Gemini has become central to Google's AI push, powering in-house models and consumer tools as the company expands AI features and services.
A wave of AI-enabled tools is reshaping publishing, note-taking, and defense sectors. Beehiiv and Substack roll out chat-assisted publishing; Plaud ships AI-powered notetaking hardware; Mode Inc expands via acquisitions to crowdsource data labeling; Mach Industries pursues multiple weapons programs to boost U.S. defense capabilities.
Meta has announced a new line of smart glasses with AI-assisted features, priced at $299 and developed with EssilorLuxottica. The glasses lack Ray-Ban/Oakley branding, and Meta is positioning them as fashion-forward wearables. Competitors like Snap and Google are racing to release their own AI eyewear.
A heat dome has driven record electricity demand across the eastern United States. Officials warn temperatures will stay high this week and the grid faces stress as cooling needs rise. Cooling centers expand and energy-use guidance is issued to prevent outages.
The Financial Conduct Authority has released a Mills Review on AI in financial services, warning it could transform markets by 2030 while heightening fraud and cyber risks. It recommends expanding the FCA’s powers over critical third parties and launching a follow-up in six months to assess harm from unregulated AI-enabled finance.
Anthropic has released Claude Reflect to web and mobile for users with memory enabled, allowing them to review 1, 3, 6 or 12 months of Claude activity, usage patterns, and task types. Prompts about mindful AI use and optional quiet hours accompany the rollout, which is in beta for Free, Pro, and Max tiers.
Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier and author Scott Turow have filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing Google of copying millions of copyrighted books — from Google Books, Play and web scrapes — and using them without permission to train its Gemini AI, seeking damages and an injunction while alleging Google hid identifying copyright data.
EU rules under the Digital Markets Act require Google to allow rival AI assistants on Android and to share anonymized search data with competing engines. The measures aim to boost choice while preserving privacy, with compliance set for 2027.
Intel has reported its strongest revenue growth in more than a decade, with revenue rising 25% to $16.1 billion. Data center and AI demand drive gains, though the company remains unprofitable due to restructuring costs and an $8.9 billion government investment stake. Foundry business is expanding, facing execution challenges.
Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 line remains the flagship, with the Ultra model offering higher-end cameras and battery life. Other foldables from rival brands enter markets with new shapes, improved screens, and pricing shifts. Preorders and deals signal growing consumer interest, while reviews highlight both value and trade-offs.
Apple has confirmed a high-end focus for its September event, with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max as the main attractions and a foldable iPhone Ultra expected to be unveiled. The base iPhone 18 is delayed to spring 2027, while AirPods and other components face supply and price pressures.
Chinese AI developers are releasing cheaper, high-end models that compete with leading U.S. options. DeepSeek’s V4-Flash is the cheapest major model, while Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-Max claims competitive benchmarks and a 1-million-token context. The wave includes Moonshot AI and ByteDance, intensifying global competition.
Enterprise AI spending has doubled as firms shift to use frontier models for planning and delegating tasks to cheaper tools for day-to-day work. Stakeholders warn that token costs remain unpredictable, prompting a push for better governance, budgeting and measurement across organizations.
Google has reorganised its AI leadership: Demis Hassabis has stepped back from day-to-day running of DeepMind to become its chair and Alphabet chief scientist, and Koray Kavukcuoglu has been promoted to senior vice-president to run Google DeepMind. Several senior engineers, including Jeff Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat, have left to launch a new startup; Alphabet shares have fallen.
Shopify has reported strong quarterly results as AI-enabled tools drive traffic and orders to its platform, with AI search helping smaller brands compete. Revenue and GMV beat expectations, while concerns over AI-related costs and margins persist.
Google reports Gemini has reached 1 billion monthly active users across its app, with 63% using voice input. The milestone is framed as rapid growth alongside competition from OpenAI, with Google stressing integration across products and recent model updates.
Google has unveiled a new Pixel 11 lineup featuring Gemini AI across devices, including Live Transcribe for ASL, Rambler voice transcription, Circle to Search in-camera, and a pro/fold variant lineup with expanded storage and higher prices. New camera and accessibility features aim to showcase AI-driven task automation and smarter interfaces.
A roundup of Pixel 11 Pro Fold reviews shows a safer, more durable design and stronger hardware, with AI features receiving mixed responses. The outer screen is brighter and the build quality is praised, but some critics note limited gains over prior folds. Battery life stays solid while camera performance remains variable.
Hugging Face is in acquisition talks, with Nvidia among potential buyers. Open-source AI platform hosts models used across the industry. Talks could value the company at over $13 billion; no deal has been signed. Open questions remain about neutrality, open-weight ecosystems, and Nvidia’s strategic goals as it seeks to broaden its software and hardware footprint.
Three hikers stranded on Mount Shasta after relying on AI for planning have been rescued. Officials say the incident underscores risks of overreliance on Gemini and other AI tools, and emphasize planning with local guidance and weather data.
Businesses are turning to governance tools as they scale AI. McKinsey, EY and others are implementing alerts, gateways and routers to manage token consumption and reduce costs while preserving autonomy for workers.