[10/26 18:00] Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as AI spending climbs / China's AI stock bubble has already burst, with the STAR50 index down about 40 percent from its July peak

AI News Flash for October 26, 2026 at 18:00 UTC.

Topics: 1. Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as AI spending climbs https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoft-buyouts-60000-workers-artificial-intelligence-layoffs/ 2. China's AI stock bubble has already burst, with the STAR50 index down about 40 percent from its July peak https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-ai-bubble-has-already-burst-2026-10-26/ 3. Japan's Sakana AI will build its own homegrown models from scratch, aiming at defense and cybersecurity https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/artificial-intelligence/japan-s-sakana-ai-to-build-homegrown-model-to-cut-us-china-reliance 4. Bedrock Robotics raises 600 million dollars at a 4.1 billion dollar valuation for self-driving excavators https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/26/this-startups-self-driving-excavators-help-dig-up-600m-in-new-funding/ 5. Unconventional AI buys Israeli chip startup NeuReality as it chases a thousandfold gain in AI compute efficiency https://www.reuters.com/business/unconventional-ai-buys-israeli-chip-startup-neureality-speed-product-development-2026-10-26/