Microsoft will open Xbox Cloud Gaming to non-Game Pass users via a pay-as-you-go model; Ultimate subs will be limited to 15 hours per month of cloud gaming (Tom Warren/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/989211/microsoft-xbox-cloud-gaming-pay-as-you-go-option
https://www.theverge.com/news/989211/microsoft-xbox-cloud-gaming-pay-as-you-go-option
The Verge
Microsoft opens up Xbox Cloud Gaming with new pay-as-you-go option
Microsoft is trying once again to tempt people without an Xbox into its ecosystem.
Humain launches humain-m3, an Arabic-language model developed with MiniMax, amid controversy among US allies over sovereign AI built with Chinese models (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/saudi-arabia-s-humain-unveils-ai-model-based-on-china-s-minimax
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/saudi-arabia-s-humain-unveils-ai-model-based-on-china-s-minimax
Bloomberg.com
Saudi Arabia’s Humain Unveils AI Model Based on China’s MiniMax
Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence company Humain has built a national AI platform based on an open model from Chinese lab MiniMax Group Inc., joining a growing list of countries seeking tighter control of the increasingly important technology.
Sources: Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab is in talks to raise $1B+ at a $40B+ pre-money valuation, lower than the $50B+ valuation it sought last year (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/thinking-machines-lab-talks-raise-billions-roughly-40-billion-valuation
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/thinking-machines-lab-talks-raise-billions-roughly-40-billion-valuation
The Information
Nvidia in Talks to Invest Around $2.5 Billion in Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab
Thinking Machines Lab, the AI developer led by ex-OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, is in talks to raise between $5 billion and $6 billion at a valuation of at least $40 billion before the investment, existing investor Andreessen Horowitz has told…
OpenAI prices GPT-6 Astra at $10/1M input tokens and $50/1M output tokens, matching Anthropic's pricing for Claude Fable 5.1 (The Deep View)
https://www.thedeepview.com/articles/openai-s-astra-leans-into-agentic-tasks-and-safety
https://www.thedeepview.com/articles/openai-s-astra-leans-into-agentic-tasks-and-safety
The Deep View
OpenAI's Astra leans into agentic tasks and safety
OpenAI's now infamous model that was part of the Hugging Face breach is about to be loose in the world, but with new safeguards. On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled G...
OpenAI calls GPT-6 Astra the "world's best computer use model"; in tests, it booked DMV appointments and searched job listings faster than the average person (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-says-gpt-6-can-use-a-computer-better-than-a-human/
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-says-gpt-6-can-use-a-computer-better-than-a-human/
WIRED
GPT-6 Astra Is Here—and OpenAI Thinks It May Kick Off the AGI Era
OpenAI leaders think the company’s next generation model, which excels at computer use and coding, may mark a major milestone in AI development.
OpenAI says Astra was built on its largest-ever training run, using more than 100,000 GPUs at its Stargate site in Texas (Ina Fried/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/03/openai-astra-gpt-6-agi-brockman
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/03/openai-astra-gpt-6-agi-brockman
Axios
"Welcome to the AGI era," OpenAI says as GPT-6 Astra debuts
Executives say this could mark the moment when artificial general intelligence equals human capabilities.
Microsoft AI debuts MAI-Transcribe-2, a speech recognition model that it says beats Gemini 3.5 Transcribe and GPT-Transcribe, at $0.10/audio hour through 2026 (Michael Nuñez/VentureBeat)
https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/microsoft-ais-mai-transcribe-2-undercuts-openai-google-and-elevenlabs-on-price-and-speed
https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/microsoft-ais-mai-transcribe-2-undercuts-openai-google-and-elevenlabs-on-price-and-speed
Venturebeat
Microsoft AI’s MAI-Transcribe-2 undercuts OpenAI, Google and ElevenLabs on price and speed
Microsoft’s MAI-Transcribe-2 offers faster AI transcription for 10 cents an hour, challenging OpenAI, Google and ElevenLabs.
A White House official says Zuckerberg opposed a US AI regulator in a call with Trump last month; another source says he didn't ask Trump to change his stance (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/03/mark-zuckerberg-said-a-national-ai-regulator-was-a-flawed-idea-in-a-secret-call-with-president-trump-01063843
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/03/mark-zuckerberg-said-a-national-ai-regulator-was-a-flawed-idea-in-a-secret-call-with-president-trump-01063843
POLITICO
Zuckerberg opposed White House AI proposal in private call with Trump
The Trump administration is now considering both a FINRA-style approach and David Sacks’ industry-led approach as potential paths forward.
DOD's Emil Michael says Anthropic is still a designated supply chain risk, a day after Howard Lutnick said it resolved its issues with the Trump administration (Maggie Eastland/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/pentagon-says-its-anthropic-ban-is-on-despite-lutnick-remarks
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/pentagon-says-its-anthropic-ban-is-on-despite-lutnick-remarks
Bloomberg.com
Pentagon Says Its Anthropic Ban Is On, Despite Lutnick Remarks
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Anthropic PBC has resolved its long-running issues with the Trump administration but a top Pentagon official begs to differ.
GPT-6 Astra scores 62.7% on ARC-AGI-3 with the standard harness and 99.9% with a new provider adapter harness; Claude Opus 5 scored 30.2%, and GPT-5.6 Sol 7.8% (Greg Kamradt/ARC Prize)
https://arcprize.org/blog/astra
https://arcprize.org/blog/astra
ARC Prize
OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra on ARC-AGI-3 | ARC Prize
OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra reaches state-of-the-art results on ARC-AGI-3
Sources: Crusoe signed a ~$13B, five-year deal with Jane Street to provide GPUs and other infrastructure for AI training and inference via its cloud platform (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/crusoe-signs-roughly-13-billion-ai-cloud-deal-with-jane-street
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/crusoe-signs-roughly-13-billion-ai-cloud-deal-with-jane-street
Bloomberg.com
Crusoe Signs Roughly $13 Billion AI Cloud Deal With Jane Street
Crusoe, a data center upstart with contracts to supply AI computing power to the likes of Meta Platforms Inc. and Oracle Corp., has signed a cloud contract with trading firm Jane Street Group valued at around $13 billion, according to people with knowledge…
OpenAI commits $1B in subsidized model access, training, support, and partnerships to a new initiative aimed at protecting essential services around the world (Sam Sabin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/03/openai-critical-infrastructure-cyber-ai-models
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/03/openai-critical-infrastructure-cyber-ai-models
Axios
OpenAI unveils plan to protect critical services from AI cyberattacks
The move comes as the AI lab releases its most powerful model to date.
Adobe names Customer Experience Orchestration president Anil Chakravarthy as CEO, effective December 1, replacing Shantanu Narayen, who becomes executive chair (Annie Palmer/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/adobe-anil-chakravarthy-ceo.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/adobe-anil-chakravarthy-ceo.html
CNBC
Adobe names Anil Chakravarthy as CEO, replacing Shantanu Narayen
Adobe announced Anil Chakravarthy as its next CEO, replacing Shantanu Narayen, who announced his departure last March.
Oura files for a US IPO, reporting a $924.3M net loss on $1.21B in revenue for the nine months ended June 30, vs. a $182.8M net loss on $697.6M a year earlier (Subrat Patnaik/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/smart-ring-maker-oura-files-for-us-ipo-as-revenue-surges
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/smart-ring-maker-oura-files-for-us-ipo-as-revenue-surges
Bloomberg.com
Smart Ring Maker Oura Files for US IPO as Revenue Surges
Health and fitness ring-maker Oura Inc. filed for an initial public offering, showing soaring revenue as well as increasing losses.
Sources: PayPal has paused plans to sell its VC portfolio for $900M-$1B after bids came in lower than hoped, months after deciding to wind down PayPal Ventures (Axios)
https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/2026/09/03/paypal-pause-venture-portfolio-sale
https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/2026/09/03/paypal-pause-venture-portfolio-sale
Axios
PayPal pauses venture portfolio sale process
Bids came in lower than expected.
Sources: Crusoe raised $3B+ at a ~$30B post-money valuation; Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners co-led the round, with Mubadala Capital participating (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/crusoe-raises-over-3-billion-in-funding-at-30-billion-valuation
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/crusoe-raises-over-3-billion-in-funding-at-30-billion-valuation
Bloomberg.com
Crusoe Raises Over $3 Billion in Funding at $30 Billion Valuation
Crusoe, a cloud-computing provider and data center developer doing business with OpenAI, Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc., has raised over $3 billion in a funding round that values the startup at roughly $30 billion, according to people familiar with…
Sources: Index Ventures dropped plans to invest in AI assistant Town after Instinct, which Index is backing, complained about a potential conflict of interest (Alex Konrad/Upstarts Media)
https://www.upstartsmedia.com/p/scoop-town-fundraise-vc-reshuffle
https://www.upstartsmedia.com/p/scoop-town-fundraise-vc-reshuffle
Upstartsmedia
Scoop: Conflict With Instinct Knocks Index Out Of Town’s Buzzy New Raise
Exclusive details on Town’s new $90M fundraise at a $1B valuation, and the eleventh-hour cap table reshuffling of VCs behind it, per Upstarts sources.
AI scientist and Google researcher Ray Kurzweil joins BCI startup Subsense, which develops non-surgical BCI tech involving inhaled nanoparticles, as an advisor (Alexei Oreskovic/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2026/09/03/ai-visionary-ray-kurzweil-is-joining-a-silicon-valley-startup-developing-a-brain-computer-system-that-involves-snorting-nano-particles/
https://fortune.com/2026/09/03/ai-visionary-ray-kurzweil-is-joining-a-silicon-valley-startup-developing-a-brain-computer-system-that-involves-snorting-nano-particles/
Fortune
AI visionary Ray Kurzweil is joining a Silicon Valley startup developing a brain computer system that involves snorting nanoparticles…
Subsense’s brain computing interface could compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink, but would not require surgery.
Tesla says Cybercab rides are available in limited areas of Austin; the two-seater has no steering wheel or pedals, and 45 Cybercabs are registered in Texas (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-cybercab-event-set-thursday-with-few-details-2026-09-03/
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-cybercab-event-set-thursday-with-few-details-2026-09-03/
Vals analysis: open-weight models performing multi-stage tasks, like building a web app, can have an environmental impact 10K times greater than simple queries (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/ai-s-environmental-impact-per-task-balloons-with-more-complexity?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODQ1Mzk2MywiZXhwIjoxNzg5MDU4NzYzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1NCV1pSMjRVOFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGRjMyOTZDMzVFNEI0QTRBQjFFRTVDQzEzQ0YzMUNDQiJ9.8ShIwgSwrkJWvsN5gaj4nXw_Jy9W3gDmfbKFK1Tb6kk
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/ai-s-environmental-impact-per-task-balloons-with-more-complexity?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODQ1Mzk2MywiZXhwIjoxNzg5MDU4NzYzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1NCV1pSMjRVOFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGRjMyOTZDMzVFNEI0QTRBQjFFRTVDQzEzQ0YzMUNDQiJ9.8ShIwgSwrkJWvsN5gaj4nXw_Jy9W3gDmfbKFK1Tb6kk
Bloomberg.com
AI’s Environmental Impact Per Task Balloons With More Complexity
Benchmarker Vals AI finds that multi-stage tasks can require models to use exponentially more energy or water than simple queries do.
Wikimedia Foundation staffers vote 158-14 to join the CWA, which will represent 200+ US employees across engineering, finance, and communications (Paresh Dave/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-workers-vote-on-whether-to-unionize/
https://www.wired.com/story/wikipedia-workers-vote-on-whether-to-unionize/
WIRED
Wikipedia Workers Unionize for the First Time
More than 200 people in roles such as engineering, finance, and communications will now be represented by the Communications Workers of America.