6 – 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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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:

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Elon Musk says X’s codebase will be made open source.

Along with his usual morning tweets in support of right-wing politics, against certain immigrants to the US, and boosting data centers, the sometimes-trillionaire writes, “Once we have completed our review for security vulnerabilities, we will make the entire codebase of 𝕏 open source, with no exceptions.” (He didn’t mention how Grok Build had apparently made exposing your code a little too easy.)

He also tweeted separately about its mysteriously busted algorithm, saying that it “…barraging you with similar content due to a few likes” is another problem.

Elon Musk tweet screenshot that says “Once we have completed our review for security vulnerabilities, we will make the entire codebase of 𝕏 open source, with no exceptions. Moreover, we will invite third party reviewers to examine the system that is running to confirm that the open source code is what is running. Trust through total transparency is the only thing that should be believed.”
Screenshot: X.com (@elonmusk)
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
George Lucas says AI makes it ‘much easier’ to make movies.

In an interview with A Rabbit’s Foot, the man who loves pushing technological boundries enough to anger his fans with controversial remasters had this to say about people who oppose artificial intelligence in film making:

“It’s very much like sitting here saying, ‘Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it’s at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there’s all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they’ll be making them into tanks, and then they’ll be killing people. It’s terrible.’ There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s progress, it’s the future.”

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Apple Intelligence approved in China.

Apple’s on-device generative AI service has officially been registered with China’s cyberspace regulator, clearing a major hurdle for device rollout. To navigate local regulations, Apple is tapping domestic tech giants, integrating Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s AI models to power the experience for Chinese users, as reported last year.

Meanwhile, Apple and the EU are waiting to see who blinks first.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
AI’s power bill is here.

The largest US electrical grid operator, PJM, will add $6.3 billion in electricity costs for consumers across 13 states due to the booming energy demands of data centers. The rate hikes will hit millions of households and businesses over the next two years, adding to the $29 billion in costs that data centers have added to PJM regions since 2024.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
ChatGPT was down for about 45 minutes.

OpenAI, on its status website, confirmed that there were “elevated errors” affecting ChatGPT. During the outage, when I tried to access ChatGPT on the web, all that loaded was an error message. The company confirmed impacted services had recovered at 8:39PM ET.

Update: OpenAI says the issues are resolved.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Another turn in the Apple v. OpenAI dispute.

Apple’s lawsuit said that OpenAI “never responded” to outreach in February. But NBC News reports OpenAI did respond, though communication stopped after one of Apple’s lawyers apparently mixed up OpenAI staffers with the last names Wang and Chang.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Meta’s AI can now dub your voice in more languages on Instagram and Facebook.

The AI translations are expanding to Japanese, Korean, French, German, and Italian on Instagram and Bahasa, Indonesian, Arabic, French, Vietnamese, and Thai on Facebook, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
OpenAI has a new statement about Apple’s lawsuit.

Here it is, given to Bloomberg:

While we take these allegations seriously, we’re not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit. We believe in fair competition and allowing people the freedom to work wherever they choose, and we’re focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.

Apple sued OpenAI on Friday, alleging the company stole hardware secrets.

David Pierce
David Pierce
Today’s Vergecast: The problem with Suno and AI music.

AI-generated music is suddenly everywhere. On social media, music streaming services, and elsewhere, stuff made on Suno is becoming unavoidable. The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien joins David to talk about where Suno came from, whether it can truly change the way we create and consume music, and how we can and should respond to AI music. We also have some thoughts on whether these songs might someday be bangers.

Hayden Field
Hayden Field
Anthropic introduced a Claude product for K-12 teachers.

“Claude for Teachers” gives verified US educators complimentary Claude access, including “a library of teaching skills and a direct connection to evidence-based curricula, mapped to academic standards in all 50 states,” Anthropic wrote. It’s part of a recent push by both Anthropic and OpenAI to introduce education-specific AI tools, for university students and beyond.

Claude (@claudeai) on X

[X (formerly Twitter)]

Mia Sato
Mia Sato
ChatGPT is now citing Kalshi data.

OpenAI and the prediction market have a deal, The New York Times reports, that pulls in Kalshi data for World Cup-related queries. A prompt for “France and Spain,” for example, included a win forecast attributed to Kalshi.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are everywhere right now, and that’s by design. The companies have inked deals with news outlets, newsletter writers, and random X accounts — and now Kalshi will reach potential customers via chatbots.

A ChatGPT prompt for “France and Spain,” where the answer cites Kalshi.
Image: OpenAI
Sam Altman didn’t need another lawsuit

And yet, Apple’s accusations around stealing trade secrets might take years to litigate.

Hayden Field
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The OdyssAI.

Ash Koosha — the director behind the $2,000 AI-generated movie that debuted at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival — has apparently made his own adaptation of The Odyssey, which will be available to rent / buy from Fountain 0 some time later this summer.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Gemini in Chrome is rolling out in the UK.

It’s taken over a year, but starting today, British Chrome users can access Google’s chatbot interface directly in the Chrome browser to compare information across multiple tabs, summarize content, and ask questions about what’s on their open web pages. It still isn’t available in the EU, however.

A screenshot taken from a Google video promoting Gemini in Chrome expanding to the UK.
Here’s what the Gemini interface looks like when comparing Jet2Holiday listings on Chrome. Cos that’s what Brits do, innit.
Image: Google
David Pierce
David Pierce
Today’s Vergecast: Watch, headphones, phone: Which AI gadget is best?

So far, there have been exactly zero great AI-first gadgets. But that hasn’t stopped the tech industry from trying to figure out what shape and size these new gadgets might take, and whether any of them can best the device in your pocket. The Verge’s Allison Johnson and Victoria Song join David to rank all those shapes, from pendant to smartwatch to rectangle, to see whether there is actually a next big thing out there.

Siri AI is already changing how I use my iPhone

Its full capabilities require heavy developer support, but the public beta version is a glimpse at how capable Apple’s assistant could become.

David Imel
The 6 wildest claims in Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI

The 41-page complaint details how OpenAI allegedly ‘coached’ Apple employees on how to avoid security checks and asked for ‘show and tell’ during job interviews.

Emma Roth
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
Anthropic’s heavyweight hiring spree continues.

Tom Blomfield, former CEO and cofounder of British fintech Monzo, announced a leave of absence from startup accelerator Y Combinator to join the company’s AI compute team. He’s the latest big-name hire in recent months, following Google’s Nobel winner John Jumper and former Tesla Boss Andrej Karpathy.

The fight against AI data centers is just beginning

Community pushback from across the US and beyond is making some companies reconsider their data center buildout plans.

Emma Roth
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
OpenAI’s head of safety is out.

Turnovers at that ChatGPT maker continue. The company’s chief futurist, Joshua Achiam, and AGI head, Fidji Simo, announced their departures earlier this week. Now Johannes Heidecke, who has overseen OpenAI’s safety efforts, is out, as ChatGPT 5.6 rolls out and raises some alarms.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
OpenAI’s Greg Brockman will keep heading up product at the company.

Brockman had taken over product when Fidji Simo went on medical leave, and he’ll continue those responsibilities now that Simo is stepping down from her full-time OpenAI job and becoming a “part-time advisor,” CNBC reports.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
OpenAI’s standalone Codex app is “here to stay.”

Thibault Sottiaux, the engineering lead on Codex, clarified on X that the company isn’t sunsetting its AI coding tool despite the launch of ChatGPT Work, a platform that combines both ChatGPT and Codex. Sottiaux teased some other updates coming to the Work app as well, like moving chats and projects into the sidebar.

ChatGPT Work update

[@thsottiaux on X (formerly Twitter)]

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Putting the “AI” in airport.

This report from Futurism dives into some of the inconsistencies in the logo for the newly-renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The shield only has 11 stripes, instead of 13; the eagle’s right-side talons look distorted; and there’s an uneven number of feathers and leaves.

Image: President Donald J. Trump International Airport