Big Tech Moves Toward Specialized AI and Immersive Retail

From new multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) models to immersive storytelling spaces and agent-driven enterprise tools, Big Tech’s latest moves show AI becoming the connective tissue across products, experiences and business operations.

Meta is developing a new image and video generation model code-named Mango alongside a new text-focused model called Avocado, according to The Wall Street Journal. The effort reflects Meta’s push to diversify its AI stack beyond a single family of large language models and toward more specialized systems tuned for specific tasks and modalities.

Mango is designed to handle image and video creation and editing, positioning Meta to compete more directly in multimodal generation as visual content becomes central to social media, advertising and creator tools. Avocado, by contrast, focuses on text-based reasoning and coding tasks, reinforcing Meta’s ambition to control both the visual and linguistic layers of its platforms.

The strategy signals a broader shift inside Meta toward model specialization. Rather than relying on one general-purpose model to do everything, the company is increasingly building distinct systems optimized for creative production, performance and cost control, with plans to integrate them tightly across Facebook, Instagram and other products.

Netflix is taking its intellectual property beyond the screen with Netflix House, a permanent physical venue designed to immerse fans inside the worlds of its most popular shows and films. The locations blend interactive environments, immersive technology and data-driven personalization to turn storytelling into a walk-through experience.

Unlike short-term pop-ups, Netflix House is intended to be a year-round destination. Visitors can move through themed spaces tied to franchises such as Stranger Things and Wednesday, participate in interactive games and engage with environments that adapt based on audience behavior. The company has framed the initiative as a way to deepen engagement while opening new revenue streams tied to merchandise, food and ticketed experiences.

The move highlights how streaming platforms are experimenting with physical-digital convergence. For Netflix, the goal is not just brand extension but also learning how audiences interact with stories when they are active participants rather than passive viewers, generating new data about engagement in immersive settings.

Microsoft released its 2025 Copilot Usage Report, revealing that health-related topics are the most searched category across Copilot interactions, particularly on mobile devices. Users are increasingly turning to AI assistants for questions about wellness, symptoms and mental health, underscoring how conversational AI is becoming part of everyday decision-making.

The findings point to a growing level of trust in AI assistants, while also raising questions about accuracy, guardrails and responsibility. Microsoft has emphasized that understanding how and why people use Copilot informs how it designs safety controls and contextual responses, especially in sensitive areas like health.

The report also shows how usage patterns differ by context. While health dominates mobile queries, work-related and technical questions are more common on desktop, reinforcing Microsoft’s view of Copilot as a horizontal interface that spans personal and professional life.

Salesforce announced the acquisition of Qualified, a provider of agentic AI solutions for marketing and sales engagement. Qualified’s platform uses autonomous agents to identify, engage and route high-intent buyers in real time, often before a human sales representative steps in.

The acquisition strengthens Salesforce’s push to embed agents directly into go-to-market workflows. Rather than positioning AI solely as an assistive tool, Salesforce is increasingly treating software as an active participant that can initiate conversations, qualify leads and trigger actions across its CRM ecosystem.

Salesforce said the deal will enhance its ability to deliver real-time, AI-driven engagement and aligns with its broader Agentforce strategy, which centers on giving autonomous systems defined authority within enterprise processes.

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