AI industry matures in January with new legislation to move beyond experimentation

The start of 2026 has seen a notable shift in how the public and private sectors approach AI technology, which points towards the development of a more robust and mature AI industry. 

As adoption rates continue to pick up steam, governments and legislators are working around the clock to put laws in place to manage the risks associated with AI and build protective security controls for heavily regulated industries like finance.

We’ve also seen a notable focus on moving AI beyond its experimental stage to allow the technology to become core infrastructure in systems and processes worldwide. 

Here is a roundup of the major trends and developments from January. 

AI legislations develop as the technology moves into core infrastructure territory 

First of all, in January Europe continued with its development of the EU AI Act. The European Commission gathered feedback throughout January on the first draft of the Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI, with the outcomes expected to be released soon. 

Of particular note, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee finalized the rejection of the proposed AI Liability Directive, marking a definitive end to that specific legislative process.

The Commission characterized the proposal as aiming to “improve the functioning of the internal market by laying down uniform rules for certain aspects of non-contractual civil liability for damage caused with the involvement of AI systems.”

This being said, Europe isn’t the only region taking a proactive approach to AI legislation.

Throughout the month of January, Singapore’s MAS conducted consultations in association with its newly released AI Risk-Management Guidelines for financial institutions.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the Enforcement Decree of the AI Basic Act began its one-year grace period, setting strict standards for AI safety and transparency.

Moving on from legislation, AI technology itself continues to mature. Organizations are moving away from treating AI models as standalone products and are now integrating them as core infrastructure, focusing on stability and long-term utility rather than just “wow factor”. 

With improved regulations, formal protections and improved integration tools, these technologies can more feasibly work as part of digital infrastructures for both private and public sectors. 

Aside from these high-level developments, here is a round up other AI stories in the news this month.

Kognia deploys AI copilot Alan X to transform banking customer service

Kognia, a rising leader in AI cognitive agents, this month deployed Alan X, an intelligent copilot designed to help banks and other organizations respond to customer inquiries faster and more accurately.

Already in use at leading banking institutions, Alan X integrates company data from documents, audio, and video, allowing agents to consult the system during calls.

The platform provides instant information, guidance, and recommendations, so agents can resolve questions without relying on supervisors or navigating multiple systems.

Early deployments show reduced errors, faster response times, and a smoother experience for clients.

With continuous learning capabilities, Alan X is evolving toward a fully autonomous assistant, laying the groundwork for more automated customer support in the future.

Aurion Capital, LG NOVA further cross-border innovation 

This month, Aurion Capital was in the news following meetings to establish a potential new innovation hub in the UAE. 

LG NOVA, the innovation and venture arm of LG Electronics, and Aurion Capital are both working to deepen cross-border collaborations and build a more interconnected innovation ecosystem across Asia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the U.S. 

According to a recent report, Prof. Esameldin Agamy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah, met last month with representatives from LG NOVA and Aurion Capital, including its Founding Managing Partner Ali Diallo, to discuss the founding of an Innovation Hub at the University of Sharjah.

Their latest engagement in the UAE highlights a growing emphasis on university-anchored innovation hubs that connect talent, capital and industry at scale.

Enterprise-grade AI strategy platform goes global 

NexStrat AI is the first enterprise-grade AI management consultant for strategy and execution.

Built by former Bain, BCG, Deloitte, and PwC consultants, the platform delivers ‘always-on’AI for strategy and execution to leading global enterprises and consultants.

NexStrat AI announced at the start of this year the beginning of its global expansion phase, following strong results from its early enterprise deployments.

According to the company, its platform can “improve and accelerate business problem solving, decision making, strategy and execution by 10x. Built by top tier consultants with decades of consulting and strategy & transformation leadership experience and trusted by Fortune 500 companies, fast-growing scale-ups, and leading consultancies.”

Planno AI named solar startup of the year 

Planno is the first AI-powered prospecting platform for solar companies to identify and pre-qualify commercial and industrial rooftop opportunities faster, easier, and at scale.

In January, Planno was named Solar Startup of the Year at the MESIA Solar Awards 2026.

According to the company’s Founder, Daniel Domingues, “I’m particularly proud of this recognition because it comes from our home market, from an industry I’ve been part of for more than 10 years, and from sharing that moment with peers and long-time friends in the audience.”

The company also released data showing the scale of solar opportunity for the NYC metro and the Long Island Power Authority through the largest commercial and industrial rooftops in the area. 

AI presentation enterprise Prezent appoints new healthcare expert to senior executive board 

The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are at times under pressure to communicate complex scientific, clinical, and regulatory information with greater speed and accuracy.

Prezent has positioned itself as the leading provider of AI-driven tools designed to streamline business communications. The company focuses on helping enterprises standardize and accelerate the creation of presentations and executive materials.

Against this backdrop, Prezent announced that Marine Queniart Stojanovic has joined its Senior Executive Board.

Marine has spent over 25 years in global leadership roles at GSK and Sanofi, serving in positions across commercial operations, general management, multi-country leadership, and digital transformation. She joins other board members with experience spanning technology, healthcare, and corporate governance.

This year the AI presentation platform reached a number of milestones, including its most recent $30 million in funding raised, which valued the company at $400 million. 

intive gets ahead of AI disruption in media sector 

Christopher White, Senior Vice President at intive, is working hands-on with news organizations, production studios, and streaming platforms to implement AI where it matters most.

This includes addressing the five most prominent trends for the media sector in 2026, including AI’s real impact on content re-generation, vertical video, and conversational content discovery, where ethical lines need to be drawn as voice cloning and re-generation become mainstream and why mergers and white-label OTT ecosystems will redefine competition in the next phase of the streaming wars. 

MyUser featured by global think-tank Horasis 

Myuser is an autonomous B2B sales platform powered by proprietary AI. It automates the entire outreach motion – targeting, hyper-personalized copy, follow-ups, inquiry handling, meeting scheduling, and lightweight landing pages- so teams can scale quality conversations without adding headcount.

The startup was recently featured on Horasis, a global think tank working to address the pressing global and societal challenges of our time. 

According to the report, “There are over 1,523 unicorns globally with a total valuation of US$5.6 trillion, which is a testament to their immense influence on the global economy.”

“And as more and more companies achieve unicorn status and unicorns achieve decacorn (valued at over US$10 billion) and hectocorn (valued at over US$100 billion) status—they will further push economic growth; better product and service delivery; and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

This year, for the first time we began to hear chatter of a new trend that’s been quietly gaining traction: the one-person unicorn. MyUser is one of the companies to watch.

ADvendio champions intelligent ad management 

The ADvendio Proposal Agent transforms how teams bring deals to market. It doesn’t just refine existing documents; it builds complete, data-backed proposals from scratch.

When the inevitable negotiation shifts occur, users can use simple conversational commands to instantly adapt budgets, swap products, or shift time periods to keep the conversation moving without administrative lag.

Crucially, this agility is built on a foundation of safety. ADvendio believes in intelligence with control, ensuring your proprietary pricing and client data remain secure within your environment.

QuickBlox addresses AI psychosis 

While governments work to build improved regulations and protections around the use of AI, Nate MacLeitch, Founder of QuickBlox, offers actionable advice to companies navigating the use of chatbots and AI assistants as the number of documented cases of AI psychosis continues to rise. 

In a recent article, he explained that for founders and product teams racing to deploy conversational AI assistants, whether therapy bots, study buddies, companions or workplace performance coaching tools, the challenge goes beyond technical risk.

Each of these products can pose a higher chance of triggering AI psychosis because they involve vulnerable users, emotionally charged contexts or high trust in AI outputs.

Added the entrepreneur, “This emerging risk comes against a backdrop of a broader mental health crisis: the WHO reports that one in seven 10-to-19-year-olds, working-age adults, and adults aged over 60 live with a mental health disorder, and loneliness and social isolation are key risk factors.”

Engineering productivity represents the real north star metric for AI-enabled value creation

According to Ness CEO Dr. Ranjit Tinaikar, engineering productivity represents the real north star metric for AI-enabled value creation in 2026. AI delivers value only when engineering systems, teams, and decisions are designed for productivity not experimentation, said the executive.

Wrote Tinaikar, “CPOs and CTOs are increasingly accountable not just for delivery, but for engineering economics. By 2026, product engineering maturity will be evaluated using AI-ready scorecards, with engineering productivity tied directly to valuation and capital allocation decisions.”

Better productivity frees up resources to modernize technology platforms and implement business-improving capabilities. Modernized platforms further increase productivity, which then helps to reduce technical debt.

The result is a higher ROI from enterprise technology investment, which leads to larger budgets and even greater value creation.

Crescite Innovation Corporation, BitGo announce key launch

In related tech news, enterprise Crescite announced an initiative prioritizing morals and mercy, not just margins.

Money is rarely about a higher purpose, particularly in a market defined by speed and profit. However, the Crescite Innovation Corporation aims to change that, building a digital currency that has a mission beyond boosting margins.

Crescite’s newly launched Catholic USD, in a strategic collaboration with BitGo, is a purpose-built, fully reserved stablecoin designed to serve the Catholic Church globally through its institutions, communities, and missions.

The stablecoin’s mission-based economic model is designed as a wider reflection of the Catholic Church’s commitment to helping those in need, with 100% of all generated on-chain yield distributed to: serve the poor; fund charitable works; aid humanitarian relief; promote education access, and propel mission-driven Catholic initiatives.

Added Eddie Cullen, CEO of Crescite Innovation Corporation, “Its economic design is rooted in the Economics of Mercy and guided by the moral vision articulated in Dilexi Te—He Loved Us—calling us to place love, dignity, and mercy at the center of economic life.”