The Brutalist Report

Techmeme

• Sources: Anthropic is in talks to raise between $30B and $50B in a funding round that would value it at up to $950B (Mike Isaac/New York Times) [1d]
• Princeton faculty votes to require proctoring in all in-person exams starting this summer, reversing an 1893 policy amid concerns about AI-fueled cheating (Douglas Belkin/Wall Street Journal) [1d]
• Google DeepMind details a Gemini-powered mouse pointer that understands what it is pointing at, allowing users to perform tasks without using text-heavy prompts (Google DeepMind) [1d]
• Vancouver-based quantum computing startup Photonic raised an additional $70M after a $130M raise announced in January, giving it a $2B post-money valuation (Josh Scott/BetaKit) [1d]
• Foxconn says some of its North American factories suffered a cyberattack in recent days; ransomware group Nitrogen claims it stole 8TB of data (Lily Hay Newman/Wired) [1d]
• Source: Anthropic is in advanced talks to acquire New York-based Stainless, which helps developers generate SDKs from APIs, for at least $300M (The Information) [1d]
• Sources: Anthropic is in early talks to raise at least $30B at a $900B+ valuation; the round is expected to close as soon as the end of this month (Bloomberg) [1d]
• Qualcomm closed down 11.46% on Tuesday as chip stocks pull back from record AI-driven rally; Intel closed down 6.82%, Sandisk dropped 6%, and Micron 3.61% (Samantha Subin/CNBC) [1d]
• Samsung and its South Korean labor union fail to reach a pay deal; the union has said workers will strike for 18 days from May 21 if its demands are not met (Reuters) [1d]
• Meta schedules its annual Connect event for September 23-24 and says the event will focus on "the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI" (Ben Lang/Road to VR) [1d]
• Meta offers to give rival AI chatbots free access to WhatsApp for a month while it discusses commitments with EU antitrust regulators to address their concerns (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters) [1d]
• CME Group and Silicon Data announce a futures market for computing capacity, with contracts based on daily GPU benchmarks for on-demand rental rates (Tobias Burns/CNBC) [1d]
• Sources: Apple plans to make the Camera app fully customizable in iOS 27, along with noticeable design changes across Siri, Safari, Weather, and more (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg) [1d]
• Musk v. Altman: Altman faced an intense cross-examination from Musk's attorney, who asked "are you completely trustworthy?"; Altman replied "I believe so" (Business Insider) [1d]
• The US FCC approves EchoStar's sale of approximately 65MHz of spectrum to SpaceX and 50MHz to AT&T (Christian Martinez/Reuters) [1d]
• Google says it is hiring a team of "forward deployed engineers", a source says in the hundreds, to help customers use its business-focused AI products (Erin Woo/The Information) [1d]
• Musk v. Altman: Altman testified that in 2017 Musk demanded complete control of a proposed OpenAI for-profit arm, musing that he would pass it to his children (Bloomberg) [1d]
• Anthropic names eight unauthorized secondary market sellers of its shares, including Hiive and Forge Global, warning that any share transactions there are void (Yazhou Sun/Bloomberg) [1d]
• Google launches Intrusion Logging, an Android feature developed in partnership with Amnesty International and others, on Android 16 Pixel devices for now (Tim Starks/CyberScoop) [1d]
• Google unveils a "full bleed" Android Auto design that fills unconventionally shaped screens like in the BMW Neue Klasse, plans to add YouTube video streaming (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge) [1d]
• Google unveils Android security features, including protection from spoofed banking calls, default theft protection, and biometric protection for Mark as lost (Adamya Sharma/Android Authority) [1d]
• Google announces Pause Point, an Android 17 feature that forces a mandatory 10-second pause before opening any app a user has labeled as a distraction (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch) [1d]
• Anthropic announces 12 Claude plugins for the legal sector, including a "commercial counsel" tool for reviewing vendor agreements and a bar exam study tool (Rachel Metz/Bloomberg) [1d]
• Google says it has worked with Meta and Apple to add creator-focused video-editing tools to Android 17, expand AirDrop connectivity, and more (Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET) [1d]
• Google announces Gemini Intelligence, a brand that bundles existing and new Gemini features, including task automation and Create My Widget (Allison Johnson/The Verge) [1d]
• Google announces a new laptop lineup called Googlebook, with a unified OS that merges ChromeOS and Android, a "Glow bar" rainbow LED design element, and more (Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET) [1d]
• Threads is testing a Meta AI integration similar to X's Grok, letting users mention Meta AI in a post or a reply to get more context, in five countries (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch) [1d]
• Nonprofit RSL Media announces the Human Consent Standard, an AI licensing framework for use of people's work or likeness, backed by George Clooney and others (Emma Roth/The Verge) [1d]
• Sources: Google is in talks with SpaceX and other companies for a rocket launch deal, as Google expands its own efforts to put orbital data centers in space (Wall Street Journal) [1d]
• Isomorphic Labs, an AI-powered drug discovery spinoff from Google DeepMind, raised $2.1B led by Thrive, after raising $600M in its first round in March 2025 (Pritam Biswas/Reuters) [1d]
• The US DOD says it is deploying Mythos to find and patch vulnerabilities across the US government even as it plans a transition away from Anthropic (Reuters) [1d]
• Exaforce, which uses AI agents to detect and thwart cyberattacks, raised a $125M Series B at a $725M valuation, bringing its total funding to $200M (Marina Temkin/TechCrunch) [1d]
• Sources: Wispr AI, the developer of the voice dictation tool Wispr Flow, is in talks to raise ~$260M in a round that could more than double its valuation to $2B (Bloomberg) [1d]
• SAP launches its new Autonomous Enterprise software suite, integrating data, cloud, AI, and automation features to streamline business processes (Mauro Orru/Wall Street Journal) [2d]
• PayPal agrees to forgo ~$30M in transaction fees to end a DOJ probe into allegations that the company adopted unlawful preferences for minority-owned businesses (Sadie Gurman/Wall Street Journal) [2d]
• London-based blockchain analytics company Elliptic raised $120M led by One Peak Partners at a $670M valuation; the platform screens 1B+ transactions per week (Anna Irrera/Bloomberg) [2d]
• OpenAI stands to hold ~$2.6B in combined CoreWeave and Cerebras stock that it acquired by committing to buy cloud services and chips, and to lend Cerebras money (Cory Weinberg/The Information) [2d]
• Microsoft says it is investigating a Mistral AI PyPI package v2.4.6 compromise; the attack is likely part of the Mini Shai-Hulud supply chain attack (Etiido Uko/Tom's Hardware) [2d]
• SAP invests in German workflow automation platform n8n at a $5.2B valuation, up from $2.5B after an October 2025 equity raise, and agrees to embed n8n's tools (Yazhou Sun/Bloomberg) [2d]
• Spotify celebrates its 20th anniversary with a Wrapped-like experience that features "never-before-shared data" going back to when users first joined Spotify (Jess Weatherbed/The Verge) [2d]
• Delivery Hero says founder Niklas Östberg plans to step down as CEO by March 2027, as the German food delivery group faces mounting activist investor pressure (Financial Times) [2d]
• AI voice startup Vapi raised a $50M Series B led by Peak XV, a source says at a $500M post-money valuation, after Amazon chose Vapi to handle 100% of Ring calls (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch) [2d]
• Sea reports Q1 revenue up 47% YoY to $7.1B and net income up 6% YoY to $428M, both above est., after warding off rivals in Southeast Asia's e-commerce market (Olivia Poh/Bloomberg) [2d]
• Amazon launches Amazon Now, its 30-minute delivery service, in dozens of US cities including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle, after pilots (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch) [2d]
• YouTube is shifting its creator monetization strategy by acting as a matchmaker between creators and sponsors, as Netflix and TikTok increasingly woo creators (John Koblin/New York Times) [2d]
• JD.com reports Q1 revenue up 4.9% YoY to $46.5B, above ~$45.8B est., and adjusted net profit down 42% YoY to $1B, amid a fierce food delivery battle in China (Wall Street Journal) [2d]
• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU will take action against "addictive design" on TikTok and Instagram, including "endless scrolling" (Sawdah Bhaimiya/CNBC) [2d]
• Sources: Anthropic officials refused a Chinese think tank's request to change its stance and allow Beijing to access Mythos at a meeting in Singapore last month (New York Times) [2d]
• eBay rejects GameStop's $56B takeover offer, saying the unsolicited bid is "neither credible nor attractive", in a letter from eBay Chairman Paul Pressler (Bloomberg) [2d]
• Amp, which aims to buy excess computing capacity from data center operators to sell to startups, universities, and more, raised $1.3B from a16z and others (Cade Metz/New York Times) [2d]
• Sources: Jensen Huang was not invited to travel with President Trump on his China trip, a potential setback to Nvidia; Huang expressed his willingness to join (Bloomberg) [2d]
• Sources: the Trump administration is quietly debating whether to ban Chinese "cellular modules", as the US FCC pushes measures to reduce Beijing's threats (Demetri Sevastopulo/Financial Times) [2d]
• Human Rights Watch: at least six EU member states, including Bulgaria and Denmark, have sold surveillance tech to 24+ countries known for violating human rights (Ryan Gallagher/Bloomberg) [2d]
• Source: Microsoft Israel's GM leaves after an internal probe into alleged unethical use of Azure by Israel's MOD; Microsoft France will manage Microsoft Israel (Assaf Gilead/Globes) [2d]
• A Hollywood writer recounts working as an "AI trainer" for companies like Mercor, as AI gig work becomes the "new waiting tables" for entertainment workers (Ruth Fowler/Wired) [2d]
• Instructure reached a deal with hackers who breached its Canvas platform to return stolen data and destroy copies, without disclosing what it gave in exchange (Qasim Nauman/New York Times) [2d]
• Sources: some Amazon employees are using in-house OpenClaw-like tool MeshClaw for unnecessary tasks to inflate AI token use after Amazon set weekly AI targets (Financial Times) [2d]
• The US House Oversight Committee launches a probe into potential conflicts in Sam Altman's personal investments; letter: several GOP AGs call for an SEC review (Wall Street Journal) [2d]
• AppMagic: Grok downloads fell to ~8.3M in April, from a high of 20M+ in January; Recon Analytics says Grok paid adoption in the US remains nearly flat YoY in Q2 (Georgia Wells/Wall Street Journal) [2d]
• Source: new revenue sharing terms cap OpenAI's payments to Microsoft at $38B; they previously could have totaled $135B through 2030 if long-term goals were met (The Information) [2d]
• The US Commerce Department removed from its website details about its May 5 agreement with Google, xAI, and Microsoft to test their AI models (Courtney Rozen/Reuters) [2d]
• Q&A with Scott Wu, CEO of Cognition, which hit a $445M revenue run rate in its first 18 months, on his math competition roots, the Devin AI coding agent, more (Jeremy Stern/Colossus) [2d]