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18 May 2026

Commonwealth Bank of Australia recruits top AI researcher Mary-Anne Williams as Chief AI Scientist

Commonwealth Bank of Australia appointed Professor Mary-Anne Williams as its first Chief AI Scientist, recruiting the renowned AI researcher from the University of New South Wales. Williams will lead a team focused on machine learning, responsible AI innovation, and generative AI as the bank accelerates its frontier AI capabilities.

2 Sources

Elon Musk loses lawsuit against OpenAI as jury rules claims filed too late

A federal jury unanimously dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Microsoft after deliberating less than two hours. The verdict clears a major obstacle to OpenAI's anticipated $1 trillion IPO, though the trial exposed internal conflicts and raised questions about Sam Altman's credibility that could affect investor confidence.

58 Sources

Publicis acquires LiveRamp for $2.2 billion to accelerate agentic AI business transformation

French advertising giant Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire data collaboration platform LiveRamp for $2.2 billion, marking a strategic shift from traditional advertising execution to agentic AI transformation. The deal combines LiveRamp's data clean room technology with Publicis Epsilon's identity resolution assets to enable smarter AI agents that can autonomously handle complex business workflows.

5 Sources

Nvidia concedes China market to Huawei as export restrictions reshape AI chip landscape

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledges the company has largely conceded China's AI chip market to Huawei amid ongoing U.S. export restrictions. Despite this retreat, Nvidia reported record Q1 revenue of $81.6 billion, an 85% year-over-year increase driven by the AI boom. Huang maintains that his $200 billion CPU market forecast still includes China, signaling long-term optimism even as the company's market share in the region has evaporated.

11 Sources

17 May 2026

AI hiring shifts dramatically as 43% of CEOs plan to cut junior roles, favoring older workers

A global CEO survey reveals a dramatic reversal in hiring priorities, with 43% planning to reduce junior positions over the next two years—up from just 17% last year. Companies are increasingly turning to AI to automate entry-level tasks while shifting focus to mid-level and senior workers. The tech sector faces the hardest hit, with 74% of CEOs freezing or reducing headcount, raising concerns about future talent pipelines.

3 Sources

16 May 2026

ASML Signs Semiconductor Deal with Tata Electronics as Modi Pushes India's Chip Ambition

Dutch tech giant ASML signed a major semiconductor deal with Tata Electronics during Narendra Modi's Netherlands visit, deploying advanced lithography tools at the $11bn Dholera plant in Gujarat. The agreement marks a critical step in India's pursuit of silicon sovereignty, as the country depends on ASML's monopoly in chip-making equipment to realize its ambitious domestic semiconductor manufacturing goals.

3 Sources

AI data centers trigger 76% electricity price spike as federal watchdog demands tech giants pay

Wholesale electricity prices in the largest US region jumped 76% due to AI data centers, affecting 67 million people. A federal watchdog now demands tech companies pay for their own power infrastructure to prevent further cost-shifting to households. The price surge—from $77.78 to $136.53 per megawatt-hour—could worsen unless data center load growth is addressed before June 2026.

4 Sources

Salesforce plans $300 million Anthropic spend as Benioff bets big on AI coding agents

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed the company will spend $300 million on Anthropic tokens in 2026, almost entirely for coding applications. The investment signals a major shift in enterprise AI spending as coding agents deliver efficiency gains that make software development faster and cheaper. Benioff also teased upcoming AI-driven coding functionalities inside Slack.

3 Sources

Greg Brockman Takes Control of OpenAI Product Strategy as Company Merges ChatGPT and Codex

OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman now officially leads the company's product strategy, overseeing the merger of ChatGPT and Codex into a single unified experience. The company reorganization comes as OpenAI refocuses on core products and prepares for a potential IPO later this year, while several senior executives have departed.

3 Sources

15 May 2026

Samsung averts strike with $26.6 billion in AI boom bonuses, but deep divisions remain

Samsung Electronics reached a last-minute deal with its South Korean union to distribute up to $26.6 billion in semiconductor bonuses, with average payouts approaching $340,000 per chip employee. The agreement averts an 18-day strike that threatened global AI chip production, but internal divisions over profit distribution reveal deeper tensions about sharing the spoils of the AI boom.

12 Sources

Raspberry Pi founder warns AI hype could worsen tech skill shortages and hurt the economy

Eben Upton, founder of Raspberry Pi, cautions that overestimating AI's capabilities could discourage young people from pursuing tech careers, worsening existing skill shortages. With tech layoffs surpassing 100,000 in 2025 and companies attributing cuts to AI, Upton argues that the hype risks creating a future without enough engineers to sustain economic growth.

2 Sources

Applied Materials raises outlook to 30% growth as chipmakers race to expand AI production capacity

Applied Materials has significantly upgraded its 2026 sales forecast, now expecting semiconductor equipment business to grow over 30% this year, up from a prior 20% projection. The chipmaking equipment giant beat Wall Street expectations with $7.91 billion in Q2 revenue and issued strong Q3 guidance, signaling that AI chipmakers are finally committing substantial capital to expand production capacity after initial hesitation.

3 Sources

Elon Musk's xAI commits $2.8B for gas turbines despite lawsuit over illegal power plant

Elon Musk's xAI is doubling down on gas turbines with a $2.8 billion investment revealed in SpaceX's IPO filing, even as the NAACP sues the company for operating an illegal power plant in Mississippi. The company now runs 46 turbines at its data center, far exceeding the 15 it has permits for, while claiming a temporary-mobile exemption allows it to bypass Clean Air Act requirements.

6 Sources

Figma Q1 revenue surges 46% as AI credit system proves customers will pay for AI-powered design

Figma reported 46% revenue growth to $333.4 million in Q1 2026, accelerating from previous quarters. The design software company's stock jumped over 8% after enforcing AI credit limits in March, with more than 75% of high-tier users who exceeded free allocations continuing to purchase AI credits. The results suggest early traction in AI monetization despite competitive pressures from free tools like Google's Stitch.

4 Sources

Thrive Capital bets $100M on Shopify's AI commerce strategy as stock trades 46% below peak

Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital has invested roughly $100 million in Shopify, framing the public-market bet as a wager on how AI will reshape commerce. The venture capital firm sees opportunity in the e-commerce platform's 40% stock decline this year, betting that AI-driven tools like agentic shopping will transform retail economics in ways the market hasn't yet priced in.

2 Sources

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