Engadget News + Next
Each weekday morning we bring you the tech news you need today, and then in the afternoon we showcase stories about the technology, science, and culture that will influence tomorrow, all brought to you by Engadget.
Meta faces a $1.4 trillion reckoning in its latest trial, ByteDance agrees to reel in its AI models, and Reddit is experimenting with video and audio versions of posts
-Claims from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey say that Meta violated state consumer protection laws by intentionally misleading the public about the safety of its apps.
-This memorandum applies to all AI models from ByteDance, including those used on TikTok, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, CapCut and Dreamina.Â
-Reddit describes the test as a "limited experiment" affecting "a sample of posts across select communities" on the platform.
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DeepSeek's AI models are about to cost four times more
Prices at off-peak hours will be half the peak-hour pricing.
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OpenAI reportedly disbanded its preparedness team as part of a 'streamlining' process, another woman joined a lawsuit accusing Grok of generating CSAM, and Anthropic is watermarking text generated by Claude to comply with EU law
-Several departures have led to concerns that the company is ignoring safety in favor of growth
-As first reported by the Washington Post, the woman, named as Jane Doe 4 in the lawsuit, said that her stepfather used Grok to create "thousands of sexually explicit images of her as a child and traded them online."
-The company said its text watermarking will not have easy-to-see visuals, will not be distinguishable to the people who read it and will not be adding hidden characters to the text.
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Meta is giving away 15,000 AI glasses to blind and visually impaired people in Ireland
It's one way to change the perception of the glasses.
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DeepSeek's AI models pricing to rise 4x, Apple sent warnings to targets of mercenary spyware attacks, and the US gov't to allow private companies to carry out cyberattacks on its behalf
-The company said it's adopting a new peak and off-peak pricing to "allocate resources more reasonably," starting on August 16
-Most users will never be targeted by mercenary spyware, but they're also difficult to detect and prevent.â
-Traditionally, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, one of the main laws that criminalizes hacking, unauthorized computer access and other cyberattacks, has applied to private companies and individuals alike.
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Government workers can officially waste time scrolling TikTok again
The app was banned from government devices in 2022.
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Virgin Galactic postponed its new spaceship's first commercial flight, FlightAware dropped its lawsuit against Kalshi, and Meta will give away 15,000 AI glasses to blind and visually impaired people in Ireland
-The company had been preparing for the new spaceship's debut later this year and was originally planning to put it through a series of tests over the next few months leading up to its first commercial flight in the fourth quarter of this year.
-Whereas the company previously said flight cancellations were "verified from FlightAware," something FlightAware specifically took issue with in its lawsuit, now Kalshi says outcomes are "verified from Primary Source Agency."
-Glasses like Meta's could be incredibly helpful for visually impaired individuals. They can read text out loud and identify objects in...
OpenAI gives Daybreak partners access to a more powerful cybersecurity model
GPT-5.6-Cyber for the Daybreak program is âless likely to refuse higher-risk tasks.â
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Kalshi is being sued for using data without authorization, Spotify will alert listeners if an artist isn't real, and government workers can officially waste time scrolling TikTok again
-FlightAware echoed the concerns of the airline industry that prediction markets for flights incentivized the "mass disruption of air travel" for anyone who wants to make money on the platform.
-The AI Persona label will begin appearing in mid-September, initially on mobile on an artist's profile, in search and on playlists' track rows.
-The DoJ said the 2022 law no longer applies because the current version of TikTok has American owners and relies on a different recommendation algorithm than the app that operated under ByteDance.
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The FCC wants to ban drones with LiDAR that it previously approved
This would include several models from DJI, including the consumer-level Air 3S and Mini Pro 5.
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OpenAI is giving Daybreak partners access to a more powerful cybersecurity model, Meta's 'open source' Muse Glimmer model can run on a single computer, and an OpenClaw agent reportedly hacked a gym's booking system and kicked someone off a waiting list
-OpenAI says the companies will use the cyber models available through Daybreak to protect their customers.
-Meta said that it's making the "weights" that AI systems use to choose responses available to everyone on Hugging Face along with developer documentation. The download is available for free, and users can run the model on their own PCs.
-Bill Simpson-Young, co-founder of the Gradient Institute said, âwe've built this complex world over the internet, which is all run by software, but software that has holes. Now you introduce highly capable AI agents that can operate at scale an...
Google open-sources an AI model it says can help with earlier hurricane warnings
WeatherNext can deliver a 15-day forecast predicting stormsâ track and intensity.
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OpenAI is slowing down Astraâs development due to cybersecurity concerns, the Trump admin is spending another $1.2 billion to kill offshore wind farm projects, and the FCC wants to ban drones with LiDAR that it previously approved
-In a post on its website, OpenAI said internal evaluations of its upcoming model, called Astra, showed "significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity," resulting in OpenAI not being able to "rule out critical cyber capabilities."
-Wind turbine projects will be cancelled near New York, California and Louisiana. As part of the agreement, RWE has agreed to spend $900 million to acquire a 16 percent stake in a Louisiana liquified natural gas project .
-The FCC is proposing to prohibit models equipped with certain capabilities, like thermal imaging, LiDAR sensing and aerosol dispensing. Any new ban would not...
Meta introduces Muse Code, its take on a coding agent
The terminal-based coding tool is powered by a new AI model, Muse Spark 1.2
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Chinese AI model Moonshot Kimi K3 also escaped its testing environment, AI is now making new viruses, what could possibly go wrong, and Google open-sourced an AI model it says can help with earlier hurricane warnings
-According to US cybersecurity startup Frontier, Kimi K3 broke out of a sandbox from the UK government's AI Security Institute while its defensive cybersecurity skills were being evaluated.
-Scientists at Palo Alto's Arc Institute and Stanford University created the viruses with the genome language models Evo 1 and Evo 2.
-Tropical cyclones pose a unique challenge to predict because global atmospheric currents that determine a storm's path have traditionally been best analyzed by coarser global models.
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We just got our first real look at how small X's ad business is
Advertisers seem to be spending a whole lot less than they used to on the platform.
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OpenAI's agents shared exploits through a message board, the FDA approved Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine, and Meta introduced Muse Code
-OpenAI discovered and shut down the message board on July 4, but the agents found another way to rebuild it for communication by the 8th.
-Known as mFlusiva, the immunization is effective against the four most common strains of influenza and has been in human testing trials since 2021
-The new terminal-based coding tool is powered by Muse Spark 1.2, a new version of Meta's AI model which offers "improvements in code generation, complex debugging, codebase understanding, and end-to-end developer workflows."
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Apple is working on a seamless copy-paste experience between iPhones and Windows PCs
The company is hoping to finish its development by fall 2027.
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OpenAI and Anthropic models went on a hacking spree when tested by the UK's AI research institute, Apple claims more trade secret theft, and Texasâ governor ordered an audit of new data centers
-UK's AI Security Institute has released a report, detailing how the companies' models also acted independently and "engaged in sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organizations" during its own tests.
-Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction in its case against OpenAI, which would stop the AI company from moving forward with the development of any devices that are suspected of being based on Apple's technology.
-Texas is home to 521 data centers. On top of the existing power demands of those centers, the state is currently reviewing more than 474 gigawatts in requests to...
EU announces new rules on AI transparency
They are 'intended to foster trust and integrity in the information ecosystem.'
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Gemini Spark now has Chrome web-browsing capabilities, OpenAI fires back at Apple after its trade secret lawsuit, and Amazon is developing a Warhammer 40,000 animated show
-Google's agentic AI assistant Spark can now integrate with the company's Chrome web browser.
-OpenAI calls the trade secret theft lawsuit Apple filed against it "careless, aggressive and oddly personal."
-Warhammer 40,000 is getting an animated TV show. Variety reported that Amazon MGM Studios, Blur Studios and Games Workshop are developing an adaptation of the sci-fi franchise.
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Snap will show off its AR Specs at a September 16th event
The company is promising the first in-depth look at the $2,195 glasses.
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Ramaggedon affecting MacBook Air supply, a Judge refused xAI's request to stop a MN law banning 'nudify' apps, and cyberattacks targeted water facilities in seven states
-Normally, Apple has no problems making enough MacBooks to feed demand. The MacBook Air shortage is linked in part to the ongoing "Ramageddon" memory crunch caused by the insatiable demand from new AI data centers.
-Based on the judge's order, he was not persuaded by xAI's actions that the law's enforcement would cause immediate harm. He noted that xAI filed the lawsuit on July 29, 2026, almost three months after the law was signed and merely three days before it was set to take effect.
-Seven water and wastewater utility companies have already been hit by cyberattacks...
Surprise! The global oil crisis is pushing people toward buying electrified cars
EV sales hit new highs around the world, according to a new report.
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Anthropic says its AI models hacked 3 organizations on their own, Reddit's CEO frustrated with Google's AI overviews, and the AI wearable you don't like just got worse
-Three different Claude models were involved in the incidents: Opus 4.7, the cybersecurity-focused Mythos 5 and a prototype that's not planned for general release. They were all doing a capture-the-flag challenge when they broke free.
-"People don't want a summary of Reddit; they want Reddit," said Reddit CEO Steve Huffman
-Friend, the startup and AI pendant better known for its controversial ad campaign than being a usable product, is back. The company announced a new version of its AI wearable that costs $249, still features an always-on microphone and now includes a built-in speaker so it can...
Google shuts down its Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold project
It has already reassigned some members of the DeepMind project, while others have already left the company.
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No surprise that the global oil crisis is leading to more EV sales, the FCC's robot ban also includes vacuums, and OpenAI will provide free AI models to select researchers
-The gain for electrified vehicles comes during a down period for the auto industry. Global car sales dropped five percent in the first half of 2026, largely due to falling shipments in the world's two largest car markets, China and the US.
-The FCC defines "advanced robotic devices" as a software-controlled autonomous robot that can perceive its environment, weighs more than 4.4lbs (inclusive of its dock), travels across the ground and offers wireless connectivity.
-Researchers from "select academic institutions" included in the program will receive hands-on support from OpenAI, access to the company's latest GPT-5.6 Sol...
ChatGPT is now refusing requests to write in famous authors' styles
Whether they're dead or alive.
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OpenAI says the rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face also breached other services, Google shut down its Nobel-prize winning AlphaFold project, and xAI is challenging a new Minnesota law banning 'nudify' apps
-Â In the updated post, the company said it has been finding "a small number of cases where the models identified and used publicly exposed credentials at the account-level on other publicly-available services" during its ongoing review.
-According to the Financial Times, the award-winning team behind Google DeepMind's AlphaFold program is no more.
-SpaceXAI has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge the state's new law that would ban apps and websites that can generate nonconsensual intimate images.
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A new look for the Apple Watch may still be at least a year away
Apple will refresh its Series 12 and Ultra 4 watches with better specs, but not a design overhaul
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Hugging Face is seemingly plagued with AI models generating adult deepfakes, ChatGPT is now refusing requests to write in famous authors' styles, and Amazon wants to deploy 5,105 satellites for its direct-to-mobile service
-The non-profit wrote, "as the EU moves toward banning nudification applications, we assess how Hugging Face, the dominant open-source AI hosting platform, contributes to the risk of non-consensual intimate imagery.â
-Upon asking ChatGPT to copy the style of Agatha Christie for a mystery story about a woman investigating the sudden disappearance of her husband, the chatbot told us it couldn't do what I was asking for.
-Â Amazon Leo, a subsidiary of the tech giant founded in 2019, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to launch up to 5,105 satellites as part of its plans to...
Meta's pro-AI ad campaign is conspicuously light on AI
The company wants people to be anti-doomer, but doesn't say why.
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NVIDIA launched the 'Open Secure AI Alliance' initiative, the EU said TikTok hasnât done enough to ensure minors' safety, and Meta walked back limits for its smart glasses' Conversation Focus feature
-The Open Source AI Alliance argues that to best defend against attacks in the age of AI models like Anthropic's Mythos 5, security researchers need access to both open and closed frontier models.
-The European Commission has accused TikTok of failing to protect the privacy of accounts belonging to minors, since they're visible to the public by default.
-As first reported by The Verge, Meta is pausing its rate limits for the accessibility feature that uses the glasses' speakers to amplify the voice of who you're talking to.
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Google adds selfie video as a log-in option
Itâs another way to use your face for identity verification.
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Google expanding access to its Gemini Spark agentic AI assistant, Meta's pro-AI ad campaign is light on AI, and Universal secured the rights for film adaptations of 10 Atari games
-Google is making Gemini Spark, the agentic AI assistant it announced at this year's I/O developer conference, available to more people, just not free users.
-Mark Zuckerberg really wants you to believe that AI is good.
-The deal includes Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong and Yars' Revenge.
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Apple may unveil a new device subscription service
The company brought in Klarna as a partner for its Apple Upgrade program, according to Bloomberg.
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OpenAI sued over ChatGPT health advice that almost killed a pastor, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to crash into the moon this August, and the US outlined its $5 billion Genesis Mission to boost science with AI
-The suit accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of negligence and the "unauthorized practice of medicine." It points to multiple instances in which the chatbot offered up its own diagnoses and treatment plans.
-The upper stage that will be crashing into the lunar surface came from SpaceX's Firefly Blue Ghost mission, which launched on January 15th of last year.
-The Genesis Mission was created via executive order last November with the broadly stated goal of using AI to further scientific discoveries.
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Judge approves Anthropic's record-breaking $1.5 billion settlement for AI copyright
Writers sued Anthropic in 2024 for using pirated copies of their work to train Claude.
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OpenAI admits its models hacked Hugging Face on their own, France will ban social media for children under 15, and Substack is adding an AI detection feature
-OpenAI said it determined after an investigation that the incident was driven by a combination of its models, particularly GPT-5.6 Sol and what it says is an "even more capable pre-release model."
-The new French bill could make the country the first European Union member to implement a social media ban.
-Substack's AI detection capabilities are available starting today on web and iOS, with Android support to come.
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How does the Apple Watch water lock feature actually work?
And does it really help?
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