Artificial Intelligence News for the Week of January 16; Updates from Camunda, IBM, Nutanix & More
Solutions Review Executive Editor Tim King curated this list of notable artificial intelligence news for the week of January 16, 2026.
Keeping tabs on all the most relevant artificial intelligence news can be a time-consuming task. As a result, our editorial team aims to provide a summary of the top headlines from the last week in this space. Solutions Review editors will curate vendor product news, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital funding, talent acquisition, and other noteworthy artificial intelligence news items.
For early access to all the expert insights published on Solutions Review, join Insight Jam, a community dedicated to enabling the human conversation on AI.
Artificial Intelligence News for the Week of January 16, 2026
Algolia Collaborates With Microsoft to Drive Real‑Time Product Data to AI Shopping Experiences
Algolia is partnering with Microsoft to stream real‑time enriched product attributes—such as price, inventory, and detailed descriptions—into Copilot, Bing Shopping, and Edge so retailers can control how their products appear in AI‑driven discovery surfaces. The integration aims to prevent out‑of‑stock or stale offers from being shown, improve brand storytelling in conversational shopping, and generate insights that feed merchandising and retail media strategies.
Cast AI Becomes Unicorn on the Back of Cloud Cost Optimization for Kubernetes and AI
Cast AI reached a unicorn valuation after a new funding round, driven by demand for automated cloud cost optimization for Kubernetes and AI workloads. Its platform continuously right‑sizes clusters, picks cheaper instances, and schedules jobs to minimize spend while maintaining performance SLAs.
New Clari Labs Research Reveals 87% of Enterprises Missed Revenue Targets in 2025 Despite Record AI Investment
Clari Labs found that 87% of surveyed enterprises missed at least one major revenue target in 2025, even as they poured money into AI tools meant to improve forecasting and execution. The research suggests that fragmented data, siloed systems, and poor pipeline visibility are preventing AI from closing the “revenue precision gap,” prompting Clari to advocate for unified revenue platforms instead of disconnected point solutions.
Camunda: Three Quarters of Organizations Admit Gap Between Agentic AI Vision and Reality
Camunda’s 2026 State of Agentic Orchestration and Automation report finds that 73% of organizations see a gap between their agentic AI vision and current reality, even though 71% say they are already using AI agents. Only 11% of agentic AI use cases reached production in the past year, with 84% worried about business risk when IT lacks proper controls, 80% concerned about transparency, and 66% citing compliance issues—leaving most agents as siloed chatbots or assistants rather than mission‑critical process participants.
Cognizant Report Finds AI Can Unlock $4.5 Trillion in U.S. Labor Productivity
Cognizant’s “New Work, New World 2026” report estimates that AI could unlock up to 4.5 trillion dollars in additional U.S. labor productivity annually if broadly adopted. The study stresses that realizing this value requires large‑scale reskilling, new work designs, and responsible change management to avoid deepening inequality and worker resistance.
Concentric AI Introduces Private Scan to Protect Sensitive Data in Private AI Applications
Concentric AI launched Private Scan, a tool that scans prompts, responses, and embeddings in private AI applications to detect and control exposure of sensitive data such as PII, PHI, secrets, and regulated content. It works with vector databases and RAG pipelines to give security teams visibility into what data AI systems are accessing and sharing, enabling policies that curb data leakage while preserving AI utility.
Read on for more.
Deepgram Raises New Funding to Advance Voice AI for Real‑Time Applications
Deepgram secured additional funding (including from strategic investors like NVIDIA) to expand its end‑to‑end neural voice AI platform for real‑time transcription, understanding, and synthesis. The company is targeting use cases such as contact centers, in‑app voice, and AI agents, emphasizing low‑latency streaming APIs, custom models, and on‑prem or private‑cloud deployment options for regulated industries.
Forrester: AI‑Led Job Disruption Will Escalate, but Fears of a Job Apocalypse Are Overstated
Forrester’s latest forecast says AI will significantly disrupt roles and tasks, particularly in white‑collar work, but will not trigger a near‑term total job collapse. The firm expects major reskilling, new AI‑adjacent roles, and growing pressure on employers and policymakers to manage transitions and inequality.
IBM Launches Cloud Platform Tuned to Digital Sovereignty Requirements
IBM unveiled a new digitally sovereign cloud platform that allows governments and regulated enterprises to meet strict data residency, access, and control requirements while running modern AI and cloud‑native workloads. The platform combines IBM Cloud, partner infrastructure, and governance tooling so customers can keep sensitive data within specific jurisdictions, control who can operate underlying infrastructure, and still adopt generative and agentic AI services.
Global Technology Demand Reaches Record High in Q4, Fueled by AI, ISG Index Finds
Information Services Group reported that global technology services and software ACV hit a record 34.3 billion dollars in Q4 2025, up 16% year over year and marking the sixth straight quarter of double‑digit growth. All of the quarterly growth came from cloud‑based XaaS, which rose 26% to 23.4 billion dollars (with IaaS up 32% and SaaS up 6%), while managed services ACV was essentially flat at 10.9 billion dollars and is forecast to grow only 2.1% in 2026 versus 20% for XaaS.
NIST Issues Request for Information on Securing AI Agent Systems
NIST’s new CAISI program issued an RFI seeking input on threats, safeguards, and evaluation methods for securing AI agent systems across sectors. Feedback will guide future standards and best practices for issues like agent identity, autonomy limits, oversight, and protection against prompt injection and data exfiltration.
Read on for more.
R Systems Launches GCC Copilot to Power the Next Generation of Global Capability Centers
R Systems introduced GCC Copilot, an AI‑assisted service and framework that helps mid‑market and large enterprises launch, scale, and optimize Global Capability Centers with a low‑risk, agile, “AI‑infused” roadmap. Built on two decades of GCC experience, GCC Copilot promises operations live within about 90 days, product‑mindset alignment, AI‑driven OKR and productivity tracking, and best‑in‑class digital teams that can cut costs by up to 30%, while R Systems expands its GCC footprint with a new Mexico delivery center and an enhanced Romania site to meet threefold growth in GCC demand.
Tasq AI and BLEND Merge to Build a Trust Layer for Global Enterprise AI
Tasq AI and BLEND announced a merger under the Tasq AI brand to create an end‑to‑end “Data Refinery” and human‑in‑the‑loop platform focused on closing the enterprise AI “trust gap.” The combined company, with tens of millions in revenue and around 120 staff, uses a multi‑layer model that routes high‑volume work to a global crowd and specialist tasks to 25,000+ vetted domain experts in 120+ languages, targeting safer, more accurate production AI for customers like Meta and PayPal.
Teradata Accelerates AI Innovation With More Than 150 Enterprise AI Engagements in 2025
Teradata reported completing more than 150 AI‑focused customer engagements in 2025 across sectors like financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and defense, using its autonomous AI + knowledge platform to operationalize AI at scale. Case studies include faster AML model deployment for banks, LLM‑powered analysis of 50,000+ weekly customer transcripts, R&D acceleration via vectorized design docs plus IoT data, AI‑assisted camouflage assessment for defense assets, and secure, large‑scale medical imaging pipelines.
Thomson Reuters Convenes Global AI Leaders to Advance Trust in the Age of Intelligent Systems
Thomson Reuters is hosting a global council of corporate, policy, and academic leaders to address trustworthy AI, focusing on governance, transparency, and human‑in‑the‑loop decision making for high‑stakes domains like law and tax. The group aims to produce practical frameworks and shared principles enterprises can adopt to balance rapid AI deployment with safety, compliance, and public trust.
Tines Introduces “AI in Tines,” the AI Interaction Layer Built for Real Work
Tines launched AI in Tines, a unified interaction layer that orchestrates AI agents, copilots, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) clients and servers through a single governed interface. The platform lets teams build MCP servers inside Tines, define exactly what tools AI can use, keep every AI action fully audited, and use human‑in‑the‑loop approvals so agentic workflows can scale without sacrificing security and control.
Tredence Unveils Agentic Commerce Solution Accelerators
Tredence launched Agentic Commerce accelerators, a “system of agents” that senses shopper intent and orchestrates personalized, mission‑based shopping journeys across channels. Built first on Google Cloud, the accelerators claim up to 60% faster time‑to‑value for retailers by providing configurable blueprints for agent‑driven experiences that go beyond traditional rules‑based personalization.
Zapier Survey Finds Workers Spend Major Time on Repetitive Tasks That Could Be Automated
A new Zapier survey reports that knowledge workers still devote a large share of their week to repetitive tasks such as data entry, manual updates, and copy‑and‑paste work that could be handled by automation. Employees express strong interest in AI‑powered automations to reclaim time for higher‑value activities, but many lack access to tools or guidance to implement them safely and at scale.
Expert Insights
Watch this space each week as our editors will share upcoming events, new thought leadership, and the best resources from Insight Jam, Solutions Review’s enterprise tech community where the human conversation around AI is happening. The goal? To help you gain a forward-thinking analysis and remain on-trend through expert advice, best practices, predictions, and vendor-neutral software evaluation tools.
Solutions Review Editors Launch New ‘Human-AI Ledger’ Newsletter to Chronicle the Human Impact of AI
Artificial intelligence is everywhere—but understanding its human impact has never been more urgent. That’s where Solutions Review‘s latest newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger, comes in. Designed to chronicle how AI is reshaping the way we learn, work, lead, and live, this newsletter explores the soft side of AI—the non-technical, deeply human dimensions that determine whether this technological revolution helps us thrive or leaves us behind.
Sign up now to get a weekly debrief of the latest human-centric news, insights, and commentary coming out of this emerging discussion.
Solutions Review is Getting Set to Host Impetus and Forrester Research for the Exclusive Session ‘The Next Generation of Observability in the Era of Agentic AI’ on January 28
In this fireside chat, an analyst-led discussion will explore how observability has evolved, whether today’s tools are ready for these new demands, and why observability is becoming essential in the agentic AI era. The session will also highlight how solutions like Impetus Prism help organizations bring observability and cost intelligence together as an enterprise capability.
Solutions Review is Getting Set to Host Promethium and BARC for the Exclusive Session ‘Break the Metadata Bottleneck to Drive Agentic AI and Contextual Insights’ on January 29
This webinar examines three structural challenges behind that bottleneck: distributed datasets, heterogeneous environments, and rising expectations for true self-service analytics. We then outline architectural principles that dynamically integrate data, metadata, and analytics to guide wide-ranging business decisions.
Solutions Review is Getting Set to Host Nutanix and Northeastern University for the Exclusive Session ‘Cloud-Native for the AI-Powered, Innovation-Ready Enterprise Masterclass’ on February 19
Join us for the Nutanix Cloud Native Masterclass, an exclusive event for C-level executives, where attendees will receive a Certificate of Completion from Northeastern University, recognizing their expertise in cloud native strategies. In this Masterclass we’ll explore how cloud native architecture is reshaping enterprise IT. Unlike traditional monolithic applications — which are slow to evolve, difficult to scale, and operationally complex — cloud native applications are composed of independent, loosely coupled components. Built on microservices, containers, Kubernetes, and API-driven design, they are optimized for dynamic, distributed environments.
Insight Jam LIVE! The Human Impact: Irreplaceable Skills in the AI Age
Our expert panel explores the durable skills that will remain irreplaceable: curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and the uniquely human ability to navigate context and relationships. The World Economic Forum’s top skills for 2030 reveal a surprising truth: six out of ten are fundamentally human capabilities.
Insight Jam LIVE! The Human Impact: The Emotional Side of AI Transformation No One Talks About
When someone who spent 20 years mastering a craft watches automation take over, it’s not just a job change. It’s an identity crisis. This panel explores how leaders can help teams navigate the emotional weight of AI-driven transformation, reframing roles from task-based to value-based and creating psychological safety for a journey no one has traveled before.
Insight Jam LIVE! The Human Impact: Why Human-in-the-Loop Matters for AI in Education
Certificates and completion rates mean nothing if they don’t change lives. Our expert panel explores how to use learning analytics ethically, moving beyond vanity metrics to measure real impact, balancing transparency with privacy, and keeping humans in the loop when AI systems are probabilistic by nature. The key question: are learners the product, or are we genuinely driving positive outcomes on their behalf?
Insight Jam LIVE! The Human Impact: Who’s Responsible for Lifelong Learning in the AI Era
This panel tackles the question head-on, revealing why leadership buy-in is the biggest bottleneck in AI adoption and how self-directed learning tools can empower anyone to take charge of their own growth. With skills becoming obsolete in as little as five years, the stakes for continuous learning have never been higher.
The Digital Analyst with John Santaferraro: Why 5 Tools Cost More Than One Platform with Telmo Silva
In this episode of The Digital Analyst, we explore how mid-sized companies can access world-class analytics without massive data teams. Telmo explains why buying individual “shiny object” tools creates integration nightmares, and how unified platforms eliminate the hidden tax of maintaining multiple systems.
Solutions Review Expert Samir Sharma Publishes New Book: The Strategy Canvas: A Field Guide for Data & AI
The most significant problem in enterprise data and AI is not the technology; it’s the strategy-execution gap. The vast majority of data & AI initiatives fail to deliver measurable value because the Boardroom’s strategic vision cannot be translated into the day-to-day execution of technical teams. This strategic disconnect costs the global economy trillions in wasted effort, failed projects, and missed opportunities.
Thought Leaders: Why Causal AI is Not a Technology Upgrade, but a Leadership Test by Samir Sharma
Hanging out with John Thompson, Bill Schmarzo, and Mark Stouse makes my head hurt a lot! These three guys push me to go beyond what I currently know and think. Which is very difficult for any human being and so I really need to dig deep to keep apace with them, which in all honest truth is super difficult. So, my mantra of being pushed to the limits is “to figure it out” and the best way to figure this out for me is to go back to something I loved studying and that was psychology!
Joe O’Connor and Jared Lindzon: Working More Doesn’t Make You More Productive
For those who work on an assembly line, repeating the same task over and over, working more hours may have meant more work got done. But there are a lot of ways to fill an hour at work these days, and not all of them contribute equally to the bottom line. In fact, many workers could dutifully keep themselves busy for an entire day without doing anything of real value, like answering pointless emails and attending unnecessary meetings.
The Editors’ Lens: Rethinking Assessment in Education When GenAI is Everywhere by Tim King
For decades, assessment in education has rested on a simple premise: if a learner produces the right answer, we can infer understanding. That logic worked in a world where access to information was scarce and effort was visible. But generative AI has upended that model. Today, nearly anyone can summon a polished response in seconds, often indistinguishable from expert work.
The Editors’ Lens: Personalized Learning & AI: Are Communities the New Classroom? by Tim King
As artificial intelligence rapidly improves, the conversation about learning is shifting from “What will AI replace?” to “What will AI unlock?” In a world where large language models can explain concepts instantly, draft content in seconds, and personalize practice to each learner, the real differentiator is no longer access to information. It’s formation: judgment, discernment, collaboration, accountability, and the kind of insight that only shows up when ideas collide in the presence of other people.
For consideration in future artificial intelligence news roundups, send your announcements to the editor: tking@solutionsreview.com.
Tim King
Executive Editor
Tim is Solutions Review's Executive Editor and leads coverage on data management and analytics. A 2017 and 2018 Most Influential Business Journalist and 2021 "Who's Who" in Data Management, Tim is a recognized industry thought leader and changemaker. Story? Reach him via email at tking@solutionsreview dot com.
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