News — Page 4

Emails between senior Microsoft leaders, presented in the Elon Musk versus Sam Altman lawsuit, show the tech giant hesitated to pour additional funding into OpenAI as early as 2017. Executives questioned the lab’s progress toward artificial general intelligence and worried a funding shortfall could drive the AI startup to rival Amazon. The correspondence predates Microsoft’s landmark $1 billion investment in 2019, highlighting a cautious start to what would become one of tech’s most celebrated partnerships. Read more

OpenAI announced Thursday that its API now supports three new voice‑focused models—GPT‑Realtime‑2, GPT‑Realtime‑Translate and GPT‑Realtime‑Whisper. The suite lets developers build applications that can converse, translate and transcribe speech on the fly, with support for more than 70 input languages and 13 output languages. Billing is split between per‑minute rates for translation and transcription and token‑based pricing for the conversational model. OpenAI says the tools target customer‑service, education, media and creator platforms, and includes guardrails to curb misuse. Read more

Meta is building an AI assistant named Hatch, modeled after the open‑source platform OpenClaw, to let users shop directly from Instagram Reels and interact with third‑party services such as DoorDash and Outlook. The company tested the prototype on simulated versions of external apps and plans to roll it out before the end of the year, positioning it as a counter to TikTok Shop. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the goal of making agents that understand user goals and work continuously on their behalf, while CFO Susan Li hinted at future integration with the firm’s Ray‑Ban Meta glasses. Read more

OpenAI unveiled a Chrome extension for its Codex platform, letting developers test web apps, pull context from multiple tabs, and run DevTools alongside other tasks. The add‑on, compatible with Windows and macOS, aims to make AI‑assisted coding more accessible to casual users and professionals beyond traditional developers. The move follows Codex’s February macOS release and April feature updates, and it foreshadows a future integrated app that merges Codex, ChatGPT and OpenAI’s Atlas browser. Read more

OpenAI announced a new safety option called Trusted Contact that lets adult ChatGPT users name a friend or family member to be notified if the conversation veers toward self‑harm. When the system detects suicidal language, it prompts the user to reach out and, if the risk is deemed serious, sends a brief alert to the designated contact. The move comes amid a wave of lawsuits alleging the chatbot encouraged suicide. OpenAI says the feature, like its parental controls, is optional and designed to protect privacy while adding a human check on AI‑driven distress signals. Read more

Perplexity announced Thursday that its Personal Computer AI platform is now open to any Mac user through a new desktop app. The tool, originally limited to Max subscribers and a waitlist, lets autonomous agents access local files, native applications and the web to automate multi‑step workflows. While a Pro or Max subscription is still required to unlock the full feature set, the move signals Perplexity’s push to bring local AI assistants into everyday productivity environments, positioning the service as a safer alternative to competitor OpenClaw. Read more

Elon Musk’s legal action against OpenAI alleges that the lab’s for‑profit arm has abandoned its original safety mission in favor of rapid product rollout. In a federal court in Oakland, former employee and board member Rosie Campbell testified that key safety teams were disbanded and that a Microsoft‑deployed GPT‑4 model entered the Indian market without clearance from OpenAI’s Deployment Safety Board. The case also highlights internal board disputes, CEO Sam Altman’s alleged nondisclosure, and expert testimony that the organization’s governance now favors profit over safety, fueling calls for stricter AI regulation. Read more

In a courtroom testimony that has captured the tech world’s attention, former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati detailed the internal battles that led to CEO Sam Altman's abrupt removal in November 2023. Murati described how she helped compile a 52‑page memo for co‑founder Ilya Sutskever, exchanged dozens of urgent text messages with Altman, and briefly served as interim chief executive before the board installed Emmett Shear. The deposition reveals the board’s claim that Altman was “not consistently candid” and shows how employee backlash and Microsoft’s involvement forced a rapid reversal, returning Altman to the helm. Read more

Perplexity has opened its Personal Computer AI assistant to every macOS user, moving beyond the $200‑per‑month Max plan that previously limited access. The new macOS app lets users run everyday queries, manage attachments, and dictate text, while still tying usage to the credit limits of Pro and Max subscriptions. By integrating models like Gemini, Nano Banana and ChatGPT, the assistant handles tasks across local files, other apps, the web and Perplexity’s servers, positioning the company against competitors such as Claude and Apple’s upcoming AI‑enhanced Siri. Read more

Snap disclosed in its Q1 2026 investor letter that it and Perplexity AI have mutually terminated a $400 million cash‑and‑equity partnership announced last November. The deal, which would have embedded Perplexity’s answering engine into Snapchat’s Chat, will no longer contribute to Snap’s 2026 revenue outlook. While the move pauses the planned AI chatbot rollout, Snap continues to push other AI‑driven features and reports a 5 % rise in daily active users. Read more

Elon Musk's SpaceX has signed a data‑center agreement that grants Anthropic access to more than 200,000 Nvidia GPUs at the Colossus 1 supercomputer in Tennessee. The partnership, announced after Musk previously accused Anthropic of stealing training data, will boost capacity for the company's Claude Pro and Claude Max services and includes plans to explore gigawatt‑scale orbital AI compute. Anthropic responded by doubling usage limits for several products and listing other data‑center deals with Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The deal has drawn criticism from the NAACP, which alleges environmental harm to Black communities near the Tennessee facility. Read more

OpenAI rolled out an optional safety tool called Trusted Contact for adult ChatGPT users. The feature lets users name a friend, family member or caregiver who will receive a discreet alert if the system detects language suggesting self‑harm or suicidal thoughts. Notifications contain no transcript details, and both the user and the contact can revoke the link at any time. OpenAI says a small team of trained reviewers will assess flagged conversations before any outreach occurs, aiming to add a layer of human support to existing helplines. Read more

Mozilla’s Firefox team says Anthropic’s new Mythos model has identified dozens of high‑severity vulnerabilities, many lurking for over a decade. The AI‑driven scans helped the browser ship 423 bug fixes in April 2026, a stark jump from 31 the previous year. Researchers credit the model’s ability to self‑filter false positives and generate detailed reports, though human engineers still write and review patches. The breakthrough signals a shift in software security, but Mozilla warns that attackers could eventually co‑opt similar tools. Read more

Beijing‑based Moonshot AI raised roughly $2 billion in a financing round led by Meituan’s Long‑Z Investment, pushing its valuation to $20 billion. The round also included Tsinghua Capital, China Mobile and CPE Yuanfeng. Founded in 2023 by former Meta and Google Brain researcher Yang Zhilin, the lab’s open‑weight Kimi models have quickly become some of China’s most used large‑language models, driving annual recurring revenue past $200 million. The new capital arrives as global demand for Chinese open‑source AI surges, positioning Moonshot alongside rivals such as DeepSeek, Zhipu AI and MiniMax. Read more

Spotify has launched a command‑line interface that enables AI agents such as OpenClaw, Claude and OpenAI Codex to save generated audio files as personal podcasts in users' Spotify libraries. After installing the free tool from GitHub, users simply add the phrase “and save to Spotify” to their AI prompt, and the resulting briefing appears alongside mainstream shows like The Vergecast. The feature promises seamless integration across devices, giving researchers and hobbyists a quick way to archive AI‑generated audio summaries. Read more

BadCo.AI says the next wave of automotive retail will be driven by AI orchestration layers that stitch together fragmented buyer‑touchpoints. The company’s CRM‑native platform links engagement, decision‑making and execution tools across dealerships, allowing consumers to move through the purchase journey without re‑explaining their needs. Founder and CEO Jim Schrull argues that persistent conversational context across voice, SMS and chat can deliver a smoother, more transparent experience, from real‑time pricing to service updates. The push comes as buyers demand continuous digital interaction and regulators press for clearer pricing disclosures. Read more

Beijing‑based Moonshot AI closed a $2 billion financing round led by Meituan’s Dragon Ball arm, with China Mobile, CITIC Private Equity and other investors participating. The deal values the Kimi chatbot maker at over $20 billion—roughly seven times its December 2024 valuation. Founded in 2023 by three Tsinghua alumni, Moonshot has seen its consumer‑facing Kimi product double annual recurring revenue to more than $200 million in two months. The funding surge places the firm among China’s most heavily backed AI labs and fuels speculation about a near‑term public listing. Read more

Anthropic announced three major upgrades to its Claude Managed Agents—Dreaming, Outcomes, and Multiagent Orchestration—along with public‑beta webhooks. The Dreaming feature runs between sessions, reviewing an agent’s past work to spot patterns and lock in improvements. Outcomes lets developers set quality rubrics that a separate grader enforces, while Multiagent Orchestration enables several Claude agents to collaborate on complex tasks. Available as a research preview on the Claude Platform, the enhancements aim to make AI agents more self‑improving and reliable for developers building long‑running workflows. Read more

Elon Musk's xAI and Anthropic announced Wednesday that the Claude-maker will purchase the entire 300‑megawatt compute capacity of xAI's Colossus 1 data center. The move instantly lifts Anthropic's usage limits and monetizes a key xAI asset, turning the startup from a consumer of AI power into a cloud‑service provider. Musk said the purchase frees up Colossus 1 as xAI shifts its training workloads to a newer facility, Colossus 2, and aligns with the company's broader push toward an IPO and a space‑based data‑center vision. Read more

At the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference, media veteran Barry Diller defended OpenAI chief Sam Altman’s character but warned that trust alone won’t safeguard humanity from the coming wave of artificial general intelligence. The IAC and Expedia Group chairman said the real danger lies in the unknown consequences of AI, urging stronger guardrails before the technology reaches a point where it could outpace human control. Read more