The Third Platform
OpenAI's internal documents project $2.4 billion in advertising revenue for 2026, rising to $11 billion in 2027 and $102 billion by 2030 — 36% of total projected revenue. The number that reveals what OpenAI has built itself into.
In his annual letter, Andy Jassy says Amazon's space-internet service Leo will “launch in mid-2026”, after delays; Amazon has FCC approval for 3,236 satellites
Better late than never for the Elon Musk alternative. … Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company's space-internet service Leo …
Apple is closing its Towson, Maryland store, the first US location where retail employees unionized; the union says it is “outraged” and exploring legal options
Apple today announced it will be permanently closing three retail stores in the U.S. in June, including Apple Trumbull in Trumbull …
EFF says it is leaving X, as “X is no longer where the fight is happening” and an X post now gets less than 3% of the views a tweet got seven years ago
After almost twenty years on the platform, EFF is logging off of X. This isn't a decision we made lightly, but it might be overdue.
Sources: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and other banks are testing Anthropic's Mythos model internally; JPMorgan Chase is the only bank named in Project Glasswing
Wall Street banks are starting to test Anthropic PBC's Mythos model internally as Trump administration officials encourage them to use it to detect vulnerabilities.
Sources: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned bank CEOs about risks from Anthropic's Mythos at an urgent meeting on April 7
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned Wall Street leaders to an urgent meeting on concerns …
OpenAI launches a $100/month ChatGPT Pro subscription, which offers 5x more Codex usage than Plus; the $200/month Pro plan offers 20x higher limits than Plus
OpenAI is launching a revamped $100/month ChatGPT subscription aimed at Codex users. Here's how it compares to OpenAI's existing plans and what it includes.
Amazon Luna is dropping support for game purchases and third-party game stores and subscriptions; previously purchased games will be accessible until June 10
The Luna game-streaming service is getting an overhaul, with Amazon pulling the plug on game purchases and hosting third-party game stores and subscriptions.
Microsoft unveils plans to streamline the Windows Insider program, offering a simplified channel structure, moving between channels without wiping PCs, and more
ZDNET's key takeaways — Microsoft is making the Insider Program less complicated. — Beta channel will be a more reliable preview of the next retail release.
Sources: SpaceX lost just under $5B in 2025 while generating more than $18.5B in revenue; the financial figures include xAI, which SpaceX acquired in February
SpaceX lost just under $5 billion last year while generating more than $18.5 billion in revenue, two people familiar with the figures said.
Sources: Anthropic is exploring the possibility of designing its own chips, but it has yet to commit to a design or form a dedicated team to work on the project
Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic is exploring the possibility of designing its own chips, three sources said …
France says it plans to move government computers running Windows to Linux, to further reduce its reliance on US technology, without providing a timeline
France is moving on from Microsoft Windows. The country said it plans to move its government computers currently running Windows …
OpenAI backs an Illinois bill shielding AI labs from liability, even for “critical harms” like 100+ deaths or $1B+ in damage, if they published safety reports
The ChatGPT-maker testified in favor of an Illinois bill that would limit when AI labs can be held liable—even in cases where their products cause “critical harm.”
Google rolls out end-to-end encryption for Gmail on Android and iOS devices for enterprise users, letting them read and compose emails without additional tools
Google says Gmail end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is now available on all Android and iOS devices, allowing enterprise users to read …
Hong Kong grants its first stablecoin issuer licenses to HSBC and Standard Chartered from a pool of 36 applicants; they are set to issue stablecoins in H2 2026
Hong Kong has granted its inaugural stablecoin issuer licenses to HSBC Holdings Plc and a joint venture of Standard Chartered Plc …
Luminai, an AI-native platform for automating administrative healthcare workflows, raised a $38M Series B led by Peak XV, bringing its total funding to $60M
Cleveland, Ohio, USA - June 17, 2017: Daytime view of Cleveland Clinic main campus entrance reflecting pool near University Circle
CoreWeave says it has signed a multiyear deal with Anthropic, including a variety of Nvidia chips at data centers in the US; it now has 43 active data centers
Anthropic PBC agreed to rent data center capacity from CoreWeave Inc. as part of efforts to handle increasing demand for its artificial intelligence services.
San Francisco police arrested a suspect for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's home and also making threats outside OpenAI's headquarters
An attacker allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at the OpenAI CEO's residence before making threats outside of the startup's headquarters.
YouTube raises YouTube Premium's prices in the US: Lite is $1 more at $8.99/month, Individual is $2 more at $15.99/month, and Family is $4 more at $26.99/month
The standard plan is going up by $2 a month in the US. … YouTube Premium is getting more expensive in the US, with prices rising by $2 …
A gap in understanding AI is growing, as casual users cite flaws in old free models while power users point to new models' staggering gains in technical domains
Judging by my tl there is a growing gap in understanding of AI capability. The first issue I think is around recency and tier of use. I think a lot of people tried the free tier of ChatGPT somewhere l...
An Ohio man is the first convicted under the Take It Down Act after pleading guilty to creating and sharing real and AI-generated explicit images of 10+ victims
The CIA says it recently used AI to create its first-ever autonomous intelligence report, and plans to build “AI co-workers” into all of its analytic platforms
Ellis revealed that the agency recently used AI to create its first-ever autonomous intelligence report …
An OpenAI note to investors after Anthropic announced Mythos says OpenAI's early push to increase computing resources gives it a key advantage over Anthropic
OpenAI told investors this week that its early push to dramatically increase computing resources gives it a key advantage …
xAI has filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado's landmark AI anti-discrimination law, set to take effect in the summer, saying it violates free speech protections
Source: federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Reddit to appear before a grand jury, to provide personal data on an anonymous user who criticized ICE
An ICE summons to get the user's identity failed. Advocates worry the move to a grand jury signals an escalation of the war on dissent.
Waymo and Waze launch a pilot program to send pothole data collected by robotaxi sensors to the Waze for Cities platform and Waze app, starting in five markets
Two Alphabet-owned businesses are teaming up to find potholes and share it with cities. — Waymo and Waze announced Thursday …
How Black Forest Labs, a 70-person Germany-based startup, became a top AI image generation competitor; sources: in recent months, it declined an xAI partnership
Black Forest Labs has long punched above its weight in the AI image generation space. Its next move? Powering physical AI.
Florida's AG launches a probe into OpenAI and ChatGPT, saying its data could fall “into the hands of America's enemies” and citing a mass shooter's ChatGPT use
Anthropic makes Claude Cowork, previously available as a “research preview”, generally available to all paid plans, and adds six features for enterprise use
TSMC reports Q1 revenue up 35% YoY to ~$35.6B, vs. ~$35.2B est., signaling global chip demand stayed intact during the first weeks of the war in the Middle East
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a 35% increase in quarterly revenue, suggesting global AI chip demand remained intact during …
Trump hails Palantir's “great war fighting capabilities”, days after short seller Michael Burry said the company will lose to AI startups; PLTR is down ~25% YTD
US president's endorsement follows criticism from famed investor Michael Burry — Shares in Palantir rose on Friday …
Jury deliberations began Friday in the Live Nation antitrust trial, after state attorneys general continued to pursue the case even as the US DOJ settled
Thirty-four states accused the concert giant of suffocating competition and driving up ticket prices. The company denies being anything but big.
AfterQuery, which sells coding and finance training data to AI labs, says it raised a $30M Series A at a $300M valuation, and has hit a $100M+ annual run rate
AfterQuery, which raised $30 million several months ago, competes with data labeling companies like Mercor to sell training data …
Analysis: Trump's World Liberty Financial used 5B of its WLFI tokens to borrow $75M from a platform its adviser co-founded; WLFI falls to an all-time low
Onchain data shows WLFI deposited 5 billion of its own tokens as collateral to borrow stablecoins it then sent to Coinbase Prime …
Apple led global Q1 smartphone shipments for the first time, with a 21% share in Q1 2026; overall smartphone shipments fell 6% YoY due to memory chip shortages
Team Counterpoint — Counterpoint research is a young and fast growing research firm covering analysis of the tech industry.
Google News is showing Polymarket bets alongside news articles in the “For you” section; in tests, Polymarket bets also appeared on the Google News homepage
Google News has started showing Polymarket bets alongside actual news articles, often appearing as large blocks …
Snap announces a partnership between Specs, its AR glasses-focused subsidiary, and Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon XR platform will power Specs' upcoming AI glasses
Specs has long been teasing the next version of its augmented reality glasses. A new partnership with Qualcomm promises some movement in that department.
Annual letter: Andy Jassy says AWS' AI revenue has hit a $15B annual run rate as of Q1 and that Amazon's internal chips business is generating $20B+ per year
taking a shot at NvidiaTelecompaper:Amazon CEO defends huge AI investments, confirms Leo launch in mid-2026Wajeeh Khan /Barchart.com:As Amazon Takes on Chipmakers, Should You Buy AMZN Stock Here?Nick ...
Internal memo: Meta is pulling top engineers into its new Applied AI Engineering division, as part of a push to improve its models and “compete in the AI race”
Meta Platforms is pulling top engineers from across the company into its new Applied AI Engineering division …
Google says Gemini can now generate interactive 3D models and simulations; users must click the Pro model in the prompt bar and then “Show me the visualization”
Alibaba led a ~$293M funding round for ShengShu, just two months after the creator of the Vidu AI video generator raised ~$88M; Baidu and Luminous invested too
Meta begins removing Facebook and Instagram ads from lawyers seeking clients who claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18
Meta commits to spending additional $21B on AI cloud infrastructure from CoreWeave, running from 2027 to 2032, on top of its prior $14.2B deal that ends in 2031
Spotify is adding toggles to stop video from playing inside the app for both music and podcasts, rolling out worldwide on all platforms and devices
Sources: Alibaba appointed Cloud CTO Zhou Jingren to lead its AI unit after a pivot from open source to monetizable MaaS models led to Qwen executive departures
Move may affect a global developer community that relies on Qwen models from the Chinese company
Google and Intel expand their partnership to deploy Xeon chips, including Xeon 6, and co-develop custom Infrastructure Processing Units to improve efficiency
Tesla says Dutch regulators approved the use of its full self-driving software, marking the first regulatory sign-off for the feature in Europe
Tesla (TSLA.O) on Friday said Dutch regulators had approved the use of its driver assistance software which handles most driving tasks on highways …
Documents: Shenzhen-based computing company Sharetronic bought hundreds of Super Micro systems containing banned Nvidia H100 and H200 chips in 2025, worth ~$92M
Hours after the United States charged a Super Micro Computer Inc. co-founder with illegally smuggling billions of dollars' worth …
Documents: Amazon is working on “Project Houdini”, which aims to cut the time it takes to construct data centers by preassembling core server rooms into modules
Follow Eugene Kim … - Amazon's Project Houdini modularizes main server rooms, expediting AWS data center buildouts.
Three senior executives who helped launch OpenAI's Stargate initiative are leaving, sources say to join the same new company
Three senior OpenAI executives who helped launch the company's original Stargate data center initiative have left or are preparing to depart the ChatGPT maker in the coming days …
Blackstone files for an IPO of a new data center acquisition vehicle to buy already-built and leased properties, and, sources say, plans to raise ~$2B
Sources: Cisco is in talks to acquire Tel Aviv-based Astrix Security, which sells software to monitor and secure AI agents, for between $250M and $350M
Cisco Systems is in talks to acquire Astrix Security, a five-year-old Israeli cybersecurity startup that sells software to monitor and secure AI agents …
Researchers: attackers have been exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Reader since at least December 2025, and some docs contain Russian-language lures
RISC-V chip designer SiFive raised a $400M Series G led by Atreides at a $3.65B valuation; CEO Patrick Little says it is the final funding round before an IPO
Sources: the White House is pushing back on GOP-led AI bills in Nebraska and Tennessee, putting new pressure on GOP state lawmakers who support AI guardrails
X brings back Voice Notes to X Chat, supporting one-on-one and group conversations via a new voice input icon, as it tests a standalone X Chat spinoff on iOS
Docs: OpenAI expects ads to generate ~$2.4B in 2026 revenue, to quadruple to nearly $11B in 2027, and to hit ~$102B in 2030, or 36% of its total revenue then
Sources: a week before Mythos release, JD Vance and Scott Bessent questioned Amodei, Altman, and others about AI model security and responding to cyber attacks
Samantha Subin /CNBC: