July 14, 2026
Gallup Poll: Americans Prefer Local Nuclear Plants Over AI Data Centers
A new Gallup poll finds 71% of Americans oppose local AI data centers, more than the 53% who oppose nearby nuclear plants.
July 14, 2026
European Commission Orders Meta to Change Addictive Facebook and Instagram Features
The European Commission issued a preliminary order on July 10 directing Meta to alter addictive design features on Facebook and Instagram, with fines up to $12 billion possible under the DSA.
July 13, 2026
Meta’s Instagram AI image tool lasted days before a privacy backlash ended it
Meta pulled its Muse Image Instagram AI feature within days of launch after SAG-AFTRA, privacy groups, and users objected to default-on use of public photos.
July 13, 2026
Apple Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Trade Secret Theft in Hardware Development
Apple sued OpenAI on July 10, 2026 in California federal court, alleging a coordinated scheme to steal hardware trade secrets, naming Tang Tan and others as defendants.
July 13, 2026
News Outlets Ask Court to Sanction OpenAI Over Alleged Withheld Evidence in Copyright Case
The New York Times and other outlets asked a federal judge to sanction OpenAI, accusing it of hiding evidence in a copyright lawsuit over AI training data.
July 13, 2026
Economists on AI: Confidence Is High, Consensus Is Low
A large survey of economists finds broad agreement that AI matters economically, with deep disagreement on growth, jobs, and inequality impacts.
July 13, 2026
Anthropic Maps an Internal Concept Workspace Inside Claude, Without Calling It Consciousness
Anthropic published research on J-Space, an internal concept workspace inside Claude detected via Jacobian methods, while stopping short of claiming consciousness.
July 11, 2026
Bing Webmaster Tools Adds AI Performance Reports in Public Preview
Microsoft opens public preview of AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools, tracking citations in Copilot, Bing AI summaries, and partner integrations.
July 11, 2026
Supreme Court declines to block Texas app store age verification law
Supreme Court refused to block Texas SB 2420 on July 6, 2026, letting app stores require age verification and parental consent for minors; First Amendment challenges head to Fifth Circuit in August.
July 11, 2026
Four U.S. States Seek $1.4 Trillion in Penalties From Meta Over Child Addiction Claims
California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties from Meta over claims it designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children.
July 11, 2026
AI Workloads Are Driving a Sharp Rise in Data Center Water Use
AI workloads have pushed U.S. data center water consumption to nearly one trillion liters per year, with cooling systems driving much of the increase.
July 11, 2026
Beijing Considers Curbs on Overseas Access to China’s Leading AI Models
Beijing is reportedly weighing restrictions on overseas access to top Chinese AI models, per Reuters. Details remain thin, but open-weight developers could be hit.
July 9, 2026
Meta Releases Muse Spark 1.1 Update, Tries to Catch OpenAI and Anthropic in AI Coding
Meta launched Muse Spark 1.1 with $1.25/$4.25 per million token pricing and $20 in free credits, targeting OpenAI and Anthropic in AI coding.
July 9, 2026
ByteDance Seed Launches Seedream 5.0 Pro, an Image Model Built for Production Workflows
ByteDance's Seed team introduces Seedream 5.0 Pro, a multimodal image model aimed at professional creative tasks like infographics, precision editing, and multilingual output.
July 9, 2026
Where Consumers Search for Local Businesses: Channels, Mobile, and AI
73% of local business searches start on mobile, 52% begin on Google, and 23% now involve AI tools, per BrightLocal's survey of 1,227 US consumers.