Weaker Models Decoded Claude, GPT, Gemini Traces
A reported extraction method rendered encrypted reasoning traces from three frontier model families—Claude, GPT, and Gemini—as plaintext. As providers split workflows across tiers, routing permissions become part of the security moat.
Robinhood’s $156M Boom Tests Prediction-Market Trust
Robinhood reported $156M in Q2 prediction-market revenue, more than 10 times its year-earlier total and ahead of stocks and crypto, as Kalshi’s disputes exposed the regulatory, data and consumer machinery beneath every quote.
Google unveils the $1,899+ Pixel 11 Pro Fold, with a stronger hinge, inner and outer displays that are 20% brighter, Tensor G6 chip, and an updated 48MP camera
Fly like a (Tensor) G6. — The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is the ultimate evolution in Google's latest line of mobile devices …
SpaceXAI rolls out AI agent app Grok Bot in beta on macOS, iOS, Windows, and Linux, initially for SuperGrok Heavy, Cursor Ultra, and Cursor Teams Premium users
SpaceXAI and Cursor are in the process of becoming a single company, but first, the two firms are releasing an all-new iPhone and Mac app called Grok Bot.
Researchers find that feeding a frontier model's encrypted reasoning traces to a weaker model from the same provider can make it output the traces in plaintext
Researchers devised a way to extract “reasoning traces” from Claude, GPT, and Gemini. What they found, they say …
Google unveils the $399 Pixel Watch 5 with a satin pyrite case finish, offline Gemini, proactive AI suggestions, better GPS maps, and insulin resistance trends
The $399 Google Pixel Watch 5 isn't about the hardware. Sure, there's a new satin pyrite case finish, a few new strap colors, and a Steph Curry Special Edition.
OpenAI launches a ChatGPT desktop app for Linux in preview, supporting ChatGPT Work, Codex, and more; Computer Use outside the in-app browser is not available
On Tuesday, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT desktop for Linux. — Now in preview, the app, which combines ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work …
Nvidia releases Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, an open 30B-parameter MoE model, and NeMo Switchyard, an open-source model routing library for AI agents
Artificial intelligence silicon and software giant Nvidia Corp. today announced two new services: a highly customizable Nemotron model and an agentic AI model router named NeMo Switchyard.
A livestream of the Made by Google 2026 event hosted by Trevor Noah
Tune in to see something special. Watch the Made by Google live show on August 12 at 6 PM ET.
CoreWeave reports Q2 revenue up 112% YoY to $2.58B, vs. $2.56B est., a $104B revenue backlog, and active power up nearly 500 MWs to 1.5 GW; CRWV jumps 20%+
CoreWeave shares jumped 14% in extended trading on Tuesday after the AI infrastructure provider reported results than topped Wall Street expectations.
The US CFTC uses its “emergency authority” to order Kalshi to continue operating in New York after the state filed a lawsuit in July seeking to shutter Kalshi
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced it had ordered prediction market operator Kalshi to continue operating …
Google plans to launch the $29 Pixel Tag on November 11, with a four-pack priced at $99, matching AirTag 2's pricing, offering UWB, Find Hub support, and more
The $29 tracker combines UWB with Bluetooth channel sounding. … More than two years after launching its own device-tracking network …
SpaceXAI releases Grok 4.6, saying it matches GPT-5.6 Sol on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, and prices it at $2/1M input and $6/1M output tokens
Grok 4.6 builds on Grok 4.5 with a particular focus on long-running agents and more ambitious interactive and visual work. — Try for free
Super Micro reports Q4 revenue up 93% YoY to $11.1B, below $11.3B est., and forecasts Q1 and FY 2027 revenue above est.; SMCI jumps 10%+, and is up 15%+ YTD
Super Micro Computer Inc. gave a revenue forecast for the current quarter that topped analysts' estimates, a sign …
Brad Lightcap, who most recently led OpenAI's special projects division and formerly was its COO, says he is leaving the startup “to start something new”
Brad Lightcap, who most recently led OpenAI's special projects division and formerly was its chief operating officer …
Google says the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will get new features, including dynamic ANC and sleep sync, via a software update in September, and adds a new Olive color
It's been a couple of years since Google rolled out a new set of Pro-branded earbuds, and while it's still not ready to debut …
Sundar Pichai says Gemini has hit 1B+ MAUs, the company's fastest-growing product ever and its 14th product to hit the 1B-user mark
1B+ people are now using @Geminiapp every month to spark new ideas and get things done. It's our fastest growing product ever, and our 14th to hit the 1B-user mark. Kudos to @JoshWoodward & the entire...
Google says Android's AirDrop-like Quick Share will now let some devices exchange files and contact info when tapped together, starting with the Pixel 6 and up
The Quick Share update makes it easier to share contact info and files between Pixel devices, and soon, Samsung phones.
Twitch says it intends to use videos streamed on its platform to help train Amazon's generative AI models and tells creators how to opt out
The streaming platform Twitch will now use creators' content to help train generative AI models for its parent company, Amazon.
Sources: Apple hired Nate Gatten, an American Airlines exec with GOP ties, as government affairs VP, seeking someone who could align with Trump administration
Apple Inc. hired Nate Gatten as its new head of government affairs, tapping a longtime American Airlines Group Inc. executive …
Former Alibaba star researcher Junyang Lin launches Shanghai-based Pragmatik Labs to build digital and physical AI agents; Pragmatik hit a $2B valuation in June
Former Alibaba star researcher Junyang Lin announced that he had started a new AI company, confirming The Information's earlier reports.
Bengaluru-based Yulu, which gets ~95% of its revenue from renting e-bikes to gig workers, raised a $93M Series C, sources say at a ~$170M post-money valuation
As India's quick-commerce platforms race to deliver everything from groceries to smartphones in minutes, electric mobility startup Yulu …
Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept sue Trump after Trump Media & Technology offered a subscription service for faster access to Trump's posts
President Donald Trump was sued in federal court Wednesday to stop him from making money off a new, paid service …
Q&A with Redwood Research Chief Scientist Ryan Greenblatt on AI R&D, RSI, human expert data not bottlenecking AI progress, token prices, alignment, and more
A debate about recursive self-improvement. — Had Ryan Greenblatt on to discuss/debate recursive self-improvement.
Manus says it will “soon return to operating as an independent company”, implying it is close to reversing its acquisition by Meta, after China's order in April
AI startup Manus said on Tuesday that it will “soon return to operating as an independent company,” …
Sources: former OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil is aiming to raise $150M for a new AI science startup at a $750M+ valuation; Weil left OpenAI in April
Kevin Weil, the former chief product officer of OpenAI, has sought a valuation of at least $750 million for a new AI science startup …
Similarweb: Bluesky's mobile MAUs fell 27% YoY to 10.4M in June and DAUs fell 26% YoY to 3M in July; X's mobile MAUs fell 3% to 302M and DAUs fell 7% to 123.7M
Decentralized social network Bluesky was one of the bigger beneficiaries of the exodus from Elon Musk's X in November 2024, following the U.S. elections.
Sources: AI coding startup Cognition is in early talks with investors to raise $1B+ at a $40B+ valuation, after raising $1B at a $26B valuation in May
Cognition AI is in early talks with investors for a new funding round that may boost the coding startup's valuation by more than 50% …
Anthropic says new Claude models will embed watermarks in generated text and C2PA metadata in files to comply with the EU AI Act, and it will update past models
Google Pixel 11 series hands-on: few design changes, a HiLight status light on the rear camera bar, new colors, and small camera and performance improvements
and the ‘HiLight’ feature is the surprising standoutPeter /GSMArena.com:The Google Pixel 11 arrives with Tensor G6 and faster chargingMarques Brownlee /Marques Brownlee on YouTube:Google Pixel 11/Pro/...
Tencent reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to ~$30.4B, above ~$30B est., driven by surging WeChat advertising and resilient game spending, and net income of ~$8.3B
Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s revenue grew a faster-than-projected 11%, keeping up the steady pace of expansion it needs to finance …
Researchers say suspected Chinese hackers used open-source AI agents to build an autonomous hacking tool that compromised Taiwanese government websites in July
AI agents ran simultaneous reconnaissance and break-ins in display of new phase of cyberwarfare.
Google unveils the $899+ Pixel 11, $1,099+ 11 Pro, and $1,299+ 11 Pro XL, with a Tensor G6, new Gemini features, Magic Capture to pick the best frames, and more
For the last few years, Google's Pixel has been a showcase of new AI features, with few hardware changes from the previous year's devices.
Foxconn reports Q2 revenue up 41% YoY to ~$78.4B, with cloud and networking products contributing 50%+ for the first time, and net profit up 35% YoY to ~$1.86B
Net profit for the three months ended June rose 35% from a year earlier — Foxconn Technology Group reported another strong quarter …
Spotify says it will roll out an “AI Persona” badge in September for profiles that do “not represent a real person” and exclude their music from recommendations
FlightAware withdraws its Kalshi lawsuit, after alleging Kalshi used its data to let users bet on flight cancellations; Kalshi no longer names it as a source
Flight-tracking company FlightAware withdrew its lawsuit against Kalshi on Tuesday, a day after it filed the suit that accuses …
The NYC Council sent letters to Polymarket, Kalshi, Coinbase, and Gemini Titan as it investigates alleged deceptive marketing practices and targeting minors
Probe targets the marketing practices of four prediction markets with operations in the city — The New York City Council …
Stockholm-based AI coding startup Lovable raised $400M at a $13.3B valuation, up from $6.6B in December 2025, becoming one of Europe's most valuable startups
New funding round catapults AI company into the ranks of Europe's most valuable startups — Artificial-intelligence startup Lovable …
AI code review startup CodeRabbit raised a $143M Series C co-led by Atomico and Smash at a $1.5B valuation, after raising a $60M Series B in September 2025
AI code review startup CodeRabbit said on Wednesday it had raised $143 million in a funding round that valued it at $1.5 billion.
OpenAI VP of Global Policy Ann O'Leary says AI policy in the US is anchored in the states and still informed by California's AI transparency law passed in 2025
SACRAMENTO, California — A senior OpenAI global affairs chief said AI policy is still anchored in the states, and continues to be informed …
Cisco reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to $17.25B, vs. $16.82B est., AI infrastructure orders from hyperscalers worth $4B, forecasts FY 2027 revenue above est.
Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) forecast fiscal 2027 revenue above Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, signaling confidence that strong demand …
A look at AI news website RuntimeWire, which costs $100/day to run and “beat” human reporters to OpenAI's Black Hat disclosure, favoring quantity over quality
Last week, an AI newsroom beat mainstream journalists—including WIRED—to a story about OpenAI and hacking. It's just the beginning.
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold hands-on: a letdown after Samsung released the Galaxy Z Fold 8, with few design changes, and it feels like Google is coasting this time
it's not a reinvention, but a nudge toward perfectionDaniel Howley /Yahoo Finance:Google launches Pixel 11 smartphone line, including Pixel 11 Pro Fold, as Apple preps foldable iPhoneRichard Priday /A...
Flight tracking platform FlightAware sues Kalshi in New York, alleging Kalshi is using its data without permission to let users bet on flight cancellations
Briter: Africa-focused startups raised $3.3B in H1 2026, up 73% YoY, driven by Zipline's $950M raise; US- and UAE-incorporated entities raised half the capital
African-focused startups are on track for a record fundraising year after investments surged in the first six months …
Amsterdam-based neocloud Nebius reports Q2 cloud revenue up 514% YoY to $575M and total revenue of $582M, above $557M est.; NBIS jumps 15%+, and is up 145%+ YTD
Nebius Group NV reported a 514% jump in second-quarter sales for its cloud business following strong demand for AI computing power.
Cerebras reports Q2 revenue up 74% YoY to $180M and raises its annual revenue and gross margin forecasts; CBRS drops 14%+ after hours
Cerebras Systems (CBRS.O) raised its annual revenue and gross margin forecasts on Wednesday, buoyed by robust demand for its chips from companies ramping up data-center capacity to power AI services.
Some health and fitness obsessives are using AI for hyperpersonalized training, building dashboards and tools to analyze their sleep, workouts, diet, and more
From marathon training to tracking office angst, health obsessives are linking their data to chatbots to build hyperpersonalized coaches
Accel raised $3.5B in funds for early-stage investments, including a $1.35B global expansion fund for larger early-stage rounds and rapid follow-on investments
A look at Candy Crush's continued popularity 15 years after its launch, with an estimated 81.5M MAUs, 190.5M installs, and $876.5M in-app revenue in FY 2025
Fifteen years in, those shiny sweets are still on top. — Johanna Chouraqui doesn't time travel anymore. The now-34-year-old …
Sources detail moves behind Google's AI reshuffle; Sergey Brin urged key staff to go all in on Gemini, and some teams shifted from DeepMind to corporate Google
Google co-founder Sergey Brin in recent months has urged key AI staff to go all in on the company's Gemini model as parent Alphabet …
Mistral says its platform will support third-party open models, starting with Z.ai's GLM-5.2, and run them on the same infrastructure as its own models
At Mistral, we believe every enterprise and country must be in control of the models it uses, choose where the intelligence runs …
Apple's iOS 27 beta 5 contains references to six unreleased iPhones: iPhone Ultra, iPhone Air 2, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone 18, and iPhone 18e
Sources: Singapore-based data center operator DayOne confidentially files for a US IPO, aiming to list as soon as next quarter, and is considering raising ~$5B
DayOne Data Centers has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sources: Nvidia is developing a Nemotron 4 model with 1T+ parameters, up from Nemotron 3 Ultra's 550B parameters but smaller than leading Chinese open models
The Information:
Google raises Pixel and Watch prices by $100 and $50 for 2026's models; the base Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL have 12GB of RAM, down from 16GB in previous models
Kris Holt /Engadget:
A look at the challenges facing incoming Google DeepMind head Koray Kavukcuoglu, who joined DeepMind in 2012 and will oversee Gemini and frontier AI research
DeepMind's new boss is set to face intense pressure to close the AI performance gap with OpenAI and Anthropic.Forums:r/technologyForums:r/technology:Google's new AI boss inherits a race to catch OpenA...
AI code-testing startup Blacksmith raised a $45M Series B led by Peak XV Partners at a $550M valuation, up from $60M after it raised a $10M Series A in 2025
As AI makes coding dramatically faster, the next big challenge in software development is testing and validating all that code.
Sources: Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni pushed for and were aware for seven months of using “cookie stuffing” to claim affiliate commissions
xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin's River AI raised $1.1B led by General Catalyst and AMP PBC to build home or SMB computer servers capable of running AI locally
A profile of Suno, which has been used by more than 100M people since 2023 and has 2M+ paid subscribers, as it faces copyright lawsuits from UMG and Sony Music
Investors are betting the $5 billion company will be the next Spotify. — Mikey Shulman stands in the middle of a dark concert hall …See also Mediagazer
Thrive Capital's Thrive Holdings, which acquires traditional service businesses and adds AI, raised $2B from SoftBank, D1, and others at a $12B valuation
The company, Thrive Holdings, acquires businesses to infuse them with artificial intelligence and drew interest from backers like SoftBank.
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal agree to sell payments company Moneris to PE firm Francisco Partners for CA$2B in cash, splitting proceeds equally
Source: Kalshi's annualized revenue topped $4B in July, up from $2B+ two months earlier, and its operating expenses totaled $300M in June
Filings: Uber divested from long-time partner Serve Robotics in Q2, as the companies clash over how to deploy delivery robots; Serve has a DoorDash deal
African e-commerce company Jumia raised $50M, including ~$25M from the World Bank; its US-listed shares are down from $60+ in 2021 to $6, valuing Jumia at $743M
Jumia Technologies AG secured $50 million in fresh equity funding from its biggest shareholder and the World Bank's International Finance Corp …
eToro agrees to acquire US-focused online brokerage TradeZero for up to $231M in cash and stock; TradeZero had ~$80M in revenue over the 12 months ended June 30
Skan AI, which is building a “context graph of work” by observing staff using enterprise software, raised a $63M Series C co-led by Cathay Innovation and Dell
Skan AI, a startup that builds what it calls a “context graph of work” by observing how employees actually perform …
Google's Pixel 11 introduces Camera Looks, a total rethink of how the camera captures and styles an image, as users seek “more authentic or traditional” photos
David Imel /The Verge:
Sources: Kalshi is in advanced talks to raise $750M+ co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management at a $40B valuation; Kalshi was valued at $22B in May
Kalshi, the biggest prediction market, is in advanced talks to raise at least $750 million in a new financing round at a $40 billion valuation …
AT&T says open models currently power ~25% of its overall AI usage, and expects that to rise to 70%-80% over time; AT&T uses an average of 45B AI tokens per day
The telecom company is staking its future on open models, both to control token cost and protect its proprietary data
IBM and Together AI sign a $240M, multiyear deal to build an AI inference cluster on IBM Cloud, using Nvidia's HGX B300 systems, to support open-source models
Bumble rolls out a global update that lets any user send an opening message after they match, marking a major reversal from its signature women-go-first model
Google says the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL are its most durable Pixel phones yet, using spacecraft-grade aluminum frames and a twice as scratch-resistant coating
Mariella Moon /Engadget:
Bank of America says it plans to deploy $250B by July 2027 to support US digital and infrastructure projects, including data centers and energy infrastructure
Google is cutting the Google One AI Pro trial bundled with the Pixel 11 Pro and other handsets from 12 to six months and removes the free trial for the Pixel 11
Damien Wilde /9to5Google:
Sources: the White House is expected to expand its AI oversight framework in the coming months to cover open models once they reach frontier capabilities
Sources: David Sacks' Craft Ventures is targeting around $1B for a new fund, its first since Sacks stepped down as the White House's AI and crypto czar in March
Silicon Data, which offers real-time compute pricing data to financial institutions and exchanges, raised a $30.5M Series A led by the Valor Atreides AI Fund
ClearJet, whose AI-enabled logistics service connects shippers with unused cargo capacity on commercial flights, raised a $25M Series B led by Edison Partners
TSMC and Sony plan to form Advanced Vision Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, a $4.69B joint venture in Japan to make next-gen smartphone image sensors from 2029
Google introduces an insulin-resistance trend feature that uses AI, an accelerometer, and other sensors, launching first on the Pixel Watch 5 and Fitbit devices
Samantha Kelly /Bloomberg:
Google DeepMind launches SL2T, a multilingual sign-language-to-text model debuting on the Pixel 11 in Gboard and Live Transcribe, first for ASL to English text
Mike Wheatley /SiliconANGLE:
Sources: the UK government is planning to regulate the use of AI in gene synthesis to prevent terrorists and other bad actors from using AI for bioweapons
River Markets, which gives professional traders a single place to trade across multiple prediction markets, raised an $8.5M seed led by Haun Ventures
Kalshi referred 32 possible insider traders to the CFTC in the three months through June; sources: CFTC has up to 20 ongoing probes using just Kalshi's evidence
Sharon LaFraniere /New York Times: