Dec 26, 2025 - The Batch | DeepLearning.AI

Mice on a laptop keyboard explore, with code on screen; background features festive lights, presents.

Machine Learning Research

Agents Write Code Faster, Cheaper: Software developers used more versatile AI-powered tools to write code

Coding apps moved beyond autofill-style code completion to agentic systems that manage a wide range of software development tasks.

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Business

China’s AI Chip Industry Takes Root: China banned GPUs and TPUs from U.S. manufacturers to promote domestic chips

The United States government’s effort to deprive China of AI computing power backfired as China turned the tables and banned U.S.-designed chips.

Snowman in Thinker pose on snowy landscape, with a person building it.

Machine Learning Research

Thinking Models Solve Bigger Problems: Reasoning models, beginning with OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1, transformed the industry

Think step by step. Explain your reasoning. Work backwards from the answer. As 2025 began, models executed these reasoning strategies only when prompted. Now most new large language models do it as a matter of course, improving performance across a wide range of tasks.

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AI Careers

Big AI Lures Talent With Huge Pay: Meta’s hiring spree raised compensation for top AI engineers and executives

Leading AI companies fought a ferocious war for talent, luring top talent from competitors with levels of compensation more commonly associated with pro sports.

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Business

Data-Center Buildout Goes Big: AI’s growth spurred infrastructure investment worldwide

Top AI companies announced plans to build data centers that are projected to burn through trillions of dollars and gigawatts of electricity in the next few years.

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Letters

How to Gain New Skills and Sharpen Old Ones: Give yourself a gift this holiday season by taking courses, building projects, and (maybe) reading papers.

Another year of rapid AI advances has created more opportunities than ever for anyone — including those just entering the field — to build software.

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