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Apple sued OpenAI, alleging ex-employees stole trade secrets for its hardware push. Twelve states sued to block the Paramount-WBD merger, Anthropic extended free Fable 5 access as rivals raced on price, and Meta killed its Instagram AI opt-out feature.

Apple sues OpenAI, alleging that ex-Apple employees stole "Apple's trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI", and says OpenAI never responded to its concerns (9to5Mac)

A coalition of 12 states led by California files an antitrust lawsuit to block Paramount's WBD merger, alleging it lessens competition in three markets (Variety)

Anthropic says it is extending Claude Fable 5 access on all paid plans, as well as keeping Claude Code's weekly rate limits 50% higher, through July 19 (Economic Times)

OpenAI, Meta, and SpaceXAI are racing to offer more cost-efficient AI models as enterprise customers, stung by "tokenmaxxing" bills, scrutinize their AI spending (Bloomberg)

Meta says it will discontinue a feature that allowed users to generate images in Meta AI using public Instagram accounts, following days of criticism (Variety)

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OpenAI broadly released GPT-5.6 and launched ChatGPT Work, targeting Anthropic. Fidji Simo stepped down from OpenAI citing health, the EU found Meta's "addictive design" violates the DSA, Polymarket sought margin trading approval, and SK Hynix debuted on Nasdaq raising $26.5B.

OpenAI broadly releases GPT-5.6, and launches ChatGPT Work, an AI agent that can gather context across apps and files to create documents, on macOS and Windows (Axios)

OpenAI broadly releases GPT-5.6, and launches ChatGPT Work, an AI agent that can gather context across apps and files to create documents, on macOS and Windows (TechCrunch)

Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of AGI Deployment, says she will step down and become a part-time adviser after her medical condition worsened; Simo joined in August (WSJ)

In preliminary findings, the EU Commission said Facebook's and Instagram's "addictive design" violates the DSA, telling Meta to make changes or risk hefty fines (NYT)

Filing: Polymarket is seeking CFTC approval to offer margin trading in the US, a move that would let users bet on events with less capital upfront (Bloomberg)

SK Hynix raises $26.5B in the largest ever US market debut by a foreign company, selling 177.9M ADRs for $149 each; the sale was more than 7x oversubscribed (Bloomberg)

SK Hynix raises $26.5B in the largest ever US market debut by a foreign company, selling 177.9M ADRs for $149 each; the sale was more than 7x oversubscribed (CNBC)

Xreal launches $299 A01 Plus AR glasses, weighing just 62 grams and featuring 1080p micro OLED panels with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 50-degree field of view (The Verge)

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SpaceXAI debuted Grok 4.5 with Cursor, targeting Opus-level performance at lower cost. Meta launched Muse Spark 1.1 via API, OpenAI rolled out full-duplex GPT-Live voice models, PrismML ran the largest AI model on an iPhone, and Character.AI launched AI microdramas.

SpaceXAI debuts Grok 4.5, its first model built in partnership with Cursor, designed to "handle difficult, long-running tasks" across finance, legal, and coding (Bloomberg)

Meta releases Muse Spark 1.1, capable of more advanced coding and a "step-change" from the first generation, available to US developers via a public API preview (The Verge)

OpenAI launches GPT-Live, new voice models powering ChatGPT Voice and built on a full-duplex architecture, meaning they can listen and speak at the same time (OpenAI)

OpenAI launches GPT-Live, new voice models powering ChatGPT Voice and built on a full-duplex architecture, meaning they can listen and speak at the same time (VentureBeat)

PrismML says it ran a 27B-parameter Qwen 3.6 model on an iPhone 17 Pro, bigger than any prior on-device model; sources: Apple held talks with PrismML about it (The Information)

Character.AI launches three human-written, AI-generated microdramas, whose characters users can chat with, and aims to eventually let users make their own shows (TechCrunch)

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Chinese AI models grabbed over 30% of US token use as Beijing weighed curbing access. Anthropic expanded Cowork to mobile and web, Meta launched its first AI image generator on Instagram and WhatsApp, and Xbox's $80B Game Pass bet failed.

OpenRouter: Chinese AI models have drawn 30%+ of token use by US companies each week since February 8, peaking at 46%, up from 11% over the previous 12 months (CNBC)

Chinese authorities have held meetings with top tech firms about potentially restricting overseas access to China's most advanced AI models, sources say (Reuters)

Anthropic is bringing Claude Cowork to mobile and web, letting tasks run in the cloud and continue working even when no device is online (9to5Mac)

Anthropic is bringing Claude Cowork to mobile and web, letting tasks run in the cloud and continue working even when no device is online (ZDNet)

Meta launches Muse Image in Meta AI, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and previews Muse Video, the first media generation models from its Superintelligence Labs (Meta)

Meta's new Muse Image tool lets users generate AI photos similar to what they'd normally post, including vacation selfies and photo-booth style shots (NYT)

Public Instagram profiles are automatically opted into being used as material for others' AI image generations via Meta AI, unless users adjust their settings (Wired)

Xbox spent nearly $80B over a decade on content deals betting gamers would flock to Game Pass, but most gamers prefer sticking to a handful of favorite games (Bloomberg)

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Microsoft laid off ~4,800 employees and gutted Xbox by 3,200 jobs while divesting five studios. Samsung's profit rocketed past Nvidia's, Meta faced a $1.4 trillion lawsuit demand, xAI rebranded to SpaceXAI, and Anthropic researchers found a hidden "J-space" inside Claude.

Microsoft is laying off ~4,800 employees, or ~2.1% of its workforce; most are in sales or Xbox, where ~20% of jobs are set to be cut by the end of FY 2027 (The Verge)

Microsoft's Xbox to Cut 3,200 Jobs, Divest Five Studios in Major Overhaul (Bloomberg)

Samsung estimates Q2 operating profit of ~$58.44B, a 19-fold jump from a year earlier and above a ~$57.02B estimate, and revenue up 129% YoY to ~$111.7B (Reuters)

Samsung estimates Q2 operating profit of ~$58.44B, a 19-fold jump from a year earlier and above a ~$57.02B estimate, and revenue up 129% YoY to ~$111.7B (WSJ)

Court filing: Meta says four US states seek $1.4T over claims it designed Facebook and Instagram to addict youth and misled the public; its market cap is ~$1.5T (Reuters)

xAI rebrands to SpaceXAI and unveils a new logo; Elon Musk said in May that xAI would be dissolved as a separate company and become the AI products from SpaceX (Business Insider)

Anthropic researchers detail J-space, a small set of neural patterns in Claude that reveals internal thoughts that don't appear in the model's output (Anthropic)

Anthropic researchers detail J-space, a small set of neural patterns in Claude that reveals internal thoughts that don't appear in the model's output (VentureBeat)

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