Businesses in China are experimenting with ways to package and market AI tokens to ordinary consumers, including as credit card rewards and telecom plan bundles (Kinling Lo/Rest of World)
https://restofworld.org/2026/china-ai-tokens-consumer-rewards-credit-cards-telcos-deepseek/
https://restofworld.org/2026/china-ai-tokens-consumer-rewards-credit-cards-telcos-deepseek/
Rest of World
Chinese businesses are giving away AI tokens with coffee, credit cards, and dumplings
Five unexpected ways computing power is entering everyday life in the country.
Anthropomorphic portrayals of AI models as rogue agents can obscure the responsibility that companies like OpenAI have for incidents like the Hugging Face hack (Robert Hart/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/987566/ai-civilizations-opeai-hugging-face-hack
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/987566/ai-civilizations-opeai-hugging-face-hack
The Verge
The rise of AI ‘civilizations’ and the fall of corporate responsibility
The internet fights over anthropomorphism around the Hugging Face hack.
Swiss Re: global premiums for insuring data centers will likely reach $20B-$30B/year by 2030; ~40% of US data-center capacity is located in tornado-prone areas (Jean Eaglesham/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/finance/the-next-big-opportunity-in-data-centers-insuring-them-f133f3cb
https://www.wsj.com/finance/the-next-big-opportunity-in-data-centers-insuring-them-f133f3cb
The Wall Street Journal
The Next Big Opportunity in Data Centers: Insuring Them
From tornadoes to power cuts, artificial-intelligence hyperscale data centers are exposed to a dizzying array of potential threats during their construction and operation.
Trump admin debuts arcade.gov with a deportation-themed Snake clone and a Tetris-like wall-building clone; Tetris says it takes IP infringement "very seriously" (ABC News)
https://abcnews.com/Politics/white-house-launches-arcade-computer-game-lets-players/story?id=136214362
https://abcnews.com/Politics/white-house-launches-arcade-computer-game-lets-players/story?id=136214362
ABC News
White House launches Arcade.gov with computer game that lets players 'deport' migrants
The White House announced the launch of what it called "Arcade.gov," a website of five versions of classic computer games promoting the president's agenda.
The Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the companies trained AI on their journalism; Microsoft and OpenAI are funders of Seattle Times (Todd Bishop/GeekWire)
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seattle-times-sues-microsoft-and-openai-alleging-they-trained-their-ai-on-its-journalism/
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seattle-times-sues-microsoft-and-openai-alleging-they-trained-their-ai-on-its-journalism/
GeekWire
Seattle Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging they trained their AI on its journalism
Microsoft was sued Friday by the parent company of its hometown daily newspaper, The Seattle Times Co., which joined with Newsday to accuse the Redmond tech giant and OpenAI of using their journalism to train their artificial intelligence models.
As researchers begin applying AI to understand animal communication, bioethicists warn it could give humans new ways to manipulate, exploit, and harm animals (Morgan Meaker/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-04/ai-s-next-ethical-dilemma-should-humans-talk-to-animals?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODU5MTI2NiwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MTk2MDY2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1RTTzBSMjRVODYwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIwNEFGQkMxQkYyMTA0NUVEODg3MzQxQkQwQzIyNzRBMCJ9.hjuVWuvnk50kQIpiRPsoTF4ZBtQlEN-J_CO18jEmzX4
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-04/ai-s-next-ethical-dilemma-should-humans-talk-to-animals?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODU5MTI2NiwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MTk2MDY2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1RTTzBSMjRVODYwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIwNEFGQkMxQkYyMTA0NUVEODg3MzQxQkQwQzIyNzRBMCJ9.hjuVWuvnk50kQIpiRPsoTF4ZBtQlEN-J_CO18jEmzX4
Bloomberg.com
Talking to Animals Is AI’s Next Ethical Minefield
AI could transform our understanding of other species. It also risks giving humans powerful new ways to manipulate, exploit and harm them.
The data center backlash is challenging Texas' pro-business approach; Wood Mackenzie: Texas has more data center capacity under construction than any US state (Stephanie Findlay/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/fff531fc-988c-4016-9b5b-25f2274f4d47?accessToken=zwAAAaBq_GUskdP_9TH8mIxAFtObWyXyJ09NRw.MEYCIQD09lhipznFC83rVxTx4ztMI_rtYxuK-2xpbJltH0yV8AIhALEtjnwE4yew40b3WfYJRD1cEh2sBy9ecksnl-0qFESV&sharetype=gift&token=2310df83-b6ea-4b36-9b05-d4b985b00bbf&syn-25a6b1a6=1
https://www.ft.com/content/fff531fc-988c-4016-9b5b-25f2274f4d47?accessToken=zwAAAaBq_GUskdP_9TH8mIxAFtObWyXyJ09NRw.MEYCIQD09lhipznFC83rVxTx4ztMI_rtYxuK-2xpbJltH0yV8AIhALEtjnwE4yew40b3WfYJRD1cEh2sBy9ecksnl-0qFESV&sharetype=gift&token=2310df83-b6ea-4b36-9b05-d4b985b00bbf&syn-25a6b1a6=1
OpenAI quietly updates its evaluation metrics for GPT-6 Astra, making changes that appear to favor Astra and continuing to revise other metrics after launch (Emily Forlini/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2026/09/04/openai-quietly-boosts-some-of-astras-evaluation-metrics-amid-rare-delay-in-publication-of-the-modeblog-post-announcement/
https://fortune.com/2026/09/04/openai-quietly-boosts-some-of-astras-evaluation-metrics-amid-rare-delay-in-publication-of-the-modeblog-post-announcement/
Fortune
OpenAI quietly boosts some of Astra's evaluation metrics, and continues to change others post-launch | Fortune
It's unclear what delayed OpenAI's official blog post on Astra. But when it did appear, some performance figures had changed in Astra's favor.
Sources: Travis Kalanick's Atoms is developing robotaxi tech and hired Anthony Levandowski after acquiring his company Pronto; Uber has invested $100M in Atoms (Rafe Rosner-Uddin/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/8a708224-3a37-4d23-9f5c-158a73216018
https://www.ft.com/content/8a708224-3a37-4d23-9f5c-158a73216018
Trump officials say Judeo-Christian principles inform AI policy, with some optimistic about AI and others seeing parallels to biblical end-times prophecies (Philip Wegmann/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/vance-called-ai-satanic-he-struck-a-chord-among-christian-republicans-dcc34048?st=DEHJjr&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/vance-called-ai-satanic-he-struck-a-chord-among-christian-republicans-dcc34048?st=DEHJjr&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The Wall Street Journal
Vance Called AI Satanic. He Struck a Chord Among Christian Republicans.
Trump administration officials are wrestling with the spiritual consequences of AI as the president embraces it as an economic engine.
How AI gutted Kenya's essay-writing industry, which at its peak paid 40,000+ people in Nairobi to do overseas students' homework, leaving few paths back to work (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/technology/kenya-college-essays-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-1A.dcLn.JHW0dAE69g6h&smid=url-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/technology/kenya-college-essays-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-1A.dcLn.JHW0dAE69g6h&smid=url-share
Nytimes
Kenyans Made a Living Writing College Essays. Then A.I. Arrived. (Gift Article)
Thousands of Kenyans made a living writing essays for overseas students. With A.I., the work has dried up, a warning for online gig work that has been a global lifeline.
Tim Cook's pay package indicates he will remain very active at Apple; sources: Apple's plans to squeeze more App Store profits prompted Phil Schiller to leave (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-06/apple-s-new-ceo-like-cook-pay-package-shows-he-s-going-nowhere-sept-9-event-mtpvpcj1?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODcwNTgwOCwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MzEwNjA4LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1k0ODFLR0NURlEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.VPVLP03ZWjEbH48efjq8Q7n0_vk4t7OynYeaUbOfYzU
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-06/apple-s-new-ceo-like-cook-pay-package-shows-he-s-going-nowhere-sept-9-event-mtpvpcj1?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4ODcwNTgwOCwiZXhwIjoxNzg5MzEwNjA4LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS1k0ODFLR0NURlEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNEVEQ0FFMUZBMDU0MEJFQTI0QTlGMjExQzFFOTA4MCJ9.VPVLP03ZWjEbH48efjq8Q7n0_vk4t7OynYeaUbOfYzU
Bloomberg.com
Tim Cook’s CEO-Like Pay Package Shows He Isn’t Going Anywhere
Also: The latest on Apple’s big Sept. 9 event.
OpenAI says it hit its "automated research intern" goal, its researchers now use 3.1 agent-workdays per human workday, and top users spend $7,000+/day on tokens (OpenAI)
https://openai.com/index/research-acceleration-view-inside-openai
https://openai.com/index/research-acceleration-view-inside-openai
OpenAI
Research acceleration: The view inside OpenAI
Inside OpenAI, coding agents are reshaping AI research. Explore early data on agent usage, experiment velocity, task complexity, and research acceleration.
Analysis: since October, Anthropic has entered into agreements for at least 14.8 GW of compute capacity and may spend as much as $517B over the next decade (Valida Pau/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropic-clinched-517-billion-compute-deals-11-months
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropic-clinched-517-billion-compute-deals-11-months
The Information
How Anthropic Clinched $517 Billion in Compute Deals in 11 Months
Anthropic in the last year has scrambled to line up cloud computing deals with SpaceX, Google and others to meet the skyrocketing demand for Claude Code and Cowork that took the company by surprise this year. As the AI powerhouse gears up for a possible record…
OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki says no lab has solved alignment enough to keep scaling at maximum speed, and hopes voluntary slowdowns become commonplace (OpenAI)
https://openai.com/index/an-alien-mind/
https://openai.com/index/an-alien-mind/
OpenAI
An Alien Mind
Jakub Pachocki reflects on increasingly capable AI and the challenge of keeping it aligned. He calls for stronger safeguards and international coordination.