[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] Moves by heavyweight technology companies targeting the local, or on-device, AI market that runs on standard hardware rather than in the cloud are gaining speed. Following Nvidia, Microsoft has joined the list of big tech firms moving into attack mode in local AI.

Microsoft is stepping up its push into the local AI market after unveiling its new Surface Laptop Ultra, which features Nvidia AI chips. The Surface Laptop Ultra is designed to handle more AI tasks on the device as well as in the cloud. Users can install and run various models on the new laptop and use them without the burden of high monthly fees.

Microsoft starts pre-orders for 'Surface Laptop Ultra' with Nvidia AI chips

Microsoft has also made clear its intent to build Windows into a platform for AI agents. As part of that, it presented “hybrid intelligence” as a keyword, splitting AI tasks between PCs and the cloud depending on what fits best.

Microsoft: 'Windows will be an outpost for hybrid intelligence'...leading AI cost cuts Microsoft to make Windows an 'agent OS'...targeting developers with local AI

Nvidia also unveiled a 64GB configuration for its personal AI supercomputer, the NVIDIA DGX Spark. DGX Spark 64GB can run local agents on the device, enabling in-house processing without relying on the cloud.

Nvidia unveils DGX Spark 64GB...runs 100 billion-parameter models locally

Some users say that while it is not perfect, local AI can handle some personal and practical tasks for people who are uneasy about uploading sensitive data to the cloud.

"Local AI agent feels more like a computer program than a friend"

Competition is also heating up in the personal AI agent market aimed at individuals rather than companies. Big tech firms, along with startups that tout personal AI agents as their core strength, are also accelerating their push after securing large investments. AI agent startup Manus raised more than $500 million in its first funding round after splitting with Meta. Nous Research, which develops the open-source AI agent Hermes, also secured Series B funding worth $90 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

AI agent startup Manus raises $500 million in first funding round after splitting with Meta Open-source AI agent Hermes raises funding at $1.5 billion valuation...knocking in earnest on enterprise market

Another personal AI agent startup, Tab, also challenged the market with a valuation of $300 million. Hark formally unveiled its personal AI agent service, Hark Pro. Hark Pro connects across a user’s digital life, including email, calendars, stored files and payment information, and carries out computer tasks on the user’s behalf. Personal AI agent service Instinct also rolled out a feature that lets users deploy its AI agent in group chats that include friends without accounts.

Personal AI agents flood the market...'Tab' also unveils and enters the fray Hark unveils AI agent that performs computer tasks...also flags dedicated device in 2027 Instinct supports AI agents in group chats even with friends without accounts

Here is a round-up of domestic and overseas companies’ moves around AI.

Google is expanding Gemini from a Q&A AI into agentic AI that performs actual work. Google unveiled an integrated agent that not only answers questions but also carries out tasks on behalf of users, and plans to apply it to businesses first.

Google adds agentic AI to Gemini...targets enterprise market first

OpenAI will expand its latest AI model, GPT-6, across ChatGPT, including for free users, and introduce an “Intelligent UI” that composes response screens in real time depending on the question. OpenAI will also apply invisible watermarks to text generated by ChatGPT and Codex in the European Union.

OpenAI to release GPT-6 to free users...'Intelligent UI' introduced OpenAI to introduce ChatGPT text watermarking in EU

Microsoft unveiled “Microsoft-Decision-1” and jumped into the race for decision-making AI models sparked by TypeSafe’s Zebro. TypeSafe is also accelerating its expansion after raising $870 million at a valuation of $7.5 billion. There is also news that Nvidia is considering either investing additional funds in open-source AI startup Reflection AI or acquiring the company outright.

Microsoft joins decision-focused AI model race...unveils Decision-1 TypeSafe, developer of 'Zeb', raises $870 million at $7.5 billion valuation Nvidia makes increasingly bold bet on open-weight AI...considers acquiring Reflection AI

Process automation solutions company Automation Anywhere has agreed to acquire conversational voice AI company Boost.ai from Nordic Capital. It is a move to expand the scope of autonomous automation to include customer service. Cohere unveiled “North 2,” a platform that can run AI agents within large organisations. The upgrade focuses on strengthening an orchestration system that handles multi-step tasks and features to manage caps on token spending.

Automation Anywhere to acquire Boost.ai...expands customer service voice AI Cohere unveils enterprise AI agent platform 'North 2'...strengthens multi-step agent operations, security and cost controls

French AI startup Mistral is accelerating its push into the South Korean market. According to its recruitment page, the company is hiring full-time applied scientists and research engineers to work in Seoul. Mistral also unveiled a new open-weight AI model, Mistral Large 4, with 1 trillion parameters.

Mistral gains momentum in South Korea enterprise AI push...steps up technical hiring Will China-led open-weight model landscape change...Mistral unveils 1 trillion-parameter 'Large 4'

French company Schneider Electric will acquire U.S. industrial software company PTC for $22.6 billion. Schneider Electric sees PTC helping it expand into product design and engineering. It is a strategy to prepare for an era of industrial AI in which AI is embedded in machines and physical products.

Schneider Electric announces $22.6 billion acquisition of PTC...strengthens industrial AI software

AI and cloud company MegazoneCloud launched its enterprise AI OS, AIR Studio v3, which allows companies to integrate and manage data and AI agents, operations, security and costs while maintaining their existing AI environments. Hancom will work with Amazon Web Services to launch its AI workforce platform Nomadian in the U.S. market. Hancom will design everything with AWS, from product upgrades to pricing policy and marketing strategy, ahead of a beta release of Nomadian at the end of December. It is also seeking sales channels through the AWS Marketplace. Multimodal video understanding AI company Twelve Labs launched Pegasus 1.6, a vision-language model designed to understand egocentric data. Twelve Labs has applied general-purpose video understanding technology that recognises actions, events and context to markets including media, entertainment, sports and the public sector, and is now expanding into industrial AX areas such as physical AI, including robots, and manufacturing sites.

MegazoneCloud launches enterprise AI OS 'AIR Studio v3'...adopts modular design Hancom cooperates with AWS to target U.S. market with AI workforce platform 'Nomadian' Twelve Labs launches video understanding model Pegasus 1.6...expands from media to physical AI

ASI Corp launched an AIaaS (AI as a Service) platform that allows users to explore and compare various generative AI services and AI agents, and proceed through adoption and subscriptions. LG Uplus will work with global subscription platform company Bango to offer overseas AI and content services that have been hard to use in South Korea through its subscription platform, U+doc. ASI unveils AI agent comparison platform...supports about 150 services LG Uplus cooperates with Bango...expands overseas AI and content lineup on subscription platform 'U+doc'

As Chinese AI firms, backed by open-weight models with strong value for money, accelerate their pursuit of OpenAI and Anthropic, the race between OpenAI and Anthropic for AI leadership also appears to be intensifying. OpenAI has recently drawn attention for significantly lifting its market share in the enterprise market, where it had lagged behind Anthropic.

OpenAI vs Anthropic 'price war' intensifies...a major variable for enterprise AI market