OpenAI and Anthropic now out-lobby Nvidia in Washington
OpenAI and Anthropic now out-lobby Nvidia in Washington

The AI industry is buying a bigger seat at the table. OpenAI and Anthropic set records for federal lobbying in the second quarter of 2026, CNBC reported. Together they spent $3.17 million, up 23% from the first quarter. Startups outspending giants The …

Oracle says one AI data centre could cost it a $7bn power guarantee
Oracle says one AI data centre could cost it a $7bn power guarantee

Oracle is building a huge AI data centre in Port Washington, Wisconsin, with Vantage and OpenAI. The nearly one-gigawatt Lighthouse Campus is a roughly $15 billion project. To get the electricity to run it, though, Oracle first has to satisfy the local…

Marco Rubio tells US diplomats to play down fears of a tech ‘kill switch’
Marco Rubio tells US diplomats to play down fears of a tech ‘kill switch’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told American diplomats to push back against a phrase that has spread through allied capitals since the summer: the tech “kill switch.” In a cable dated July 16 and reviewed by Reuters, Rubio instructed envoys to c…

OpenAI and Datadog leaders back AI deployment startup Arrakis

London-based AI deployment startup Arrakis has emerged from stealth, having raised nearly $40m in just over three months. Arrakis was founded by former Accel investor Rafael Quintanilla, along with fo…

This AI-piloted fighter jet takes off with no runway. It just cleared a key test.
This AI-piloted fighter jet takes off with no runway. It just cleared a key test.

A fighter jet that needs no runway is a step closer to flight. Shield AI and GE Aerospace say they have completed engine light-off testing for the X-BAT. It is an AI-piloted strike aircraft, built to take off and land vertically. The two firms announce…

Everyone is cramming AI into phones. Light’s new flip phone strips it all out.
Everyone is cramming AI into phones. Light’s new flip phone strips it all out.

The flip phone is back, and this one has a cause. Light, the Brooklyn maker of deliberately boring phones, has unveiled the Light Flip, its first clamshell and its fourth device in a decade. It costs $299 and lands with a pointed message: as Apple and …

Moonshot is chasing a $50bn valuation, and it wants two funding rounds to get there
Moonshot is chasing a $50bn valuation, and it wants two funding rounds to get there

China’s Moonshot AI is raising money at a pace that would make most startups dizzy. The lab should close a round that values it at $31.5 billion in the coming days, Bloomberg reported. It then plans to open another almost immediately, targeting a valua…

Meta to use custom AMD Instinct MI400 accelerators with 144GB of HBM4 for select workloads, report claims — could dramatically reduce cost at the expense of versatility
Meta to use custom AMD Instinct MI400 accelerators with 144GB of HBM4 for select workloads, report claims — could dramatically reduce cost at the expense of versatility

Meta will reportedly use a custom version of AMD’s Instinct MI400-series accelerators with a memory system cut to 144GB of HBM4, allegedly for select workloads only.

US computer-science enrolment just fell for the first time in 20 years
US computer-science enrolment just fell for the first time in 20 years

Computer science was the safe bet. For twenty years, enrolment in the US only went up. In the 2025-26 academic year, it went down. The reversal The finding comes from Jacob Light, an economist at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Business Insider reported…

Halliday made 2025’s worst smart glasses. Its camera-free comeback is aimed at your meetings.
Halliday made 2025’s worst smart glasses. Its camera-free comeback is aimed at your meetings.

It is rare that a crowdfunded hardware startup gets a second shot at a first impression. Halliday is taking it. The company unveiled the G2 on Tuesday, priced from $499, shipping in September. A brutal first act The original glasses were panned. Engadg…