1. UK Government Backs 10-Point AI Adoption Plan for Financial Services
Gov.uk / Finextra · Finance & Banking
The UK government has formally welcomed a 10-point AI adoption plan for financial services, developed by its independent AI Champions — Harriet Rees of Starling Bank and Dr Rohit Dhawan of Lloyds Banking Group. The plan sets out recommendations for government, regulators, and industry covering areas such as AI-powered financial advice, operational resilience, skills and talent, and agentic payments. The government has accepted all recommendations directed at it and will work alongside the FCA and industry on next steps, including aligning the plan with the FCA’s Mills Review on AI in retail financial services.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-adoption-plan-financial-services
2. Harvey Acquires AI Platform Benchmark to Expand Asset Management Legal Work
Global Legal Post · Law & Legal
Legal AI giant Harvey has agreed to acquire New York-based Benchmark, a decision-infrastructure platform that helps asset management firms automatically read investment documents, summarise potential deals, and scrutinise agreements. The deal — Harvey’s third acquisition of 2026 — is designed to deepen the company’s foothold in the asset management sector, where it already serves more than 125 investment firms including KKR and Bridgewater Associates. Harvey added over $100 million in net-new annual recurring revenue in Q2 2026, signalling rapid growth beyond traditional law firm clients.
3. Anthropic Launches Claude Science AI Workbench for Drug Discovery
Healthcare Digital · Healthcare & Pharmaceutical
Anthropic has launched Claude Science, a dedicated AI workbench for scientists that gives medical researchers access to over 60 curated tools and connectors spanning life science disciplines, aimed at accelerating drug discovery and pharmaceutical research. The platform, available to all Claude paid subscribers, is already being used by major pharma companies including Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, and Anthropic plans to use it to run its own drug development programmes for rare and neglected diseases. The UK’s MHRA is also developing regulatory frameworks for adaptive AI technologies intended for use across the NHS, signalling growing momentum on both the commercial and regulatory fronts.
https://healthcare-digital.com/news/anthropics-push-into-ai-drug-discovery-and-medical-research
4. Palladyne AI Swarming Software Eyes US Army Drone Contracts
Breaking Defense · Defense & Security
Palladyne is integrating new AI-powered swarming software onto battle-tested Israeli drones and plans to compete for US Army contracts, including the Long-Range Precision Munition programme. The move reflects a broader push by defence firms to field autonomous, AI-coordinated drone systems at scale. It comes as NATO allies and the Pentagon accelerate AI adoption following commitments made at the Ankara summit in July 2026.
5. EU Parliament to Launch Secure AI Hub for MEPs by September
Politico (via The Next Web) · Technology & AI
The European Parliament is set to roll out its own internal AI platform, the EPGenAI Hub, to MEPs and staff as early as September 2026, giving them secure, managed access to models from Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and France’s Mistral. The move comes after roughly 20% of parliamentary staff were found to be using public AI chatbots daily to draft speeches, amendments, and legislative documents, with committee chairs raising alarm over AI hallucinations and undisclosed AI-generated content appearing in official materials. The hub aims to keep sensitive legislative data off uncontrolled consumer platforms while bringing lawmakers’ AI use in line with the EU’s own AI Act transparency rules.
https://thenextweb.com/news/european-parliament-epgenai-hub-ai-platform-meps