The Border Inside the Model
Commerce moved from considering controls on general-purpose AI programs in 2023 to lifting restrictions on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 in 2026. Anthropic’s allegation of 28.8 million illicit Claude accesses turned export policy into an identity, telemetry, and enforcement problem.
Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 5, saying it nears Opus 4.8 performance at lower prices and is substantially better than Sonnet 4.6 for agentic work
Claude Sonnet 5 is built to be the most agentic Sonnet model yet. It can make plans, use tools like browsers and terminals …
Anthropic says the US Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5
We've received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5. We'll begin restoring access tomorrow, and will share an update soon. We're grateful to...
Filing: President Trump reports $1.4B+ in income from his family's crypto ventures in 2025, including ~$800M from WLF and $635M from the sale of his $TRUMP coin
U.S. President Donald Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures last year …
Sony says all new PlayStation games will only be sold in digital formats from January 2028, as digital media preference “significantly outpaces physical discs”
The end of an era, a potential fatal blow to video games as physical media, and a hint of what's in store for the PS6?
Sources: Microsoft plans to announce job cuts next week affecting less than 2.5% of its 220,000-person workforce, including roles in sales, consulting, and Xbox
Microsoft is planning to announce job cuts soon as the tech giant continues efforts to control costs, according to people familiar with the situation.
Leaked Apple supplier docs show iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max may use Qualcomm modems in the US and Apple's own C2 chips elsewhere, A20 Pro packaging tech, and more
After a closer look at some new data, Apple's iPhone 18 Pro modem situation may not be cut-and-dried.
Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, Coinbase, and 140+ companies join Open Standard to launch Open USD, a stablecoin that shares earnings from its reserves
Quick Take — Payment giants, banks, tech firms and crypto companies are among Open Standard's launch members.
SCOTUS agrees to hear Apple's appeal of a 2025 contempt ruling in its Epic case after a district judge found Apple violated an order to make App Store changes
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear Apple's (AAPL.O) bid to escape being found in contempt in its legal fight with …
A researcher says a vulnerability in Apple's Hide My Email tool lets anyone see a user's real email address; first reported in June 2025, Apple has not fixed it
“Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.
Anthropic launches Claude Science, an AI workbench that uses existing Claude models like Opus 4.8 to integrate 60+ scientific databases and specialized toolkits
Anthropic introduced Claude Science on Tuesday, an AI workbench that gives scientists one environment to do computational research …
Alex Karp calls US reliance on AI labs for military tech “effing insane”, pans AI fees for businesses, and touts Palantir's Nvidia Nemotron deal for US agencies
Topline — Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Wednesday called the AI industry “effing insane” in a heated interview on CNBC …
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, who has served as Google's VP and Chief Internet Evangelist since 2005, plans to step down from his role next week and retire
Vinton Cerf will step down from his role as Google's chief internet evangelist next week, marking the conclusion of one of the most influential careers in technology history.
Sources: Microsoft has been working on a disc-to-digital feature for Xbox One and Xbox Series X that will let users digitize their physical game collections
Microsoft's disc-to-digital feature could be essential for next-gen Xbox consoles. … Microsoft will likely soon follow Sony …
Vimeo owner Bending Spoons raised $1.68B after selling 57.97M shares at $29 each, valuing it at ~$18.4B, in one of 2026's largest US IPOs by a European company
Bending Spoons SpA, which acquires struggling software businesses, and some of its backers raised $1.68 billion …
Anthropic says it is rolling back a covert Claude Code tracking feature that identifies users based in China or affiliated with Chinese AI labs, after backlash
Anthropic is backtracking a spyware rolled out covertly to track users' location and whether they are based in China or affiliated …
SpaceX cuts Starlink's monthly prices in half in the Memphis area, as it endures blowback and legal challenges from opponents of its Colossus data centers
SpaceX is offering discounts for Starlink internet plans in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Elon Musk-led company endures blowback …
Meta introduces a $20/month Meta One Premium tier for its glasses and limits the glasses' Conversation Focus feature to three hours per month for free users
“All AI glasses owners get free monthly usage for certain features.” … Would you pay $20 a month for access to AI hardware you already own?
Sources: Apple is working on new iPad Pros and an entry-level 14" MacBook Pro with a new design in line with the upcoming touch-screen laptops for H1 2027
Apple Inc. is preparing an upgraded iPad Pro line and a redesigned entry-level MacBook Pro for next year, adding to a slate of several …
Lime owner Neutron Holdings raised $174M in its US IPO, selling 6.68M shares at $25 each, the midpoint of its marketed range, giving Lime a $1.6B market value
Neutron Holdings Inc., better known as Lime, and some of its shareholders raised $174 million in a US initial public offering …
Sources: TikTok settles a lawsuit before a second California trial over social media harm to minors for an undisclosed sum; Meta and Snap remain defendants
TikTok is finalizing a settlement related to a lawsuit claiming that the world's largest social media platforms are addictive to minors …
Tim Cook and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen held “constructive” talks on June 30; sources: they discussed how Apple can launch Siri AI in the EU and avoid fines
Discussions come as tech group seeks to avoid fines as it and the bloc have been deadlocked over launch of AI assistant
Getty Images says it will terminate its Shutterstock merger after the UK CMA conditioned approval of the deal on Shutterstock selling its editorial business
A U.K. regulator said Shutterstock must sell its editorial business in order for the merger between the two companies to be approved
South Korean government data: the country's exports grew 70.9% YoY in June to $102.25B, an all-time monthly high, anchored by a record $44.82B in chip shipments
SEOUL — South Korean exports in June surged past $100 billion for the first time, government figures showed Wednesday …
Almost 1,700 UK investors sue Binance and Changpeng Zhao for £150M+, alleging Binance sold them risky, complex derivative products without regulatory approval
Almost 1,700 British investors are suing Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao for at least £150 million ($200 million) …
Chinese robot maker UBTech launches U1, a line of humanoid robots for personal companionship with lifelike silicone skin and emotional AI, priced from ~$17,650
The unveiling of model U1, which has silicone skin and emotional AI, reflects tech firms' drive to expand robotics beyond industrial use.
A look at Manifest, an annual prediction markets convention where many purists worry that Kalshi and Polymarket are undermining the tech's public good prospects
At Manifest, some tech intellectuals wondered whether Super Bowl bets were really helping humanity.
Anthropic says access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 is now restored and it is drafting a jailbreak severity standard with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and others
On Friday, June 12, the US government applied export controls to our newest models, Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5.
The US sentences Guo Wengui, a self-exiled billionaire Chinese tycoon who defrauded 1,000+ people worldwide out of hundreds of millions, to 30 years in prison
A self-exiled billionaire Chinese business tycoon once believed to be among China's wealthiest men was sentenced Monday to 30 years …
LeapXpert, which lets companies and sports franchises monitor staff business chats via apps like WhatsApp for compliance, raised $180M led by Riverwood Capital
LeapXpert, a startup for companies to monitor external messaging apps, raised $180 million led by Riverwood Capital, it tells Axios exclusively.
Google launches Nano Banana 2 Lite, a low cost text-to-image model that delivers outputs in four seconds, and rolls out Gemini Omni Flash to developers
Source: OpenAI engineers earlier this month told some colleagues they had figured out a way to more than halve the cost of inference
We closely track efforts by Anthropic, Google and OpenAI to get access to more server chips to run their models. But we don't talk enough about the work …
Higharc, which uses AI to assist house builders in design and construction, raised a $95M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total funding to $170M+
A Durham-based artificial intelligence company targeting the homebuilding industry has raised $95 million and is hiring.
Sources: SpaceX showed investors a handset-like device prototype with AI tech from xAI, a proprietary OS, a Snapdragon chip, and a design slimmer than an iPhone
The sleek, handset-like prototype was designed to integrate AI technology from SpaceX's xAI — Elon Musk's SpaceX has developed …
Stockholm's Patent and Market Court orders Google to pay nearly $2B to Klarna's PriceRunner in a dispute over abuse of power in the shopping comparison market
Alphabet Inc.'s Google was ordered to pay almost $2 billion to Klarna Group Plc's Pricerunner unit in a dispute …
FOIA docs: White House officials used auto-deleting Signal chats even after Trump advised in April 2025 against using the app, raising US recordkeeping concerns
Alibaba and its US payment processor AUS agree to pay $600M to resolve DOJ allegations that they failed to prevent illegal sales of drugs and other products
Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988.HK) and its U.S.-based payment processor have agreed to pay $600 million …
Lime's shares closed up 4% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, valuing the company at ~$1.7B, after Lime and existing stockholders raised ~$174M in its US IPO
Uber-backed (UBER.N) Lime's (LIME.O) shares rose 4% in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, signaling robust investor confidence …
How the rapid rise in US- and China-made AI model abilities is leading to both a transformation in AI use at work, and sudden lurches in policies and markets
How work changes along the exponential — If you feel like things are accelerating in AI, you are probably right.
BYD, Nio, and other Chinese carmakers are rushing to design and use more locally developed chips with AI functions, as China keeps pushing chip self-sufficiency
EV makers such as global leader BYD are rushing to increase use of locally developed semiconductors
Abu Dhabi-based MGX raised a $49B AI-focused fund, exceeding its $45B target, and plans to deploy as much as $10B annually from the fund over the next few years
MGX has raised $49 billion for one of the biggest ever funds dedicated to artificial intelligence deals, propelling the two-year-old Abu Dhabi firm …
Wayve files to sell shares on the London Stock Exchange's new Private Securities Market, the first major company to test it, and let staff sell $85M in shares
Autonomous driving software company Wayve Technologies Ltd. has filed to sell shares on the London Stock Exchange's new Private Securities Market …
Anthropic says “some routine tasks like coding and debugging” on Fable 5 “will fall back to Opus 4.8” in “the near term” as it works to “reduce false positives”
Claude Fable 5 will be available again globally tomorrow. After a series of productive conversations with the US government, we're redeploying the model with a new set of classifiers to target and blo...
Taiwanese authorities detain two Super Micro staff and an Albatron manager after a raid of Super Micro's local offices this week over Nvidia shipments to China
Taiwanese prosecutors detained two Super Micro Computer Inc. employees following a raid of the US company's local offices earlier …
How a new Amazon-built transatlantic fiber-optic link in Ireland is symbolic of the country's AI ambitions, but also of its chronic lack of defense spending
A new Amazon transatlantic fiber-optic link is symbolic of the country's tech economy, but also of its chronic lack of defense spending.
Sources: SoftBank has reopened talks for a $10B loan backed by its OpenAI stake and is offering to guarantee repayment if OpenAI collateral proves insufficient
SoftBank Group has reopened talks with a consortium of lenders for a $10 billion loan backed by its stake in OpenAI …
Venice AI, which offers access to 200+ AI models while allowing users to retain their privacy, raised a $65M Series A led by Dragonfly at a $1B valuation
Concerns over the impact of AI chatbots on mental health, personal safety, harassment, and disinformation have forced AI developers …
Together AI, which offers access to open-source models, raised $800M led by Saudi Aramco's Prosperity7 at an $8.3B valuation, taking its total funding to $1.3B
Together AI, which specializes in open-source artificial intelligence models, is now worth more than $8 billion.
Sony says it will close the virtual PlayStation 3 store in select markets in 2026 before closing PS3 and PS Vita stores “in all other countries” in July 2027
The virtual PS3 store will close in select markets this year, with global closures for PS3 and PS Vita following in 2027.
Sources: Meta plans a cloud infrastructure business that will sell access to AI compute and models, to compete with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud; META jumps 9%
Meta Platforms Inc. is developing plans for a cloud infrastructure business that will sell access to AI computing power and models …
B2B sales workspace startup Aligned raised a $60M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital, taking its total funding to $73.8M, and says it has 1,000+ customers
Aligned, a sales workspace for B2B sellers, buyers, and AI agents, locked up a $60 million Series B, co-founder and CEO Gal Aga tells Axios Pro exclusively.
Meta names Chief Marketing Officer Alex Schultz as its first-ever chief data officer, to manage AI analytics across the company, and names Denise Moreno as CMO
Meta has named its chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz, as its new chief data officer, Schultz told Axios.
Uber dismissed two leaders at its AI data labeling business as part of a broader leadership transition at the unit, which it says is “seeing strong momentum”
Uber Technologies Inc. has dismissed two tech leaders at its nascent AI data labeling business, shaking up a key division …
[Thread] the now-lifted US export controls on Anthropic models created uncertainty, are an own goal, and will push service providers toward Chinese AI models
A lot to unpack here. Anthropic is burying some hard truths in careful political language. Some initial reads: 1) Anthropic verifies that none of the jailbreaks provided a capability beyond what many ...
ByteDance is building a ~$39B data center complex with a 1GW capacity in a free-trade zone in Brazil's Ceará, set to be its largest facility outside of China
The TikTok creator's $39 billion data center is the latest payoff from Lula's courtship of Chinese investment.
Oxmiq, which aims to combine GPUs, CPUs, and a tensor engine into a single block of IP that it can license, raised $35M led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Fudomo
Artificial intelligence startup Oxmiq said on Wednesday it raised $35 million from investors in order to build chip design architecture …
AI inference startup Etched raised $800M from investors including Jane Street and a TSMC-linked venture firm, and says it has signed sales contracts worth $1B
Letter: the US says Anthropic “agreed to proactively detect and address security risks” of Fable 5 and Mythos 5; a source says Anthropic developed a “safeguard”
US government move allows AI start-up to re-release Mythos and Fable models
Pie, a startup that uses AI to optimize marketing for brick-and-mortar small businesses, emerges from stealth with a $19.5M Series A led by Lightspeed
A study of 22K US companies shows those spending most heavily on AI are adding workers faster than peers, but most gains are among tech companies and startups
Twelve Labs, which is building AI models to make video searchable and understandable, raised a $100M Series B co-led by NEA and Naver, and signs an AWS deal
Twelve Labs Inc. is raising $100 million from investors including Amazon.com Inc., NEA Management Co. and Naver Ventures …
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg met with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour about a possible takeover last year, before directing Meta employees to build a prediction market app
Japan commits up to ~$6.16B over five years to Noetra, a consortium led by SoftBank, Honda, NEC, and Sony, to develop a domestic AI foundation model by 2027
AWS launches an internal organization for AI-focused forward-deployed engineers, backed by $1B in resources, following OpenAI and others in launching FDE teams
Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $10 per 1M output tokens through August 31, after which prices rise to $3 and $15, respectively
Zac Hall /9to5Mac: