stefanini’s supervision.
• The clinical partners: The team also included Simone Crivellaro, Luca Morgantini and Chiara Gumiero from the Department of Urology at the University of Illinois Chicago, alongside Alberto Vignola of the University of Turin’s Medical School, according to MBZUAI.
• What comes next: Future work will expand the video library with hundreds of additional surgical videos, bring graduate students into development and validation, and move toward clinical translation. MBZUAI did not set a timeline for clinical deployment or name the hospitals where it would be trialed.

Background:

MBZUAI is Abu Dhabi’s graduate university dedicated to artificial intelligence. ERUS is the robotic urology section meeting of the European Association of Urology, and RUBIC is the innovation competition run alongside it.

Between the lines:

The design choice carries the argument. By precomputing library features and keeping the search in RAM, the team traded storage and preparation for latency — the one variable that decides whether a tool is usable mid-operation or not. That, plus Stefanini’s point about restricting the library to the best procedures, suggests the value proposition is curation and timing rather than diagnosis, which is a lower regulatory bar to clear.

What’s next

Watch for the expanded video library, the validation work involving graduate students, and any move from competition prize to a clinical setting — the step MBZUAI has named but not dated.

The post Abu Dhabi AI system wins European prize for guiding robotic surgeons appeared first on Ontime+.

The latest:

The Oppenheim Group, the brokerage behind Netflix’s Selling Sunset, opened its first office outside North America in Dubai last month, staffing it with 20 brokers and reporting listings worth more than Dh350mn ($95.3mn) within a week. President Jason Oppenheim told the Financial Times he expects Dubai to become the group’s highest-volume office within a couple of years.

Details:

• The timing: The launch was announced roughly two months before US and Israeli attacks on Iran triggered retaliatory strikes on Dubai on February 28, according to the Financial Times. A campaign was ready and several million dollars already spent. Managing partner Omar Abaza said the group never considered pausing.
• The correction: Residential sales registrations fell 21% in March from the previous month, per Dubai Land Department, and by September monthly transactions remained 36% below January. Average values dropped from Dh3.801mn ($1.03mn) in January to Dh2.09mn ($560,000) in June, recovering to Dh2.26mn ($610,000) by September.
• The Los Angeles math: Oppenheim said he kept returning to $5.4mn, the threshold where Los Angeles’s Measure ULA mansion tax applies. In the first eight months of 2026, 233 Los Angeles single-family homes sold above that line, against 1,314 Dubai residential sales above Dh20mn ($5.45mn) over the same period.
• The narrower gap: Property Monitor analysis of Dubai Land Department registrations shows sales at Dh20mn or more fell 32% across July and August versus 2025, from 292 to 199. Those 199 still outnumbered the 136 Los Angeles transactions of any kind subject to the mansion tax in the same 2026 months.
• The developer’s view: Hamed Ghavidel, founder and chief executive of Mercury Projects, said the conflict accelerated a correction already under way and acted as a stress test of Dubai’s safety reputation. He said expectations of a 2009-style nosedive did not materialise, which he argued has itself reassured investors.
• The skepticism: Ghavidel questioned whether the group can capture the opportunity, arguing Dubai needs better brokers rather than more. He said he has worked with high-profile agents who filmed properties, promised fast sales, and then brought nobody through the door. He remains open to granting a mandate.
• The agency view: Andrew Cummings, head of residential agency for the Middle East at Savills, noted transactions are down from a record base: Savills logged more than 200,000 residential sales in 2025, up 18% and a third straight annual record. He put the decline in new off-plan deals at close to 70-80%.
• The local market: Architect Farid Noufaily, who has designed homes for Emirati clients for more than a decade, said the quality an international broker most often misreads is “discretion”. He said one or two well-connected players can suffice, but dealings must happen owner to owner.
• The pitch: Abaza said the group will run educational rather than sales campaigns, explaining Dubai’s trajectory over the next 10 to 30 years. His blunter argument is tax: he said nowhere in the world beats the emirate for paying little or none. Oppenheim stayed noncommittal on a Dubai-set series.

Background:

The Oppenheim Group keeps a deliberately small footprint, with roughly 130 agents across three Southern California offices and a smaller operation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Jason Oppenheim said he skipped Nashville, Austin and Miami during their booms. Abaza, an Egyptian-American, spent 22 years in the US and once worked as an agent at the firm.

Between the lines:

The brokerage’s case rests on reach rather than local depth: a global marketing platform aimed at overseas buyers who already know the name. That maps onto Dubai’s internationally oriented segment, not the Emirati one where Abaza concedes relationships are long established. Ghavidel’s test of whether an agent delivers buyers, not listings, is where the Netflix premium stops working.

What’s next

Watch whether Dubai Land Department registrations keep recovering from September levels, whether off-plan deal volumes stabilise, and whether the Oppenheim Group converts its Dh350mn listing book into closed sales or secures a Mercury Projects mandate.

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