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SmallRig Launches Video Cage Kit for iPhone 17 Pro Series

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SmallRig, a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative photo and video accessories, today announced its comprehensive Video Cage Kit for the new iPhone 17 Pro Series. This professional kit unlocks the full cinematic potential of the iPhone 17 Pro series, empowering users to achieve professional-grade results and elevate their mobile creation.

SmallRig has been featured at Apple’s launch events for three consecutive years, a testament to our dedication to innovation. This new kit continues that legacy, solidifying our reputation as a trusted, professional choice for creators worldwide.

SmallRig Cage Series for iPhone 17 Pro Series
SmallRig Cage Series for iPhone 17 Pro Series

Rig to Pro

Today’s smartphones have incredible cameras, but they lack the handling of a traditional camera rig. SmallRig changes that. The kit is built around a core case and cage, forming a foundation for a full suite of professional accessories. This includes an optical system with interchangeable backplates for lenses and filters, rotatable handles with wireless remote control, a 3-in-1 docking station, and more. From enhanced stability to advanced image quality, users can build the perfect rig for any scenario, from vlogging to professional filmmaking.

Rig to Explore

SmallRig recognizes the need for immediacy in creation. The system allows for instant transformation from an everyday case to a professional video cage in one second. Simply snap the phone with case into the robust, aluminum alloy cage for added protection and expansion. Raised edges guard the screen and camera lens from drops. This seamless design ensures creators never miss a shot, leading to a smooth and efficient workflow.

Unlocking the Full Potential

The kit is engineered to maximize the iPhone 17 Pro series’ potential. Ergonomic, rotating handles provide a comfortable, two-handed grip for maximum stability and mobility. The detachable wireless remote allows for control from up to 10m (32.8ft) away. Multiple mounting ports allow for attaching mics, fill lights, and more. The optical system, with interchangeable backplates for lenses and filters, enables seamless switching to explore cinematic effects. This ensures creators can fully achieve cinematic visuals.

The new professional accessory kit for the iPhone 17 Pro Series is slated for release concurrently with the Apple release. Furthermore, SmallRig confirms the forthcoming launch of the new SmallRig x Transformers Limited Collection to bring the essence of Cybertron engineering to professional creators worldwide.

Availability and Pricing

SmallRig Mobile Dual Handheld Kit for iPhone 17 Pro Max ( RRP Price: USD $ 119.99)

SmallRig FilMov Photography Case for iPhone 17 Pro Max ( RRP Price: USD $ 34.99)

For more details, visit www.smallrig.com.

About SmallRig

SmallRig established in 2013, is dedicated to providing creators around the world with solutions in camera/phone mounting and steadying rigs, lighting and control systems, imaging device batteries, and audio equipment.

Today, SmallRig products reach users in more than 160 countries and regions, serving a wide range of scenarios—from livestreaming, vlogging, and short videos, to documentaries and Hollywood blockbusters.

AP Memory Launches ApSRAM™ – A New Low-Power and High-Performance PSRAM

HSINCHU, Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — AP Memory, a leading global design company providing customized memory solutions, today announced that its next-generation PSRAM—ApSRAMTM (Attached-pSRAM)—has successfully passed customer validation and is scheduled to begin mass production by the end of the year. ApSRAMTM is an advanced version of AP Memory’s PSRAM (Pseudo Static Random Access Memory), featuring a new architecture optimized for edge computing and IoT applications. ApSRAMTM delivers a powerful combination of low power consumption, low latency, and high performance.

ApSRAMTM adopts a more intuitive control interface that eliminates the need for complex signal calibration, while still effectively supporting higher bandwidth requirements. Compared with conventional PSRAM, ApSRAMTM delivers up to four times the bandwidth and reduces dynamic power consumption to just one-fifth, making it particularly suitable for battery-sensitive devices such as wearables and edge computing applications, where both low power consumption and real-time data exchange are essential.

ApSRAMTM enables SoCs to scale memory capacity without requiring redesign, offering density options from 128Mb to 2Gb. It supports I/O voltages from 0.6V to 1.1V, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of logic processes and simplifying system integration. The first ApSRAMTM product is now sampling and will enter mass production by year-end. AP Memory also plans to roll out additional density options to meet the evolving requirements of emerging applications and diverse market needs.

Jerry Hsueh, Vice President of AP Memory, noted that once memory products move beyond the limits of standardization, they open the door to many new possibilities for innovation. ApSRAMTM is a breakthrough that was born from this vision. With this innovation, ApSRAMTM is set to become an ideal choice for next-generation applications such as IoT, wearable devices, and edge computing. AP Memory will continue to strengthen its expertise in memory and packaging integration, using differentiated products to help customers worldwide create solutions that are high-performance, low power, and competitive in the market.

About AP Memory

AP Memory (TWSE: 6531) is a global fabless design semiconductor company specializing in customized memory design and IP solutions.  Products include IoT memory (IoTRAMTM), AI memory solutions (VHMTM), and silicon capacitors (S-SiCapTM). With strong R&D capabilities, AP Memory is committed to providing high performance, low-power and innovative customized products and solutions for applications such as mobile communication, wearable, IoT, high-end mobile application, high-performance computing, and edge computing.

For more information, please visit www.apmemory.com.

FranklinWH Unveils aPower S, aHub, and MAC — Redefining Complete Home Energy Independence

Delivering true energy freedom and resilience for every household.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The residential energy management and storage leader FranklinWH has launched the aPower S home battery, Meter Adapter Controller (MAC), and aHub extension as part of its latest additions to the FranklinWH System. These offerings establish new benchmarks for home power quality, system performance, and operational resilience.

“Homeowners are looking for energy solutions that can address increasingly complex challenges,” said Gary Lam, CEO of FranklinWH. “That’s exactly what we are bringing with our latest innovations. Attendees at the show will witness how these innovations redefine home energy systems.”

The FranklinWH System gives homeowners the ability to reduce their reliance on the traditional grid while simultaneously enhancing their power stability to achieve the highest possible return on their solar power and home energy storage system investments.

aPower S: The legendary aPower now with Solar integration

The aPower S represents FranklinWH’s most advanced home battery to date, building on the heritage of the installer-trusted aPower product line, featuring a level of scalability in its design that enables homeowners to expand their power capacity. The aPower S includes the following features:

  • Enables direct solar tie-in for significantly higher charging efficiency, while still offering the flexibility of AC-coupled architecture.
  • Each unit provides 15 kWh of usable storage capacity, with seamless expandability for homes requiring higher power or longer-duration backup.
  • Built to last, ensuring dependable performance and backed by the industry’s leading 15-year or 60 MWh throughput warranty for ultimate peace of mind.
  • Backward compatibility with future-ready expandability, delivering unmatched flexibility and peace of mind.

Meter Adapter Controller: Advanced Control and Ultimate Simplicity

In North America, combo-style electrical panels often make it challenging to add an energy storage system, requiring costly and time-consuming panel modifications. The MAC changes the game, enabling easy system interconnection by directly connecting to the meter socket adapter (MSA) and the electrical meter, avoiding panel overhauls and significantly reducing installation time and costs. 

The MAC serves as the central component of the FranklinWH System, a simplified version of the aGate, providing homeowners with:

  • A simple and easy integration with an MSA for meter-panel combinations.
  • Predictive load management to forecast upcoming energy requirements.
  • Regulate voltage and frequency levels that protect sensitive appliances and electric vehicle charging equipment.
  • Delivers seamless, instant power transfer during blackouts, keeping your home running without a single interruption or flicker.

aHub: Intelligent Energy Orchestration

The aHub is the perfect extension to the FranklinWH System, seamlessly integrating additional sources and loads into a single, unified intelligent solution. The aHub includes the following features:

  • Versatile interfaces orchestrate various energy sources such as solar, generator, and vehicle-to-load (V2L).
  • Accommodates up to three solar arrays with a maximum capacity of 24 kW.
  • Each solar circuit is independently controlled and will be automatically cut off if solar overproduction occurs.
  • Enables solar integration up to 165 ft away, overcoming the limitation of roof space.
  • Connects up to four 240 V Smart Circuits, which can be split to eight 120 V circuits, for independent control of heavy-duty or non-critical appliances, prioritizing essential loads during extended outages.

About FranklinWH

FranklinWH Energy Storage is the manufacturer of the FranklinWH system. FranklinWH is a market-oriented, research-driven company focused on next-generation residential energy management and storage solutions. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, FranklinWH’s team has decades of experience in energy systems, from design, through manufacturing, to sales and installation. FranklinWH is AVL-listed with multiple financial institutions. Learn more about how homeowners can achieve energy freedom at franklinwh.com.

CONTACT: media@franklinwh.com

DESILO and Cornami Launch Encrypted AI Model That Balances Privacy and Performance

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — DESILO, a privacy-enhancing technology (PET) startup, and Cornami, a leader in scalable computing architectures, announced the deployment of a fully homomorphic encryption (FHE)-based large language model (LLM) at the AI Infra Summit 2025. The solution processes sensitive data while it remains encrypted, delivering both speed and accuracy in real-world use cases.

At the AI Infra Summit 2025, Desilo and Cornami Launch Encrypted AI Model That Balances Privacy and Performance.
At the AI Infra Summit 2025, Desilo and Cornami Launch Encrypted AI Model That Balances Privacy and Performance.

Addressing the Privacy–Performance Tradeoff

Enterprises in healthcare, finance, and other sectors have long faced a tradeoff between strong data protection and AI performance. Traditional encryption methods often slow computation, while faster inference can expose sensitive data. The Cornami–DESILO collaboration seeks to close this gap by enabling encrypted AI inference at speeds close to plaintext processing.

“For decades, FHE was considered too slow for practical deployment. By accelerating encrypted computation, we are proving that enterprises no longer need to choose between privacy and performance,” said Dr. Craig Gentry, Chief Scientist of Algorithms at Cornami and widely regarded as the father of FHE. Particularly Dr. Gentry highlighted the role of plaintext ciphertext matrix multiplication (PCMM), which affects more than 90% of LLM computation. According to him, PCMM allows matrix operations — the backbone of LLM processing — to be executed securely with minimal overhead. Combined with Cornami’s scalable Compute Fabric, it delivers performance that is orders-of-magnitude faster than traditional encrypted approaches.

“The value of PCMM,” Gentry explained, “is that it makes privacy-preserving AI practical. By enabling matrix multiplication — the core of LLM computation — to be performed efficiently and securely, we are closing the performance gap between fully encrypted and plaintext LLM inference, while also strengthening compliance, data sovereignty, and post-quantum security.”

Applications Across Industries

Healthcare illustrates a clear use case. Clinical trials generate large volumes of imaging and patient data that must remain secure, yet timely analysis is essential. With the new solution, researchers can analyze encrypted data without exposing underlying records.

The same approach applies to finance, government, and cloud services, where compliance with data sovereignty and zero-trust requirements is essential. “Our principle has always been simple: never decrypt,” said Seungmyung Lee, CEO of DESILO. “With Cornami, that principle becomes practical. This collaboration lays the foundation for enterprises to safely unlock high-value data, and it aligns with the upcoming launch of our HARVEST™ platform, which will support global healthcare partners.”

About Cornami

Cornami delivers breakthrough performance for scalable computing, enabling advanced encryption technologies like FHE to operate at speeds previously unattainable. Its architecture is designed to accelerate privacy-preserving AI across industries that demand both security and scale.

About DESILO

DESILO is a Korea-based PET startup scaling globally with deployments across Asia and upcoming pilots in North America and Europe. The company develops secure collaboration solutions using FHE and federated learning, ensuring sensitive data never leaves encrypted form. Its flagship Harvest™ platform, launching this December, accelerates secure multi-party data collaboration in healthcare and beyond.

Baidu Unveils Reasoning Model ERNIE X1.1 with Upgrades in Key Capabilities

  • ERNIE X1.1 shows major advancements in factuality, instruction following, and agentic capabilities; it surpasses DeepSeek R1-0528 in overall performance while performing on par with top-tier models like GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro.
  • The PaddlePaddle-ERNIE ecosystem now serves 23.33 million developers and 760,000 enterprises; while the AI coding assistant Baidu Comate has supported more than 10 million developers.
  • Baidu also announced the open-source of ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking model.

BEIJING, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — At WAVE SUMMIT 2025, the company’s deep learning developer conference, Baidu unveiled a series of AI advancements that further accelerate the wide adoption of AI. These advancements include the company’s latest reasoning model ERNIE X 1.1, an upgrade to the PaddlePaddle framework, the upgraded AI coding assistant Baidu Comate 3.5S, as well as the open-sourcing of the ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking model.

ERNIE X1.1 Shows Major Advancement in Factuality, Instruction Following, and Agentic Capabilities

The newly released ERNIE X1.1 reasoning model is a significant upgrade that delivers major advancements across core capabilities including factuality, instruction following, and agentic capabilities. Compared to ERNIE X1, ERNIE X1.1’s factuality is up 34.8%, instruction following is up 12.5%, and agentic capabilities are up 9.6%

Multiple benchmark results show that ERNIE X1.1’s overall performance surpassed that of DeepSeek R1-0528, demonstrating clear advantages in certain tasks. Meanwhile, its performance is on par with other top-tier models such as GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro. Built upon ERNIE 4.5, a multimodal foundation model, ERNIE X1.1 has incorporated an iterative hybrid reinforcement learning framework that blends mixed reinforcement learning and iterative self-distillation.

ERNIE X1.1 is now accessible to users via the ERNIE Bot website (ernie.baidu.com) and the Wenxiaoyan app, and has also been deployed on Qianfan, Baidu AI Cloud’s MaaS (Models-as-a-Service) platform — open to enterprise clients and developers.


PaddlePaddle Framework v3.2 and Baidu Comate 3.5S Lower Barriers for AI Development and Deployment

At the event, Baidu also debuted the PaddlePaddle framework version 3.2, featuring enhancements in model training, hardware compatibility, and ecosystem support. The upgraded PaddlePaddle framework incorporates three core upgrades—computational optimization, parallel strategies, and native fault tolerance—that address long-standing challenges in model training. The framework significantly boosts efficiency, achieving a pre-training MFU of 47% on the ERNIE-4.5-300B-A47B model.

Accompanying the new framework are a suite of toolkits, including ERNIEKit, designed for foundation model development, FastDeploy v2.2 for efficient model deployment, and two scientific computing toolkits, PaddleCFD and PaddleMaterials. Together, these releases further reduce barriers to applying foundation models across training and deployment.

To date, the PaddlePaddle-ERNIE ecosystem has served 23.33 million developers and 760,000 enterprises.

Also released at the event was Baidu Comate 3.5S (Super Synergistic AgentS), a major upgrade to its AI coding assistant. The new version strengthens multi-agent-collaboration capabilities, enabling a single developer to achieve the productivity and efficiency of an entire team.

Baidu Comate 3.5S delivers three core enhancements. First, agents are more powerful, with stronger business understanding, the ability to break down task lists, and improved execution accuracy. Second, the system advances from single-agent to multi-agent collaboration, dynamically generating multiple agents that autonomously work together to complete complex tasks. Third, team collaboration is reinforced through the integration of Rules and MCP, creating a unified knowledge base that enables seamless knowledge transfer within teams.

To date, Baidu Comate has already supported more than 10 million developers. Within Baidu, 45% of new code is now generated by AI.

Open-sourced ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking Model Delivers Outstanding Performance Across Tasks

At the conference, Baidu announced the open-sourcing of ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking, a deep-thinking model trained on the foundation of ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B. It supports a 128K context window and is designed for complex reasoning tasks that require long-context understanding. The model delivers outstanding performance across a wide range of tasks, including content creation, logical reasoning, mathematical computation, code generation, and tool use.

As a lightweight MoE model with 21 billion total parameters and only 3 billion active parameters, ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking has achieved performance close to leading large-scale models across benchmarks, delivering near-SOTA intelligence at a significantly reduced scale.

ERNIE-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking is now available on platforms including Hugging Face and Baidu AI Studio. The release of this model follows the open-sourcing of 10 other distinct ERNIE 4.5 models on June 30.

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu’s mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with strong internet foundation, trading on the NASDAQ under “BIDU” and HKEX under “9888.” One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

Media Contact
intlcomm@baidu.com

 

/C O R R E C T I O N — Epitome Global Pte Ltd/

In the news release, Jan Lambrechts Urges Ethical AI Adoption and Workforce Reinvention at World Chambers Congress, issued 09-Sep-2025 by Epitome Global Pte Ltd over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that the first photo caption should read “Jan Lambrechts (second from left), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, underscores the urgency of ethical AI adoption and workforce reinvention at the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne.” rather than “Jan Lambrechts (second from right), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, underscores the urgency of ethical AI adoption and workforce reinvention at the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne.” as originally issued inadvertently. The complete, corrected release follows:

Jan Lambrechts Urges Ethical AI Adoption and Workforce Reinvention at World Chambers Congress

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — At the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne, Jan Lambrechts, Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, delivered a compelling keynote to over 1,500 participants from more than 100 countries, including business and government leaders. Lambrechts’ address underscored the urgency of ethical AI adoption and workforce adaptability as drivers of resilient economies, with Epitome Global’s global rollout now amplified by the company’s strategic distribution partnership with RGH Global. Together, the two firms are transforming workforce optimisation for enterprises and governments across EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

Addressing the Jobs Debate

Lambrechts dispelled AI employment myths: “AI taking our jobs is 100% not true. In fact, new AI roles such as engineers and prompters are emerging rapidly.” He emphasised that, “People who embrace AI skills will thrive, while those who do not risk being left behind. When harnessed responsibly, AI offers the potential to increase freedom, creativity, and purpose in work.” Proactive workforce reinvention, through investment in retraining, remains essential for the relevance of economies in a shifting landscape.

Breaking Barriers to AI Adoption

Central to Lambrechts’ message was overcoming global barriers to the adoption of responsible AI. He cited procurement delays, the need for chambers of commerce to become workforce intelligence hubs, and risks tied to foreign platform dependencies threatening national data sovereignty and workforce control. Lambrechts called for urgent reforms ensuring technological progress translates into real workforce benefits. Paul Guerra, Victorian Chamber Chief Executive and Congress Chair, praised Lambrechts’ vision, describing it as a critical blueprint for chambers seeking resilience and future readiness.

Roadmap for Responsible Innovation

Lambrechts outlined a roadmap including:

  • Rapid proof-of-concept cycles (30–90 days) via industry partnerships.
  • New revenue models for chambers to monetise workforce insights and skills forecasting, enabling sustainable, community-focused growth.
  • Formation of agile AI governmental taskforces acting at private-sector speed for policy alignment.

With global AI regulation advancing, especially in the EU and South Korea, Lambrechts insisted: “AI must remain ethical, inclusive, and empowering. The future belongs to those who adapt and embrace these principles.”

RGH Global’s Integrated Role

By collaborating with RGH Global as its strategic distributor, Epitome Global leverages RGH’s extensive network across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas to accelerate the real-world impact of AI optimisation solutions. Justin Madgwick, RGH Co-Founder and Global CEO, commented, “RGH’s workforce optimisation platform represents the future of recruitment, where technology supports and enhances human capability. Partnering with Epitome allows us to deliver this vision globally in a way that is both ethical and purpose-driven.” This partnership reflects optimism for scaling Epitome’s platform worldwide, delivering trusted AI innovation and lasting economic impact.

About Jan Lambrechts

Jan Lambrechts is a serial entrepreneur with 20 years of global experience leading AI platforms that transform workforce data into strategic intelligence. As Managing Director of Epitome Global, he drives organisational reinvention and growth.

About Justin Madgwick

Justin Madgwick is a seasoned recruitment entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience building workforce optimisation businesses. As Co-Founder and Global CEO of RGH Global, he leads the company’s expansion and partnership with Epitome to deliver ethical, AI-driven talent solutions globally.

About Epitome Global

Epitome Global, distributed strategically through RGH Global, is an AI-driven workforce optimisation company serving enterprises and governments with actionable talent insights using psychometrics, data science, and real-time labour market intelligence. Its holistic matching, engagement, and performance solutions are delivered at scale via RGH’s extensive presence.

Media Contact
Melissa Teh, COO
Email: melissa.teh@epitome.global 
Phone: +60 12 306 0647

Investor Relations Contact
Email: investment@epitomeholdings.com 

Follow the conversation: #WorkforceOptimisation #EthicalAI #FutureOfWork

Jan Lambrechts (second from left), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, underscores the urgency of ethical AI adoption and workforce reinvention at the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne.
Jan Lambrechts (second from left), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, underscores the urgency of ethical AI adoption and workforce reinvention at the 14th World Chambers Congress in Melbourne.

 

Jan Lambrechts (left), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, with Justin Madgwick (right), Co-Founder and Global CEO of RGH Global
Jan Lambrechts (left), Founder & Global Managing Director of Epitome Global, with Justin Madgwick (right), Co-Founder and Global CEO of RGH Global

 

MBZUAI and G42 Launch K2 Think: A Leading Open-Source System for Advanced AI Reasoning

K2 Think delivers performance on par with the most advanced reasoning models at a fraction of the size

ABU DHABI, UAE, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Institute of Foundation Models at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and G42 today announced the launch of K2 Think, a leading open-source system for advanced AI reasoning.

MBZUAI and G42 Launch K2 Think: A Leading Open-Source System for Advanced AI Reasoning
MBZUAI and G42 Launch K2 Think: A Leading Open-Source System for Advanced AI Reasoning

 

K2 Think embodies a new approach to building smarter, more efficient AI. With just 32 billion parameters, it outperforms flagship reasoning models that are 20X larger. This breakthrough in parameter efficiency makes K2 Think a powerful alternative for advanced reasoning, redefining what is possible with compact architectures.

Built on six pillars of innovation, K2 Think represents a new class of reasoning model. It employs long chain-of-thought supervised fine-tuning to strengthen logical depth, followed by reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards to sharpen accuracy on hard problems. Agentic planning allows the model to decompose complex challenges before reasoning through them, while test-time scaling techniques further boost adaptability.  In addition, K2 Think will soon be available on Cerebras’ wafer-scale, inference-optimized compute platform, enabling researchers and innovators worldwide to push the boundaries of reasoning performance at lightning-fast speed. With speculative decoding optimized for Cerebras hardware, K2 Think will achieve unprecedented throughput of 2000 tokens per second, making it both one of the fastest and most efficient reasoning systems in existence.

K2 Think ranks among the industry’s top reasoning systems, leading all open-source models in math performance across AIME ’24/’25, HMMT ’25, and OMNI-Math-HARD.

More than a technical achievement, K2 Think is a defining moment for AI in the UAE. It reflects how open innovation and close public–private partnerships can position Abu Dhabi as a global leader in AI, demonstrating that the future of reasoning will be shaped not only by size, but by ingenuity and collaboration.

His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of MBZUAI’s Board of Trustees and Member of the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC), said: “The new global benchmark set by K2 Think underscores the pioneering excellence of MBZUAI’s Institute of Foundation Models initiative, an expedited pathway for global collaboration and cutting-edge research. It is also an example of the UAE’s commitment to building advanced systems that are developed by our institutions and shared with the world – ultimately progressing technically groundbreaking, practical, and scalable innovations with transformative global impact.”

Peng Xiao, MBZUAI Board Member, Council Member of Abu Dhabi’s AI and Advanced Technology Council, and Group CEO of G42, added: “K2 Think has shifted the AI reasoning paradigm from ‘bigger is better’ to ‘smarter is better’. MBZUAI, supported by the UAE ecosystem, is pushing the AI frontier with technology that is open, efficient and highly capable. By proving that smaller, more resourceful models can rival the largest reasoning systems, this milestone marks the beginning of the next wave of AI innovation.”

Unlike most “open” AI models that stop at releasing weights, K2 Think is fully open source — from training data and parameter weights to software code for deployment and test-time optimization. This new level of transparency ensures that every step of how the model learns to reason can be studied, reproduced, and extended by the global research community.

Professor Eric Xing, MBZUAI President and University Professor, said: “K2 Think, developed by MBZUAI’s Institute of Foundation Models, is a significant advancement for the global AI research and development community. By delivering these advances in a fully transparent framework, we are ushering in a new era of cost-effective, reproducible and accountable AI. For an institution just five years young, we are immensely proud of our global researchers, engineers, and teams who are advancing science and technology with ingenuity and a pioneering spirit.”

K2 Think builds on a growing family of UAE-developed open-source models, including Jais (the world’s most advanced Arabic LLM), NANDA (Hindi), and SHERKALA (Kazakh), and extends the pioneering legacy of K2-65B, the world’s first fully reproducible open-source foundation model released in 2024.

K2 Think is available today at https://www.k2think.ai/ and on Hugging Face.

About Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) 

MBZUAI is a research-focused university in Abu Dhabi, and the first university dedicated entirely to the advancement of science through AI. The university empowers the next generation of AI leaders, driving innovation and impactful applications of AI through world-class education and interdisciplinary research. In 2025, MBZUAI launched its first ever undergraduate program, a Bachelor of Science in AI, with two distinct streams: Business and Engineering. For more information, please visit www.mbzuai.ac.ae

 

Eddid Financial Partners with University of Oxford to Launch Women in Finance Scholarship Promoting Global Education and Gender Equality

HONG KONG, Sept. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Eddid Financial (“the Group”) announced its collaboration with the Department of Economics and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford to establish the Oxford Saïd – Eddid Financial Women in Finance Scholarship for the 2025/26 academic year. This award will support exceptional early-career women pursuing careers in finance. The scholarship will fund one outstanding woman pursuing Oxford’s MSc in Financial Economics – one of the world’s most highly regarded master’s programmes in finance and economics. The scholarship aims to remove financial barriers and widen access to graduate study at Oxford.

As one of the world’s leading academic institutions, the University of Oxford is renowned for its excellence in research and global influence. The MFE program, jointly offered by the Department of Economics and Saïd Business School, combines rigorous academic training with practical application, preparing students for leadership roles in investment banking, asset management, consulting, and policy-making.

Eddid Financial is committed to nurturing top talent in finance and actively promoting gender equality and equal access to education. The Group believes this initiative will provide exceptional women with equal learning opportunities and help them become leaders on the international financial stage. Eddid Financial will also maintain a long-term partnership with Oxford University to foster academic exchange and global educational development, contributing to the cultivation of the next generation of financial leaders.

Professor Johannes Abeler, Head of Department of Economics, said:

“We are delighted to partner with Eddid Financial to support this important initiative. The Oxford Saïd – Eddid Financial Scholarship for Women reflects our shared commitment to improving access and opportunity in economics and finance, and to supporting outstanding women at the start of their careers.”

Dr. Jerry Tse, Chief Executive Officer of Eddid Financial, commented:

“We are committed to building a more inclusive future in finance. Partnering with the University of Oxford, this scholarship is a meaningful step to support exceptional women as they pursue advanced study in financial economics.”

This initiative strengthens the Department of Economics’ ongoing efforts to widen access to graduate study and foster the next generation of economists and financial leaders. We look forward to welcoming the first scholar, Amelia, this autumn.

Following a highly competitive process, Amelia Hund has been awarded the inaugural Oxford Saïd – Eddid Financial Scholarship for Women. Scholars are selected for their academic excellence, assessed through degree results, GMAT or GRE scores, and recognition such as university prizes and awards.

While reflecting on receiving this scholarship, Amelia commented:

“Receiving the Oxford Saïd – Eddid Financial Scholarship for Women is an honour as it recognises my achievements so far and reflects a trust in what I will accomplish ahead. I value its support for women in finance, a field where representation still matters, and it allows me to fully focus on my studies and contributions to my cohort.”

About Eddid Financial

Eddid Financial is a diversified financial group headquartered in Hong Kong, providing comprehensive services in fintech, investment banking, virtual asset, wealth management, and asset management. Committed to innovation and excellence, Eddid Financial delivers high-quality, one-stop financial solutions to clients worldwide.

For more information about Eddid Financial, please visit www.eddid.com.hk

About the MSc in Financial Economics (MFE)

The MFE is a rigorous nine-month graduate program offered jointly by Oxford’s Department of Economics and Saïd Business School. Renowned for its academic excellence and real-world relevance, the program equips students for careers in investment banking, asset management, consulting, policy, and more.