The Silicon CEO
On April 21, Apple named John Ternus — the SVP of Hardware Engineering who led the Mac's transition to Apple Silicon — as Tim Cook's successor, and promoted chip chief Johny Srouji to Chief Hardware Officer the same day. The same quarter, Craig Federighi was reported to be routing the revamped Siri to other companies' models. Every peer building the AI era picked a software CEO. Apple picked the chip guys. The two moves are the same bet — that models commoditize, and silicon doesn't.
John Ternus, senior VP of Hardware Engineering, will become Apple's next CEO on September 1; Tim Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board
Apple said on Monday that John Ternus is succeeding Tim Cook as CEO, with Cook assuming the role of executive chairman on Sept. 1.
Amazon agrees to invest up to $25B in Anthropic, on top of the $8B that it has already invested; Anthropic commits to spend $100B+ on AWS over the next 10 years
Amazon has agreed to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic, on top of the $8 billion that it's poured into the artificial intelligence startup …
Filing in California's antitrust lawsuit: CA accuses Amazon of price-fixing by pressuring brands to ask competing retailers to increase prices on some products
The state claimed the e-commerce giant pressured brands like Levi's and Hanes to ask competing retailers to raise prices on certain products.
Moonshot introduces Kimi K2.6, an open-weight model that it says shows strong improvements in long-horizon coding tasks, available under a modified MIT License
We are open sourcing our latest model, Kimi K2.6, featuring state-of-the-art coding, long-horizon execution, and agent swarm capabilities.
OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0 with new “thinking capabilities”, allowing it to search the web to help it create multiple images from a single prompt
The update allows ChatGPT Images 2.0 to create a series of images based on one prompt.
Microsoft cuts Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price from $29.99 to $22.99/month and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99, but both tiers won't get new Call of Duty games
After Xbox CEO Asha Sharma admitted last week that “Game Pass has become too expensive for players,” Microsoft is dropping …
SpaceX says it's working with Cursor to build “the world's most useful models” and it has the right to acquire Cursor for $60B or pay $10B for the partnership
The potential acquisition comes as Elon Musk's rocket and satellite maker, which has been emphasizing artificial intelligence, is preparing to go public.
OpenAI rolls out Chronicle, which builds memories from screen captures to make Codex more aware of context, as a research preview for Pro subscribers on macOS
Last week, OpenAI released an all-new version of Codex for Mac that includes the best example of AI-driven computer use yet.
A US jury finds Uber liable for a sexual assault by a driver in 2019, handing Uber a second consecutive defeat in its first trials of 3,000+ pending lawsuits
The ride-hailing giant has now lost the first two of more than 3,000 pending federal lawsuits. — A federal jury in North Carolina …
Microsoft pauses new GitHub Copilot signups for Pro, Pro+, and Student tiers, tightens usage limits, removes Opus models from Pro, and limits Opus 4.7 to Pro+
As shared in our recent blog post, we're making the following changes to Copilot plans for individuals as part of our ongoing efforts …
How opposition to data centers, over concerns like power demands, pollution, and water needs, has become a voting issue for many people in the 2026 US midterms
Fifteen minutes after Susan Bourgeois was appointed to lead Louisiana Economic Development, the state agency responsible …
New York Attorney General Letitia James sues Coinbase and Gemini, claiming their prediction markets violate state laws against illegal gambling
New York's attorney general sued Coinbase Financial Markets (COIN.O) and Gemini Titan (GEMI.O) on Tuesday, claiming their prediction markets violate state laws against illegal gambling.
Draft IPO prospectus: SpaceX debt grew from $14B in 2024 to $23B in 2025, tied to a $4.5B lease deal with Valor Equity for AI equipment such as chips for xAI
SpaceX increased its debt load by nearly two-thirds last year, to about $23 billion at the end of 2025 from $14 billion the year prior.
The UK proposes an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to ban smartphones in all schools in England; a ban was previously just advisory
Government amendment to children's wellbeing and schools bill to replace existing guidance with statutory ban
Sources: Jeff Bezos' Project Prometheus is close to a $10B fundraising deal, which includes an initial $6.2B raise in November, at a $38B post-money valuation
Company code-named Project Prometheus is working on models for industrial applications — Jeff Bezos is close to a $10bn fundraising deal …
Source: a handful of unauthorized users in a private Discord channel have been accessing Anthropic's Mythos model since the day the company announced it
A small group of unauthorized users have accessed Anthropic PBC's new Mythos AI model, a technology that the company says is so powerful …
The US Air Force cancels RTX's ground-control network for the US' next generation of GPS satellites after years of delays and cost overruns
Sources: CISA doesn't have access to Mythos Preview, even as some other government agencies use it; Anthropic says it briefed CISA before Mythos' unveiling
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency doesn't have access to Anthropic's powerful new Mythos Preview model …
A look at transnational scam syndicates in Cambodia, running hundreds of online scam operations and call centers and infiltrating Cambodia's ruling class
Crime syndicates in Cambodia corrupt officials, enslave workers and fleece victims worldwide — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia …Forums:r/cambodiaForums:r/cambodia:How Cybercrime Became a Leading Industry in ‘S...
A look at EU efforts to cut reliance on US tech; study: Amazon, Microsoft, and Google hold ~70% of EU cloud and US vendors get 80% of enterprise software spend
Thanks to Trump, EU governments are trying to break their overreliance on U.S. technology. It won't be cheap or easy.
UK's Ofcom launches an investigation into Telegram over concerns of CSAM being shared on the platform and its use by predators to groom children
Britain's communications regulator, Ofcom, launched an investigation on Tuesday into the Telegram messaging app after evidence suggested …
OpenAI enables cost-per-click ads inside ChatGPT, setting bids at between $3 and $5 per click, in addition to CPMs
The platform that can figure out how to prove AI chatbots can drive an outcome will unlock a budget category that doesn't exist yet. OpenAI just took big steps toward that threshold …
Chinese PCB maker Victory Giant surges ~57% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising ~$2.6B in its IPO, the largest in the city so far this year
Nvidia supplier raises US$2.6 billion in its IPO as investors rush to cash in on the AI infrastructure boom
WhatsApp says it is testing a new subscription called WhatsApp Plus, which includes features like expanded pinned chats, custom lists, and new chat themes
The US DOJ says a former ransomware negotiator pleaded guilty to helping cybercriminals extort companies in cyberattacks in five different incidents
Angelo Martino, a former ransomware negotiator, has pleaded guilty to helping cybercriminals extort companies in cyberattacks.
Meta is installing tracking software on US staffers' computers to capture mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes in work-related apps for use in AI training
Meta (META.O) is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees' computers to capture mouse movements …
Google now offers two research agents: Deep Research, replacing its December preview release, and Deep Research Max, both available via Gemini API paid tiers
Built with Gemini 3.1 Pro, the new Deep Research agents bring MCP support, native visualizations and unprecedented analytical quality …
RaveDAO's RAVE has lost $6.6B+ in market cap and its price has sunk ~98% since Saturday, after ZachXBT called on exchanges to probe if it was being manipulated
Apple says Johny Srouji, who most recently served as senior VP of Hardware Technologies, will assume an expanded role leading Hardware Engineering
Apple today announced that, effective immediately, Apple executive Johny Srouji will become chief hardware officer.
An interview with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman on OpenAI's restructuring, cutting Sora, “personal AGI”, Anthropic's “fear-based marketing” for Mythos, and more
The last two standing - on everything — Sam Altman and Greg Brockman came on Core Memory together for a ten-year look back at OpenAI.
Deezer says AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of daily uploads, totaling ~75K tracks per day and 2M+ per month, but account for just 1%-3% of consumption
Stripe and Paradigm-backed Tempo launches a “stablecoin advisory” for businesses and is working with DoorDash to let delivery workers get paid in stablecoins
Tempo, the new blockchain backed by payments company Stripe and VC firm Paradigm, has launched a “stablecoin advisory” …
Sources: Revolut is aiming for a valuation of $150B to $200B in an IPO; founder Nik Storonsky said this week that Revolut would IPO in 2028 at the earliest
Bumper IPO would trigger increased stake for founder Nik Storonsky but group has no plans to float shares before 2028
A profile of far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, who has been kicked off most mainstream social media but made ~$900K from “fanatical” donors since early 2025
Roblox reaches settlements totaling $35.8M with the AGs of West Virginia, Alabama, and Nevada over child-safety protections
Roblox Corp. has reached settlements with attorneys general in three states over child-safety protections. — As part of the deals, the video game company pledged …
A new media company called MTS launches for “monitoring the situation” across tech, business, politics, and culture, with backing from a16z and others
Reliable Robotics, which is developing autonomous aircraft systems for cargo flights, raised $160M led by Nimble Partners, pushing its valuation to ~$1B
Reliable Robotics Corp. secured $160 million in new funding — pushing its valuation to nearly $1 billion — as the Silicon Valley startup makes …
Adobe announces a $25B stock repurchase program through April 30, 2030; Adobe shares have fallen around 30% so far this year
Adobe (ADBE.O) on Tuesday said its board of directors has approved a new $25 billion stock repurchase program through April 30, 2030, sending its shares up around 2% in extended trading.
In an email to employees, Johny Srouji details newly combined hardware engineering and hardware technologies division, organized across five key areas
Apple Inc.'s newly combined hardware engineering and hardware technologies division will be organized across five key areas, its new leader told staffers on Monday.
Trump says his administration had “some very good talks” with Anthropic during a WH meeting last week and “it's possible” there will be a deal with DOD
Draft of SpaceX's confidential IPO prospectus: Elon Musk increased his stake in SpaceX last year by purchasing $1.4B of stock from current and former employees
Humble unveils a fully electric cabless autonomous truck called the Humble Hauler and comes out of stealth with a $24M seed led by Eclipse
Florida AG James Uthmeier issues criminal subpoenas to OpenAI to investigate if ChatGPT's role in planning a mass shooting constitutes criminal liability
Sources say Google has created a strike team to improve its coding models; Sergey Brin told DeepMind staffers they must aggressively pivot to catch up on agents
Anthropic started requiring government-issued photo IDs and selfies from some users to prevent access from US adversaries like China, Russia, and North Korea
Anthropic has quietly flourished in China thanks to businesses—including big tech firms and startups—circumventing Anthropic's official restrictions on usage.
Apple says Tim Cook, as executive chairman, “will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world”
Apple confirmed today that although Tim Cook will be leaving the role of Apple CEO come September, he'll still be involved in a key area of the company.
YouTube makes its deepfake detection tool available to anyone at high risk of having their likeness abused, expanding it from public officials and politicians
Trump Media & Technology Group names Kevin McGurn as interim CEO effective immediately; McGurn previously worked as an executive at Hulu, Vevo, and T-Mobile
Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of social-media platform Truth Social and other businesses whose mission is …
Tim Cook reshaped Apple in his own image and exits as CEO on his own terms, seemingly picking the right successor in John Ternus, much like Jobs did with Cook
It's a profoundly different feeling today than the last time Apple's CEO announced his transition to chairman of the board …
Q&A with Canva CEO Melanie Perkins on the company's growth in enterprise, competing with AI labs, token pricing, investing in its own models, and more
Sources: Kalshi plans to offer crypto trading in the US, offering perpetual futures, putting it in competition with exchanges like Coinbase
Core Scientific plans to raise $3.3B via a junk bond sale to finance its shift from crypto mining to building AI data centers and leasing them to CoreWeave
Mozilla says its Firefox 150 release includes fixes for 271 vulnerabilities identified using early access to Anthropic's Mythos Preview
Clarifai says it has deleted 3M OkCupid user photos and facial-recognition models trained on them after the US FTC settled with OkCupid over privacy violations
Longtime colleagues say John Ternus will bring back Jobs-era decisiveness, shifting from Cook's era when decisions were made collectively by top executives
When Apple Inc. announced Monday that longtime leader Tim Cook would be replaced by John Ternus, it published an image …
Tim Cook had an extraordinary run and impeccable timing in stepping down, with Apple in a better place than it has ever been as AI becomes its next big test
Ben Thompson /Stratechery:
Google's Chief AI Architect Koray Kavukcuoglu is working to unite its internal AI coding tools under the Antigravity platform, to counter Claude Code and Codex
The nonprofit Consumer Federation of America sues Meta, accusing it of misleading consumers about its efforts to combat scam ads on Facebook and Instagram
Filings: crypto PACs amassed a ~$180M war chest for the 2026 midterms, including Fairshake's $166M, giving them the ability to outspend some GOP super PACs
Docs: Microsoft plans to eventually move GitHub Copilot from request- to token-based billing, as the week-over-week cost to run it has nearly doubled since Jan.
Edward Zitron /Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At:
OpenAI says that ChatGPT Images 2.0 has a stronger understanding of non-Latin text rendering in languages like Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Bengali
seemingly flawlesslyIgor Bonifacic /Engadget:ChatGPT Images 2.0 is better at rendering non-Latin textOpenAI on YouTube:Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.0Amanda Caswell /Tom's Guide:ChatGPT just launched I...
Australia-based Syenta, which aims to use electrochemical “stamping” to speed up chip manufacturing, raised $26M and says Pat Gelsinger will join its board
Tim Cook's 15-year legacy by the numbers: Apple's market cap grew from $350B in 2011 to $4T+ now, net income rose ~700% to $112B for FY 2025, and more
Vlad Savov /Bloomberg:
OpenAI says ChatGPT Images 2.0 comes in Instant and Thinking variants and can generate images of up to 2K resolution and in multiple aspect ratios
Zac Hall /9to5Mac:
Sources: following Manus probe, Chinese authorities ordered at least one other prominent AI startup, MiroMind, not to send talent and research out of China
A profile of John Ternus, a mechanical engineer by background, who joined Apple in 2001 and whose biggest success was helping Mac's transition to Apple Silicon
John Ternus must help Apple catch up in the AI race as it looks for its next big hit — The Mac Mini was sorely in need of an update …
All-hands: Tim Cook said he's stepping down now to ensure the “best-ever transition,” citing strong financials, an “incredible” pipeline, and Ternus' readiness
Mark Gurman /Bloomberg:NEW
NeoCognition, which wants to build AI agents that self-learn like humans, emerges from stealth with a $40M seed co-led by Cambium Capital and Walden Catalyst
ChatGPT Images 2.0 is available globally to ChatGPT and Codex users, with a more powerful version for paying subscribers; its knowledge cutoff is December 2025
Reece Rogers /Wired: