AI in practice

Anthropic confirms technical bugs after weeks of complaints about declining Claude code quality

AI and society

Anthropic settles landmark AI copyright lawsuit for at least $1.5 billion

AI in practice

Microsoft presents its first large AI models and signals greater independence from OpenAI

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AI in practice
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The rise of autonomous AI agents could threaten the core business model of platforms like Booking.com and Expedia, which rely on charging hotels a commission for bookings.

Max Niederhofer, a partner at Heartcore Capital and an investor in travel startups like GetYourGuide, told the Financial Times, "Fundamentally, [OTAs] are parasitic... If [hotels] don’t have any commission to pay, that’s 20 or so per cent they can use to give [customers] other things like a better room. Online travel agents’ ‘take rates’ are at risk."

Some in the hotel industry see "clear potential" in AI agents to help reduce hotels' dependence on OTAs, a shift that could put long-term pressure on the platforms' margins. However, HOTREC, the European hotel industry group, also warned that the technology could create a new "dependency cycle." For now, the technology is still in its early stages.

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The US Army has awarded contracts to Anduril, Meta, and Rivet Industries to develop new mixed-reality headsets for soldiers. The project aims to deliver a modular mixed-reality system, building on the earlier IVAS program developed with Microsoft. Anduril will lead the effort, with Meta serving as a technology partner. Rivet Industries has announced its contract is valued at $195 million. The new headsets are expected to feature open interfaces and improved software. Meta relaxed its previously strict AI model use policies for US government agencies late last year, paving the way for this partnership with Anduril, which began earlier in 2025. The Army is moving forward with the contracts under an accelerated procurement process.

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Microsoft has signed a cloud deal with AI infrastructure provider Nebius Group NV worth up to $19.4 billion, running through 2031. Nebius, a Yandex spin-off backed by investors like Nvidia and Accel Partners, will supply Microsoft with computing power from a new data center in New Jersey starting in late 2025. The deal comes as Microsoft continues to face a shortage of capacity for AI cloud services, despite heavy investment in its own infrastructure. Microsoft plans to use Nebius's resources to support OpenAI until OpenAI's own "Stargate" infrastructure goes online. This move also lets Microsoft reduce its reliance on existing hosting partners such as CoreWeave and Oracle. Nebius expects significant growth from 2026 onward as a result of the agreement and is considering additional financing options.

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Google has added new reporting tools to NotebookLM. Users can now generate structured reports in more than 80 languages and adjust the tone, style, and structure as needed.

Watch the video: Google

The update also includes a blog post format and dynamic suggestions for report types based on the uploaded material. For example, NotebookLM might recommend a white paper format for research documents. Users can also write their own prompts, up to 1,000 words, to control the tone, style, and format of the generated content.

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Anthropic backs California's SB 53, a state bill that would force large developers of advanced AI to be more transparent and secure—apparently because they see Washington as too slow to act. Anthropic says SB 53 could serve as a solid starting point for national rules.

"While we believe that frontier AI safety is best addressed at the federal level instead of a patchwork of state regulations, powerful AI advancements won’t wait for consensus in Washington."

Anthropic

The bill would require affected companies to publish security policies, disclose risk analyses, report security incidents within 15 days, share internal assessments under confidentiality, and follow clear whistleblower protection rules. Violations could mean fines. The rules target only companies running highly capable models, aiming to keep the burden off smaller providers. Anthropic says their decision comes after reflecting on the lessons from California's failed SB 1047 effort.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has picked up on a trend: "it seems like there are really a lot of LLM-run twitter accounts now." No punchline here.

Image: Altman via X

The Dead Internet Theory is a conspiracy theory that claims the internet is no longer driven by real people, but mostly by bots and AI-generated content. According to this idea, most online activity—comments, posts, and articles—is fake, created to manipulate public opinion and control users.

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Google has published the pricing and usage limits for its Gemini AI app. The service is available in over 150 countries and comes in three tiers: free Gemini, Google AI Pro, and Google AI Ultra. Users must be at least 18 years old.

The free version limits access to the advanced Gemini 2.5 Pro model to five requests per day. Google AI Pro raises that to 100 daily requests, while Ultra subscribers can make up to 500. Both paid tiers also expand the context window from 32,000 to 1 million characters.

Pro users can generate up to 20 Deep-Research reports and three videos per day with Gemini 2.5 Pro. Ultra subscribers get 200 Deep-Research reports and up to five videos daily. Image generation jumps from 100 images per day on the free plan to 1,000 on paid subscriptions.

Google notes that these limits may change and can vary based on factors like prompt complexity.

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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff touts AI productivity gains - "4,000 less heads" needed in support.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is celebrating the impact of AI on the company, describing recent advances as "the most exciting thing that's happened in the last nine months for Salesforce." In a podcast interview with investor Logan Bartlett, Benioff said that thanks to AI-driven productivity gains, he now needs "4,000 less heads" in customer support.

Salesforce stands out in Silicon Valley for Benioff's open enthusiasm about what he calls "radical augmentation" of the workforce through automation. While other tech CEOs still express regret over job cuts, Benioff is vocal about the shift. Since 2023, Salesforce has cut around 9,000 jobs (about 8,000 last year and another 1,000 in 2024), and just this week notified 262 employees in San Francisco of layoffs, according to a state filing. In June, Benioff told Bloomberg that AI already handles "50 percent" of the work at Salesforce.

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AI in practice

Anthropic confirms technical bugs after weeks of complaints about declining Claude code quality

AI and society

Anthropic settles landmark AI copyright lawsuit for at least $1.5 billion

AI in practice

Microsoft presents its first large AI models and signals greater independence from OpenAI

Google News