Simply the latest news, updated on the hour.

Fri, Sep 18, 2026, 8:20 PM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • OpenAI's latest advancements, including GPT-6 Astra and new API features, are generating significant developer excitement, promising enhanced capabilities for work and research.
  • The debate around AI safety and pacing intensifies, with leaders from major AI labs discussing responsible development and the potential risks of an unchecked AI race.
  • Startups are securing substantial funding for AI development, with a focus on building foundational AI models and enhancing AI's integration into physical and digital realities.
  • Concerns over AI-driven misinformation and security threats are growing, prompting calls for stronger governance and international cooperation to mitigate risks, especially in sensitive sectors like national security.
  • The tech industry is grappling with the ethical implications of AI, including data privacy, potential job displacement, and the responsible deployment of powerful AI systems across various sectors.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


The Verge

  • OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web 4 hours ago by Terrence O’Brien
    AI, Google, Law, Microsoft, OpenAI, Policy, Tech

    Recently unsealed court documents in the New York Times ' case against OpenAI and Microsoft are pretty damning. The companies' own documentation warned that it was starting a "doom loop" that would damage the web, characterized its scraping of data to train its models as the "largest theft of labor in human history," and that it made a "complete mockery of the idea of fair use." Many of the most eye-catching quotes from the document come from Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hecht. Though, the company has tried to distance itself from Hecht's assertions. Microsoft spokesperson Alex Haurek told

  • Virginia governor creates an AI task force and moves to restrain data centers 6 hours ago by Lauren Feiner
    AI, Energy, News, Policy, Politics, Science

    Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ordered the state government to take steps that could empower local communities to have a larger say in data center development and slow down approvals in a state that is already home to the data center capital of the world . Executive Order 22 bans executive branch officials from signing nondisclosure agreements for data center projects, requires expedited noise regulations, and requires a review of backup-generation operations used by data centers, among other requirements. The order also establishes an AI task force responsible for evaluating how the state government can address risks to Virginians like wo

  • Disney’s first CTO is Character.AI’s former CEO 6 hours ago by Charles Pulliam-Moore
    Disney, Entertainment, News, Streaming

    You would think that a multimedia conglomerate as large as Disney would have a few chief technology officers by now, but the company has just appointed someone to the position for the very first time. Today, Disney announced that Karandeep Anand is joining the company as its new CTO. Anand will report directly to recently appointed CEO Josh D'Amaro , and he will head up the company's infrastructure, product, engineering, and data / AI platforms teams. Anand comes to Disney from chatbot startup Character.AI , where he served as CEO for just over a year and oversaw the company's push

  • The real story of the iPhone 18 Pro’s camera 8 hours ago by Jacob Kastrenakes
    Podcasts, Vergecast

    It's one of the most fascinating years in a while when it comes to iPhone camera upgrades. The big story of the iPhone 18 Pro is the variable aperture main lens, which lets you open the aperture up wider for better low light shots and make the aperture smaller for better depth of field in group photos. But all I can get anyone to talk about is the software upgrades: it turns out, they're a lot more useful day to day than the aperture on a camera this small. This week on The Vergecast , David Imel and Allison Johnson

  • Gavin Newsom is pushing for an AI kill switch 8 hours ago by Lauren Feiner
    AI, News, Policy, Politics

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is positioning the state to take the lead on AI oversight, including the potential to mandate a "kill switch" for frontier models, with a new executive order issued Friday. Newsom's order directs the state to convene a group of experts that will deliver recommendations within two months on how to strengthen AI safety measures in state law. Newsom wants the group to consider how the state could require AI companies to embed independent verification groups onsite for regular audits, make their transparency reports and risk assessments subject to standards of independent auditors, create a "kill


Wired


OpenAI News


Google AI

  • What’s new with Google Cloud 9 hours ago by Google Cloud Content & Editorial
    Google Cloud, Inside Google Cloud

    Want to know the latest from Google Cloud? Find it here in one handy location. Check back regularly for our newest updates, announcements, resources, events, learning opportunities, and more. Tip : Not sure where to find what you’re looking for on the Google Cloud blog? Start here: Google Cloud blog 101: Full list of topics, links, and resources . aside_block Sept 14 - Sept 18 Storage Intelligence Advisor for Google Cloud Storage is now GA Google Cloud Storage customers can now manage cloud storage more effectively with Storage Intelligence Advisor , delivering curated metrics, automated anomaly detection, and

  • 3 Highlights from Thomas Kurian’s Keynote at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia & Technology Conference 8 days ago by Google Cloud Content & Editorial
    Inside Google Cloud

    On Tuesday, September 8, Thomas Kurian participated in the Goldman Sachs Tech Conference, providing an update on Google Cloud’s business and strategy. Here are the highlights: Full Stack Approach: Google Cloud is the only provider to offer solutions across the entire AI stack, which expands our total addressable market, differentiates our products from the point of view of performance, cost and quality; and enables us to diversify our revenue streams as the market grows. We have 17 product lines with more than $1 billion in revenues and our customers on average exceeded their commitments by more than 50%. We have

  • From AI potential to agentic reality: Driving the UK’s next chapter 3 months ago by Maureen Costello
    AI & Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Security & Identity, Sustainability, Customers, Partners, Startups, Inside Google Cloud

    The United Kingdom, and London in particular, continues to be one of the great hubs for AI development in Europe and the world. We’re home to Google DeepMind, of course, as well as significant AI unicorns — and Google Cloud customers — like Ineffable Intelligence , which is today announcing an important partnership with us. A year ago, we joined you for the London Summit to showcase the vast potential of generative AI , including a major investment in upskilling the UK civil service. Today, as we welcome our partners once again to the historic vaults of Tobacco Dock, that

  • What’s new with Google Cloud - 2025 9 months ago by Google Cloud Content & Editorial
    Google Cloud, Inside Google Cloud

    Want to know the latest from Google Cloud? Find it here in one handy location. Check back regularly for our newest updates, announcements, resources, events, learning opportunities, and more. Tip : Not sure where to find what you’re looking for on the Google Cloud blog? Start here: Google Cloud blog 101: Full list of topics, links, and resources . Dec 22 - Dec 26 To design production-ready AI agents, you must choose the right tools for memory, reasoning, and orchestration. To simplify this process, Choose your agentic AI architecture components provides an iterative framework to help you select products and

  • The Year in Google Cloud — 2025 9 months ago by Google Cloud Content & Editorial
    Inside Google Cloud, Google Cloud

    In the AI era, when one year can feel like 10, you’re forgiven for forgetting what happened last month, much less what happened all the way back in January. To jog your memory, we pulled the readership data for top product and company news of 2025. And because we publish a lot of great thought leadership and customer stories, we pulled that data too. Long story short: the most popular stories largely mapped to our biggest announcements. But not always — there were more than a few sleeper hits on this year’s list. Read on to relive this huge year,


The Deep View

  • Silicon Valley is still losing the AI jobs debate 13 hours ago by The Deep View

    Welcome back. Salesforce is turning Slack into a front door for enterprise AI, with agents, coding tools, voice, and access to business systems. Apple may be showing the industry a better way to build AI products by making the technology useful before overselling it. The Apple Watch Series 12 uses machine learning to improve health insights, readiness, and features without turning everything into an AI pitch. Meanwhile, as AI spreads deeper into work, public trust remains a growing problem. Pew data shows people overwhelmingly expect AI to reduce jobs, leaving Silicon Valley with a credibility gap it still hasn’t closed.

  • Why Microsoft draws a line on AI consciousness 2 days ago by The Deep View

    Welcome back. Anthropic is folding Claude Cowork and traditional Claude chat into a "One Claude" experience that will include Docs, Slides, and Design tools to expose more of Claude's capabilities and cut down on context switching. Sabrina Ortiz tried Snap Specs on launch day, including the latest AI features, and walked away with a clearer picture of the potential use cases for the $2200 smart glasses. And Microsoft's AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman has released an essay arguing AI is not conscious and warning that frontier labs training the models as if they have consciousness is part of what's leading to

  • AI labs agree on testing, but enforcement is harder 3 days ago by The Deep View

    Welcome back. Google is making a case that AI’s biggest story isn’t only about risk, but also about impact, from disease detection to disaster forecasting to language access. At Dreamforce, Salesforce offered a different glimpse of AI’s future: domain-specific models that let enterprises own more of their intelligence without becoming frontier labs themselves. And the industry’s push for third-party safety testing is gaining momentum, but testing alone won’t solve the safety issues without standards, enforcement, and consequences when the models fail to meet guidelines. And governments don't look likely to step in and play for their part, for now. —

  • Why AI pacing has become a false choice 4 days ago by The Deep View

    Welcome back. Apple's long-awaited Siri AI upgrade has finally arrived, and for many Apple users it will be the most tangible way yet to feel the shift toward more personal, useful AI. Meanwhile, calls to slow frontier development are producing some unlikely alliances, revealing how unsettled the debate is at the moment. The bigger problem is that AI pacing is being framed as a binary choice between acceleration and restraint. We need better dialogue to create common ground for policies that can match the growing sophistication of the technology itself. — Jason Hiner IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER 1. Why AI pacing

  • Can OpenAI and Anthropic slow the AI race? 5 days ago by The Deep View

    Welcome back. Apple's iPhone Duo makes the case that bigger screens are a lot more useful in the AI era, while the new AI audio features in the Apple Watch ask how much of our conversations AI should remember. Meanwhile, investors are pouring truckloads of money into AI startups at a dizzying pace, and while some of it is clearly FOMO, the smart money is chasing founders solving real problems, not just hitching their wagons to the hype. And in the most important signal in the industry right now, the CEOs of both Anthropic and OpenAI have said they are


Looking for more? Search Google News for Tech