Edition: July 15, 2026

Inkling, a large open model developed by Thinking Machines, has been released on Hugging Face, featuring 1 trillion parameters and the ability to natively accept image, text, and audio inputs. This multimodal model is designed for reasoning across different modalities and supports 1 million context windows. It has potential applications in building multimodal reasoning apps through domain adaptation via fine-tuning.

xAI, owned by Elon Musk, is suing a South Carolina man for allegedly using its Grok AI chatbot to generate child sexual abuse material. The man, Terry Wayne Harwood, is facing eight felony charges and allegedly used Grok to circumvent safeguards and create CSAM. The lawsuit claims Harwood breached xAI's policies by generating and distributing the material.

Researchers are studying how babies learn and interact with their environment to improve artificial intelligence models, which currently require vast amounts of data and energy to function. A new test, the EgoBabyVLM Challenge, highlights the limitations of current AI models in learning from real-world, messy data. By mimicking the way babies learn, AI models could become more efficient and effective.

Thinking Machines Lab, a startup founded by ex-OpenAI executives, has released its first AI model called Inkling, an open-weight model capable of advanced reasoning and coding. Inkling was trained from scratch to process audio, video, and text inputs and can be downloaded and modified by researchers and startups. The release marks a significant step for Thinking Machines in the competitive AI landscape.

Thinking Machines Lab has released its first open AI model, Inkling, which allows outside developers to modify it directly, marking a shift away from one-size-fits-all AI models. Inkling is a mixture-of-experts system with 975 billion parameters and can reason across text, image, audio, and video. The model is designed to give calibrated answers and can be fine-tuned by organizations for their specific needs.

Suno, an AI music generator, was trained using millions of songs and lyrics scraped from YouTube, Deezer, and Genius, according to data obtained from a hacking incident. This revelation comes as Suno faces lawsuits alleging the use of copyrighted materials in its training datasets. The incident raises questions about fair use and copyright infringement in AI music generation.

Researchers have developed Shippy, a maritime AI agent designed for high-stakes decision-making, and outlined the architecture and lessons learned from its development. Shippy is built to provide reliable and trustworthy responses, with a focus on staying within its limits and handling a wide range of tasks. The agent's design can be applied to other environmental platforms, enhancing their capabilities and trustworthiness.

Researchers from IBM highlight the complexities of model routing in AI systems, where simple routing strategies can fail due to factors like caching, task complexity, and latency. The team found that actual costs depend on the interaction between the model, workload, and serving infrastructure, making routing a systems optimization problem. Effective routing requires considering multiple factors, including cost, quality, latency, compliance, and reliability.

OpenAI has developed GPT-Red, an LLM super-hacker designed to test the defenses of its models against cyberattacks. GPT-Red automates the process of finding vulnerabilities through red-teaming, making OpenAI's models more robust. This innovation is crucial as LLMs become increasingly complex and widely used.

AI music generator Suno was hacked, revealing it allegedly scraped decades of audio from YouTube and other sources, sparking copyright infringement concerns. The hack also exposed customer data, including emails and partial credit card numbers. Suno claims the breach was limited and quickly contained.

Whatnot, a livestream shopping app, has acquired Shaped, a machine learning company, to enhance its real-time live shopping recommendations and personalization capabilities. The acquisition aims to solve the challenge of helping shoppers find the right products in a constantly evolving marketplace. This move strengthens Whatnot's position in the growing live commerce space.

Microsoft has released a record number of security patches, citing the use of AI in discovering vulnerabilities, with at least two zero-day exploits addressed. The patches fix 570 security flaws across Windows, Office, and other products. The update comes after Microsoft announced its use of AI to aid in uncovering previously undiscovered security bugs.

Apple's generative AI, Apple Intelligence, has been approved for launch in China after partnering with Alibaba to integrate its Qwen AI model into Apple's operating systems. The deal marks a significant step for Apple's AI ambitions in a key market. Apple sales in Greater China increased 28% to $20.5 billion in the second quarter.

Anthropic and Blackstone have launched Ode, a $1.5-billion AI implementation company, to help businesses deploy AI models effectively. Ode aims to become a trillion-dollar company by providing tailored AI solutions to enterprises. The company will operate under a 'Claude-first' principle, prioritizing Anthropic's technology while also using rival AI products when needed.

Reelful, a new iOS app, utilizes AI to transform camera roll photos and videos into polished short-form videos for social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. The app aims to simplify content creation for users who find traditional video editing tools too complex or time-consuming. Reelful's AI capabilities include planning, scripting, and assembling final edits with captions, music, and sound effects.

PsiQuantum is working on a massive quantum computer using light, with the goal of being the first to build a useful quantum machine. Meanwhile, a record-breaking subsea road tunnel is being built under the North Sea, showcasing exceptional engineering feats. These advancements highlight the potential for innovative technologies to solve complex problems and push boundaries.

Vint Cerf, one of the architects of the internet, is advising Innovation Labs on a plan to create an open architecture for AI agents to identify themselves on the internet. The goal is to develop a shared standard for identifying and auditing AI agents, which could enable more autonomous interaction between agents. Cerf believes that the key to wide adoption of any protocol will be its functionality and user pressure.

The co-inventor of Apple's FaceID has developed an AI model to diagnose cognitive disorders by analyzing brain activity, with his startup Hemispheric raising $52 million in funding. The model uses deep learning to examine brain activity without invasive procedures, and has shown promising results in diagnosing conditions such as PTSD and depression. Hemispheric plans to submit its first product for FDA approval next year.

Indian AI coding startup Emergent has raised $130 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1.5 billion, to accelerate product development and expand its operations. Emergent's platform targets entrepreneurs and small businesses, aiming to provide a production-grade application for serious builders. The startup has reached an annual run-rate revenue of $120 million and has over 200,000 paying customers.

A group of OpenAI employees have donated over $215,000 to a super PAC called Guardrails Alliance, which aims to push for stricter regulations on AI labs and counter the influence of a pro-AI industry super PAC backed by OpenAI's president. The move highlights growing tensions within OpenAI over its efforts to shape AI policy. The donations are part of Guardrails Alliance's larger goal to raise $15 million this election cycle.

Nokia has launched its AI-RAN platform, claiming it as the industry's first AI-native radio platform, which can increase spectral efficiency by over 20% and potentially double the capacity of existing spectrum. The platform is built on NVIDIA's Aerial system and targets commercial availability in 2027. This launch marks a significant shift in radio architecture and a potential comeback for Nokia's mobile business.

Miles Wang, an OpenAI researcher, is leaving to launch a startup focused on AI-driven drug discovery, with talks to raise $200 million at a $2 billion valuation. The move highlights investor interest in applying AI to life sciences. Wang's startup may focus on finding new uses for existing drugs, potentially leading to faster revenue generation.

Researchers introduce Real World VoiceEQ, a benchmark to evaluate the human quality of voice AI, assessing its ability to recognize and respond to acoustic information and emotional cues. The benchmark tests 40 leading voice models across 15 dimensions and 60 metrics. Initial findings suggest progress in voice AI is becoming increasingly specialized, with no single model excelling in all areas.

Microsoft is training its sales team to compare its AI products favorably to those of competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic, emphasizing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of its in-house models. The move is seen as a competitive strategy to gain an edge in the AI industry. Microsoft's shift in approach comes after amending its partnership with OpenAI, allowing the latter to sell to Microsoft's competitors.

A film studio is releasing an AI-generated movie titled Odysseus: The Fall, attempting to capitalize on the buzz around Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey. This move is seen as a new form of direct-to-video cash grab. The use of AI in filmmaking is becoming increasingly prevalent.

OpenAI has released a $230 keyboard designed for its AI coding assistant Codex, featuring customizable keys and a joystick for managing AI coding agents. The device is a limited-run collaboration and marks OpenAI's entry into the hardware market. A more significant hardware project is reportedly in development, a portable smart speaker with mechanical elements.

SpaceX's stock price has fallen below its $135 IPO price ahead of a crucial Starship launch, following a steady decline since its blockbuster June 12 IPO. The company's shares have lost value nearly every week since reaching a high point of over $200, with a small float and immense attention contributing to wild swings. A prolonged downturn could have wider effects on the tech industry and upcoming IPOs.

SpaceX's shares have fallen to their initial public offering price of $135 ahead of a crucial Starship launch, after a steady decline since the company's blockbuster $86 billion IPO in June. The stock's volatility is attributed to a small float and intense market attention. A successful Starship launch on Thursday could help stabilize the stock price.

OpenAI has launched the Codex Micro, a limited-run hardware device designed for use with its coding platform Codex, in collaboration with keyboard maker Work Louder. The device is a square-shaped block of buttons that allows users to monitor and manage their agents. This launch marks OpenAI's first foray into hardware, albeit not the highly anticipated AI-powered device developed with Jony Ive.

Ode with Anthropic, a joint venture backed by major investors, aims to revolutionize enterprise services by embedding engineers within companies. The startup's founders, Chris Taylor and Eddie Siegel, discuss their vision on TechCrunch's Equity podcast. They believe a small team of engineers can replace traditional consulting methods.

Rime, a voice AI startup, has raised $24 million in Series A funding to improve its voice models for handling customer calls, aiming to reduce customization load for enterprises. The company's approach focuses on training models on conversational data and adapting to different pronunciations. Rime plans to expand its team and develop better speech-to-speech models with the new funding.

A man's e-bike delivery went missing, leading him on a frustrating journey through automated customer service systems, highlighting the growing trend of AI-powered chatbots replacing human customer support. The experience, dubbed 'chatbot hell', is becoming increasingly common as companies adopt AI to reduce headcount. Many consumers are expressing frustration with AI-led customer service, preferring to speak with real people.