California drivers accuse gas station operators of using AI to boost pump prices — lawsuit seeks damages for antitrust violations

Californians pay the highest gas prices in the U.S. and a proposed class action says that the issue has been exacerbated by an AI-tool that smartly squeezes customers for the best profits.

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Oracle lays off 21,000 employees in just 12 months due to AI adoption and costly AI infrastructure ambitions — says layoffs will continue as internal AI deployment grows

Oracle cut 21,000 jobs in fiscal year 2026 as AI automation and AI cloud expansions reshape its workforce and spending strategy.

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SK hynix passes Samsung as South Korea’s most valuable company — memory company surpasses valuation milestone on the back of HBM
 SK hynix passes Samsung as South Korea’s most valuable company — memory company surpasses valuation milestone on the back of HBM

SK hynix overtook Samsung Electronics on Monday to become South Korea’s most valuable listed company.

Anthropic’s powerful Mythos AI reportedly breached ‘almost all’ NSA classified systems within a few hours during red-team test — report sheds more light on the U.S. government’s sudden ban on the flagship models

Anthropic’s Mythos AI reportedly breached nearly all NSA classified systems during a controlled red-team test, according to a quote cited by The Economist. The report adds context to the U.S. government’s sudden restriction on Anthropic’s latest models.

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Samsung and SK hynix bonuses for chip workers flagged as a national inflation risk — Bank of Korea projects full-year inflation significantly above its 2% target

The Bank of Korea has named performance bonuses at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as a risk to the country’s inflationary stability.
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Age of Empires II’s goats used as AI building blocks to build a neural network — goaty experiment mocks the idea of chatbot consciousness, Microsoft AI researcher’s project makes an absurdist point about AI consciousness

People seem all-too-ready to anthropomorphize LLMs and AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, reckons a Microsoft AI researcher.
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Acoustic mapping app uses thousands of networked old Android phones to hunt Shahed drones — crowd-sourced microphone network spots small, low-RCS military targets

This app would crowdsource drone detection and help map their location and direction long before they reach their targets.
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China unifies tech sector to build grid-free orbiting satellite AI data centers, challenging Elon Musk’s SpaceX — Beijing’s forced chip and satellite alliance announced a week before Musk’s AI1 reveal

Beijing says the Space Computing Industry Innovation Center will bring together rocket and satellite manufacturers, chip manufacturers, and AI labs to develop a space-based data center system.
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Rare ASML Special Edition Monopoly board unearthed in social media trade — enthusiast swaps 2007 employee gift for High-NA EUV Lego kit

We just witnessed a significant semiconductor industry related non-cash trade deal take place on Twitter/X.

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China unveils man-portable anti-drone laser that can burn through a drone 1,600 feet away in four seconds — backpack-sized 2-kilowatt weapon uses AI for targeting, weighs 55 pounds, and can be carried by a single soldier

Chinese defense supplier Harbin Xinguang Optic-Electronics Technology demo’d two man-portable anti-drone lasers at a Beijing arms expo this week.
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