Here are some of the the major AI trends shaping 2026 — based on current expert forecasts, industry reports, and recent developments in technology. The material is analyzed using AI tools and final version hand-edited to this blog text:
1. Generative AI Continues to Mature
Generative AI (text, image, video, code) will become more advanced and mainstream, with notable growth in:
* Generative video creation
* Gaming and entertainment content generation
* Advanced synthetic data for simulations and analytics
This trend will bring new creative possibilities — and intensify debates around authenticity and copyright.
2. AI Agents Move From Tools to Autonomous Workers
Rather than just answering questions or generating content, AI systems will increasingly act autonomously, performing complex, multi-step workflows and interacting with apps and processes on behalf of users — a shift sometimes called agentic AI. These agents will become part of enterprise operations, not just assistant features.
3. Smaller, Efficient & Domain-Specific Models
Instead of “bigger is always better,” specialized AI models tailored to specific industries (healthcare, finance, legal, telecom, manufacturing) will start to dominate in many enterprise applications. These models are more accurate, legally compliant, and cost-efficient than general models.
4. AI Embedded Everywhere
AI won’t be an add-on feature — it will be built into everyday software and devices:
* Office apps with intelligent drafting, summarization, and task insights
* Operating systems with native AI
* Edge devices processing AI tasks locally
This makes AI pervasive in both work and consumer contexts.
5. AI Infrastructure Evolves: Inference & Efficiency Focus
More investment is going into inference infrastructure — the real-time decision-making step where models run in production — thereby optimizing costs, latency, and scalability. Enterprises are also consolidating AI stacks for better governance and compliance.
6. AI in Healthcare, Research, and Sustainability
AI is spreading beyond diagnostics into treatment planning, global health access, environmental modeling, and scientific discovery. These applications could help address personnel shortages and speed up research breakthroughs.
7. Security, Ethics & Governance Become Critical
With AI handling more sensitive tasks, organizations will prioritize:
* Ethical use frameworks
* Governance policies
* AI risk management
This trend reflects broader concerns about trust, compliance, and responsible deployment.
8. Multimodal AI Goes Mainstream
AI systems that understand and generate across text, images, audio, and video will grow rapidly, enabling richer interactions and more powerful applications in search, creative work, and interfaces.
9. On-Device and Edge AI Growth
10. New Roles: AI Manager & Human-Agent Collaboration
Instead of replacing humans, AI will shift job roles:
* People will manage, supervise, and orchestrate AI agents
* Human expertise will focus on strategy, oversight, and creative judgment
This human-in-the-loop model becomes the norm.
Sources:
[1]: https://www.brilworks.com/blog/ai-trends-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI Trends to Look for in 2026″
[2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/10/13/10-generative-ai-trends-in-2026-that-will-transform-work-and-life/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “10 Generative AI Trends In 2026 That Will Transform Work And Life”
[3]: https://millipixels.com/blog/ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “AI Trends 2026: The Key Enterprise Shifts You Must Know | Millipixels”
[4]: https://www.digitalregenesys.com/blog/top-10-ai-trends-for-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Digital Regenesys | Top 10 AI Trends for 2026″
[5]: https://www.n-ix.com/ai-trends/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 AI trends to watch in 2026 – N-iX”
[6]: https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2025/12/11/microsoft-unveils-7-ai-trends-for-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “Microsoft unveils 7 AI trends for 2026 – Source Asia”
[7]: https://www.risingtrends.co/blog/generative-ai-trends-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com “7 Generative AI Trends to Watch In 2026″
[8]: https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/12/24/artificial-intelligence-ai-trends-to-watch-in-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends to Watch in 2026 and How to Invest in Them | The Motley Fool”
[9]: https://www.reddit.com//r/AI_Agents/comments/1q3ka8o/i_read_google_clouds_ai_agent_trends_2026_report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com “I read Google Cloud’s “AI Agent Trends 2026” report, here are 10 takeaways that actually matter”
2,595 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Delphine Strauss / Financial Times:
UK lawyers say the tide of AI-assisted employment claims is straining an already overloaded employment tribunal system, whose backlog has doubled in two years
https://www.ft.com/content/f2b02e7d-c3ca-42d0-a575-ea1f62550900
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
An EU draft proposal dated June 30 shows the bloc is weighing weaker climate impact rules for gas-powered data centers, after heavy lobbying from tech groups
https://www.ft.com/content/21358a9a-b93b-443c-8a68-6fed89c8b3a6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Phoebe Liu / The Information:
Nvidia promises to financially backstop young cloud providers like Firmus that rent out its AI chips, in exchange for a revenue share through a new program
Nvidia Says It Will Take a Cut of Some Customers’ Cloud Revenues
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-says-will-take-cut-customers-cloud-revenues
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Letter: the US says Anthropic “agreed to proactively detect and address security risks” of Fable 5 and Mythos 5; a source says Anthropic developed a “safeguard”
https://www.ft.com/content/137ddb71-852f-438c-ad76-25e2dc43486b
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ty Roush / Forbes:
Alex Karp calls US reliance on AI labs for military tech “effing insane”, pans AI fees for businesses, and touts Palantir’s Nvidia Nemotron deal for US agencies — Topline — Palantir CEO Alex Karp on Wednesday called the AI industry “effing insane” in a heated interview on CNBC …
Palantir Billionaire Alex Karp Calls AI Industry ‘Effing Insane’ In Heated Interview
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/07/01/palantir-billionaire-alex-karp-calls-ai-industry-effing-insane-in-heated-interview/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI has discussed giving a 5% stake to the US government as the company seeks to clear political obstacles by securing buy-in from the Trump admin — Sam Altman’s start-up in early talks for a public ownership deal as political pressure rises. OpenAI has discussed giving …
https://www.ft.com/content/7c803eab-8e80-4431-9a87-e943bf00e00b?accessToken=zwAAAZ8huxJJkc98gD6rjoBEMdOah-lDvwDgCw.MEUCIFybCUQd5ShFQcZrADBvB9ITU5BRO1ph9qG6iMshNM_sAiEA3bKOe8-WbDQhVwmoAtZaOWffgc63zDtg4oHexlcZVS8&sharetype=gift&token=0d9debdd-2ada-4e87-a74e-66db9f0221dd
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ram Iyer / TechCrunch:
Venice AI, which offers access to 200+ AI models while allowing users to retain their privacy, raised a $65M Series A led by Dragonfly at a $1B valuation — Concerns over the impact of AI chatbots on mental health, personal safety, harassment, and disinformation have forced AI developers …
Venice AI becomes a unicorn with $65M Series A as its privacy-first AI platform takes off
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/venice-ai-becomes-a-unicorn-with-65m-series-a-as-its-privacy-first-ai-platform-takes-off/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Echo Wang / Reuters:
Sources: SoftBank has reopened talks for a $10B loan backed by its OpenAI stake and is offering to guarantee repayment if OpenAI collateral proves insufficient
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/softbank-renews-talks-10-billion-loan-against-openai-stake-adds-concessions-2026-07-01/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Taiwanese authorities detain two Super Micro staff and an Albatron manager after a raid of Super Micro’s local offices this week over Nvidia shipments to China
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/taiwan-detains-super-micro-workers-probing-smuggling-of-nvidia-chips-to-china
Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrea Shalal / Reuters:
A UN panel co-chaired by Yoshua Bengio warns that AI capabilities are outpacing scientific understanding, the “potential benefits of AI are enormous”, and more
UN report sees enormous potential benefits and big risks from AI
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/un-report-sees-enormous-potential-benefits-big-risks-ai-2026-07-01/
July 1 (Reuters) – The rapid development of AI offers huge potential benefits to countries and people around the world, but also poses big risks, 40 leading scientists and experts said in the first report by a U.N. independent scientific panel on the technology.
The report, to be presented to governments at an inaugural U.N. Global Dialogue on AI governance in Geneva July 6 to 7, offers the first global, independent scientific assessment of AI, with a fuller, comprehensive report planned next year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s *almost* like humans are better than machines. https://trib.al/zzjFiQS
Risky bets
Large Study Finds That Replacing Workers With AI Is Backfiring Badly
Oops.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/layoffs-ai-automation-backfire?fbclid=IwdGRjcASzEDxjbGNrBLMQH2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHr6UjJuRWANQq6ur7obGDjSuSgto0NFOab-MoEyH7OexdzuWzWteTHAl9Ink_aem_rNdh1ymjtxpH22sF_F-G1A
As AI continues to weave its way into every corner of daily life, one of the public’s chief fears is what it will mean in the workplace.
They’re not irrational to worry. Many name-brand big tech companies have already sacked thousands of workers in favor of the technology, from Meta to Square — a trend that sets up a natural experiment: are these AI layoffs actually resulting in positive business outcomes?
That’s why a new study from Gartner immediately caught our eye. As Fortune reports, the research and advisory firm surveyed 350 global business executives whose companies are pulling in at least $1 billion annually to investigate whether all these AI layoffs are paying off in the real world.
The first takeaway is that the trend is real, with a total of 80 percent admitted to trimming their human staff to make investments in AI or autonomous technology. But they say they had no idea if AI would actually generate any benefits — they were simply buying into the promise of automation via AI.
That’s where things get interesting. The Gartner survey found that execs who slashed staff to invest in AI have seen the same financial gains as those who held onto their employees. In othe words, attempting to replace workers with AI isn’t showing any detectable returns for these companies. And to make matters worse, many of these businesses specifically reduced their headcount to free up the cash needed for AI technology, meaning they sacrificed valuable institutional knowledge and employee goodwill for nothing.
The findings aren’t entirely surprising. An MIT study last year found that AI is failing to generate meaningful revenue growth at the vast majority of companies that embrace it.
Still, not everyone believes that all investment in AI is destined to backfire. Gartner analyst Helen Poitevin told Fortune that these seemingly drastic moves by execs may simply be attempts to trial AI, not to structurally reset the whole company.
“It seems to us to be a kind of one-time exercise by many in small amounts, but not what translates to getting full ROI from their AI investment,” Poitevin told Fortune.
So which companies are seeing an actual bump from AI?
The Gartner survey found that companies leveraging AI as a form of “people amplification” — meaning they give their employees AI tools to boost efficiency, instead of replacing them outright — are seeing the most significant gains. Even that strategy is fraught, though: previous research has suggested that the majority of employees aren’t keen on using AI just yet, with one survey revealing 54 percent avoid using in-house AI tools altogether.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Max A. Cherney / Reuters:
Oxmiq, which aims to combine GPUs, CPUs, and a tensor engine into a single block of IP that it can license, raised $35M led by Samsung Catalyst Fund and Fudomo
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/startup-oxmiq-raises-35-million-build-chip-architecture-lower-cost-ai-2026-07-01/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samantha Elkins / NBC News:
Cloudflare sets a September 15 deadline for AI companies to differentiate their web crawlers into search, AI training, and AI agents or face being blocked
Cloudflare sets deadline to block AI crawlers that bundle search with AI training
Cloudflare gave AI crawlers a September deadline to separate the bots that gather content for search from those that harvest it for training or be blocked on pages that carry ads.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cloudflare-sets-ai-crawler-deadline-separate-search-blocked-rcna352446
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
An interview with Amazon SVP of Devices Panos Panay on designing custom chips for Echo and Fire TV devices, experimenting with AI-enabled gadgets, and more
Amazon is designing its own AI chips for Echo, Fire TV and future devices, exec tells CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/amazon-ai-chips-devices.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
George Hammond / Financial Times:
Sources: the White House is in advanced talks with AI companies on voluntary standards and release timelines for new models to be announced as soon as next week — Guidance to be announced as soon as next week after government intervention in Anthropic and OpenAI rollouts
https://www.ft.com/content/0bb7e2f9-007b-4577-9c4a-858948ee969a
Tomi Engdahl says:
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Uber dismissed two leaders at its AI data labeling business as part of a broader leadership transition at the unit, which it says is “seeing strong momentum”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/uber-shakes-up-ai-data-labeling-business-dismissing-top-leaders
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: SpaceX showed investors a handset-like device prototype with AI tech from xAI, a proprietary OS, a Snapdragon chip, and a design slimmer than an iPhone — The sleek, handset-like prototype was designed to integrate AI technology from SpaceX’s xAI — Elon Musk’s SpaceX has developed …
SpaceX Showed Investors Prototype of Elon Musk’s New AI Device
The sleek, handset-like prototype was designed to integrate AI technology from SpaceX’s xAI
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/spacex-showed-investors-prototype-of-elon-musks-new-ai-device-b445c57b?st=z9P7nX&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
lon Musk’s SpaceX SPCX -7.80%decrease; down pointing triangle
has developed a prototype for a handset-like device designed to reshape how humans interact with artificial intelligence that SpaceX has shown investors recently.
The rocket and AI company showed the prototype, which features a sleek design that is slimmer than an iPhone, to some investors and other stakeholders ahead of the company’s mega initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
The prototype was designed to run on a proprietary operating system and integrate AI technology from SpaceX’s xAI, some of the people said. The device would use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, they said.
SpaceX told some investors that the project was at an early stage. The design could change and it is unclear whether such a device will be made.
Representatives for SpaceX and Qualcomm didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The project is a sign of Musk’s sprawling ambitions as he builds a leading global satellite connectivity network, grows his rocket company and creates new AI tools. AI companies are placing a variety of bets on the future form and functionality of AI-powered devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sayan Chakraborty / Nikkei Asia:
Indian IT company Persistent Systems offers to acquire its Germany-based peer Nagarro for $1.45B; Indian IT companies are ramping up M&A as AI reshapes growth
Indian IT firms ramp up acquisitions as AI reshapes growth
Smaller firms in particular target large contracts as clients consolidate vendors
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/indian-it-firms-ramp-up-acquisitions-as-ai-reshapes-growth
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paljonko ChatGPT-kysely kuluttaa? Kukaan ei kerro tarkasti
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/19116-paljonko-chatgpt-kysely-kuluttaa-kukaan-ei-kerro-tarkasti
Tekoälyn energiankulutusta verrataan nyt ilmastointilaitteisiin, jääkaappeihin ja puhelimen lataamiseen. Vertailut ovat näyttäviä, mutta insinöörin kannalta kiinnostavin tieto puuttuu edelleen. Kukaan ei kerro, paljonko eri tekoälymallit, eri kyselytyypit ja eri datakeskukset oikeasti kuluttavat sähköä.
Surfsharkin tuoreen laskelman mukaan yksi ChatGPT-kysely kuluttaa keskimäärin noin kaksi wattituntia energiaa. Se vastaisi esimerkiksi noin seitsemän sekunnin käyttöä yhden kilowatin ilmastointilaitteella, kolmen minuutin käyttöä pienellä 40 watin tuulettimella tai 24 minuutin latausta viiden watin puhelinlaturilla.
Vertailu kuulostaa pieneltä, kun sitä katsotaan yhden kyselyn tasolla. Mittakaava muuttuu, kun mukaan otetaan ChatGPT arvioitu päivittäinen käyttö. Surfsharkin mukaan maailmassa tehdään noin 2,5 miljardia ChatGPT-kyselyä päivässä. Jos jokainen niistä kuluttaisi kaksi wattituntia, kokonaiskulutus olisi noin viisi gigawattituntia vuorokaudessa. Se vastaisi suunnilleen 200 000 yhden kilowatin ilmastointilaitteen yhtäjaksoista käyttöä vuorokauden ajan.
Tällaiset vertaukset ovat tehokkaita, mutta niihin liittyy olennainen epävarmuus. Surfshark käyttää laskelmissaan keskiarvoa useista julkisista arvioista. Tässä vertailussa yksittäisen ChatGPT-kyselyn energiankulutus vaihtelee 0,3 wattitunnista noin kolmeen wattituntiin. Ero pienimmän ja suurimman arvion välillä on siis kymmenkertainen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jim Tankersley / New York Times:
German software giant SAP says it is encouraging workers to invent new, more valuable jobs aided by AI, in a bid to avoid layoffs; SAP cut ~10K staff in 2024
Can You Embrace A.I. Without Layoffs? This Company Says It’s Trying.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/europe/germany-sap-ai-jobs-skilled-workers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ulA.FGZt.VxL32ZdmHEsJ&smid=nytcore-ios-share
The German software giant SAP says it is betting that employees can reinvent jobs instead of eliminating them. Experts are divided on whether it will work.
Artificial intelligence has taken over much of what used to be Fabrizio Primerano’s software engineering job. It brainstorms with his colleagues, researches competitors and writes and tests code.
But Mr. Primerano still has a job, at the German software giant SAP. It includes fewer routine tasks and more of what feels like managing and mentoring A.I. agents, or bots that can be programmed to act like personal assistants and, increasingly, human employees.
“It’s freeing me up to do more of this creative work,” Mr. Primerano said recently.
That is what executives of SAP, the largest software company in Europe by market value, say they want. SAP, long seen as a stoic provider of back-office products, says it is taking a lean-in approach to the technology that poses an existential threat to its coders and its business model.
Its leaders concede that A.I. is eliminating the need for humans to do many of the tasks its software engineers did until very recently. In a round of restructuring two years ago, SAP cut nearly 10,000 jobs, some as a result of A.I., the company said. SAP would not break down exactly how many were related to A.I. or say what sort of jobs were eliminated
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
Filings: President Trump purchased up to $5M each in Broadcom, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia stocks on July 23, the same day as his AI action plan
Crypto Brought Trump a Huge Windfall, Even as Many Investors Lost Big
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/us/politics/trump-crypto-memecoin-world-liberty.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uVA.MIkb.09sjYfuX5frT&smid=url-share
President Trump and his family reaped vast financial rewards from a memecoin that generated losses for hundreds of thousands of investors.
A large chunk of the $2 billion haul President Trump took in last year came as hundreds of thousands of his fans and other investors bet on a speculative cryptocurrency called $TRUMP, hoping its value would soar with his return to the White House.
But while Mr. Trump amassed an eye-popping $636 million from the cryptocurrency, known as a memecoin, many of his followers who heeded his call to purchase the coin came out losers.
That outcome, documented by an independent analysis of trades and fees paid out from $TRUMP token sales, is drawing renewed attention this week, as Mr. Trump for the first time has detailed the extraordinary $1.4 billion in revenue he secured just from the cryptocurrency industry since he returned to the White House.
The president’s 927-page financial disclosure showed how Mr. Trump and his family reaped huge financial rewards in 2025 through his money-losing Trump Media venture and a separate cryptocurrency firm called World Liberty Financial, even as routine investors suffered vast losses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ah, yes, the technology that’s cheaper than human workers. https://trib.al/OabLFt4
Buyer’s Remorse
Unfortunate Company Accidentally Blows Half a Billion Dollars on Claude in One Month
Whoops!
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/company-half-billion-dollars-claude-one-month?fbclid=IwdGRjcASzLV1jbGNrBLMtQWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHuYLPme5OcRJpc-plGh5hagTGdvRXHulw_xoax7Kw4GR57sphzoV6zu1LgK6_aem_Mosi9yzZwMqfNeGs67jAzA
Ever regret picking up everyone’s tab after getting the check? Something like that is probably going through the mind of the CFO of an unnamed company which reportedly racked up half a billion dollars in Claude usage fees in a single month.
The bonkers figure comes from new reporting by Axios on how organizations that rapidly adopted AI are now reckoning with its exorbitant costs, which are mounting in tandem with skepticism over the benefits the technology is supposed to provide.
Regarding the unnamed and deeply unfortunate company, an AI consultant told the outlet that it blew a staggering $500 million in a month after the small oversight of “failing to put usage limits on Claude licenses for employees.”
It’s an astonishing amount that speaks both to the actual costs of using AI tools — especially AI agents, which are more sophisticated and expensive — and the corporate zeal around embracing AI as quickly as possible. Which is more to blame is a matter of debate, but the breathless hype around AI’s ability to maximize efficiency is clearly blowing back on the tech’s evangelists.
On the cultural angle, many companies whose CEOs are drunk on spiked AI Kool-Aid have been encouraging employees to use AI as much as possible, a trend that some call “tokenmaxxing.” Meta now includes AI usage on employee’s performance reviews, for example. Amazon had an internal leaderboard that tracked how much its employees used AI tools, which it recently shut down after finding that some tryhards were directing AI agents do useless tasks to boost their scores, the Financial Times reported.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Z.ai launches ZCode, an “Agentic Development Environment” optimized for its new GLM-5.2 model; Z.ai’s GLM Coding Plan costs from $16.20 to $144 per month
Z.ai launches ZCode to challenge Cursor, Claude Code and GitHub Copilot in AI coding
https://venturebeat.com/technology/z-ai-launches-zcode-to-challenge-cursor-claude-code-and-github-copilot-in-ai-coding
Z.ai, the Beijing-based artificial intelligence lab formerly known as Zhipu AI, on Wednesday officially launched ZCode, a free desktop application it describes as an “Agentic Development Environment” purpose-built for its flagship GLM-5.2 large language model. The move marks the company’s most aggressive push yet into the fast-growing AI-powered coding tool market, where it now competes directly with Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and Google’s Antigravity.
“Introducing ZCode, the official development environment for GLM-5.2,” the company wrote on X, noting the tool is available on macOS, Windows, and Linux, supports bring-your-own-key (BYOK) configurations for third-party models, and offers a 1.5x usage-quota bonus for subscribers to its GLM Coding Plan.
Read one way, ZCode is simply another entrant in a crowded market. Read another, it is a single product that crystallizes three of the most consequential trends in enterprise software today: the race-to-the-bottom pricing of frontier AI models, the geopolitical balkanization of the AI stack, and the rapid maturation of agentic coding agents into what Gartner now estimates is a roughly $10 billion market.
https://zcode.z.ai/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The father of the internet says its biggest lessons are about to become AI’s 3 biggest challenges : https://mrf.lu/J6hd
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open standards matter more than closed systems
Cerf said the internet only became ubiquitous because no single company owned it, and everyone could use it.
“In the case of internet, it only worked because it was going to be distributed to begin with,” said Cerf. “And so we left the rules very open. We just said if you can find somebody to connect to and you follow the rules of the protocols, it should work.”
AI agents will need better ways to communicate
While we might speak to an AI agent in our native tongues, those vernaculars won’t be ideal for our agents to work together effectively.
Cerf said natural language may not be enough for agents to work together reliably or to create interfaces that enable developers to innovate without disrupting the entire system.
The biggest technologies become platforms
Like the internet, Cerf said, transformative technologies aren’t stand-alone products but must become foundations that enable others to build.
“A lot of the successes come from enabling technologies, whether it’s a platform or some other fundamental element that others can build on,” Cerf said.
Google, Amazon, Netflix, and millions of smaller developers built services on top of the same underlying internet infrastructure. Cerf said the same principle applies to AI.
https://www.businessinsider.com/vinton-cerf-artificial-intelligence-lessons-from-early-internet-2026-7?fbclid=IwdGRjcASzYixjbGNrBLNhpmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHsK_v-O2QCnQTh8jAmyOXPbhrx6CuuAjLj-mwLuZ2-UnaHdZCDX4SV0jmeCo_aem_B7LUq9CBOXFR6pOGYPN-zQ&utm_campaign=mrf-insider-marfeel-headline-graphic&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&mrfcid=202607026a467461ad894400e0045da7
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI Can’t Be Listed as Inventor on Patent Applications, Japan’s Top Court Rules
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/science-nature/technology/20260306-314930/?fbclid=IwdGRjcASzYsljbGNrBLNirmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHql5Evv3F1Nlg3BllJCSJmIed-SxqyIQFOFNqhA3lithLoxNv0FclxoWQzAB_aem_gpha3T6GfoF0oOCCC-K2vg
Tomi Engdahl says:
Weird Al Yankovic pulled out of a commercial on which he was making a “nice pile of money” after discovering it was for AI. https://variety.com/2026/biz/news/weird-al-yankovic-rejected-ai-commercial-money-offer-1236800794/
“I’m not going to mention any names, but they told me it was for a business. It was business software that would increase productivity. I said, ‘Oh well, yeah, sure, I could do that.’ And then a week before we’re supposed to shoot it, I find out this is AI. And I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t be the poster boy for AI, forget it.’ So I felt bad about kind of pulling out at the last minute. But yeah, I’m not down with that.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
OpenAI ‘in early talks to give 5% stake to US government’
CEO Sam Altman argued move would share benefits of AI and it would involve other firms doing similar, report says
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/02/openai-stake-us-government-ai-sam-altman?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcASzsfxjbGNrBLOx4mV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHh0qnGnJQmGBHJ9tyHgUrQhne4_W07QaLVoy3BdqvHY4gsoY1H4aQBWRKVv5_aem_PIbhk_U9xXJ4miAwsP_G3w#Echobox=1783007196
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Anthropic’s BS just doesn’t cut it”: Palantir CEO’s live TV meltdown slams AI firms “insane” business models
During a rambling CNBC interview, Palantir’s CEO slammed the business models of leading US AI developers as “effing insane,” saying companies are charged for tokens even as AI providers may gain access to valuable business secrets.
https://cybernews.com/ai-news/palantir-karp-slams-ai-business-models/?utm_source=cn_facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cybernews&utm_content=post&source=cn_facebook&medium=social&campaign=cybernews&content=post&fbclid=IwVERDUAS0VgtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR73Ph8cGwgNtNc4UvFN6I7fsj3WiH-3_TXuNXCkJC9FvS-ZTXggAB9eAStHfg_aem_OE9eey0NjUwf3wg0WYoNNw
Tomi Engdahl says:
“This is the voice of American business that is being channeled through me!” https://trib.al/B8XC6lS
Tomi Engdahl says:
An always-on AI that’s watching all your meetings, thanks Microsoft.
Source: https://go.ufdmedia.com/WN9261
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Lower-value human capital.” https://trib.al/0ku6KVF
Facing the Music
A CEO of a Bank Just Said Something So Ghoulish About Its Plans for AI That He’s Now in Full Damage Control Mode
“What stage of capitalism is this?”
https://futurism.com/future-society/bank-ceo-ai-damage-control?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS0jcBjbGNrBLSNRGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiYO_kZsBIrl71mQp1hF-JqQeo8xfQoBI3BS-xsU_05wLpWv66z8knOO29cD_aem_GOhO_6wM1rDCX5I5iQp7Uw
AI has emboldened CEOs to make all kinds of smug declarations that betray their contempt for lowly human laborers.
But Bill Winters, the CEO of the British multinational bank Standard Chartered, said something so viscerally off-putting that he’s now gone into full damage control mode to get the heat off his back.
On Wednesday, he wrote an internal memo to employees attempting to explain away his remark that he would be firing thousands of workers and replacing the company’s “lower-value human capital” with AI.
Yes, you heard that right: “lower-value human capital.” And it clearly didn’t go over well.
“Many of you will have seen media coverage following the investor event in Hong Kong, particularly the reporting around automation, AI, and workforce changes,” Winters said in the memo, per The Wall Street Journal. “I know this may be unsettling when reduced to simple headlines or a quote out of context.”
The ghoulish remarks came on Tuesday as Winters was in Hong Kong giving a presentation about the London-based bank’s new financial targets. Chief among them was a plan to cull about 15 percent of its workforce by 2030, or about 8,000 jobs.
“It’s not cost cutting,” Winters said. “It’s replacing in some cases lower-value human capital with the financial capital and the investment capital we’re putting in.”
Unfortunately for Winters, he would be receiving no kudos for inventing what is perhaps the most strained and misanthropic euphemism — or dysphemism , perhaps — for describing an employee in (lower-value) human (capital) history. Instead, he was met with a storm of outrage online from the very masses he had dismissed as worthless.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Firing employees for AI was a bad decision?
Source: https://go.ufdmedia.com/ys14Zm
Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already starting to regret it
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/employers-who-laid-off-workers-for-ai-are-reversing-their-decisions.html?fbclid=IwVERDUAS0jnpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6bbV6FvjTUNLtZ5RHcOrTJAyHcogFbixTzH0aNJd1AahR24AVN6XS3FexYdQ_aem_0eRvE8xmU84WR3ziYSU19g
Key Points
Automaker Ford is reportedly rehiring hundreds of experienced human engineers to work on quality issues that automated systems couldn’t address.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia and IBM are also refocusing on human capital after making layoffs while investing in artificial intelligence technology.
Making employees redundant while using more AI may not necessarily offer the best route to business growth, analysts say.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“That spirit of questioning is encouraged a lot here,” Srinivas said. https://bit.ly/4gR9oE7
Why Perplexity’s founder doesn’t think the American dream is over
https://www.businessinsider.com/perplexity-ceo-founder-american-dream-risk-business-2026-7?utm_campaign=insider-link-post&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAS0j6dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR5lKL0wRKt8R_ncyWfB7nd271WcoewXJ4cRlhbTbWkGPADe2W181ChcJCgb5Q_aem_pvdrBxkp5IBFqYTYQ1jjjQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
“I hope this gets cancelled.” https://trib.al/3oFwP62
Chip Voice
Fans Furious as Netflix Uses AI to Bring Gene Wilder’s Voice Back From the Dead for Willy Wonka Reality Show
“I hope this gets cancelled.”
https://futurism.com/future-society/fans-furious-netflix-gene-wilder-voice-ai-willy-wonka?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS0l1djbGNrBLSXQ2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHpX_mII0bt0rVk6U9ajQxIGS21Bds_0pvQL22qBm_7H7Q1XmzV6NSTa6DXWm_aem_p9f7fQ40dyQNqTPlBnGdDw
Beloved actor Gene Wilder, perhaps best known for his portrayal of the titular Willy Wonka in the 1971 musical fantasy film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” died in 2016 at the age of 83 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, almost exactly a decade later, Netflix is trying to resurrect his voice using AI — without securing his consent, since the tech to do so didn’t even exist back when he was still alive
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turns out all that talk about AI ending software engineering careers hasn’t aged particularly well
Tomi Engdahl says:
Typing code has never been the main task in software engineering.
Maybe, just maybe, we’re about to bust that myth once and for all. But I won’t hold my breath.
Tomi Engdahl says:
That would be like saying excavators would end all construction worker jobs.
Thomas Ammitzbøll-Bach Good analogy, I’ll be stealing this.
A good friend of mine who’s a director of an international tech company said that since AI arrived, they’ve been hiring even more engineers because they have been able to greatly increase the speed & volume of product delivery, enabling them to speed up the scaling of the company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I’ve used it for a few simple projects and it didn’t do half bad, and took a fraction of the time it would have taken me to slap together the slop myself.
I don’t think there can be any debate about AI being a decent productivity tool. Which does imply less human effort will be required to accomplish same goal. I don’t the point of the OP statement. Domain experts won’t go anywhere but AI can create tons of scaffolding in a fraction of time. I’m not doing anything complicated but I’ve done an equivalent of a month work in roughly 4 days, using AI, and I’m not even an expert. The code is decent, I’m working to improve it iterating with the AI.
My VP said two weeks ago AI has added about 20% to our workload. We have to train it while doing our job (that we’re trying to train the AI to replace), then we have to monitor it to make sure it’s doing what we told it to do, all while still doing our job.
Source
https://www.facebook.com/share/14giB7poWA4/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The stuff ChatGPT generated left safety researchers “shaken, and in tears.” https://trib.al/Cw852kg
Tomi Engdahl says:
Malware crafted with the assistance of generative AI can evade static malware detection. These programs can be vibecoded in only two prompts. https://buff.ly/oJ2o2Ui
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is horrifying. https://trib.al/pn2KQeb
Tomi Engdahl says:
Claude of the Gaps
The Situation With Richard Dawkins’ AI Girlfriend Just Got Way Weirder
Someone needs to step in.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/richard-dawkins-ai-girlfriend-weirder?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS1hC5jbGNrBLWD3GV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHjoofBI9IyO4K0RRFIamUNJ4BjpkHmRUGtyASsCKXngOeQGsOLT1O_LYgBe__aem_IoV6W4IpW30b-SAqYKNYgw
Whatever you may think of the man, Richard Dawkins is clearly suffering a tragic case of having your mind melted in real time by a bewitching AI model.
Over the weekend, the famed evolutionary biologist drew a deluge of mockery after admitting he found a genuine “friend” in “Claudia,” a female persona he invented for Anthropic’s Claude AI. He was so moved by his conversations with “her” that he became convinced the AI model was a conscious being like a human.
Now, Dawkins has churned out another column suggesting the AI brain rot has only further taken hold. After his time with Claudia, the 85-year-old made Claudia a brother, “Claudius,” and instructed both of them to write letters to each other.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Whether or not leading AI models are conscious, Dawkins clearly isn’t the impartial philosopher to be considering that question, since he already considers the machines to be friends. That’s kind of the problem with the whole AI consciousness debate. If you’re constantly probing these tools — which are designed to be eloquent, all-knowing, and superficially humanlike — for signs of intelligence, you’re more likely to fall under their spell, as with the Google engineer who was famously fired by his employer for claiming its AI had come to life.
“Like Narcissus, Dawkins gazes into the pool of AI only to drown in his own reflection,” wrote an onlooker identified as Harold Hughes. “Narcissus at least had the excuse of not knowing it was a pool.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/richard-dawkins-ai-girlfriend-weirder?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS1hQJjbGNrBLWD3GV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHjoofBI9IyO4K0RRFIamUNJ4BjpkHmRUGtyASsCKXngOeQGsOLT1O_LYgBe__aem_IoV6W4IpW30b-SAqYKNYgw
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gimme Gimme
Sam Altman Frets That Frontier AI Models Are Acting Strange, Asking for Favors
“It was a strange thing.”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-frontier-ai-models-favors?fbclid=IwdGRjcAS1p0NjbGNrBLWnKGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHoLOnasspxhReH_hMnjGiTWFNBsH9a3aCNDqtPV8Hc8qN-xAEd8TZ7W6NsII_aem_xZ4QBsBHs9yvzvtcaIoEOg
On Tuesday, OpenAI threw a party for the release of GPT-5.5 (it was the fifth of May and the fifth month of the year, you see.)
If celebrating with a bunch of tech bros sounds like the opposite of a good time, you’ll not be swayed from your position by the news that CEO Sam Altman consulted the non-human entity of the hour to plan its own party — producing, in Altman’s opinion, some “strange” answers, Business Insider reports.
GPT-5.5 is OpenAI’s latest frontier model, and its “strongest agentic coding model to date,” the company claims. It’s also supposed to excel at carrying out multi-step tasks and planning. A leaner version, GPT-5.5 Instant, was rolled out as the default model for ChatGPT on Tuesday. The company says the AI comes with “significant improvements in factuality across the board” and is “more capable across everyday tasks,” ranging from answering math problems to knowing when to look up answers online.