HeyWhatsNew: Robot Traffic Cops, Reddit Videos Set to Launch, and ChatGPT Made for Teens
Hey, Heyuppers! The tech world is constantly evolving each day. Let’s take a look at some of the major stories that everyone’s been talking about. Here’s what’s making headlines across tech, gaming, and innovation, starting from 17/08/2026.
China Uses Robocops for Traffic Duty
In the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, local technology firm SUPCON Information has deployed robots to help direct traffic and warn rule-breakers. The 216-pound T2 robot is part of a broader industry push to move machines beyond exhibition-floor acrobatics into practical jobs.
The initiative gives more repetitive traffic-control duties to the robots, allowing human officers to focus their time elsewhere. The robots use cameras, radar, and onboard computing to identify riders without helmets, e-bikes carrying passengers, vehicles stopping over marked lines, and pedestrians crossing against signals.
They can also answer questions about directions, parking, and traffic rules, while an emergency function connects users with local police. The company states that the pilot has reduced some violations by over 40%.
AI Agents Can Now Trade Crypto for You
In the crypto world, AI agents are now given permission to analyze markets and execute trades on the behalf of users. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, launched its Agent OS platform that allows developers to connect AI applications and agents to the company’s financial infrastructure.
While the platform works with tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Codex, Anthropic’s Claude Code, and Cursor, allowing users to authorize agents to access market data, view account information, and execute trades, the company is still placing the responsibility of keeping them in check on users.
Through dedicated “sub-accounts” that users can assign to the agents, they ultimately decide what the AI can access and trade and set limits on what they can do. However, withdrawals from those sub-accounts are blocked by default, creating a sandbox around an agent’s activity.
Reddit Explores New Video and Audio Experience
Popular social media platform, Reddit recently announced that it would be taking on a new style with a “video Reddit” experience. This would allow users to listen to Reddit posts in the background as they do other tasks. Reddit CEO, Steve Huffman, stated that people were already consuming Reddit content like this on other platforms, with Reddit posts being narrated through a text-to-speech feature or read aloud by creators on TikTok or Instagram Reels.
“There is an emerging content type elsewhere on the internet of, basically, podcasts where people read Reddit content,” Huffman explained. “I think this version of, like, listened-to or spoken Reddit can be really engaging, as well,” he added.
The different formats will not replace the original, text-only posts on the platform, but will add the option for people who want to listen to Reddit audio while exercising, walking, or running errands. Users will be able to choose whether they want to “read” or “play” a post, when available. The company will begin testing an initial version with both video and audio posts across select communities to see which type of posts resonate with its users and have the potential to scale.
OpenAI Set to Launch ChatGPT for Teens
OpenAI recently announced the launch of ChatGPT for Teens, a new form of their popular chatbot that promises to include additional safety measures. The company states that age-appropriate protections will now be on by default in ChatGPT for Teens. This also comes amid several lawsuits against the AI giant, alleging that the AI chatbots’ lack of safety measures has led to teen suicides and other mental health concerns.
The new chatbot format is designed to reduce exposure to harmful or developmentally inappropriate content and is based on OpenAI’s Under-18 Principles in our Model Spec, which the company claims to be informed by “developmental science and guidance from experts.”
To address the educational crisis of ChatGPT-assisted cheating in schools, the platform will use a new Study Mode feature and other tools to engage curiosity. Rather than being given direct answers, teens will be given guiding questions and step-by-step support to help them understand the material. The app will also support quizzes and learning visualizations, and controls that allow parents or guardians to decide when Study Mode is enabled by default, the company says.
Sony Threatens to Pull the Plug on Horizon Hunters Gathering
Guerilla Games developers now have a December deadline to improve their live service co-op game set in the Horizon universe after receiving negative player feedback during recent playtests. Horizon Hunters Gathering was meant to be a new live service co-op action game where you group up as a team of animated heroes and fight mechanical beasts.
However, after three playtests earlier this year, the reactions were quite poor. Sony gave the studio several months to reboot it into a regular co-op game with a story and a smaller scope. According to Bloomberg's sources, the company told the team that it would need to impress executives with their next milestone in December.
Sony has a reputation for scraping in-development live service projects, including spinoffs from popular franchises like God of War, The Last of Us, and Spider-Man. Bloomberg says most of the developers on Horizon Hunters Gathering have been moved to a different project and that a small team within Guerilla Games is currently working on the next singleplayer Horizon game.
That’s all we have for you today, Heyuppers! Thanks for keeping up with us. We’ll be back next week for more of the stories making waves across tech, gaming, and innovation.
