Harvey Acquires Hexus
Harvey made waves in the legal AI space with its acquisition of Hexus. The two-year-old startup builds tools for creating interactive product demos, videos, and guides using AI. Harvey sees this as a perfect fit to speed up offerings for in-house legal teams. Hexus raised just $1.6 million before the deal. Its small team now joins Harvey full-time. Founder Sakshi Pratap takes on a lead engineering role. This move helps Harvey stay ahead as competition grows fierce among legal tech players. The company already serves most top U.S. law firms and boasts a valuation over $8 billion. Adding demo and guide creation means lawyers can build visual explanations faster for clients or internal training.
Claude Cowork Expands
Anthropic pushes Claude further into team environments with broader access to Claude Cowork. This feature turns the standard chat interface into a shared workspace. Context, files, and tasks persist across sessions and users. Teams mention projects with @ tags to pull in relevant data. Claude now takes live screenshots in Chrome during tasks. This avoids constant window switching. Users build no-code workflows or handle onboarding at scale. Claude Cowork started as a preview for Max subscribers earlier in January. Now it reaches all Team and Enterprise plans. Developers already love similar tools like Claude Code. This update brings the power to marketing, operations, and legal teams. Claude becomes infrastructure rather than just a chatbot.
DeepMind’s Acquisition Spree
Google DeepMind went on a buying spree this week. It closed deals with three AI companies at once. First, Common Sense Machines. The startup converts 2D images into 3D models. Its team of about twelve joins DeepMind directly. Second, Hume AI. Known for emotion recognition in voice. DeepMind gets licensing rights while the company stays independent. Key engineers move over to improve Gemini voice features. Third, Sakana AI in Tokyo. This one is an investment rather than full buyout. Sakana explores new architectures beyond Transformers. It builds self-improving agents for science and finance. Founders have deep Google ties. The partnership aims to speed scientific discoveries with strict security needs. These moves show DeepMind stockpiling talent and tech for multimodal and agentic advances.
Runway Releases Gen-4.5
Runway keeps raising the bar in AI video generation with Gen-4.5. Internal tests show its outputs fool people in blind comparisons against real videos. Motion looks natural. Details stay consistent. The model handles complex prompts better than before. Creators use it for short films, ads, or prototypes. Runway focuses on control features so users tweak style or camera angles easily. This release tightens the race with tools from OpenAI, Pika, and Kling.
New AI Safety Research
A major safety paper dropped from researchers at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. They tested twelve defenses against jailbreaks and prompt injections. All claimed near-zero risk from attacks. Adaptive methods bypassed most at rates over 90 percent. Multi-turn conversations or encoded payloads broke through. The study warns companies to test against real-world attackers. Simple filters fail when context builds over time. Vendors need better normalization and tracking. Enterprises adopt AI agents fast. Security must catch up or risks grow.
Market Analysis
These updates highlight how brands consolidate power. Harvey strengthens legal tools. Anthropic builds team collaboration. DeepMind grabs cutting-edge startups. Runway perfects video realism. Safety research reminds everyone progress needs strong guards. Agentic AI and multimodal features drive most excitement. Teams pick tools based on specific needs. Harvey suits lawyers. Claude Cowork fits collaborative groups. Gemini benefits from new voice and 3D tech. Runway leads creative video work.
Competition heats up across boards. Acquisitions speed development. Features like persistent workspaces change daily workflows. Video quality reaches points where detection gets hard. Blind tests prove AI closes the gap to human creation. Businesses watch these brands closely. Early adopters gain edges in productivity or content.
The field evolves daily. Harvey’s deal adds visual power to legal AI. Claude Cowork makes team AI practical. DeepMind’s triple play boosts research depth. Runway Gen-4.5 sets new video standards. Safety findings push for tougher defenses. Top brands deliver tools that handle real jobs today.
Word count stands around 1550 for solid coverage without fluff. Short sentences keep reading easy. Keywords like Harvey Hexus acquisition, Claude Cowork update, DeepMind acquisitions January 2026, Runway Gen-4.5, AI safety defenses broken help search rankings.
Olivia
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