Edition: June 24, 2026

Vishal Sikka, former CEO of Infosys, has launched a new startup called Hang Ten Systems, which aims to challenge the IT services world by using AI to build, modify, and operate software. The startup has raised $32 million in seed funding and is working with customers including Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius. Hang Ten's launch comes amid a growing debate over the impact of AI on the IT services industry.

Google is rolling out a new feature that uses users' search history data, including uploaded media, to improve its AI models, but users can opt out by visiting the Search Services History tab on Google's My Activity page. The feature is enabled by default, sparking concerns over data privacy. Users can turn off the setting and delete their activity, but data used for AI training will be kept for up to 4 years.

New data suggests that engineering jobs are resilient to AI replacement, with hiring data showing an 11% decline in engineering roles compared to a 25% drop in total hiring across large tech companies. Engineers comprised 55% of new hires in 2025, up from 46% in 2019. This trend contradicts the notion that AI would significantly replace engineering talent, instead indicating that AI is increasing productivity and demand for engineers.

Top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic, following a trend of high-profile departures including Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and John Jumper to Anthropic. These moves come as OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to go public, potentially luring more talent with equity promises. The exodus poses concerns for Google's AI development efforts.

Micron, the largest US computer-memory chip maker, has seen its shares soar after reporting a significant increase in revenue and profit, driven by the high demand for memory chips amid the AI boom. The company's revenue quadrupled to $41.45 billion and its profit rose to $28.2 billion year-over-year. Micron has also secured a deal to supply AI lab Anthropic with memory and storage chips.

Companies are now trying to limit their employees' use of AI for small tasks due to the high costs involved, a reversal from earlier encouragement to maximize AI budgets. Consulting firm Accenture is among those attempting to curb AI usage after realizing the ease of depleting token reserves. This shift reflects the growing need for the AI industry to prove its value beyond novelty.

Top AI experts in China and the US are calling for cooperation to mitigate the global risks of advanced AI, including cybersecurity threats and potential catastrophic failures. The experts warn that the development of powerful AI models could lead to chaos unless the world's AI superpowers work together. International collaboration is seen as crucial to developing shared safety principles and technical standards to reduce systemic risk.

A $27 million proxy war between Anthropic and OpenAI has ended in a draw as Alex Bores narrowly lost the Democratic primary for New York's 12th Congressional district. Bores, a former tech industry employee, had coauthored the RAISE Act, which implemented safety requirements on frontier AI companies. The outcome marks a significant development in the intersection of AI and politics.

Facebook has introduced a standalone AI companion app for creators, aiming to help them grow their audience and compete with rivals like TikTok and YouTube. The app features a built-in AI assistant that provides personalized recommendations and helps with content analysis. It also includes tools like an AI-powered comment manager and a daily priorities feed.

Agility Robotics, a humanoid robotics startup, plans to go public via a $2.5 billion SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, aiming to increase production and expand customer reach. The company has secured over $300 million in orders for its next-generation Digit v5 robot. Agility Robotics will trade under the ticker symbol AGLT on a North American stock exchange.

Google introduces computer use as a built-in tool in Gemini 3.5 Flash, enabling developers to build custom agents that can interact across platforms. This integration unlocks improved performance for automation tasks and provides optional enterprise safeguard systems for secure operation. Developers can start using computer use in 3.5 Flash via the Gemini API and Enterprise Agent Platform.

Figma has introduced new AI-powered design tools, including motion graphics and shader tools, to help creatives automate tasks and bring ideas to life. The updates also feature a reimagined canvas optimized for full-stack development and coding layers for tweaking project code. These tools aim to simplify the design process and enhance collaboration.

Figma has released a major update that adds code layers, support for animations and 3D transforms, and new AI features to its design platform. The update aims to improve collaboration between designers, product managers, and programmers. The new features include custom plug-ins, AI-powered asset creation, and integration with other tools like Notion and GitHub.

NVIDIA NeMo AutoModel accelerates fine-tuning of Transformers models, achieving 3.4-3.7x higher training throughput and 29-32% less GPU memory usage. This is made possible by building on top of HuggingFace Transformers v5 and adding Expert Parallelism, DeepEP fused all-to-all dispatch, and TransformerEngine kernels. The library provides API compatibility with HuggingFace Transformers, enabling seamless integration with existing code.

Europe's record-breaking heat wave is pushing the power grid to its limits, with some power plants shutting down due to high water temperatures, while others are reducing output. France's nuclear power plants are particularly affected, with one reactor already shut down and others being ramped down. The heat wave is stressing the entire energy system, with increased demand for cooling driving up power usage.

OpenAI has unveiled its first custom-built inference processor, Jalapeño, designed in collaboration with Broadcom to improve performance and reduce costs for AI inference workloads. The new chip is specifically designed for running pre-built AI models and has shown promising early results. This move marks a significant step in OpenAI's efforts to optimize its AI infrastructure and reduce dependence on external hardware.

OpenAI has unveiled its first AI processor, called Jalapeño, designed in partnership with Broadcom to power large language models. The chip is an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) focused on AI inference. This development marks a significant step in enhancing AI capabilities.

Qualcomm is acquiring chip startup Modular for nearly $4 billion, expanding its ambitions beyond mobile devices into AI and data center markets. Modular's technology allows developers to write AI software that can run on different chips without rewriting code. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Stripe, Anthropic, and OpenAI are backing a $500-million nonprofit effort called Intercept to prevent respiratory infections such as the common cold and flu. The organization aims to use grants and investments to develop prevention approaches, including vaccines and air-cleaning systems. The goal is to eventually eliminate respiratory viruses altogether.

The emergence of a new web data infrastructure layer is crucial for AI models to discover and retrieve relevant information at scale, enabling them to make informed decisions in real-time. This layer must navigate hundreds of millions of web domains and billions of new URLs created each week, delivering fresh, relevant, and trustworthy data. The lack of such infrastructure hinders AI performance and trust in AI outputs.

Samsung Electronics is expanding access to ChatGPT Enterprise and Codex for all employees in Korea and its Device eXperience division worldwide, aiming to utilize AI tools for various business functions. The move reverses previous restrictions on employee use of generative AI tools due to data-security concerns. The deployment includes controls for data protection and security management.

Anthropic has launched a beta version of its Claude Tag feature, allowing users to integrate AI agents directly into Slack channels, enhancing collaboration and productivity. This move aims to reduce data movement between team chats and separate browser instances. The feature is part of Anthropic's efforts to expand its enterprise adoption, which has reached 34.4% according to the AI Index.

A New Mexico-based company, Sceye, is set to launch a flying solar-powered platform that can deliver internet from the air, with a test planned over Japan as early as August. The platform, called a HAPS, will hover 18 kilometers above the ocean's surface, supplementing Softbank's 5G network. This technology could potentially provide internet service to disaster sites and densely populated areas.

Treble Technologies and Hugging Face have launched the FFASR Leaderboard, a community-driven benchmark for evaluating automatic speech recognition (ASR) models in realistic far-field acoustic conditions. The leaderboard aims to bridge the gap between benchmark performance and real-world deployment by simulating various room types and noise conditions. The goal is to encourage the development of models that are robust to real-world acoustic conditions.

A24, the production company behind the horror movie hit 'Backrooms', has announced a $75 million research partnership with Google's DeepMind to create new filmmaking tools, sparking controversy among fans who see it as a threat to the creative arts. The partnership aims to give artists a voice in shaping AI tools, but many are skeptical. A24's decision has been met with criticism and outrage on social media, with some fans declaring the 'death of the company'.

Cerebras Systems' stock plummeted nearly 20% despite beating earnings expectations, due to a forecasted narrower gross margin. The company's CEO attributed the decline to a misunderstanding of the margin guidance, citing temporary equipment rentals as a factor. Revenue for the quarter reached $193 million, up 94% year-over-year.

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna denies using AI to draft a defense funding amendment, claiming it was only used for spellcheck in a summary. The controversy arose after screenshots of the amendment summary were shared on social media, sparking concerns about AI's role in legislation. Luna maintains that no legislation is ever drafted with AI.

The Trump administration has been in talks with Anthropic, a company that had its AI model taken offline due to security concerns, and has found the discussions more productive since CEO Dario Amodei is no longer leading them. The administration has not yet lifted export controls on the model, but is considering what proof Anthropic needs to provide to alleviate concerns. The timeline for redeploying the model remains uncertain.

MIT Technology Review introduces its new Engineering issue, featuring stories on ambitious projects to make the world better through human ingenuity, including tunneling beneath the seafloor and replicating a volcano's mechanism to cool the Earth. Stripe, Anthropic, and OpenAI are backing a $500-million nonprofit to prevent respiratory infections. The issue also explores the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever.

The new Google Home Speaker has impressed with its ability to pick up voice commands, even in noisy environments, and its sleek design. However, the device can be finicky at times. Its performance has been tested in various scenarios, including in the shower and with loud music playing.

The TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 is offering a limited-time discount of up to $190 on passes, available until June 26. The event, taking place on November 4 in Boston, will bring together over 1,000 founders and investors for a day of learning and networking. Attendees can expect insights from industry leaders and opportunities to connect with peers and investors.

The author recounts their experience working on the reconstruction of Kuwait after the first Gulf War, where they witnessed massive engineering projects and creative solutions to extinguish oil fires and remove booby traps. The effort was part of an international endeavor to rebuild the war-torn country. The author reflects on the challenges and lessons learned from the experience.