Today in AI: YouTube tests new AI features | AP police use AI to prevent crime | AI helping prevent animal poaching in India

The world of Artificial Intelligence has only begun to affect human lives. In times like these, staying up-to-date with the AI world is of utmost importance. Storyboard18 brings you the top AI news of the day.

YouTube tests new AI features to enhance search and discovery

YouTube is testing two new artificial intelligence–powered features aimed at making it easier for users to discover content and engage more deeply with videos on the platform. The experimental tools include an AI-generated search results carousel for Premium users and an expanding conversational AI assistant that is now available to some non-Premium accounts in the United States. AI Search Results Carousel (for premium users) The new AI search carousel is available exclusively to YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. for a limited time. Designed to support select types of searches, the carousel surfaces a curated set of video recommendations along with concise topic descriptions, helping users navigate and explore subjects more efficiently.

Andhra Pradesh Police Embrace AI for Faster Investigations and Crime Prevention

The Andhra Pradesh Police will significantly expand the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to strengthen crime prevention, speed up investigations, and improve public services, according to Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta. Speaking at the closing of the ‘AI 4 Andhra Police Hackathon 2025’ in Guntur, Gupta said the initiative aligns with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s vision of integrating AI into governance. The hackathon, the first of its kind in India, brought together 60 selected companies and AI experts out of 160 applicants to design innovative solutions for real policing challenges. Gupta highlighted the state's pioneering role in police technology, citing past initiatives like eCOPS and the Fingerprint Identification Network System, which became national platforms. The event saw over 30 senior and young IPS officers collaborating with AI specialists to explore applications in crime detection and investigation. The DGP confirmed that similar initiatives would follow, underscoring the department’s commitment to embedding AI in policing to enhance safety and service delivery.

Nvidia hires two top Chinese AI experts to boost research efforts

Nvidia, the world’s leading AI chipmaker, has hired two prominent artificial intelligence researchers originally from China, underscoring the crucial role Chinese talent plays in the global AI race. Zhu Banghua and Jiao Jiantao, both graduates of China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, announced their new roles at Nvidia on social media, even sharing photos with the company’s CEO, Jensen Huang. Zhu recently completed his PhD at UC Berkeley and will join Nvidia as a principal research scientist on its Nemotron team. This group focuses on developing advanced AI agents capable of tasks like coding, reasoning, and processing both text and visuals. Zhu, who is also an assistant professor at the University of Washington, shared that his work will aim to improve how AI models learn after training, how they are evaluated, and how they can behave more like humans. He also emphasized the team’s commitment to open-sourcing much of its research. Meanwhile, Jiao, who holds a PhD from Stanford and teaches at UC Berkeley, is joining Nvidia with the ambitious goal of advancing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)—forms of AI designed to match or even surpass human capabilities.

AI talent war heats up: OpenAI executives criticise Meta’s aggressive recruitment tactics

The competition to dominate artificial intelligence is growing fiercer, with tensions flaring between OpenAI and Meta over high-profile hiring battles. Meta, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has already lured away some of OpenAI’s top researchers with lucrative offers and is reportedly continuing its push to poach even more talent. According to a Wired report, OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer Mark Chen directly addressed Meta’s recruitment strategy in an internal memo sent to staff on Saturday. “I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” Chen wrote. “Please trust that we haven’t been sitting idly by,” he added, seeking to reassure employees. Zuckerberg has been aggressively hiring to bolster Meta’s AI efforts, reportedly offering signing bonuses of up to $100 million to certain OpenAI researchers, according to Sam Altman on his brother’s podcast. The push comes as Meta tries to strengthen its new 50-person AI “superintelligence” team after its LLaMA models failed to match the traction of rival systems. In his memo on Slack, Chen accused Meta of aggressively and repeatedly trying—“mostly unsuccessfully”—to recruit OpenAI’s top researchers with compensation-heavy offers. Chen said he and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have been personally working to talk with those considering Meta’s offers. “We’ve been more proactive than ever before, we’re recalibrating comp, and we’re scoping out creative ways to recognise and reward top talent,” Chen wrote. The Wired report also highlighted the high-pressure environment at OpenAI, with many employees reportedly working 80-hour weeks. The company is planning a shutdown next week to let employees rest and recharge. But OpenAI leaders worry Meta might exploit that break to ramp up its recruitment push. “Meta knows we’re taking this week to recharge and will take advantage of it to try and pressure you to make decisions fast and in isolation,” another leader reportedly warned employees in Chen’s memo.

How India is using AI and technology to fight wildlife poaching

For decades, India’s forest guards, scientists, and conservationists have relied on determination, local knowledge, and limited resources to safeguard wildlife from poaching. The question now isn’t whether we can protect our wildlife, but how quickly and intelligently we can do it. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are proving transformative. From camera traps that instantly tell a tiger from a human intruder, to apps that predict elephant crop-raiding patterns, technology is equipping those on the front lines to act faster, reduce conflict, and collect solid evidence for prosecution. Here are five impactful AI-driven initiatives reshaping conservation on the ground: TrailGuard AI TrailGuard AI deploys compact, AI-enabled camera systems in wildlife corridors—especially in tiger reserves like Similipal, Kanha-Pench, and Dudhwa—to detect both wildlife and intruders in real time. In Similipal Tiger Reserve alone, placing 100 to 150 of these cameras resulted in 96 poacher arrests and the seizure of 86 firearms over ten months, with poaching incidents estimated to have dropped by 80%. Each unit includes a pen-sized imaging sensor and a battery about the size of a notepad. It stays in low-power mode until motion is detected. Then, embedded AI classifies what triggered the alert (human, tiger, elephant, vehicle, etc.) and transmits photos via cellular or satellite in just 30 to 40 seconds. Alerts go to control rooms, WhatsApp groups, and radio networks. HAWK App HAWK is a comprehensive digital surveillance and crime-reporting system developed by Leopard Tech Labs in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India. Deployed by forest departments in Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, HAWK replaces cumbersome paper logs with an app that streamlines incident recording, tracks case progress, and compiles evidence for court proceedings—all in one place. DeCaTron Launched by the Government of Telangana, DeCaTron is an AI-powered platform that automates the processing of millions of camera-trap images. It can identify a wide range of wildlife species in these photos, accelerating biodiversity monitoring and flagging unusual patterns that may indicate poaching activity. These innovations are making Indian wildlife protection smarter, faster, and more effective—helping those on the front lines not just keep up with threats, but stay one step ahead.

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