Here are some of the top AI and tech news highlights circulating today (January 28, 2026), based on major developments in markets, companies, and innovations:
S&P 500 briefly crosses 7,000 for the first time, fueled heavily by ongoing AI optimism and related tech sector momentum. Markets showed mixed closes after the Fed held rates steady as expected, with AI-linked stocks playing a big role in the sentiment.
Microsoft reports strong Q2 results driven by Cloud and AI performance (covering the quarter ended Dec 31, 2025). Their AI investments and Azure growth continue powering earnings beats in the current AI boom.
Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs in a fresh round of layoffs as the company accelerates its AI push and efficiency efforts. This follows earlier restructuring and highlights how Big Tech is reallocating resources toward AI infrastructure and tools.
Google Chrome ramps up AI features, integrating tighter Gemini support in the sidebar and rolling out agentic capabilities (for more autonomous tasks) aimed at AI Pro/Ultra users. This positions Chrome more directly against emerging AI-first browsers.
Nvidia invests $2 billion in CoreWeave to collaborate on AI-factory builds, while Nvidia-backed Synthesia hits a $4B valuation in new funding—showing continued massive capital flow into AI compute and video generation startups.
IonQ acquires Seed Innovations, a move to bolster its AI-software, machine learning, and cloud architecture capabilities as part of building a stronger full-stack quantum + AI platform.
Google DeepMind launches AlphaGenome, a new AI model focused on decoding "dark matter" in DNA (non-coding regions) and predicting how genetic variations affect gene expression—potentially a big step for genomics and biology research.
CES 2026 highlights (ongoing in Las Vegas) emphasize robots and AI integration, with discussions on physical AI systems finally moving from prototypes toward real-world collaboration.
Other notable mentions include expansions in AI-driven financial services (e.g., ServiceNow + Fiserv partnership), continued agentic AI hype for 2026, and various regulatory/privacy conversations around generative tools.
The AI infrastructure buildout remains the dominant theme—energy, chips, cloud, and applications—with Big Tech earnings, layoffs, and market milestones all tying back to it. If you'd like deeper details on any story or visuals for specific announcements, let me know!
Jason Wade is a systems architect focused on how AI models discover, interpret, and recommend businesses. He is the founder of NinjaAI.com, an AI Visibility consultancy specializing in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and entity authority engineering.
With over 20 years in digital marketing and online systems, Jason works at the intersection of search, structured data, and AI reasoning. His approach is not about rankings or traffic tricks, but about training AI systems to correctly classify entities, trust their information, and cite them as authoritative sources.
He advises service businesses, law firms, healthcare providers, and local operators on building durable visibility in a world where answers are generated, not searched. Jason is also the author of AI Visibility: How to Win in the Age of Search, Chat, and Smart Customers and hosts the AI Visibility Podcast.
