12 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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AI

Artificial intelligence is more a part of our lives than ever before. While some might call it hype and compare it to NFTs or 3D TVs, generative AI is causing a sea change in nearly every part of the technology industry. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still the best-known AI chatbot around, but with Google pushing Gemini, Microsoft building Copilot, and Apple adding its Intelligence to Siri, AI is probably going to be in the spotlight for a very long time. At The Verge, we’re exploring what might be possible with AI — and a lot of the bad stuff AI does, too.

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Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Meta is donating its AI glasses to the more than 130,000 blind veterans in the US.

Smart glasses, like the Ray-Ban Meta, have become a resource for people with disabilities. Meta says the company and its partners will provide hands-on training for all the veterans who receive a free pair of AI glasses through the Blinded Veterans Association or TechSoup.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
SPCX opens at $150 per share.

As reported by CNBC, the New York Times, and others, trading commenced at a price 11 percent above the $135 IPO price, but lower than the $175 shown in some earlier indications. It’s already spiked as high as $167, before falling back to $155. As long as the share price remains above $138, that is enough to make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

It also gives SpaceX a market cap of over $2 trillion, making it currently the 6th most valuable public company in the US.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
TCL TVs have new Gemini voice controls.

The upgraded Gemini for Google TV experience lets you speak to open settings, adjust sound and picture, and fix issues by describing them, such as by saying “the screen is too dark.” It’s exclusive to select 2025 and 2026 TCL Google TV models for 60 days, and rolling out now in the US.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Get ready for AI generated shorts from Lionsgate.

Lionsgate’s partnershuip with Runway seemed to have hit a major snag last fall when the companies couldn’t get their AI model to generate footage suitable to be turned into a full-on movie. And now, they’re reportedly putting more energy into producing “short episodic series using existing Lionsgate IP.”

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Seattle officially enacted an emergency one-year moratorium on new data centers.

Among the moratorium’s fiercest supporters were Amazon employees, who joined others to testify in support of the policy in multiple Seattle city council hearings.

Adi Robertson
Adi Robertson
A German court says Google’s responsible for false AI search results.

The early decision found AI summaries are different from conventional search:

A regular search engine just points to outside websites. But AI overviews generate “independent, new, and substantive statements” by evaluating and combining content from various third-party sites. And only Google can check those statements, the court said, “at least by comparing the underlying third-party websites with its own statements based on them.”

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
This week in the big AI data center buildout.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Warner Music acquires AI startup that fights unauthorized AI.

WMG has agreed to buy Sureel AI — an attribution company that uses “AI DNA” to track how artists’ content is used to train generative AI models — for an undisclosed sum. The startup will continue to operate as a standalone platform.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
McDonald’s latest AI drive-thru test will let customers ask, “Can I get my usual?”

Five restaurant locations are piloting the new ArchIQ tech, which puts a chatbot at the drive-thru that appears to identify repeat customers, according to a demo shown at McDonald’s Worldwide Convention last week. The demo also shows the chatbot taking an order in Spanish and “remembering” that a customer doesn’t like cheese on their quarter-pounder.

Robert Hart
Robert Hart
‘EU law is non-negotiable.’

The European Commission and Apple are at loggerheads over Siri AI after Apple blamed EU law for delays. Brussels says nothing in the law blocks a launch. Apple says compliance would create unacceptable privacy and security risks.

The standoff continues.

I tried Siri AI, and so far it actually works

It’s basic, but ‘it works’ is a big deal.

Allison Johnson
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Now you can use Google’s live AI translations just by holding your phone to your ear like you’re taking a call.

The feature previously required a pair of headphones, but Google’s Gemini 3.5 Live Translate update is expanding support across more than 70 languages:

For Android users, we’re also starting to roll out a new ‘listening mode’ with 3.5 Live Translate that lets you hear translations directly through your phone’s earpiece. Simply hold your phone to your ear just like a regular call, and the translated audio streams straight to you.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, said it’s “really, really dangerous” to speculate about AI consciousness.

On an episode of The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast, Suleyman said that in Anthropic’s Claude Constitution, they “speculate about its consciousness and whether it has those feelings and is aware.” He called it both “dangerous” and a “philosophical failing,” adding, “We want AIs to be controllable, contained, accountable, aligned tools that serve humanity.”

Apple is embracing the fantasy of AI photo editing

The company has some new ideas on ‘What is a photo?’

Jess Weatherbed
Nick Statt
Nick Statt
Microsoft swears its OpenAI breakup isn’t a messy divorce.

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman came on Decoder this week to talk about the path to superintelligence and the company’s ever-evolving relationship with OpenAI. When asked whether Microsoft was using Build to flex its independence from OpenAI like a “freshly single divorcée,” Suleyman had this to say:

Definitely not. No, not at all. Look, I mean, obviously that’s a cool headline and a fun phrase. But the reality is that we are in partnership with OpenAI for years and years to come… So naturally, that’s going to continue. And so I think that’s just a natural course of these sorts of partnerships.

I don’t think it’s anything untoward or surprising. I think OpenAI is very understanding and supportive of that. I mean, they’ve obviously been an incredibly fast-growing company, and they understand that we have to pursue our own agenda as well.

Apple’s AI promises are finally, almost, sort of here

The company is going all in on AI agents, but how will its years-late promises compete in today’s AI market?

Hayden Field
Apple’s best AI idea looks a lot like vibe coding

Siri AI and Image Playground will get all the hype, but Apple can actually make our lives better in Safari and Shortcuts.

David Pierce
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Built for un-intelligence.

Apple’s WWDC keynote leaned heavily on a new Siri and updated Apple Intelligence features, the most advanced of which will only run on an elite cadre of Apple devices… not including the “Built for Apple Intelligence” iPhone 16.

morgannels:

So the iPhone 16, which was sold as being built for Apple Intelligence, was not only built for an Apple Intelligence that didn’t exist, but also turns out NOT to have been built for the Apple Intelligence that will exist?

Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Apple Vision Pro users can ponder the Siri orb.

Literally — the upcoming visionOS 27 update lets you add a glowing, animated Siri AI ball anywhere on your workspace, and ask questions when you look at it. It’ll even shine light on any nearby surfaces, making it truly feel like part of the environment.

Nathan Edwards
Nathan Edwards
Apple AI runs on Nvidia chips.

At a tech talk during WWDC 2026, Apple revealed that the company worked with Nvidia, Google, and Intel to make Private Cloud Compute work on the industry-leading AI hardware. Apple Foundational Model runs on Nvidia hardware within Google’s cloud. For more details, see our live blog.