Figure AI, the AI robotics company developing humanoid robots, has unveiled Helix 02, described as their most powerful and capable model to date for controlling humanoid robots, the company announced on X Tuesday.

Helix 02 represents a major advancement in their AI stack, building on the earlier Helix Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model introduced in early 2025. It enables fully autonomous, end-to-end whole-body control for complex, long-horizon tasks in real-world environments.

Key highlights from the company's video demonstrations:

• Full-body autonomy from pixels to actions — A single unified neural network directly controls the entire body (including locomotion, manipulation, balance, wrists, fingers, torso, and head) using inputs from all onboard sensors: vision, touch (tactile sensing), and proprioception.

• Long-horizon loco-manipulation demo — The standout showcase is a robot (running on Figure 03 hardware) autonomously unloading and reloading a dishwasher in a full-sized kitchen. This 4-minute task integrates walking, grasping, placing items, opening/closing doors, and balance maintenance — all without resets or human intervention. Figure claims this is the longest and most complex autonomous task completed by a humanoid robot to date.

• New architecture — Helix 02 extends their prior "System 1 + System 2" setup with a foundational System 0 layer: a learned whole-body controller trained on over 1,000 hours of human motion data plus sim-to-real reinforcement learning. This replaces over 109,000 lines of hand-engineered C++ code with a neural prior for more natural, stable motion.

• Enhanced dexterity — Leveraging embedded tactile sensors and palm cameras on the Figure 03 robot, it achieves fine-grained manipulation previously out of reach for vision-only systems, such as:

  • Extracting individual pills.

  • Dispensing precise syringe volumes.

  • Singulating (separating) small, irregular objects from cluttered environments despite self-occlusion.

This pushes toward household and general-purpose robotics, addressing unpredictability in homes (diverse objects, no fixed setups). It runs onboard with low power, enabling real-world deployment without cloud reliance.

Tether has officially launched USAT, a federally regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin designed for the U.S. market, marking its formal entry into the domestic regulatory framework under the GENIUS Act. The token is built on Tether’s Hadron real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform, enabling scalable, on-chain transparency and compliance.

USAT is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered stablecoin issuer in the U.S., operating under the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This gives USAT full compliance with U.S. federal regulations. Cantor Fitzgerald serves as the designated reserve custodian and primary dealer for USAT, ensuring bank-grade transparency and asset management.

Bo Hines, former Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, has been appointed CEO of Tether USAT, overseeing the U.S. division.

“USDT has proven for more than a decade that digital dollars can deliver trust, transparency, and utility at a global scale,"  CEO of Tether Paolo Ardoino said. "USAT extends that mission by providing a federally regulated product designed for the American market.”

USAT is now live on major exchanges including Kraken, OKX, Crypto.com, Bybit, and MoonPay, with initial trading volumes reaching $13 million shortly after launch.

Tether’s massive financial resources—reporting over $33.1 billion in U.S. Treasury bill purchases in 2024—position USAT to scale rapidly, with ambitions to reach a $1 trillion market cap within five years.

Tuesday's launch comes after the U.S. passed the GENIUS Act in July 2025, creating a legal framework for regulated stablecoins. While USDT remains a global, offshore stablecoin, USAT is Tether’s strategic response to compete with Circle’s USDC, the dominant U.S.-compliant stablecoin. The launch follows months of preparation, including the appointment of Hines in September 2025 and the selection of Anchorage and Cantor Fitzgerald as key partners.

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X over concerns that its AI chatbot, Grok, was used to generate non-consensual sexualized images of real people, including women and minors.

The probe, launched Monday, focuses on whether X has met its legal obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to assess and mitigate systemic risks related to illegal content, particularly manipulated sexually explicit images and potential child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy at the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen condemned the practice, stating: “Non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation.” She emphasized that the investigation will determine whether X treated the rights of European citizens—especially women and children—as “collateral damage” of its service.

The Commission highlighted that Grok was not included in X’s required risk assessment reports under the DSA, despite being integrated into the platform. This omission raises serious concerns about X’s failure to properly evaluate and mitigate risks. The probe also extends the Commission’s ongoing investigation into X’s recommender systems, which now may use Grok’s AI, raising further questions about algorithmic risks.

X on January 14, said it had restricted image editing to prevent depictions of people in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it is illegal, but EU officials argue these measures are insufficient and do not address systemic risks. The Commission may impose interim measures or fines of up to 6% of X’s global annual turnover if violations are found.

The investigation follows similar actions by the UK’s Ofcom, Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which temporarily banned or restricted Grok over similar concerns. The EU is coordinating closely with Ireland’s national regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, due to X’s European headquarters being located there.

In response, X reiterated its “zero tolerance” policy for child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content, but the EU remains unconvinced that adequate safeguards are in place. The probe is ongoing, with no set deadline for resolution.