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US Suspects Thailand's OBON Corp Helped Smuggle $2.5bn in NVIDIA Chips to Alibaba

US prosecutors believe Thailand's OBON Corp, a key player in the country's National AI Strategy, helped smuggle billions in NVIDIA-equipped Supermicro servers to China. Alibaba was allegedly among the end customers in a scheme involving falsified documents and dummy servers. The $2.5bn case marks the largest US enforcement action under AI export controls.

2 Sources

Akamai shares surge 26% after securing $1.8B AI infrastructure deal with frontier model provider

Akamai Technologies Inc. shares jumped 26% in after-hours trading following a seven-year, $1.8 billion commitment from an undisclosed U.S.-based frontier model provider. The deal validates Akamai's position as a key infrastructure provider in the artificial intelligence economy, with Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue already up 40% year-over-year to $95 million.

2 Sources

AI becomes leading cause of layoffs, accounting for 26% of April's job cuts in the US

Artificial intelligence has emerged as the top driver of layoffs for the second consecutive month, responsible for 21,490 job cuts in April—representing 26% of total reductions. The technology sector led all industries with 33,361 announced layoffs as companies redirect labor budgets toward AI investments, raising concerns about growing worker anxiety and shifting job market trends.

2 Sources

CoreWeave beats revenue estimates as AI boom drives unprecedented cloud demand

CoreWeave reported first-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.97 billion. The specialized cloud provider's growth comes from surging demand for high-performance computing services used to train and deploy AI models. Recent deals with Meta, Jane Street, and Anthropic totaling $27 billion highlight CoreWeave's position in the AI infrastructure race, though operating expenses more than doubled to $2.22 billion.

2 Sources

Judge rules Trump administration's cancellation of $100M+ humanities grants unconstitutional

A federal judge permanently blocked the Trump administration's cancellation of over $100 million in humanities grants, ruling that DOGE lacked authority and violated constitutional rights. The decision scrutinized how officials used ChatGPT to identify and terminate more than 1,400 grants based on perceived DEI content, calling it unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

3 Sources

OpenAI launches three voice AI models that translate 70+ languages and reason through live conversations

OpenAI has introduced three audio models through its Realtime API that enable developers to build voice-powered applications with advanced conversational capabilities. GPT-Realtime-2 brings GPT-5-class reasoning to live interactions, GPT-Realtime-Translate handles real-time language translation across 70+ input languages, and GPT-Realtime-Whisper delivers streaming transcription. Companies like Zillow, Priceline, and Deutsche Telekom are already testing these models to build voice assistants that can reason through requests and take action during conversations.

4 Sources

Tech companies turn to faith leaders in unprecedented push to build ethical AI

In a striking departure from Silicon Valley skepticism, tech companies including OpenAI and Anthropic are consulting religious leaders to shape AI ethics. The inaugural Faith-AI Covenant roundtable in New York brought together diverse faith groups to discuss integrating morality into AI development, though critics question whether these efforts represent genuine commitment or strategic public relations.

2 Sources

Spencer Pratt's viral AI video ignites debate over artificial intelligence's role in politics

LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt appears as a Batman-like hero in an AI-generated political video that's gone viral, drawing both praise from conservative figures and concerns about deepfake technology. The cinematic ad portrays Mayor Karen Bass as the Joker and Gov. Gavin Newsom as French royalty, highlighting how AI is reshaping political campaigns and raising questions about voter manipulation.

2 Sources

Block Inc. beats Q1 earnings as artificial intelligence restructuring accelerates growth

Block Inc. shares surged over 8% after reporting a first-quarter earnings beat with 27% gross profit growth to $2.91 billion and raised its 2026 outlook. CEO Jack Dorsey's AI-native restructuring is paying off, with engineer productivity up 2.5x and Cash App consumer lending originations jumping 82% year-over-year as the company deploys AI tools across operations.

2 Sources

SK Hynix flooded with unprecedented offers as big tech scrambles to secure memory chips

Major global tech companies are making rare financial offers to SK Hynix, including funding new production lines and purchasing equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as they compete to secure memory chips. The unprecedented proposals highlight severe scarcity in the memory chip market driven by surging AI demand, with available capacity described as "essentially zero."

4 Sources

OpenAI releases GPT-5.5-Cyber to vetted cybersecurity teams, a month after Anthropic's Mythos

OpenAI announced GPT-5.5-Cyber, a specialized AI model for cybersecurity teams to identify vulnerabilities and analyze malware. The limited preview follows Anthropic's Mythos release, with both models showing advanced capabilities in finding software bugs. OpenAI's approach offers broader access through its Trusted Access for Cyber program compared to Anthropic's restrictive rollout.

2 Sources

Cloudflare cuts 1,100 jobs despite strong earnings, citing shift to agentic AI era

Cloudflare announced it will lay off more than 1,100 employees—20% of its workforce—as the company restructures around AI. Despite reporting 34% year-over-year revenue growth and beating earnings expectations, CEO Matthew Prince says the cuts reflect changing roles in the agentic AI era. The company's internal AI usage surged 600% in three months, prompting a dramatic workforce reorganization.

8 Sources

Nvidia commits $2.1 billion to IREN in massive AI data center infrastructure deal

Nvidia is investing up to $2.1 billion in data center operator IREN as part of a deal to deploy 5 gigawatts of AI infrastructure globally. The partnership underscores the intense demand for AI computing power as Big Tech firms race to secure capacity. IREN's stock surged following the announcement, which includes a separate $3.4 billion agreement for GPU cloud services.

7 Sources

AI Layoffs Don't Deliver ROI—Redeploying Workers Does, Gartner Data Shows

CEOs are caught between two approaches to AI adoption: slash headcount or maintain staff while increasing workloads. But new Gartner research reveals that companies achieving the best AI return on investment aren't those cutting workers—they're the ones redeploying employees to higher-value tasks. As AI spending surges toward $376.3 billion by 2027, the data challenges the layoff-first mentality gripping corporate boardrooms.

2 Sources

Yesterday

French prosecutors escalate Elon Musk and X investigation to criminal probe over Grok AI violations

French authorities have escalated their investigation into Elon Musk and social platform X to a criminal probe. The Paris prosecutor's office is pursuing charges including complicity in distributing child sexual abuse images, Holocaust denial by Grok AI, and spreading nonconsensual deepfakes. Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino refused to appear for voluntary interviews in April.

6 Sources

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