Latest AI Trends: Agents, LLMs, and Acquisitions
Tak@Here are today's top AI & Tech news picks, curated with professional analysis.
Professional Software Developers Don't Vibe, They Control: AI Agent Use for Coding in 2025
Expert Analysis
This paper investigates the use of AI agents in professional software development in 2025. Experienced developers value AI agents as a productivity boost but employ strategies to control agent behavior using their expertise to maintain fundamental software quality attributes. They generally feel positive about incorporating agents, confident in their ability to complement agent limitations. The findings highlight the value of software development best practices for effective agent use, suggest suitable tasks for agents, and point to future opportunities for improved agentic interfaces and guidelines.
👉 Read the full article on arXiv
- Key Takeaway: Experienced developers actively control AI agents to ensure software quality, rather than passively accepting their output.
- Author: Ruanqianqian Huang, Avery Reyna, Sorin Lerner, Haijun Xia, Brian Hempel
Large language models and the entropy of English
Expert Analysis
This study uses large language models (LLMs) to investigate long-range structure in English texts. It finds that conditional entropy (code length) continues to decrease with context length up to approximately 10^4 characters, implying dependencies across these distances. Different learning dynamics for long- and short-range contexts suggest gradual learning of long-range structure. The results constrain efforts to build statistical physics models of LLMs or language itself.
👉 Read the full article on arXiv
- Key Takeaway: LLMs reveal significant long-range dependencies in English text, suggesting complex structural learning processes.
- Author: Colin Scheibner, Lindsay M. Smith, William Bialek
Meta just bought Manus, an AI startup everyone has been talking about
Expert Analysis
Meta has acquired Manus, a Chinese-founded, Singapore-based AI startup specializing in AI agents, for over $2 billion. The acquisition aims to accelerate Meta's integration of AI and automation capabilities across its products. Manus develops general-purpose AI agents capable of complex tasks like data analysis and coding, and will continue its subscription service post-acquisition. This deal is notable as one of the first acquisitions of a Chinese startup by a major US tech company.
👉 Read the full article on TechCrunch / Alpha Spread / TechNode / TechCentral.ie / CBC
- Key Takeaway: Meta's acquisition of Manus for over $2 billion signifies a major strategic move to bolster its AI agent capabilities and expand automation across its platforms.
- Author: Connie Loizos (TechCrunch, inaccessible), Editorial Staff (others)
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