AI Agents AI News & Updates

Microsoft Adopts Google's Agent2Agent Protocol for AI Communication

Microsoft has announced support for Google's Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol in its Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio platforms. The A2A protocol enables AI agents from different providers to communicate and collaborate across clouds, apps, and services, allowing developers to build complex multi-agent workflows while maintaining governance standards.

Hugging Face Releases Open Source Computer-Using AI Agent

Hugging Face has released Open Computer Agent, a freely available cloud-hosted AI agent that can operate a Linux virtual machine with preinstalled applications including Firefox. The agent can handle simple tasks like web searches but struggles with more complex operations and CAPTCHA tests, demonstrating both the progress and limitations of current open-source agentic systems.

Relevance AI Secures $24M Funding to Develop AI Agent Operating System

Relevance AI has raised $24 million in Series B funding to enhance its AI agent operating system platform, which helps businesses build teams of specialized AI agents. The company reports rapid growth with 40,000 AI agents registered in January 2025 alone and is expanding with new features called "Workforce" and "Invent" for building collaborative agent teams.

Databricks and Anthropic CEOs to Discuss Collaboration on Domain-Specific AI Agents

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are hosting a virtual fireside chat to discuss their collaboration on advancing domain-specific AI agents. The event will include three additional sessions exploring this partnership between two major AI industry players.

AI Startup 'Mechanize' Aims to Automate All Human Labor

Tamay Besiroglu, a prominent AI researcher and founder of the research organization Epoch, has launched a controversial startup called Mechanize that aims to fully automate all work in the economy. The startup is primarily focusing on white-collar jobs initially and has secured backing from notable tech figures, though it has drawn criticism for both its mission and potential conflicts with Besiroglu's research institute.

Google Adopts Anthropic's Model Context Protocol for AI Data Connectivity

Google has announced it will support Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) in its Gemini models and SDK, following OpenAI's similar adoption. MCP enables two-way connections between AI models and external data sources, allowing models to access and interact with business tools, software, and content repositories to complete tasks.

Microsoft Enhances Copilot with Web Browsing, Action Capabilities, and Improved Memory

Microsoft has significantly upgraded its Copilot AI assistant with new capabilities including performing actions on websites, remembering user preferences, analyzing real-time video, and creating podcast-like content summaries. These features, similar to those offered by competitors like OpenAI's Operator and Google's Gemini, allow Copilot to complete tasks such as booking tickets and reservations across partner websites.

Cognition Introduces Affordable Pay-as-you-go Plan for Devin AI Coding Assistant

Cognition has launched a new entry-level pricing plan for its autonomous coding tool Devin, starting at $20 with a pay-as-you-go structure after initial credits are used. The company claims Devin 2.0 is significantly improved from its December release, now featuring project planning capabilities and better documentation features, though independent evaluations suggest it still struggles with complex coding tasks.

Browser Use Raises $17M to Help AI Agents Navigate Websites More Effectively

Browser Use, a startup making websites more accessible to AI agents, has secured $17 million in seed funding led by Felicis. The company's technology breaks down website elements into a text-like format that AI agents can better understand, enabling more reliable automation of web-based tasks without relying on vision-based systems that frequently break.

Arcade Raises $12M to Solve AI Agent Authentication and Tool-Calling Challenges

Arcade, an AI agent infrastructure startup, has raised $12 million from Laude Ventures to address fundamental challenges with AI agent functionality. The company, founded by former Okta executive Alex Salazar and Redis engineer Sam Partee, pivoted from building AI agents to developing a tool-calling platform that enables agents to securely access data and services through OAuth integration.