Sony AI’s autonomous robot Ace has reached expert-level play in table tennis, competing under International Table Tennis Federation rules at an Olympic-sized court in Tokyo and sometimes defeating top human opponents, according to a study published in Nature on April 22, 2026. Built around an eight-jointed arm and a high-speed vision suite (nine cameras plus three gaze systems), Ace uses model-free reinforcement learning trained in simulation and proprietary control software to track spin, predict trajectories and react in about 20 milliseconds. In April 2025 it beat three of five elite players (who train ~20 hours weekly) and initially lost to two professionals; Sony AI says the robot later beat professional players in December 2025 and again in March 2026, including matches against top-ranked competitors such as Miyuu Kihara. Licensed umpires officiated matches and researchers emphasise parity constraints to avoid unfair hardware advantages. The team says the methods could transfer to manufacturing, service robotics, entertainment and other safety-critical, high-speed human-robot interaction tasks.

Sony AI’s autonomous robot Ace has reached expert-level performance in competitive table tennis, the company and a study published in Nature reported on April 22, 2026. Built and tested at Sony’s Tokyo facility, Ace combines an eight-jointed robotic arm, multiple high-speed camera arrays (including event-based gaze systems) and a model-free reinforcement learning control system trained in simulation. In April 2025 Ace won three of five matches against elite-level human players; Sony AI says the system went on to beat professional opponents in December 2025 and again in March 2026, including victories over top-ranked professionals. Ace operates under official International Table Tennis Federation rules, uses multi-view vision to estimate ball position and spin, and executes shots with reaction times far faster than human players. Human competitors praised its unpredictability and precision but noted that humans can exploit certain tactical weaknesses. The researchers and company highlight potential transfers of the perception-and-control techniques to manufacturing, service robotics, sports training and other real-time physical tasks, while observers have flagged possible military or security applications as the technology matures.

VAST Data said on April 22 it raised about $1 billion in a Series F round that values the company at $30 billion, more than triple its 2023 valuation. The round was led by Drive Capital and Access Industries and included participation from existing backers such as Nvidia, Fidelity and NEA, with the financing comprising both primary and secondary proceeds. The New York–based vendor builds a unified data platform used to store and process massive datasets for AI training and inference. VAST counts customers including xAI, CoreWeave and the U.S. Air Force and in November signed a $1.17 billion commercial agreement with CoreWeave. Company-reported metrics cited in coverage include more than $4 billion in cumulative bookings, over $500 million in committed annual recurring revenue and rapidly expanding revenue, with management saying proceeds will fund global expansion, partnerships and strategic transactions. Investors and partners highlighted VAST’s role in easing data bottlenecks that can limit the performance of large GPU clusters powering generative AI.

At its Google Cloud Next event on April 22, 2026, Google unveiled a major set of AI upgrades for Workspace under the banner Workspace Intelligence, integrating its Gemini assistant across Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail and Chat. New capabilities include “Ask Gemini in Chat” — turning Chat into a command center that can generate documents, build slide decks, schedule meetings and retrieve files — plus natural-language construction and prompt-based autofill for Sheets, AI writing and ‘match doc format’ in Docs, audio summaries, daily briefings and infographic generation. Google emphasised administrative controls and governance tools for enterprises, saying Workspace Intelligence will not be reviewed by staff or used to train models without customer permission. The company also highlighted third-party integrations (Asana, Jira, Salesforce) and rolled out Gemini Enterprise upgrades. Google plans staged language and tiered availability, with initial English rollout and wider support scheduled in the coming weeks. The moves position Google to deepen Workspace’s role as an AI-driven productivity platform and to intensify competition with Microsoft and other vendors in enterprise collaboration.

OpenAI on April 22, 2026 introduced Workspace Agents — cloud-based, shared AI agents in ChatGPT that can plan, execute and persist through multi-step workflows for teams. Available to Business, Enterprise, Edu and Teachers plan subscribers, the agents can access files, run code, connect to third‑party tools (Slack, Gmail, Salesforce, Google Drive, Microsoft apps, Notion, Atlassian, GitLab and others) and be embedded in channels such as Slack. Built on OpenAI’s Codex substrate and a growing plugin ecosystem, Workspace Agents support background execution, scheduling, persistent memory and cross‑platform action (for example generating reports, drafting emails, reconciling data and pushing summaries). OpenAI positions them as an evolution of its 2023 GPTs, with conversion tools and a shared team directory for reusing and improving agents. The company said Workspace Agents will be free until May 6, 2026, after which credit‑based pricing begins. The launch comes amid competition from Anthropic’s Claude Cowork and the arrival of developer talent from other agent projects.

Meta-owned Threads introduced "Live Chats" on April 22-23, 2026, a public, real-time group chat feature designed for live cultural events and sporting moments. The feature debuts in the NBA Threads community during the Playoffs with hosts including Malika Andrews, Rachel Nichols and Da Kid Gowie. Initially available to a limited group of creators and Community Champions, Live Chats let up to 150 participants actively send messages, photos, videos, links and emoji; additional users can join in spectator mode to view, react and vote in polls. Hosts can schedule sessions, moderate in real time (demote or remove users) and rely on automatic detection of policy violations; conversations remain publicly discoverable after they end. Users can access Live Chats from community feeds, shared posts or a red live ring on hosts’ profiles. Meta said it will expand access over time and plans future additions such as co-hosting, play-by-play updates, lock-screen widgets and the ability to quote and share chat messages to Threads feeds, positioning the product to boost timeliness and creator-driven engagement.