🚀 SpaceX plans 1M AI satellite data centers, Anthropic partners with ServiceNow and UK government, while Cursor launches Visual Editor for designers. Five European unicorns prove innovation knows no borders.
Industry moves
SpaceX seeks federal approval to launch 1 million solar-powered satellite data centers
According to Reuters, SpaceX has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission to launch a constellation of up to 1 million solar-powered satellites that it said will serve as data centers for artificial intelligence. The company's filing lays out a grandiose vision and framing their action as "a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization – one that can harness the Sun's full power" while also "ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future amongst the stars."
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "SpaceX's satellite data centers address AI's fundamental infrastructure problem: energy and cooling. Training large models requires massive power, and ground-based data centers face grid constraints. Solar-powered satellites eliminate cooling costs and tap unlimited solar energy. But latency matters for AI inference."
PepsiCo is using AI to rethink how factories are designed and updated
PepsiCo applies AI digital twins to parts of its manufacturing network, with early pilots focused on improving how facilities are designed and adjusted over time. The goal is to cycle time. Instead of taking weeks or months to validate changes through physical trials, teams can test configurations virtually, identify problems earlier, and move faster when updates are needed.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "PepsiCo's digital twin strategy shows AI's real value is compressing decision cycles. When you can test factory layouts virtually before moving physical equipment, you reduce capital risk and deployment time. For product teams, this pattern applies everywhere: simulate before you build. AI-powered previews reduce expensive iterations in manufacturing, software, and design."
Formula E uses Google Cloud AI to meet net zero targets
Formula E is using Google Cloud AI to meet its net zero targets by driving efficiency across its global logistics and commercial operations. As part of an expanded multi-year agreement, the electric racing series will integrate Gemini models into its ecosystem to support performance analysis, back-office workflows, and event logistics.
The challenge: Racing logistics involves complex optimization across multiple variables: transport routes, equipment positioning, energy consumption, and scheduling. AI can optimize these systems, but only if data quality is high and stakeholders trust AI-driven recommendations over traditional intuition.
Anthropic selected to build government AI assistant pilot
Anthropic is to build government AI assistant capabilities to modernise how citizens interact with complex state services. For both public and private sector technology leaders, the integration of LLMs into customer-facing platforms often stalls at the proof-of-concept stage.
The UK's Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) aims to bypass this common hurdle by operationalising its February 2025 Memorandum of Understanding with Anthropic. The joint project prioritises the deployment of agentic AI systems that are designed to actively guide users through processes rather than simply retrieving static information.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Anthropic's UK government contract validates agentic AI for high-stakes applications. Government services are notoriously complex: tax filing, benefits applications, permit requests. Static chatbots fail because they can't navigate conditional logic. Agentic systems that actively guide users through multi-step processes solve this."
ServiceNow and Anthropic disclose AI deal
ServiceNow partners with Anthropic to embed the generative AI vendor's Claude models in its workflows across industries, including healthcare and life sciences. Financial terms of the agreement, revealed on Jan. 28, were not made public. Under the deal, Claude will also be the default model for the IT service vendor's AI agent builder, ServiceNow Build Agent, which enables developers of any skill level to create and deploy agentic workflows that can act and reason autonomously.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "ServiceNow making Claude the default model for their agent builder is a platform bet on reasoning quality. When your product enables non-technical users to build AI workflows, model reliability becomes critical. Agents that hallucinate or misinterpret instructions create support debt. Claude's strong reasoning reduces errors in autonomous workflows. For enterprise AI products, this shows that accuracy and reliability matter more than raw performance metrics."
Product reality check
Meta AI paid subscription trial introduced
Meta is testing a premium subscription model on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Meta plans to test different subscription features and bundles for each app in the coming months. Pricing and availability have not yet been announced. A key pillar of Meta's subscription strategy is the expansion of Manus, a suite of AI agents it recently acquired. Meta is said to be pursuing a two-pronged strategy of integrating Manus into its services while continuing to sell standalone subscriptions to enterprises.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Meta testing AI subscriptions reveals platform economics shifting. Advertising revenue has limits: users resist more ads, regulators restrict targeting. Subscriptions provide predictable revenue but require differentiated value. AI features work as premium tiers because power users will pay for productivity gains. The challenge is segmentation, which features stay free to maintain network effects, which go premium to drive revenue. Meta's testing multiple bundles because they don't know the answer yet."
ChatGPT Prism: AI for scientists
OpenAI has released Prism, a free AI workspace for scientists. Prism integrates ChatGPT into the LaTeX editor, a widely used tool for writing papers, allowing researchers to receive AI assistance right from the start. MIT Technology Review compared this to the trend of adding chatbots to coding editors to boost productivity, describing it as akin to Vibe Coding in the scientific field. Kevin Weil, who leads OpenAI for Science, said in a briefing that 2026 could be a significant turning point for AI in science.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Prism's LaTeX integration follows the Cursor playbook: embed AI into existing workflows instead of forcing tool switching. Scientists already use LaTex, adding AI assistance there reduces friction. AI assistants that require context-switching fail, embedded AI succeeds."
Spotify launches prompt playlists
Spotify is piloting Prompted Playlists. This feature allows users to input their desired mood and context via text, and Spotify generates playlists based on their listening history and music trends.
Prompted playlists are designed to reduce the manuality of existing automated recommendations, allowing users to set their own rules to adjust recommendations. Users can add conditions, such as adding songs they haven't yet listened to, based on artists they've listened to frequently in the last five years.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Spotify's Prompted Playlists shift control from algorithm to user. Traditional recommendations are opaque black boxes, users can't explain why they see specific songs. Prompt-based generation gives users agency: they specify constraints, the algorithm executes. This matters for AI UX: transparency through control. Users trust AI more when they can direct it, even if the underlying algorithm is identical."
Google DeepMind introduces agentic vision to Gemini 3 Flash
Google DeepMind added agentic vision capabilities to its Gemini 3 Flash model, turning image analysis into an active rather than passive task. While typical multimodal models process images in a single "glance," by introducing agentic capabilities, Google allows its model to actively study a picture and home in on specific details, such as street signs or a serial number on a microchip. The new feature works by generating and running Python code that zooms, manipulates and inspects images methodically.
Mistral AI upgrades vibe coding agent
French company Mistral AI has unveiled Mistral Vibe 2.0, a terminal native coding agent that adds a series of upgrades for developers. Vibe 2.0 is powered by the Paris-based startup's Devstral 2 model family and will enable users to "build, maintain and ship code faster," according to the company. The update constitutes a major step forward for the firm as it underscores its position as the leading European company challenging the dominant U.S. players in AI-assisted software development.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Mistral Vibe 2.0 shows European AI can compete in coding agents. Terminal-native design matters: developers live in terminals. Lightweight, fast tools win when they match existing workflows. Mistral's bet is execution speed and European data residency. For enterprises with data sovereignty requirements, non-U.S. AI providers become strategic options."
OpenMind unveils robot App Store
Robotics software company OpenMind launched an App Store for robots. The company said the new offering is designed as the "software distribution layer" for quadruped and humanoid robots operating in real world environments. The launch is a response to what OpenMind highlights as a disconnect between rapidly advancing robotic hardware and lagging software, with use of legacy software systems constraining the ability to scale robots across use cases.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "OpenMind's robot app store addresses robotics' platform problem. Hardware advances faster than software; every robot runs custom integration code. An app store standardizes the software layer, letting robots be reprogrammed for new tasks without custom development. If configuring a robot for warehouse work requires six months of custom code, adoption stalls. App-based configuration reduces deployment to days."
Design wins
How Lazarev.agency elevated a digital marketing firm's online presence
Establishing a strong visual identity and optimized user experience is crucial for standing out and conveying professionalism. SkyDeck, a company born from a late-night vision during COVID, initially relied on a simple Fiverr logo. Recognizing the need for a more impactful online presence, they turned to Lazarev.agency to develop a modern, bold website that would better reflect their growth and ambitions.
Our approach: We crafted a comprehensive visual language that aligns with current design trends, emphasizing minimalism with bright accents. This strategy ensured consistency across all digital touchpoints, positioning the brand as a professional leader in its niche.
Koto gives Web3 gaming platform Marblex a cheeky rebrand
Global creative studio Koto gives Marblex a new brand identity. Previously bogged down by the intricacies of Web3, token exchanges, and NFT trading and infrastructure, Koto's new look and feel for Marblex instead places the focus where it should be: the fun.
Why this matters: Web3 brands often overemphasize technology complexity, alienating mainstream users. Successful consumer crypto products hide blockchain complexity behind playful, accessible interfaces. Marblex's rebrand signals this shift: lead with entertainment value.
AG shapes Tears of Roses into a poetic liqueur experience
AG designs the Tears of Roses as a quiet moment of beauty, captured in glass. The deep crimson spirit evokes both passion and tenderness, mirroring the dual nature of the rose itself, delicate yet intense. The soft, rose-shaped label frames the name as a keepsake, inviting the drinker into an intimate ritual rather than a casual sip.
JDO gives Dove the royal treatment for Bridgerton Collaboration
In a collaboration steeped in romance and cultural allure, Dove has partnered with Netflix to create a limited-edition collection inspired by the opulence, escapism and regency splendour of the global phenomenon, Bridgerton. Designed by international brand design agency JDO, the Dove x Bridgerton Collection reimagines everyday care through a lens of indulgence, elegance and accessible luxury. The range spans 20 SKUs across body wash, hand wash, scrub, deodorant, bar, and mist, brought to life through evocative variants.
What this shows: Entertainment-brand collaborations work when product categories align with content themes. Bridgerton's luxury and self-care aesthetic maps naturally to personal care products. The collaboration creates limited-edition urgency while introducing Dove to Bridgerton's Gen Z and Millennial audience.
This week's reality check
Mobile UX design: key stats, strategies, and handy insights from real case studies
When Starbucks doubled down on mobile UX design, it rewired customer behavior. Ordering a latte became a one-thumb action. Payments disappeared into the background. Loyalty felt effortless. That was the power of mobile user experience done right. It turned users into repeat customers and everyday interactions into revenue streams.
Key takeaways:
- Mobile is the battleground. 60%+ of traffic and digital payments are now mobile. If your small-screen experience fails, growth stalls regardless of desktop polish.
- Retention beats traffic. Apps lose ~77% of users within 3 days if UX is off; mobile-first design is how you turn downloads into loyal, paying customers.
- Context is everything. One-handed use, glare, spotty connections, and short sessions mean you can't treat mobile as "shrunk desktop."
- Principles before patterns. Honeycomb thinking, task-first design, ergonomics, and cognitive-load reduction drive the strongest results across industries.
What is a UX expert review and how to use it to fix product friction fast?
Your growth slows, dashboards disagree, and every team has a different theory. Support calls it "confusing", product says "edge cases", and engineering blames scope. You need a defensible read on what breaks critical user journeys. A UX expert review is the fastest way to put trained eyes on the problem and turn ambiguity into a prioritized plan.
Key takeaways:
- Use it when: you need fast, defensible answers about friction before launch, after conversion drops, or ahead of a roadmap pivot.
- What you get: a prioritized backlog of issues (with screenshots and rationale) instead of vague "opinions about design."
- How it works best: narrow scope to 2–3 key flows, share existing research and KPIs, and agree on success criteria up front.
Where Lazarev.agency fits: we run expert reviews as part of AI, SaaS, fintech, and Web3 product growth audits tied directly to activation, retention, and monetization.
What's coming next week
More AI infrastructure plays, more European unicorns proving geography doesn't limit ambition, and probably another legacy platform testing AI subscriptions.
🔥 Stay sharp. Stay with Lazarev.agency, your AI UX design agency.
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