Techmeme
July 24, 2026, 5:15 PM

Top News

Anthropic:
Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5, which it says comes close to Fable 5 performance at half the price; it is the new default model on Claude Max  —  Claude Opus 5 is available today.  It's a thoughtful and proactive model that comes close to the frontier intelligence of Claude Fable 5 at half the price.
Madison Mills / Axios:
Leo Schwartz / The Information:
Meta, Microsoft, a16z, and others sign a letter defending open-weight AI models; Jensen Huang, in his first X post, says open models strengthen cybersecurity  —  Many of the largest U.S. tech companies signed a joint letter on Friday defending open-source AI software as the Trump administration …
Ashley Capoot / CNBC:
In their letter defending open-weight AI, tech companies urge lawmakers to avoid “premature restrictions” that “stifle competition or drive innovation overseas”  —  Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir and more than 20 other companies released a letter on Friday urging policymakers …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: OpenAI told Hugging Face only this week its models caused the July 11 hack; the models appear to have been active online for days before being stopped  —  They were like high-school students trying to hack into the textbook company to cheat on their final exam.  Only these hackers weren't human.
Harry Booth / Time:
Mat Smith / Engadget:
Meta launches Facebook Verified, a free program it says will verify that users are real humans by analyzing a facial recognition selfie and assigning badges  —  And it's free.  —  In the face of AI content, profiles and slop, Meta hopes a new Facebook Verified program will help human users interact with other humans.
Timothy Pratt / The Guardian:
The DOJ is prosecuting a Cop City protester for allegedly providing CBP with a “duress” passcode that wiped the contents of his GrapheneOS phone  —  Concern over US effort to prosecute Sam Tunick, accused by authorities of wiping his phone using GrapheneOS
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Midjourney bought astrology app Co-Star, which uses AI to offer personalized advice, in the spring and is building its first standalone image-generation app  —  Artificial intelligence lab Midjourney Inc. has bought the popular astrology app Co-Star and is building its first standalone image-generation app …
Eli Tan / New York Times:
Meta launches Seller, a free standalone app version of Facebook Marketplace; Seller includes AI features that scan photos to fill out listings automatically  —  Seller is part of the Silicon Valley company's strategy to innovate on its original social network.
Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Trump says the US will initiate a probe into the EU's practice of “robbing” US tech giants with fines, threatening the bloc with “substantial” tariffs  —  President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration will launch a trade probe into the European Union …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Facebook plans to test a full-screen “immersive video” player when users open the app, replacing the newsfeed, in select international markets this year  —  The social platform says it will test a video-first look for users when they open the app in select countries, potentially bringing it to the U.S. next year.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Cognition acquires the makers of Poke, an AI assistant that users can access via messaging services, in a deal valuing Poke's parent in the “low nine figures”  —  Poke, the AI assistant you text like a friend, is making its next big move.  The company behind the assistant …
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk:
India orders GitHub to remove Bitchat, the offline messaging app built by Jack Dorsey that is used by anti-government protestors amid internet blackouts  —  India's top cybercrime watchdog has ordered GitHub to take down Bitchat, the offline messaging app built by Block chief executive …
Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times:
Sources: Waymo is exploring exiting its Uber partnership, with their relationship souring amid an intense lobbying battle over the future of robotaxis  —  Partnership between two groups has soured amid intense lobbying battle over rollout of autonomous vehicles
Chris Metinko / Axios:
Paper, which allows designers to connect directly with production code and the AI agents that create it, raised a $34M Series A led by Accel and ICONIQ  —  Paper, a design platform for teams using AI, locked up a $34 million Series A led by Accel and ICONIQ, CEO Stephen Haney tells Axios Pro exclusively.
More: Pulse 2.0 and Paper
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Preliminary findings: the EU Commission says TikTok's accounts for minors violate the DSA, citing features that could expose children to bullying and predators  —  ByteDance's social media platform TikTok has been charged with breaching EU online content rules due to design features …

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Earlier Picks

Corbin Bolies / Variety:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
Akanksha Khushi / Reuters:
Reece Rogers / Wired: