Connect with us

Technology

TECH WORLD STUNNED. EARLY FORM OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – FAMED 1970S ROBOT – EMERGES AFTER 50 YEARS – HEADS TO AUCTION

Published

on

NEW YORK, May 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Decades before AI, a Bronx school had a curious device that contained encyclopedic and curricular information, verbally addressed students by name, adjusted its teaching speed based on each child’s needs, knew their hobbies, and made kids smile ear to ear. The kids loved the robot; some admitted they preferred learning from it over a human!

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/leachim/9397951-en-leachim-1970s-classroom-robot-anticipated-modern-ai-public-auction 

This is not fantasy. It was called a normal Tuesday for fourth-grade students at a Bronx public school in 1972. There sat a fully computerized, six-foot-tall robot doing what it was programmed to do: teach children, sometimes several simultaneously. Today, many would call it AI.

Students loved its “ceaseless patience,” meaning no matter how many times they erred, the robot never made them feel inadequate or belittled—a capability many humans today find challenging.

One student, Matthew Gray, a former student taught by the robot who recently learned of its re-emergence, wrote: “As one of Leachim’s original fourth-grade students, I will never forget its positive influence over my entire life…”

Shortly after its debut in the 1970s, this robotic wunderkind became an instant media sensation, with articles published and invitations to appear on live television shows. Many were eager to test out its capabilities. Some thought there must be a little man hidden inside!

There wasn’t. Inside was complex computerized machinery created by famed inventor and scientist Michael J. Freeman, Ph.D., whose work went on to alter many industries. He named the robot Leachim (an anagram of his name). Leachim helped lay the groundwork for billions of dollars in future commercialized products within the educational toy field, including the 2-XL Robot (widely considered the first smart toy).

“Leachim was not simply a robot,” said Suzanne, curator and spokesperson for Leachim. “It is an important missing link in the technological history of artificial intelligence, educational technology, and American invention.”

Watch Leachim (and later descendants) in action in this draft video at Leachim-1.com

This iconic piece of technological history, along with its prototypes, patents, inventor notes, and commercialized descendants in original packaging, is scheduled for public auction in late 2026.  Collectors, museums, and institutions worldwide are expected to closely follow the sale. No auction date or auction house has yet been announced.

For specific information, additional materials, or interview requests with Dr. Freeman, contact Suzanne, the curator at inquiries@leachim-ai.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tech-world-stunned-early-form-of-artificial-intelligence–famed-1970s-robot–emerges-after-50-years–heads-to-auction-302775086.html

SOURCE Leachim AI

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

In HelloNation, Wedding Expert Agathi Georgiou-Graham Examines What Makes an Elevated Wedding Feel Memorable Without Overspending

Published

on

By

The article explains how thoughtful planning, guest comfort, and the right wedding venue shape a memorable wedding atmosphere.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — What makes a wedding feel elevated without requiring an oversized budget? A HelloNation article featuring insights from Agathi Georgiou-Graham of Arbor Venues in Rochester, New York, explains how thoughtful planning and guest-focused decisions often matter more than expensive details.

The article explains that many couples assume an elevated wedding depends on luxury upgrades and expensive décor. In reality, guests often remember how the event felt rather than how much money was spent. According to the article, weddings usually feel more elegant when they are organized, welcoming, and comfortable from beginning to end.

The HelloNation article highlights the importance of selecting the right wedding venue early in the planning process. A venue with natural beauty, balanced lighting, and a practical layout often requires fewer decorations and less customization. The article notes that couples sometimes overspend trying to transform a space that does not match their original vision. Choosing the right wedding venue from the start can help couples create an elevated wedding while avoiding unnecessary expenses later.

Lighting also plays a major role in shaping the wedding atmosphere during the wedding reception. The article explains that soft lighting, candles, and simple uplighting can make a space feel warm and inviting without requiring elaborate decorative pieces. Guests often respond more strongly to atmosphere and comfort than to oversized displays. A wedding reception with balanced lighting frequently feels polished and welcoming, even when the overall design remains simple.

Food and service are also identified as important parts of the guest experience. According to the article, guests may not remember every decorative detail, but they usually remember whether dinner felt enjoyable and organized. Quality catering, professional service, and comfortable dining arrangements often leave a stronger impression than expensive rentals or large floral installations. Wedding Expert Agathi Georgiou-Graham explains through the article that investing in the guest experience often creates more meaningful results than focusing only on appearance.

The article also discusses the importance of comfort and organization throughout the event. Guests notice crowded seating, long delays, and confusing schedules. Weddings often feel more refined when attendees understand where to go and what to expect throughout the evening. The article describes how thoughtful planning helps the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing move naturally from one stage to the next.

Music and pacing also influence how guests experience the wedding atmosphere. The article explains that the right music and strong coordination help maintain energy throughout the celebration. A crowded dance floor is often the result of good timing and smooth transitions rather than costly entertainment upgrades. Couples planning an elevated wedding may benefit more from focusing on flow and coordination than from adding unnecessary extras.

Consistency is another important theme discussed in the article. The décor, music, food, and service should support the same overall atmosphere from beginning to end. The article notes that neutral colors, clean layouts, and comfortable seating arrangements often create a timeless feeling that guests appreciate. Wedding Expert Agathi Georgiou-Graham shares insights showing that smaller details tend to work best when they support the larger guest experience instead of competing for attention.

The article concludes that thoughtful planning allows couples to create weddings that feel polished, connected, and welcoming without overspending. By focusing on the wedding venue, quality catering, lighting, pacing, and guest comfort, couples can create a lasting impression through organization and hospitality rather than expensive upgrades alone.

What Makes a Wedding Feel Elevated Without Overspending features insights from Agathi Georgiou-Graham, Wedding Expert of Rochester, New York, in HelloNation.

About HelloNation

HelloNation is America’s Good News Network, a premier media platform built on the idea that good news travels faster when real people tell real stories. Through its community-focused digital publications and innovative “edvertising” approach, HelloNation delivers expert-driven, good-news content that informs, inspires, and spotlights the leaders making a meaningful impact in their communities. HelloNation maintains partnerships with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the United States First Responders Association.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/in-hellonation-wedding-expert-agathi-georgiou-graham-examines-what-makes-an-elevated-wedding-feel-memorable-without-overspending-302775040.html

SOURCE HelloNation

Continue Reading

Technology

Creatify launches the first AI creative agent built specifically to make ads that convert

Published

on

By

Creatify launches an AI creative agent trained on 15M+ ads and $1B+ in analyzed ad spend. It orchestrates full ad production through one conversation, prevents hallucinations, and puts marketers in the director’s seat.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 18, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Creatify, the AI ad platform that recently surpassed 3 million marketers on its platform, today launched Creatify Agent: the first AI creative agent trained specifically on advertising performance data, designed to produce ads that convert rather than just ads that look good.

We didn’t build another AI video tool that happens to make ads. We built an agent trained on what makes ads convert. Every other agent shows you a new AI model. We show you performance data from 15 million ads powering every creative decision the agent makes.

Most AI video agents are built to generate content. Creatify Agent is built to generate ads. The difference is what powers it: 15 million ads created on the platform, over $1 billion in ad spend performance analyzed, and the collective signal from 3 million marketers and 10,000+ companies, agencies, and marketing teams running real campaigns. That data trains the agent to know which hooks hold attention, which scripts drive action, which creative structures convert across platforms, and which patterns fail.

The result: an AI agent that doesn’t just produce video. It produces video ads informed by what has worked at scale across Meta, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and AppLovin.

Preventing hallucinations in advertising content

Speed means nothing if the output gets your brand wrong. AI models hallucinate: they fabricate product features, misspell brand names, drift logos, and invent claims. In a paid ad, that’s a policy violation, a budget drain, and a trust killer.

Creatify Agent addresses this architecturally. The agent researches the brand, product, goals, and audience before generating anything. It locks in verified brand names, logos, product details, and key claims as constraints for the entire pipeline, preventing hallucinations with fabricated features, inconsistent characters, incorrect value propositions, and brand visual drift that plague other AI tools.

Proprietary vision intelligence checks every output against confirmed brand assets. Logo drift, text errors, product inaccuracies, and visual inconsistencies are caught automatically before delivery.

Full creative control through conversation

Creatify Agent works like having a scriptwriter, director, casting agent, and producer on call — except they live inside one conversation. Describe what you need, and the agent researches your competitors, writes the creative strategy, picks hooks, generates scripts, creates and casts characters, produces the video, and delivers platform-ready variations for Meta, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and organic channels.

What makes the agent different from existing AI video tools: you can step into any part of the process and direct it. Ask it to rethink the hook. Tell it the avatar doesn’t match your audience. Request a different tone in the voiceover. Upload your own footage and have the agent build around it. Push back on the script angle and watch it adapt. Every interaction refines the output toward your creative vision, not the AI’s default.

The agent runs internal checks throughout the pipeline and leads the process autonomously, surfacing decisions to the marketer at key creative checkpoints — strategy direction, script approval, character sign-off — and handling everything else end to end. The entire process takes minutes and costs $5 to $8 per ad, compared to $500+ and weeks of coordination with traditional production.

This means a solo ecommerce founder gets the same production capability as a brand with a creative agency on retainer. A growth team shipping weekly creative tests can direct 20 ad variants in a single conversation instead of briefing freelancers and waiting days for drafts. A performance marketer can explore a creative direction, reject it, pivot, and produce the final version in one sitting.

How it works

The agent operates as a multi-step creative workflow, orchestrated through conversation:

Brand and product intelligence. The agent researches the brand, product, goals, and audience. It locks in verified brand names, logos, product details, and key claims as constraints for the entire pipeline.Competitor research. The agent analyzes competitors to identify positioning gaps and unused angles.Strategy and scripting. Based on brand data, competitive intelligence, and performance patterns from 15M+ ads, the agent writes creative strategy, selects hooks, and generates script variations tuned to the target platform.Character creation and casting. The agent generates or selects AI avatars matched to the brand’s audience, drawing from 1,500+ avatars or creating custom characters to fit the brief.Production and quality assurance. The agent produces the video and checks every output against confirmed brand data to catch errors before delivery.Conversation-driven refinement. At any step, the marketer can redirect, provide feedback, supply footage, request variants, or adjust creative direction. The agent maintains context across the full conversation and adapts.

One conversation can produce dozens of ready-to-run ad variations. The agent manages format optimization (9:16, 16:9, 1:1), platform-specific requirements, and multi-language output in 75+ languages.

Built on a production-grade platform

Creatify is used by 3M+ marketers and 10K+ teams including Alibaba, HubSpot, and ElevenLabs. The company has raised $24M from WndrCo, Kindred Ventures, NFDG, and Comcast Ventures, is SOC 2 Type II certified, and is rated 4.8 on G2 with 1,000+ reviews.

Availability

Creatify Agent is available today to all users, including the free plan. Paid plans start at $19/month (Starter) and $49/month (Pro).

About Creatify

Creatify is an AI ad platform that generates professional video and image ads using top AI models while staying on brand. The platform converts product URLs, text, or images into ready-to-run ad creative in minutes, with 1,500+ AI avatars, 75+ languages, and 210+ voices. Creatify has been featured in Fast Company, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch.

For more information, visit creatify.ai.

Media Contact

Yinan Na, Creatify AI, 1 (650) 319-6694, hello@creatify.ai, https://creatify.ai/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/creatify-launches-the-first-ai-creative-agent-built-specifically-to-make-ads-that-convert-302775006.html

SOURCE Creatify AI

Continue Reading

Technology

COSO Announces Search for New Board Chair

Published

on

By

Committee begins leadership transition to guide next phase of governance, risk, and internal control advancement

NEW YORK, May 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), today announced that it has initiated a formal search process for its next Board Chair, marking an important leadership transition as the organization continues its mission to strengthen enterprise risk management, internal control, governance and fraud deterrence across industries worldwide.

Lucia Wind, COSO Chair since 2023, will step down on December 31, 2026, following a distinguished completion of her term of service. The Board is deeply grateful for Lucia’s leadership and forward-looking direction. During her tenure, COSO advanced key modernization initiatives, strengthened global engagement around our frameworks, issued key thought leadership pieces and expanded collaboration with standard‑setting bodies. Her commitment to COSO’s mission ensured COSO remains influential, practical and relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape.

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), a sponsoring organization of COSO, is managing the application process. The elected position will commence on January 1, 2027, for a three-year term.

The incoming Chair will succeed the current leadership at the conclusion of the current term and will guide COSO’s strategic priorities during a period of rapid change in organizational governance, technology adoption, and risk oversight. The role includes stewardship of COSO’s globally recognized frameworks, engagement with standard‑setting bodies, development and management of key partnerships and collaboration with the five sponsoring organizations.

“COSO’s work continues to evolve as organizations face increasingly complex risks and heightened expectations for transparency, accountability, and effective governance,” said Doug Prawitt, Lead Director of the COSO Board. “The next Chair will play a pivotal role in shaping COSO’s direction and ensuring our frameworks remain relevant, practical, and responsive to emerging challenges.”

The search will focus on candidates with deep experience in executive leadership, governance, risk management, internal control, auditing, or related disciplines, as well as a demonstrated commitment to advancing COSO’s mission. The selected Chair will lead COSO’s ongoing initiatives, including modernization of its frameworks, expansion of global outreach, and continued collaboration with regulators, practitioners, and academic institutions.

COSO’s sponsoring organizations include the American Accounting Association (AAA), the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Financial Executives International (FEI), The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).

Candidates may submit a letter of interest along with a current resume of qualifications to: bit.ly/4eUG2UA by the position application close date June 30, 2026. For more information about COSO, please visit www.coso.org.

Additional details regarding the search process and timeline will be announced as they become available.

About COSO
Originally formed in 1985, COSO is a voluntary private sector organization dedicated to helping organizations improve performance by developing thought leadership that enhances internal control, risk management, governance and fraud deterrence. COSO is jointly sponsored by the American Accounting Association (AAA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Financial Executives International (FEI), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), and The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). For more information, visit www.COSO.org.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coso-announces-search-for-new-board-chair-302775046.html

SOURCE COSO

Continue Reading

Trending