American multinational tech leader in information tech, online advertising, cloud computing and more.
Warren Buffett has redirected about $6 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock away from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to four family foundations and has accelerated plans to distribute his remaining Berkshire shares by Dec. 31, 2034. He has said he reviewed Bill Gates’s testimony about Jeffrey Epstein and has met Gates in Omaha since those documents were released.
Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey has earned a rapturous reception, with Matt Damon as Odysseus delivering a trauma-haunted homecoming. Samantha Morton’s Circe and a star-studded cast anchor a three-hour IMAX epic that reframes heroism, war, and the cost of return. Audience reactions praise scale, visuals, and emotional gravity.
A proposed U.S.-led AI standards body could require frontier models to pass tests before deployment, with industry funding and a board of independent experts. DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis argues for robust, ongoing testing to curb cyber, bio and nuclear risks as the AI race intensifies.
The latest wave of open-weight AI models from Chinese labs is expanding rapidly, offering cheaper, customizable options that are challenging premium, closed models. OpenRouter shows Chinese models occupying top spots for weekly token usage, while industry players push open-weight strategies to reduce costs and speed deployment. Analysts say most routine corporate AI work can be handled by these cheaper models, with premium providers reserved for the toughest problems.
A string of wearable devices are tested for heart-rate accuracy against a Polar H10 chest strap. Readings show varying performance across the Fitbit Air, Samsung/Amazfit watches, and other wearables. Real-time heart-rate data can lag behind chest-based measurements, though calibration improves accuracy over time.
AI industry leaders are facing intensified threats as public sentiment turns against AI. Attacks on executives and facilities have prompted heightened security measures, while policy discussions on wealth sharing and regulation intensify.
A wave of campuses is testing AI-resilient teaching models as universities roll out laptop bans, proctored exams, and new AI literacy courses. The aim is to balance independent thinking with responsible AI use as tech reshapes higher education.
SK Hynix has raised $26.5bn by selling 177.9m American depositary receipts at $149 each, in the largest-ever US share sale by a foreign company. Its ADRs have begun trading on Nasdaq under temporary ticker SKHYV and will convert to SKHY; the company is using proceeds to expand fabs, packaging and EUV capacity as AI-driven memory demand surges.
Federal and local probes have produced new findings and warnings about autonomous vehicles. The NTSB has reported that a Tesla driver manually overrode Full Self-Driving before a June crash that killed a 76‑year‑old in Katy, Texas. NHTSA has issued a directive demanding AV developers fix cases where driverless cars enter or block emergency scenes; Waymo and California regulators are under pressure over several incidents.
Menlo Ventures has backed Anthropic since 2023, turning a $4.1 billion pre-money valuation into a potential multi-billion-dollar windfall as Anthropic prepares to go public. The investment has reshaped Menlo, contributing to a new $3 billion fund and elevating Anthropic as a major challenger to OpenAI in AI safety and capability.
NASA has outlined a campaign to return humans to the Moon and establish a permanent outpost by 2030, shifting from a mission-by-mission approach to a sustained lunar program. Artemis II has demonstrated new capabilities and sparked debate over the logistics, funding, and strategic value of a long-term lunar presence.
The Supreme Court has upheld birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment, rejecting President Trump’s bid to end it. The ruling maintains that citizenship is granted at birth to anyone born in the United States, including children of undocumented migrants. Trump has pledged to seek a rehearing and press Congress on immigration.
News organisations have filed a sanctions motion accusing OpenAI of concealing searchable training datasets and millions of ChatGPT logs that could show whether the company used copyrighted journalism. Depositions have revealed OpenAI held large, de‑identified log samples and internal tools to detect regurgitation; plaintiffs say the sample OpenAI produced was unusable.
Apple has filed a federal lawsuit in California accusing OpenAI, its hardware arm io Products and two former Apple engineers of misappropriating confidential designs, supplier data and manufacturing techniques to speed OpenAI’s hardware push. Apple is asking the court to block OpenAI from using the materials, to preserve and return evidence, and to award damages.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk are trading blunt exchanges as Apple accuses OpenAI of stealing trade secrets. Musk intensifies with taunts about SpaceX’s future IPO and Altman counters with notes on GPT-5.6 Sol’s benchmarks, amid OpenAI’s confidential IPO plans.
Enterprises are shifting budgeting to value over token costs as AI costs rise. Leaders argue for metrics based on useful work and task-level economics, with pilots testing open-weight and sovereign models.
EU leaders are pursuing a staged, age-based approach to social media access for minors. A high-level panel has recommended delaying access for under-13s, with further steps for older teens. Von der Leyen has pledged action, and lawmakers are preparing draft legislation after the summer.
Economic data show AI-driven investment in data centers is lifting costs for memory chips and electronics, potentially sustaining inflation and nudging the Fed toward higher rates. June prices cooled slightly, but core inflation remains elevated; prices for consumer electronics have risen as Apple, Microsoft, and others lift prices amid higher chip costs.
Advertisers say Meta’s AI features in ad tools are often buggy and misrepresent creative assets, forcing brands to double check outputs. The issue spans multiple campaigns and clients, with some tools accidentally turning on and altering ads without consent.
Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Lucky, a con artist on the run after a $10 million heist falls apart. The seven‑episode Apple TV+ thriller follows a relentless FBI pursuit and a mob boss who won’t let her disappear, charting an antihero’s evolution from con‑artist to survivor.
Economists and AI researchers warn that AI could drive a transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution within a decade, bringing risks like job displacement but also rising living standards. The Stanford-led letter urges governments and industry to build incentives, guardrails, and institutions to steer AI so it complements humans.
The latest coverage shows Meta’s AI-enabled glasses are under scrutiny for privacy risks even as retailers push to mainstream wearables. Reports highlight incidents of harassment, bystander recording, and regulatory probes surrounding NameTag and other features.
Australia’s online safety regulator has found persistent gaps in detection and prevention of sexual-extortion and child sexual exploitation on major platforms. The latest transparency report shows rising complaints, gaps in proactive detection, and calls for stronger safeguards and preventive measures across services used by young people.
Governor Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order pausing state permits for new "hyperscale" data centers using 50 megawatts or more for up to one year. The order directs regulators to produce a Generic Environmental Impact Statement covering energy, water, air and community benefits, and it signals potential changes to tax breaks and grid-costing for large AI facilities.
The AI industry has reached a tipping point as hyperscalers project rising returns from chips and data centers. New analyses forecast trillions in 2026 revenue to justify the AI build-out, even as token costs and cheaper models pressure profitability.
Warsh has testified on Capitol Hill about inflation and the AI-driven economy. He has pledged to keep inflation on a clear trajectory while monitoring AI investment’s impact on prices and jobs. Markets are watching whether rate moves will come this year.
Google is updating its image search with a real-time, You-for-you gallery and new AI image-generation in AI Overviews. The changes span desktop English US rollout and aim to boost engagement by letting users explore, collect, and generate visuals within Google's ecosystem.
Publishers allege Google copied books for training Gemini, training data drawn from Google Books and other services without permission, seeking damages and injunctions. The suit underscores rising tensions over AI training and intellectual-property rights.
OpenAI is developing a screen-free, home AI companion that can control smart devices and access ChatGPT capabilities. The device is described as a personality-driven helper, designed to learn the owner over time. Bloomberg notes potential clashes with Apple’s trade secrets amid ongoing hardware discussions.
Waze has rolled out five new features, including personalized navigation, a new motorcycle mode, and a less chatty voice. The updates are rolling out globally on Android and iOS as the company leans on Gemini AI to refine routing and communications.
The Commerce Department has moved toward easing export controls for the United Arab Emirates, designating it as a privileged trading partner and enabling greater access to AI chips and related technology from Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI. The change centers on Gulf ties to U.S. tech and security interests.
Stripe and Advent are pressing forward with a potential bid to jointly acquire PayPal, valuing the payments giant around $53-60 billion and backed by roughly $50 billion in bank financing. PayPal has not yet responded as discussions continue, with experts noting the deal would create a dominant dual-powered payments group.
Linus Torvalds has publicly backed AI-assisted code reviews as a pragmatic tool for Linux, while the broader community weighs automated bug reporting and safety concerns. Rust is gaining traction for safer kernel code, and maintenance workflows are adapting to AI-driven inputs amid ongoing release cadence.
Security researchers report AI-assisted attacks are accelerating, with open-source models, jailbroken tools, and AI-powered services enabling rapid coding, data exfiltration, and ransomware-style campaigns. Experts warn defenders are racing to patch vulnerabilities as attackers shorten the window between discovery and exploitation.
California plans to audit high‑income residents who left the state to avoid a proposed 5% wealth tax. Three prominent figures—David Sacks, Travis Kalanick, and Sergey Brin—are cited as potential targets. The state will determine if they remain California residents for tax purposes, a move experts say could trigger legal battles and billions in potential tax revenue.
The United States has announced a 25% tariff on most imports from Brazil, to take effect July 22, after a yearlong Section 301 probe that found Brazilian unfair trade practices. The order has exempted staples and supply‑chain items such as coffee, beef, aircraft parts and some energy products. Brazil has pledged reciprocal measures and will pursue WTO challenge.
Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into TikTok over the platform’s use of age-inference checks to determine users’ ages. The regulator is examining whether these methods are highly effective and if they correctly identify child users, amid concerns about exposure to harmful content. TikTok says it complies with the Online Safety Act and will cooperate with Ofcom.
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.
The White House has placed Gabriel Perez, a teleprompter operator who has worked for the president since 2016, on unpaid administrative leave after Kalshi flagged suspicious bets tied to words in presidential speeches. Kalshi has referred trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has frozen more than $90,000 in accounts while regulators investigate.
San Francisco confronts a surge in regulatory scrutiny as Waymo robotaxis faced power outages and immobilization during a holiday traffic jam. Mayor Daniel Lurie is pushing for mandatory, statewide standards to ensure autonomous vehicles can operate in major disruptions, with agencies like NHTSA calling for immediate fixes.