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August 6, 2026, 9:46 PM
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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI's new device, slated for 2027, is a hockey puck-sized smart speaker with moving parts that help give it personality, likely costing $300+  —  A highly anticipated new device from OpenAI will have a unique look, complete with moving parts that help give it personality …
Bloomberg:
OpenAI files a motion to dismiss Apple's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets, saying Apple's allegations are meritless and workers acted lawfully
Herb Scribner / Axios:
OpenAI updates the default model for free users to GPT-5.6 Luna, adds unlimited text chats for free users, rolls out an improved GPT-5.6 Sol version, and more  —  OpenAI on Thursday announced a series of changes that will upgrade ChatGPT for both paid and free users.
Carl Zimmer / New York Times:
Scientists trained AI on genetic sequences to design viruses not found in nature, yielding 16 viable viruses that can infect bacteria but don't threaten humans  —  Scientists trained artificial intelligence on libraries of DNA and then asked the model to create recipes for viral genomes.
KOB 4:
New Mexico trial: a judge orders Meta to pay $567M and make changes for underage users after finding its platforms helped create a public nuisance harming teens  —  SANTA FE, N.M. - A Santa Fe judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million, and make changes for the user experience of juvenile accounts …
Tobias Mann / The Register:
AMD acquires Toronto-based Taalas, which integrates model weights directly into silicon to boost inference performance, for an undisclosed sum  —  Early tech demos show model-specific integrated circuits churning out up to 17,000 tokens a second  —  In AMD's latest bid to upset Nvidia's dominance …
Reuters:
SpaceX and Tesla plan to initially invest $16.8B to build Terafab in Grimes County, Texas; combined demand from SpaceX and Tesla is forecast to top 1 TW  —  Elon Musk's SpaceX <SPCX.O> and Tesla <TSLA.O> will initially invest $16.8 billion to build Terafab, an advanced AI semiconductor complex …
Bloomberg:
DeepSeek says it plans to implement substantial price increases across its AI services; V4 Flash currently costs $0.14/1M input and $0.28/1M output tokens  —  DeepSeek plans to implement a significant price increase across its AI services, an unusual shift from the disruptive Chinese player …
Victoria Turk / Wired:
Google DeepMind says its WeatherNext model can accurately predict a storm's track and intensity using lower-resolution weather data, and open sources the model  —  Its WeatherNext model, which will be open-sourced, can accurately predict both a storm's track and intensity using lower-resolution weather data.
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Suno says it will adopt new audio watermarking tech, fingerprinting tech, transparency tools, and a new download policy to limit the spread of spammy AI music  —  The company is changing its download policy and rolling out new watermarking technology.
Artificial Analysis:
Meta's Muse Spark 1.2 scores 54 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, putting Meta next to SpaceXAI in a tie for third place amongst US labs  —  Muse Spark 1.2 (xhigh) lands at 54, up 3 points from Muse Spark 1.1 (51) and 11 points from Muse Spark 1.0 (43, April).
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Sources: some Google researchers have grown frustrated over AI compute access for ambitious projects while Google Cloud sells TPUs to customers like Anthropic  —  Depending on where you sit, Google either has the most enviable position in artificial intelligence or is bleeding top talent …
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
OpenAI debuts Agent Plugins, an open standard for bundling skills and MCP servers, and says Amazon, Cursor, Microsoft, and Vercel are on its steering committee  —  OpenAI's GPT-5 turns one tomorrow, and the company is marking the week by looking beyond individual models.
Anna Tong / Forbes:
Docs: US data labeling companies, like Surge AI and Mercor, that sell training datasets to US AI labs and the government are also selling them to Chinese labs  —  The same Silicon Valley startups supplying OpenAI, Anthropic and the U.S. government are also selling AI training datasets …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
An interview with Replit CEO Amjad Masad on why “vibe coding” is never about coding, the SaaS apocalypse, building a “self-driving company”, and more  —  Disclosure: my fiancé works at Anthropic, whose models Replit uses and which Masad discusses below.
Bloomberg:
Google centralizes its AI leadership at Mountain View in a bid to catch its rivals; Sebastian Borgeaud, who led a major AI coding effort, moved from the UK  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google is concentrating its artificial intelligence leadership at its Mountain View, California …
Julia Hornstein / The Information:
Sources: Panthalassa, which aims to power data centers in the ocean using energy generated by waves, is raising $225M at a ~$2B valuation, up from $1B in May  —  AI data centers need boatloads of power, a need that's set off a flood of investment into startups harnessing nuclear or solar energy to run the servers.
Reinhardt Krause / Investor's Business Daily:
Twilio reports Q2 revenue up 22% YoY to $1.5B, above $1.43B est., and forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates; TWLO jumps 16%+ after hours  —  Twilio (TWLO) stock jumped Thursday after the communications software maker reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped consensus estimates …

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From Mediagazer

The Wrap:
The FCC votes to repeal the national broadcast ownership cap and replace it with a case-by-case review, approving the measure by a 2-1 margin

Hannah Miller / Bloomberg:
Source: Paramount and the NFL have paused negotiations over a potential increase of 50%+ on CBS's $2.1B/year deal amid legal challenges to its WBD acquisition

Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Fox reports Q4 revenue up 28% YoY to $4.21B, above $3.64B est., ad revenue up 78% to $1.92B, driven by its World Cup broadcast and growth at Tubi; FOX jumps 6%

More News

Earlier Picks

Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Rockstar says it will show an “extended look” at Grand Theft Auto VI on August 27, premiering on Netflix at 3pm ET before streaming on YouTube at 9pm ET
Colin Demarest / Axios:
Defense tech company Hadrian raised a $1.37B Series D at an $8B valuation to expand its factories and Opus software platform, after a $260M Series C in 2025
Jenny Lee / CNBC:
Nintendo reports Q1 revenue down 10% YoY to ~$3.3B, above $2.8B est., net income up 54% YoY to ~$933M, vs. ~$495M est., and Switch 2 sales down 34% YoY to 3.82M
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