Arturo Béjar, a key witness in state AGs' trial against Meta, says terms of the settlement are insufficient to protect young users; Meta rejects the criticism (Nick Robins-Early/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/26/meta-trial-witness-settlement
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/26/meta-trial-witness-settlement
the Guardian
Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagers
Exclusive: Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said outcome ‘is not an all clear to say the product is safe’
Google starts rolling out the google.com/goto URL as a passthrough URL to help prevent scraping of its search results by third-party tools and AI companies (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Roundtable)
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.html
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.html
Indian IT giant TCS agrees to acquire Porsche's IT consulting business, MHP, for €320M as part of a five-year, €1.25B contract to provide AI services to Porsche (Priyanka Salve/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/porsche-inks-billion-ai-deal-india-it-tcs.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/25/porsche-inks-billion-ai-deal-india-it-tcs.html
CNBC
Porsche inks $1.5 billion deal for AI deployment with India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy
Indian IT services giant TCS has secured a $1.5 billion contract to deploy AI for German sports carmaker Porsche.
Sources: DeepSeek is set to soon raise $7.4B at a $74B valuation from existing and new investors to fund R&D and its expansion into computing infrastructure (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-startup-deepseek-poised-to-reach-74-billion-valuation-1e093592?st=eFgDSw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-startup-deepseek-poised-to-reach-74-billion-valuation-1e093592?st=eFgDSw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The Wall Street Journal
AI Startup DeepSeek Poised to Reach $74 Billion Valuation
The Hangzhou-based company is seeking to raise funding to bankroll research and development, and its expansion into computing infrastructure.
A look at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Merlin Bird ID app, which has been downloaded 42M times since launching in 2014 and can identify 11,000 bird species (Claer Barrett/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/bbb5acbe-c833-4a19-8437-3f5260cc6700?accessToken=zwAAAaBBzmXwkdO7tay-yDNKGdOENz9SYMxnAA.MEQCIEl56HGEDs7dduVvfRcIj6nSiHYxxcwsZLNXoMI0Sok-AiAHUPcUGsVt-Kda7txdc1tIBvA0BlZEzGjBl_DIkRwLGw&sharetype=gift&token=19d95d1e-58a3-4efc-a130-a1ccc25eaab0
https://www.ft.com/content/bbb5acbe-c833-4a19-8437-3f5260cc6700?accessToken=zwAAAaBBzmXwkdO7tay-yDNKGdOENz9SYMxnAA.MEQCIEl56HGEDs7dduVvfRcIj6nSiHYxxcwsZLNXoMI0Sok-AiAHUPcUGsVt-Kda7txdc1tIBvA0BlZEzGjBl_DIkRwLGw&sharetype=gift&token=19d95d1e-58a3-4efc-a130-a1ccc25eaab0
A federal judge, in his US Court of Appeals ruling, urged SCOTUS to reconsider the issue of CSAM and revisit legal precedents that predated advances in AI (Nitasha Tiku/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/26/federal-judge-warns-law-is-being-left-behind-by-ai-sex-abuse-images/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzg3NzE2ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MDk5MTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3ODc3MTY4MDAsImp0aSI6IjlkZGIyZWQ3LWE2OWQtNGE0Mi04MzZiLTY5YzEzOWZjM2EyZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjYvMDgvMjYvZmVkZXJhbC1qdWRnZS13YXJucy1sYXctaXMtYmVpbmctbGVmdC1iZWhpbmQtYnktYWktc2V4LWFidXNlLWltYWdlcy8ifQ.y_wvwv_qyzgcAddOrSeTE_DMIBf7tjfr3xorGOf5OzU&itid=gfta
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/26/federal-judge-warns-law-is-being-left-behind-by-ai-sex-abuse-images/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzg3NzE2ODAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MDk5MTk5LCJpYXQiOjE3ODc3MTY4MDAsImp0aSI6IjlkZGIyZWQ3LWE2OWQtNGE0Mi04MzZiLTY5YzEzOWZjM2EyZSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5LzIwMjYvMDgvMjYvZmVkZXJhbC1qdWRnZS13YXJucy1sYXctaXMtYmVpbmctbGVmdC1iZWhpbmQtYnktYWktc2V4LWFidXNlLWltYWdlcy8ifQ.y_wvwv_qyzgcAddOrSeTE_DMIBf7tjfr3xorGOf5OzU&itid=gfta
UK consulting executives say AI has made interpersonal skills more valuable, as the companies consider more office time for junior staff to hone them (Ellesheva Kissin/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/7fd9c234-a92b-4ab2-ba1f-969cf9a23f52
https://www.ft.com/content/7fd9c234-a92b-4ab2-ba1f-969cf9a23f52
Sources: Singapore-based Shein is set to price its Hong Kong IPO at ~$6.20, or near the midpoint of its marketed range, raising $1.73B and valuing it at ~$26.5B (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shein-set-raise-17-billion-hong-kong-ipo-sources-say-2026-08-27/
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shein-set-raise-17-billion-hong-kong-ipo-sources-say-2026-08-27/
YouTube and TikTok are yet to publicly acknowledge Meta's proposed changes under its AG settlement; some US lawmakers signal an appetite for industry-wide rules (Mike Isaac/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/technology/meta-settlement-mark-zuckerberg-youtube-tiktok.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/technology/meta-settlement-mark-zuckerberg-youtube-tiktok.html
Nytimes
Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make Sure YouTube and TikTok Share His Pain
Meta, the social media giant, agreed to change the way children interact with its apps. That could be trouble if its competitors don’t abide by the same rules.
Rockstar executives discuss GTA VI, including new interactive systems that let player habits like diet alter characters' appearance and in-game social media (Thom Waite/Dazed)
https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/70859/1/gta-6-grand-theft-auto-vi-rockstar-exclusive-deep-dive-game-unparalleled-world
https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/70859/1/gta-6-grand-theft-auto-vi-rockstar-exclusive-deep-dive-game-unparalleled-world
Dazed
GTAVI: An exclusive deep dive into the video game of the decade
The pressure on Grand Theft Auto VI to deliver the holy grail of gaming is enormous – we talk to Rockstar’s epic team of creative talents to uncover its secrets
X launches NFL Gametime, an integrated NFL feed and hub featuring live data, scores, statistics, creator content, and more through to the 2027 Super Bowl (Brian Steinberg/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/x-launches-nfl-gametime-football-feed-1236844339/
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/x-launches-nfl-gametime-football-feed-1236844339/
Variety
X Launches ‘NFL Gametime,’ a Football Feed Placed Alongside ‘For You’ and ‘Following’
X Launches 'NFL Gametime,' Puts Football Feed Alongside 'For You' and 'Following'
Cambridge, MA-based Transfyr emerges from stealth with a $25M seed to use AI to address science's reproducibility crisis and capture labs' "tacit knowledge" (Carl Zimmer/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/science/scientists-experiments-replication-ai.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/science/scientists-experiments-replication-ai.html
Nytimes
Some Scientists Have ‘Magic Hands’ in the Lab. This A.I. Is Learning Why.
Even the most adept researchers may not know exactly what they do to get successful results. An A.I. model is trying to figure it out by watching every move.
Meta says its new teen safeguards on Facebook and Instagram are exclusively for US users; the changes will be closely watched by officials outside of the US (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/meta-s-teen-safeguards-on-facebook-instagram-apply-only-to-us
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/meta-s-teen-safeguards-on-facebook-instagram-apply-only-to-us
Bloomberg.com
Meta’s Teen Safeguards on Facebook, Instagram Apply Only to US
Meta Platforms Inc.’s changes to Instagram and Facebook, part of a series of landmark settlements to resolve claims that the social media networks are a safety risk to children, will apply only to US users for now.
Sources: Donald Trump Jr. told GOP state AGs at a March event that gambling companies' "vested interest" was misleading states to attack prediction markets (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/technology/prediction-markets-states-kalshi-polymarket-lawsuits.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/technology/prediction-markets-states-kalshi-polymarket-lawsuits.html
Nytimes
Prediction Markets and States Clashed, Setting Off a Furious Political Battle
A legal dispute over the future of Kalshi, Polymarket and others has drawn in the Trump administration, the president’s son and nearly every state attorney general.
Sources: Adam Mosseri met with state AG representatives roughly a month ago, saying Meta would appeal any adverse verdict but was willing to make changes (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/metas-social-media-settlement-leaves-its-money-machine-unscathed-2026-08-27/
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/metas-social-media-settlement-leaves-its-money-machine-unscathed-2026-08-27/
Hugging Face unveils Microduck, a $400, 1.7lb, 10-inch-tall bipedal robot developed in part by Pollen Robotics and manufactured by Shenzhen-based Seeed Studio (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/hugging-face-unveils-400-singing-skating-duck-like-robot
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/hugging-face-unveils-400-singing-skating-duck-like-robot
Bloomberg.com
Hugging Face Unveils $400 Singing, Skating Duck-Like Robot
Artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face Inc. unveiled a singing $400 bipedal robot that can be taught tricks, the latest in the company’s ongoing effort to make AI and robotics more approachable to the general public.The cute robot — aptly named Microduck…
Australian Federal Police arrest two Western Australia men, aged 21 and 23, believed to be members of TeamPCP, a prolific cybercrime and data extortion group (Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security)
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/08/two-alleged-teampcp-hackers-arrested-in-australia/
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/08/two-alleged-teampcp-hackers-arrested-in-australia/
Krebs on Security
Two Alleged ‘TeamPCP’ Hackers Arrested in Australia – Krebs on Security
Authorities in Australia have arrested two men believed to be members of TeamPCP, a prolific cybercrime and data extortion group blamed for perpetrating the longest running spree of software supply chain attacks ever.
Gambit Security: Russian-speaking ransomware gang Aur0ra used SpaceX's Cursor AI coding assistant to breach at least seven companies between April 8 and May 21 (Raphael Satter/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-speaking-cybercriminals-used-spacexs-cursor-ai-tool-hack-seven-companies-2026-08-27/
https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-speaking-cybercriminals-used-spacexs-cursor-ai-tool-hack-seven-companies-2026-08-27/
Samsung unveils the Galaxy S26 FE, offering a MediaTek, not Qualcomm, chipset, 12GB of RAM, a dialed-back camera system from the S26, for $700+, a $50 jump (Chris Welch/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/samsung-s-700-galaxy-26-fe-gets-a-price-hike-even-with-many-tradeoffs
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-27/samsung-s-700-galaxy-26-fe-gets-a-price-hike-even-with-many-tradeoffs
Bloomberg.com
Samsung’s $700 Galaxy 26 FE Gets a Price Hike Even With Many Tradeoffs
Samsung Electronics Co. introduced the Galaxy S26 FE, its latest smartphone aimed at consumers who want a device that’s priced well below high-end models but still offers at least a few premium features.
OpenAI launches ads on its ChatGPT Free and Go subscription tiers in India, where it has 100M+ weekly active users, and plans to launch an ad manager next month (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/27/openai-to-start-showing-ads-on-chatgpts-free-and-go-tiers-in-india/
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/27/openai-to-start-showing-ads-on-chatgpts-free-and-go-tiers-in-india/
TechCrunch
OpenAI to start showing ads on ChatGPT's free and Go tiers in India | TechCrunch
OpenAI has more than 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users in India, a huge chunk of whom are on the free or the lower-priced Go tiers.
Kalshi partners with Weather Co. to verify climate and weather prediction market settlements; Kalshi says weather vertical trading volume will hit $1.1B in 2026 (Clara Hudson/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/finance/kalshi-and-the-weather-co-join-forces-on-climate-trades-76b7e307?st=fnaXoh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
https://www.wsj.com/finance/kalshi-and-the-weather-co-join-forces-on-climate-trades-76b7e307?st=fnaXoh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The Wall Street Journal
Exclusive | Kalshi and the Weather Co. Join Forces on Climate Trades
The trading platform is now getting input from experts that operate a leading weather app to verify popular climate-prediction markets.