Apple was last valued at $4.88 trillion as its shares held ‌steady, while Nvidia was roughly at $4.86 trillion, following a 3.5% decline.

The shift in the pecking order illustrates that investors are broadening their focus beyond the most obvious beneficiaries of the AI boom, such as Nvidia, which had been at the helm for nearly a year.

Apple is reclaiming the top spot for the first time since April last ​year.

“Apple was seen as a laggard in the AI race because it wasn’t spending to develop models, but now sentiment has changed,” ​said Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management.

“Apple is less exposed to capex intensity and better positioned ⁠to monetize AI via services, ecosystem lock-in, and hardware upgrades. The re-rating reflects confidence in earnings durability rather than speculative AI upside.”

For a company that ​was often seen trailing in the AI race, the milestone reflects Apple’s efforts to establish itself more firmly among the sector’s leading players and could ​shape how CEO Tim Cook’s final months at the helm are viewed.

Cook is preparing to cede his role to hardware veteran John Ternus in September.

Last month, the company rolled out a long-delayed overhaul of Siri, betting the upgraded assistant would help close the gap with Big Tech rivals and new-age startups in the crucial AI race.

Some analysts say Apple is sitting ​on an AI gold mine in the form of the personal data that lives on every iPhone.

The data could make Siri’s answers more ​useful and the assistant more capable.

The challenge is that such data is locked away in operating systems in the name of privacy, and the company would have to ‌find a ⁠way to unlock its value.

AI spending lifts new winners

Nvidia became the first company in the world to surpass a $5 trillion market valuation in October, a landmark that propelled it into a rarefied territory that was far beyond the reach of its rivals.

Being superseded by Apple does not necessarily signal a lasting change in the companies’ relative standing.

The chipmaker remains a major beneficiary of AI-related spending, and its graphics processors are powering much of the generative AI frenzy.

Nvidia ​could also reclaim the top spot ​if sentiment shifts.

Besides, Apple is in ⁠a delicate position itself, having raised prices to offset rising costs — a strategy that could hurt demand.

“I don’t see any meaningful distinction. Nvidia is likely to be a significant participant in whatever happens going forward,” said Benjamin Hall, vice ​president, alpha research at Segal Marco Advisors.

However, the AI enthusiasm has spread to other corners of the semiconductor ​industry.

The bigger winners ⁠this year have been memory chipmakers such as Micron, which crossed $1 trillion in market value in May as investors embraced the significance of memory chips in AI infrastructure.

South Korea’s SK Hynix, also listed on the Nasdaq earlier this month, adding another player to the race for investor attention.

“The new entrants to the market could spread ⁠out the ​focus away from the pure Magnificent Seven names into a wider number of names,” Hall ​said.

The eye-watering chips rally ran into turbulence in July as investors reassessed the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade, knocking the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index down almost 19% from its all-time highs.

Despite ​the steep fall, the index has performed better than Nvidia so far this year.

xAI alleged in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas on Tuesday, that Terry Harwood violated the company’s terms of service. The case ​is one of the first brought by an AI company ​against one of its users for allegedly using an AI ⁠system to generate explicit material.

Contact information for Harwood, who was arrested in February, ​was not immediately available. Spokespeople for xAI did not immediately respond to ​a request for comment on Wednesday.

The company’s lawsuit against Harwood follows intense global scrutiny of xAI over allegations that Grok has allowed users to generate non-consensual sexualised deepfakes, or realistic-looking ​videos fabricated by AI.

xAI’s complaint said that the company “enforces its rules ​against violators through account suspensions, account terminations, and by reporting suspected child sexual abuse ‌material ⁠to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.”

“Indeed, Plaintiff has suspended 52,222 accounts and made 73,604 reports to NCMEC in 2026, resulting in (at least) 244 arrests,” the lawsuit said.

xAI alleged that Harwood uploaded non-sexual images of ​adults and minors ​to Grok and ⁠tried to use the system to generate sexually explicit deepfakes based on them. The complaint also alleged he ​created non-consensual sexual imagery of adults.

The company asked the ​court ⁠for an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a court order permanently blocking Harwood from using Grok.

“Defendant’s actions were a calculated scheme to weaponise Plaintiff’s ⁠tool ​for criminal ends, exposing real victims to profound ​and lasting harm, while exposing Plaintiff to significant legal risk and reputational damage,” xAI said ​in the lawsuit.

“With ‌AI, robots will become smart, easily adaptable and accessible,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at a media event in Tokyo.

On Wednesday, ​Huang attended an event held by gaming ​firm Sega Sammy in the Akihabara electronics district ⁠and ate dinner at a Japanese “izakaya” pub.

Huang has achieved ​rock star status in Taiwan, and his appearances have ​also generated interest from onlookers in Japan, which boasts leading companies in the chipmaking supply chain.

“I think he’s the most influential ​man on Earth,” said Chang Hui-Yu, a 57-year-old Taiwanese ​tourist, speaking outside the Sega event.

“It was my first time seeing ‌Jensen ⁠Huang in person, and I was so excited,” said Brian Yang, 37, who is Taiwanese and lives in Tokyo.

Huang was pictured last night with executives of leading ​Japanese supply ​chain firms, including ⁠the CEOs of chipmaker Kioxia and equipment maker Tokyo Electron.

Investors are weighing the ​strength of the AI investment cycle, with ​chipmaking equipment ⁠maker ASML on Wednesday raising its sales forecast and pledging capacity expansion.

TSMC, the world’s leading contract chipmaker, is expected ⁠to ​post a fifth consecutive quarter of ​record earnings on Thursday due to the AI boom.

A month after it announced plans to introduce a sweeping ban on social media for ​young people under 16, the government said on Tuesday it also planned a default overnight ​curfew for young people aged 16 and 17.

Affected users would be blocked from using ⁠the apps between midnight and 6 a.m. unless they change the default setting. Features designed to ​keep users scrolling would also be switched off by default.

The curbs underline global concerns among parents and policymakers ​about safeguarding young people from the harmful effects of social media on their mental and physical health.

“These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more ​quality time with family and friends,” technology minister Liz Kendall said.

Online safety minister Kanishka Narayan said tech ​companies would be legally required to implement the curfew.

“We’re forcing the tech companies to do it,” he told LBC ‌Radio on Wednesday.

He said the companies had a liability to do more robust age checks and that those that fail to do so would face “very severe regulatory sanction”.

Instagram owner Meta, TikTok parent ByteDance and Google, which owns YouTube, did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the curbs.

Opposition Conservative Party ​education policy chief Laura ​Trott called the plans ⁠a mess.

“Either they think 16- and 17-year-olds should be on social media, or they don’t, but curfews they can simply switch off won’t achieve anything,” ​she said.

The first set of regulations on social media restrictions will be ​laid before parliament ⁠by the end of this year, with measures expected to come into force in spring 2027, the government said.

A team that advised Australia — the first country to ban social media for children — found that online ⁠platforms were tumbling at the very first step of implementing age-verification checks, rendering ​the ban ineffective.

Google and TikTok have, in the last month, separately settled a US lawsuit brought by a minor who claimed that ​social media platforms damaged his mental health.

The offer, submitted earlier this month, is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks, said one of the people.

The offer represents around a 28% premium to PayPal’s closing share price on Tuesday.

The people, who are familiar with the matter, declined to be named as the deal discussions are confidential.

PayPal, Stripe and Advent declined to comment.

The proposal follows an initial approach made ​in early April, the sources said.

Stripe and Advent have not received a response from PayPal and are seeking to advance discussions in the coming ​weeks, the sources added.

Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal, with each holding an equal stake, rather than breaking ⁠up the company, the people said.

There is no certainty the approach will result in a transaction, they added.

PayPal shares were last up 15% in premarket trading.

Founded in ​the late 1990s, PayPal was an early player in digital payments, but has faced increasing competition as consumers have embraced alternative payment methods and rivals such as Apple Pay ​and Google Pay have gained market share.

It has spent the past several years grappling with slowing growth and intensifying competition in digital payments, wiping out much of the value it gained during the pandemic.

The company’s market capitalisation peaked at about $360 billion in 2021 and fell to as low as roughly $36 billion this year.

It has lost more than 40% of its market value over the past 12 ​months.

After taking over in March, PayPal CEO Enrique Lores started a sweeping turnaround exercise to simplify the payments provider and sharpen its focus on growth.

In April, the company split ​its operations into three units covering checkout, consumer financial services Venmo, and payments and crypto, while making a series of management changes.

Global payment deals

The potential PayPal transaction, if completed, will add to ‌the recent ⁠M&A activity in the global payments sector, where buyers have pursued targets amid rapid changes in financial technology and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Payment companies are also increasingly seeking scale through M&A as well as exposure to faster-growing segments such as cross-border and business-to-business payments amid slower growth for traditional payment processing.

In 2025, Global Payments agreed to acquire rival Worldpay from FIS and private equity firm GTCR for $24.25 billion in a complex three-way deal.

As part of that deal, GTCR sold its 55% stake, and FIS exited its remaining ​45% holding.

The sector has also seen a ​steady stream of smaller deals, including ⁠the acquisition of Payoneer Global by Canadian payments firm Nuvei for $2.75 billion.

Nuvei is backed by Advent International and other private equity firms.

Mastercard is exploring the sale of a majority stake in its UK payments subsidiary Vocalink back to British banks as it responds to concerns ​about a critical asset being under US ownership, the Financial Times reported this week.

PayPal’s revenue rose 7% to $8.35 billion in ​the first quarter, beating ⁠analysts’ average estimate of $8.05 billion.

On a currency-neutral basis, total payment volumes jumped 8% over a year ago to about $464 billion.

Lores outlined plans in May to leverage artificial intelligence to streamline operations across the company and eliminate duplication in workforce layers, but did not provide additional details.

The company has said these initiatives would save about $1.5 billion over the next two to ⁠three years, adding ​it will reinvest that amount to drive new growth.

Stripe, which is privately held, is among the industry’s ​most valuable companies.

It was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer for employees and shareholders in February, a more than 70% jump from a similar share sale a year earlier.

The company, with headquarters in San ​Francisco and Dublin, allows companies to accept payments, make payouts and automate financial processes.

Below are some key examples:

New York state, US

Governor Kathy Hochul imposed a one-year construction moratorium on data centres using 50 megawatts (MW) or ​more of power, making New York the first US state to ​enact a full moratorium.

During the freeze, the state’s Department of Environmental ⁠Conservation will not issue new discretionary permits while officials develop standards to assess ​the environmental impact of data centres.

Maine, US (vetoed)

Governor Janet Mills vetoed bipartisan legislation that would ​have enacted an 18-month moratorium on new data centres using more than 20 MW of power, a measure that would have been the first of its kind in the US.

Mills said ​she supported a moratorium in principle but objected to the bill’s failure to ​carve out an exception for a specific project in the Town of Jay.

Monterey Park, California, US

Residents voted ⁠to permanently ban data centres in the city in June 2026, becoming the first U.S. city to do so at the ballot box, following public backlash over a planned facility.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The city imposed a one-year moratorium on new data centre ​developments in 2019. In ​April 2025, it ⁠barred new data centres or expansions in the municipality until at least 2030.

Separately, the Dutch national government’s 2022 hyperscale ban ​restricts large facilities to two designated locations nationally, though Microsoft ​won approval ⁠in January 2026 for a project split into three towers, each individually below the size threshold.

Dublin Ireland (restriction now lifted)

Ireland’s grid operator effectively blocked new data centre connections around ⁠Dublin ​from 2021 after warnings the facilities were straining ​the grid.

The freeze ended in December 2025, with new connections now required to bring their own on-site ​power generation.

The development comes after Mufti Taqi Usmani declared purchasing goods with cryptocurrency “impermissible”, citing research conducted by experts so far which found that cryptocurrency does not qualify as “wealth”.

The fatwa was originally issued by Darul Ifta, Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi, and dated 24 Zilhaj 1447 AH (June 10, 2026). Apart from Mufti Usmani, a former judge of the Federal Shariat Court, five other prominent scholars are its signatories.

“Today, I had a constructive discussion with Mufti Taqi Usmani Sahib on digital assets and the ongoing conversation around their Shariah status. We are united on one fundamental objective: protecting Pakistanis from fraud, exploitation, and financial harm,” Saqib wrote in a post on X.

“I shared that blockchain, digital assets, stablecoins, and tokenised real-world assets represent a broad spectrum of technologies and use cases. As such, they merit careful technical assessment alongside rigorous Shariah examination, rather than being viewed through a single lens.

“As this field continues to evolve, I look forward to continued engagement between respected scholars, regulators, and industry experts so that Pakistan’s approach is guided by both Islamic principles and a comprehensive understanding of emerging technologies,” he said.

The complaint accuses OpenAI of orchestrating a broad effort to systematically acquire and exploit Apple’s ‌confidential information through former employees, recruiting practices and supplier relationships to accelerate its push into the consumer hardware business.

“We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” OpenAI said in a statement.

“We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

The lawsuit sets up a battle over who will control future AI devices that may not use traditional apps or operating systems — devices which, if successful, would direct consumer attention away from Apple’s best-selling iPhone.

Analysts believe OpenAI is working on a phone or other device of its own.

Tensions between ​the two tech companies have strained their relationship, as the race to develop AI products has intensified competition for talent and proprietary technology.

“Apple sees OpenAI moving from partner to potential rival, while OpenAI is trying ​to reduce its dependence on the iPhone and build a direct relationship with consumers,” said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore.

“Even if the allegations are not proven, the lawsuit could ⁠delay OpenAI’s hardware ambitions and further weaken what is already becoming an increasingly fragile partnership.”

Apple’s lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, comes just after OpenAI successfully fended off a legal ​challenge from Elon Musk’s xAI.

The two former Apple employees named in the suit are Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and former vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, Tang Yew Tan.

Neither immediately ​responded to a request for comment.

Apple alleged that Liu failed to return a company-issued work laptop and later used an authentication bug to access Apple’s internal network, downloading “dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files.”

The iPhone maker also claimed that OpenAI’s hardware chief Tan had been “methodically using Apple’s confidential information to benefit OpenAI” before his departure by emailing himself information about Apple suppliers and internal industry summaries.

Tan worked on the iPhone for most of his 24-year tenure at Apple, according to his LinkedIn page.

Apple alleged that Tan encouraged Apple employees ​to bring parts from Apple to job interviews at OpenAI for “show and tell” sessions, citing an incident in its filing where one OpenAI job candidate allegedly said that he “didn’t even know we could take those from the office.”

OpenAI ​Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC, the company’s commercial arm, and io Products, which OpenAI acquired, were also named as defendants.

Confidential information

In its complaint, Apple claimed it wrote to OpenAI in February with concerns that its confidential information was making its way to OpenAI ‌and asking to ⁠discuss the matter, but it received no reply.

More than 400 former Apple employees now work for OpenAI, it said in its filing, adding that “it is not surprising” that some of them have knowledge of its confidential information.

“That OpenAI now employs people who were once entrusted with Apple’s trade secrets does not entitle OpenAI to use that information to jumpstart its hardware efforts,” the iPhone maker wrote in its complaint.

Apple also alleged that OpenAI employees sought confidential information from Apple suppliers, at one point allegedly having one of those suppliers carry out what Apple called a secret metal finishing technique on the belief that OpenAI had Apple’s permission to use the technique.

Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, ​said that Apple’s complaint “has the potential to be a ​very big case” but that some of what Apple ⁠alleges, such as OpenAI’s hiring of hundreds of Apple employees, is not illegal in California, where Silicon Valley sprang up in part thanks to state laws that allow employees to leave for a competitor.

“But if Apple’s claims that the employees took confidential documents with them — and that OpenAI is using those documents — are true, that is a problem for OpenAI,” Lemley ​said.

Camilla Hrdy, a law professor at Rutgers Law School, said the case could become complex because most of the previous cases around AI and trade secrets have involved ​software rather than hardware.

“These trade secret ⁠lawsuits are frequently brought in the tech space, and we usually learn much, much more as the case develops. OpenAI is not a defendant that can’t afford to defend itself,” Hrdy said.

Simmering tension

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters in May that OpenAI was exploring legal options against Apple, including notifying the technology giant of a breach of contract but potentially not filing a full lawsuit.

In 2024, Apple announced the integration of its Apple Intelligence technology across its apps, including Siri and ⁠brought OpenAI’s chatbot ​ChatGPT to its devices.

Their partnership allows users to access ChatGPT results through Siri, while iPhone users can also sign up for ChatGPT memberships ​directly from the iOS settings menu.

Apple rolled out a long-delayed overhaul of Siri last month.

The update comes two years after Apple first promised major upgrades that were repeatedly delayed.

OpenAI bought hardware startup io Products, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, last year in a $6.5 billion deal, in ​a push to move beyond software into consumer hardware. Ive is not named in the lawsuit.

The Long March 10B rocket lifted off from the Hainan commercial space launch site in southern China at 12:15pm and, about six minutes ​after separation of its booster and upper stage, the booster returned vertically and was recovered on an offshore ​platform, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The test marks China’s first successful retrieval of an orbital-class rocket, ⁠putting the country closer to developing reusable rockets.

Shares in Chinese aerospace firms jumped on the news, with China Spacesat and ​China Satellite Communications hitting their daily limits.

The Long March 10B has been compared to the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s widely used ​medium-lift rocket.

It was developed for commercial aerospace by the country’s main state rocket developer, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and is capable of carrying a payload of at least 16 metric tons to low-Earth orbit.

But unlike the Falcon 9, the Long March 10B ​does not autonomously land on deployable legs on a ground pad or drone ship, using instead “landing hooks” to catch the ​net attached to a sea platform.

By contrast, SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 rocket from an orbital flight for the first time in ‌December 2015, ⁠followed by Blue Origin’s New Glenn in November 2025.

By now, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launches around 150 times a year, or roughly three times a week, with its booster reused dozens of times if necessary.

The engine-packed booster is generally viewed as the most valuable part of a rocket.

China has spent nearly a decade developing reusable rocket technologies, from early ​low-altitude hover tests to orbital-class ​booster recovery attempts in recent ⁠years.

A system of reusable rockets will lower launch costs for China’s rapidly expanding commercial satellite constellations.

Private Chinese firms are also stepping up efforts to test their reusable rockets ​amid intense global competition to acquire the technology, and China has eased IPO rules for firms ​developing reusable rockets ⁠to help them raise funding.

Two attempts by private Chinese firm LandSpace and state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation last year failed to complete the crucial final step of landing and booster recovery.

As part of the Long March 10 family being developed ⁠for China’s ​crewed lunar missions before 2030, the Long March 10B could also provide ​data and validate technologies relevant to the broader lunar programme.

China plans to use the Long March 10’s booster stage again for another launch by the ​end of this year, CCTV said.

This comes on the heels of the US government lifting curbs ​on Anthropic’s latest Fable and Mythos AI models last week, less than ⁠three weeks after the company was ordered to suspend their access over national security ​risks.

Washington has increased scrutiny of advanced AI model releases to identify potential threats on concerns that ​the technology could be misused by military or intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern.

Axios, which broke the news on the OpenAI launch, reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that ​the US Department of Commerce had approved a broad launch of GPT-5.6, following additional government ​testing under Washington’s new oversight framework for frontier AI.

OpenAI had limited the model’s access to a small ‌group ⁠of vetted partners whose details were shared with the authorities.

The tech firm now plans to launch GPT-5.6 Sol, along with Terra and Luna models, OpenAI said in a post on X late on Tuesday.

Sol is OpenAI’s most advanced model yet, while Terra is the mid-tier lower-cost ​model and Luna ​is the most cost-efficient ⁠option.

The White House and the US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business ​hours.

Increased scrutiny of AI models began with US President Donald Trump signing ​an executive ⁠order establishing a voluntary framework for AI developers to offer “covered frontier models” to the US government for up to 30 days before releasing them to trusted partners.

Anthropic has warned that it ⁠was “probably impossible” ​to make any AI model fully robust to jailbreaks ​and noted the potential for the development of a universal jailbreak that would be able to unblock “an entire class ​of harmful behaviours.”

Big Tech’s historic AI outlays, set ‌to top $700 billion this year, are piling pressure on companies to show returns from the technology and offset the rising cost of rolling it out across their businesses. Amazon and Meta Platforms have also laid off thousands ​of employees this year.

Microsoft announced the cuts on Monday following a rough stretch, with its shares ​falling nearly 23% in the first six months of 2026, their worst first-half ⁠performance since 2022.

The software giant earlier this year offered voluntary buyouts to about 7% of ​its US workforce, or about 9,000 employees. Microsoft often trims jobs near the end of its fiscal ​year in June as it sets spending plans for the new year.

Booming AI demand has powered growth at Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing business, which was the exclusive seller of OpenAI’s models until April, but the mounting cost of ​building data centres to run those services is squeezing its cash flows.

The company, expected to report ​results later this month, had in April forecast quarterly Azure sales above Wall Street estimates, but also issued ‌a $190 billion ⁠spending projection for 2026 that massively surpassed expectations.

AI tools that can increasingly automate routine business tasks have also emerged as a threat to its lucrative software business, while a surge in memory chip prices driven by data centre demand has forced Microsoft to raise Xbox console prices at ​a time when demand for ​the console was ⁠already soft.

The gaming division’s new head, Asha Sharma, said last month that the business needed a “reset” and that its profit margin had declined to 3%, forcing ​a restructuring that could include potential M&A.

“Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the ​past five ⁠years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time,” she said in an outspoken ⁠memo ​to employees published on Microsoft’s website. “Going forward, this cannot continue.”

The ​company is considering options for the Xbox gaming unit, including a potential spinoff or restructuring as a wholly owned subsidiary, ​the Information reported last month.

Working from her Virginia Beach home, she used AI tools to school herself in startup culture, create a business plan and fine-tune a ​presentation for early-stage investors. Funding began to flow, and the company, launched in January 2025, now has 16 employees and is certified in three states to provide Medicaid-funded mental health counselling for children entering the foster system, a gap ‌in care she identified through her own experience as a foster parent.

“A mom of six kids who’s a first-time founder, who’s a sole female founder, should not be able to raise (venture capital). I don’t have an MBA. I don’t have these things to back me up,” Turner said. Developing her funding pitch with AI guidance was “like going to a master’s level class every day from the robot. It was my startup advisor.”

The rapid emergence and spread of AI has become a defining feature of the US economy, of prime interest to Federal Reserve officials trying to understand its potential to reshape productivity, growth, inflation and labour demand. Among a broad review of the ​Fed launched by new Chairman Kevin Warsh, one panel will look solely at AI and its implications for productivity, a force that can allow the economy to grow faster with less inflation, but also means fewer workers are needed to create the same ​output.

Some Fed officials have already raised the possibility of an AI economy with structurally higher unemployment; other analysts have noted the steady dip in labour’s share of national income and questioned whether steadily higher returns ⁠to capital are also part of the AI future, a who-wins issue with social and political implications.

Much like when then-exotic new brands such as Yahoo! and America Online fought to connect everyone to the internet, different AI models are now competing for attention and dollars — but with ​offerings that can perform complex tasks, solve problems, or write computer code, not just shop and search the Web.

Investment in needed data centres is driving overall growth and, in some cases, driving up power and labour costs. Scenarios around AI range from visions of plenty to mass unemployment, with ​banks, government agencies, the military and more looking to exploit the new tools but also protect from them.

“Markets are confronted with dramatically different competing narratives,“ Jean Boivin, head of the BlackRock Investment Institute, said in a seminar with journalists on Tuesday. “We are framing this as scarcity versus abundance…Scarcity is the story of the moment” with the AI investment boom driving up some costs and driving demand for capital, but, “we are also talking about abundance….We are talking about AI that can lead to significant breakthroughs…Growth that might be breaking out of a 2% world.”

Somewhere in the middle sits Turner’s journey from non-profit manager to chief executive of a growing company, a ​story John Bailey, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and adviser to one of the firms that invested in Here Now Health, says is becoming more common.

For small entrepreneurs, “things that used to take too much time or cost too much — the price to access has ​fallen close to zero,” said Bailey, who helped Turner from the outset develop the AI tools she relied on. “It is empowering entrepreneurs to scale faster and hire people. These are not AI companies. They are traditional companies trying to deliver services but do it faster, cheaper.”

Public debate remains focused on AI’s job-disrupting ‌capacity, with rounds ⁠of tech industry layoffs attributed to it and evidence that it is letting firms reduce back-office and clerical employment. Bailey said he’s become more convinced the AI economy won’t kill jobs so much as change and rearrange them, much as happened with earlier technological leaps.

He isn’t alone in seeing the upside.

Torsten Slok, chief economist at investment firm Apollo Global Management, attributes a recent upturn in already-high new business formations to AI, which is “dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of launching a company. As these firms scale, they will create jobs.”

A recent jump in job creation has eased concern that the US was already entering an era when technology would replace labour at such a pace that unemployment might rise and mark the first time that new general technology proved, on net, labour-destroying.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said in an ​interview earlier this year that he is wrestling with the employment risks AI ​might pose, but also is struck by firms telling him it ⁠is easing worker shortages in some skilled occupations, a boost to supply.

“We are all quick to see the disasters, which is about jobs getting replaced,” Barkin said. But he said contacts in areas like auto repair or manufacturing generally “are still in a world of saying they cannot get enough workers,” and are leaning on AI to make whoever they can hire more productive.

“It is still going to be a challenge. It is a ‘rust-belt ​risk’,” for some white-collar occupations in particular, Barkin said. But “we are not an economy that has no shortages.”

The transition, however, may be painful.

The globalisation of world trade in the 1990s decimated longstanding US ​manufacturing clusters. Programs to transition workers to ⁠new jobs were not effective. Over time, the narrowed opportunities in parts of the Midwest and South are felt to have contributed to a rightward drift in politics and “deaths of despair” from substance abuse.

Researchers in a recent study warned that a similar shock may be developing for clerical, administrative or other workers, particularly those without college degrees who rely more on work experience to advance their careers. The Brookings Institution and Opportunity@Work study found about 23 million people whose logical next step in a career was into a job highly exposed to AI replacement - in effect putting them at risk of being stranded in lower-paying ⁠roles.

“Disruptions in these roles ​can have outsized effects on workers’ ability to move into higher-wage work,” the researchers wrote, with regional impacts focused in Florida, the Northeast, Texas and California, hubs of ​the sort of work susceptible to AI disruption and a different geographic spread from the earlier manufacturing disruption.

For the Fed, both the outcome and the pace of the AI transition will be important, with short-term impacts potentially very different from those seen in the long run, when it will become clearer whether a productivity boom occurs.

At his debut press ​conference, Warsh called AI the most important economic change “that we’ve had in my adult lifetime,” and said the US “is ultimately going to be better off” because of it.

But “that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not going to be disruptive,” he said.

Zuckerberg added that a company reorganisation that included major job cuts was not as “clean” as it could have ​been and that executives had miscalculated on the timing of the changes.

Zuckerberg and other Meta executives have been seeking to ​moderate some of the organisational changes introduced earlier this year, without fundamentally changing course. The company laid off ⁠about 10% of its global workforce and reassigned roughly 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams in May, moves that prompted employee pushback and ​raised concerns about morale.

The changes were part of a broader restructuring aimed at funding costly investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and positioning Meta ​to capitalise on efficiency gains from AI-assisted work. Zuckerberg told employees in May that he did not expect further companywide layoffs this year, though some workers were sceptical.

In retrospect, he said, the “trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn’t really accelerated in the way that we expected,” and ​that the company’s bets on the new structure “haven’t come to fruition yet.” Zuckerberg was referring to AI agents, automated systems that can ​execute tasks on behalf of a user.

Conversations he was having “with our top people” when they started planning the restructuring in January and February “were that they ‌were ⁠worried that we weren’t going to move fast enough to adapt,” Zuckerberg said.

At the time, he said, executives were “super optimistic” about tools like Claude Code from AI startup Anthropic.

Meta is projected to spend as much as $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, a significant portion of Big Tech’s more than $700 billion outlay on the technology.

Zuckerberg said he expects that the social media giant will begin to experience more significant ​benefits from its AI investments ​within the next three to ⁠six months.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday.

Mouse-tracking software review

In the same town hall, Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, said a review of a recent data security incident with the company’s controversial mouse-tracking software ​indicated that no employee data was included in AI training.

Last month, Meta paused the program, which tracks ​employee mouse movements ⁠and digital activity for AI training, while investigating the exposure of sensitive data.

If the company turns the program back on once the review is completed, it will be on an “opt-in” basis, he said.

“For comfortable people, that’s great; they can contribute to this kind of great human ⁠survey. To ​people who are not, it is not an issue,” he told employees at ​the town hall on Thursday.

When Meta first installed the program on US employees’ computers in April, Bosworth told them there was no way to opt out.

Internet users might experience “intermittent degradation” in service quality and connectivity, the authority said in a statement.

“Trans World Associates (TWA) is coordinating with the SMW5 Consortium to identify the root cause of the fault and determine the estimated time for restoration (ETTR),” it said.

“In the meantime, internet traffic is being rerouted through alternate international links to minimise the impact and ensure service continuity to the greatest extent possible,” it said.

“PTA remains in close coordination with the concerned stakeholders and will continue to monitor the situation to facilitate the earliest possible restoration of normal internet services across the country.”

DIRBS services suspended July 3-6 for system upgrade

In a separate statement issued earlier in the day, the PTA said it was upgrading the Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) to “better serve both the general public and commercial entities.”

“The upgraded, in-house developed system will simplify the device registration process for all users,” it said.

“Due to this scheduled upgrade, the DIRBS portal (dirbs.pta.gov.pk) and all related services will be temporarily unavailable from July 3, 2026, 5:00pm until July 6, 2026, 4:00am.”

The launch on Tuesday has sparked discussion ​on Chinese social media about the potential rise ​of AI-powered “cyber boyfriends” and “cyber girlfriends”. The robots are ⁠available in both male and female versions, with ​top-end models priced at up to 990,000 yuan ($145,835).

The U1 product ​line ranges from robotic torsos priced at 119,800 yuan to full-sized humanoid companions featuring highly realistic details such as visible pores, blood ​vessels and fingerprints.

The robots are equipped with an ​emotional large language model, UBTech said in a statement was designed for ‌long-term companionship. It said the system can identify more than 20 human emotions with an accuracy rate exceeding 90%.

The humanoids feature expressive faces and lifelike digital skin intended ​to enhance human-robot ​interaction.

UBTech said ⁠it has received 13,361 orders for the U1 series and aims to complete deliveries ​within this year.

The company expects China’s market ​for ultra-realistic humanoid robots to expand dramatically over the next decade. The industry “will grow from tens of billions of yuan ⁠to trillions ​of yuan between 2026 and ​2036,” Tan Min, UBTech’s chief branding officer, said.

The European Commission had originally handed out a €4.34 billion fine to Google in 2018 for its agreements, ​which forced phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser and ​the Google Play app store on their Android devices and ⁠prevented them from using rival Android systems.

A lower tribunal subsequently trimmed the fine ​to €4.1 billion in 2022 after the world’s most popular search engine challenged the ​EU penalty.

Google then appealed to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe’s highest.

The court sided with the EU antitrust enforcer.

“The appeal brought by Google and its ​parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, ​thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the ‌context of ⁠the Android operating system,” judges said.

A Google spokesperson said that the judgment failed to take into account its investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free.

“In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial ​decision back in 2018, ​and we remain ⁠focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers”, Google said.

Google has racked up close to €11 ​billion in EU fines in the last decades for various ​antitrust infringements.

It ⁠will likely see more fines in the near future for allegedly favouring its own services and products in search results and for practices related to its app ⁠store, ​both of which fall under the Digital Markets ​Act aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech.

The case is C-738/22 P Google and Alphabet ​v Commission.

Such ‌stores, usually open 24 hours, were estimated to number 9,000 nationwide by the end of 2024, the National Fire Agency said, while payments provider Samsung Card said their number probably grew fourfold by 2025 from 2020.

“The population of baristas in their early twenties is drastically declining,” said Kim Dongjin, chief executive of Lounge X, where ​a robot arm named “Baris” serves paper cups of Americanos and matcha lattes to fill orders from on-site kiosks.

His company runs eight such ​24-hour coffee shops, entirely unstaffed, across South Korea, most of them in Seoul, the capital, although human employees ⁠prepare coffee drinks in four more.

Stores with no staff are not uncommon globally, with cashier-free grocers in countries such as Britain and the United ​States, but the concept has spread wider in South Korea to encompass even pet supply stores and clothing boutiques.

Owners of such stores cite difficulties ​in finding suitable staff and rising wage costs as reasons for adopting the model, particularly as rates of petty crime are low in South Korea, where customers are generally rule-abiding.

South Korea has a rapidly ageing population, with one of the world’s lowest birth rates leading to a labour crunch. The government expects the population of 51.8 ​million to shrink by almost a third to 36.2 million by 2072.

Better profitability

Hiring expert baristas has become increasingly harder, said Kim, a 20-year-veteran of ​the coffee industry who joined Lounge X’s parent, South Korean XYZ Robotics, seven years ago to launch the unstaffed coffee shops in 2024.

They first tested the ‌waters with ⁠a hybrid model employing one or two baristas in each store.

Now each requires just one hour-long morning visit by a human worker to top up inventory such as coffee beans and bakery goods, and run clean-ups.

While sales at a human-staffed coffee shop still tend to be higher, Kim said, the savings on labour boost the profitability of each unstaffed store to more than 40%, from roughly 10% to 15% at the conventional equivalent.

“Although ​there has been an incident of ​theft, the vast majority of ⁠customers use the store conscientiously,” said Hyun Sun-Joo, who took over an unstaffed ramen eatery last year to bring in some income after years spent as a stay-at-home mother.

Hyung said the self-service format, in which customers pick ​their choice of instant ramen off wall shelves to add hot water and preferred toppings, lets her ​juggle her children’s schedules ⁠and housework, freeing her up from managing staff.

One customer, student Kim Hee-yeon, said she ate there at least once a week, as the operating hours suited her irregular eating habits.

“I like to eat quietly while looking at my phone, so I do feel psychologically more comfortable when there isn’t anyone around,” ⁠she said, ​adding that a hiccup with the shop systems she once faced had taken just ​minutes to resolve.

“It is slightly inconvenient that they aren’t right next to me when I have a problem,” she said. “But last time … they came and resolved it within about three ​minutes, so I don’t think that was a major inconvenience.”

Here are the details:

In the letter, the Ministry of Information and Technology said it had taken note of ​WhatsApp’s announcement that it would introduce usernames, allowing users to ⁠initiate conversations without revealing their phone numbers.

“We’ve announced the option for ​people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp,” a Meta spokesperson said, ​adding that the feature is not yet live and that the company has reserved usernames for public figures, government entities and verified Meta accounts to help prevent ​impersonation.

The IT ministry said the feature could materially increase online fraud, ​phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks by allowing bad actors to contact victims ‌without disclosing their phone numbers.

It also expressed concern that usernames resembling those of individuals, financial institutions or government agencies could facilitate identity spoofing and impersonation.

The move comes days after Reuters reported that India had scrutinised Telegram ​over anonymity features ​that allow users ⁠to interact without revealing phone numbers.

In June, a home ministry report reviewed by Reuters said such privacy ​features make identity detection difficult and raised concerns over ​the app’s ⁠use in cyber fraud and the sharing of illegal content

Telegram also lost a legal challenge last month against India’s temporary ban on the messaging platform, ⁠after ​the government argued in court that features ​including username-based interactions and concealed phone numbers created enforcement challenges.

Washington has stepped up oversight of new model releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that advanced AI models could be misused by military intelligence in China, Russia or other countries of concern.

Anthropic disabled its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models following a June 12 export-control order.

Last week, the US government allowed the company to release Mythos 5 but only to some “trusted” US organisations.

“We’ve received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls ​on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5. We’ll begin restoring access tomorrow,” Anthropic said in an X post.

A letter to Anthropic ⁠from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that was seen by Reuters also said the export controls were withdrawn.

Anthropic had “agreed to proactively detect and address security risks associated ​with the models,” Lutnick said.

It had also agreed to work diligently with the US government on protocols for Mythos, Fable and future models and to inform the ​US government of any malicious activity, he added.

US government might reevaluate if circumstances change

Lutnick, however, said that the department “reserves the right to reevaluate the decisions made in this letter and the necessity of reimposing a license requirement, should circumstances change or should Anthropic fail to adhere to its commitments”.

Both Fable and Mythos use the same underlying AI model, but Fable is designed to ​be widely available for public use, whereas some safeguards are lifted for Mythos.

Anthropic has implemented a new safeguard that targets and blocks a technique that it believes ​the government viewed as a method of bypassing or “jailbreaking” Fable 5, a company source said, declining to be identified.

The source, however, added that the vulnerabilities found by the technique, which ‌had concerned the ⁠government, had been known and patched earlier.

Experts have said that Mythos models, in the wrong hands, could dramatically accelerate sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly in sectors such as banking that rely on complex, interconnected, and often decades-old technology systems.

The government’s decision on Friday to allow access to Mythos to some “trusted” US organisations came in tandem with an announcement by rival OpenAI that it had delayed a full public launch of GPT-5.6 at the US government’s request, limiting its access to a small group of vetted partners.

Those ​government actions had drawn much criticism that ​the administration’s choosing of which companies ⁠were worthy of being considered “trusted” was unfair and not transparent.

Increased scrutiny of AI models this month began with US President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order establishing a voluntary framework for AI developers to offer “covered frontier models” to the US government ​for up to 30 days before releasing them to trusted partners.

Isaac Harris, executive director of the Frontier Security Institute, a ​nonprofit focused on AI ⁠and national security, said that Tuesday’s lifting of curbs indicated that “there’s now a process for standards of the US models.”

But he added: “There’s still a question mark as to how equivalently dangerous capabilities coming from China with fewer guardrails will be handled by the administration in the US market.”

Both OpenAI and Anthropic have confidentially filed for US initial public offerings.

Anthropic’s ⁠relationship with ​the US government has been particularly rocky this year.

The Pentagon designated the company a “supply-chain risk”, preventing ​contractors from using Anthropic’s AI when working for the US military, after the company refused to allow its models to be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.

The US automaker had expanded the use of AI across its operations, including quality inspections, aiming to improve productivity and reduce costs.

However, executives said automated systems did not deliver the expected results.

“Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it,” Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told reporters.

Poon said the company had underestimated the value of experienced engineers, many of whom had worked through multiple vehicle development cycles.

He said Ford has since brought back more than 300 veteran quality inspectors to help train AI systems and mentor younger employees.

“We recognised that for us to enhance some of our automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence tools, we needed to ensure they were trained by the most experienced individuals,” he said.

Ford had deployed AI-powered cameras at its manufacturing plants to identify quality issues and reduce supply chain disruptions.

However, Poon acknowledged that relying solely on AI and design data did not produce the desired quality standards.

The company’s comments came as Ford regained the top spot among mainstream automakers in the US J.D. Power Initial Quality Study for the first time since 2010.

Ford said its quality improvements were supported by a broader talent overhaul, including leadership changes across engineering, manufacturing and supply chain operations, along with the return of experienced engineers.

The exposure threatens the carefully negotiated business of building the iPhone, which Apple assembles from a thicket of suppliers worldwide.

It could also upset Apple and its relationship with Tata, given most of the supplier arrangements are fiercely protected by Apple, and could also hand ​rivals, counterfeiters and its own vendors a view of who makes what.

Tata, which both supplies parts and assembles iPhones as a contract manufacturer, is emerging as ​one of Apple’s most important manufacturing partners outside China, an expansion that is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to ⁠make India an electronics manufacturing powerhouse.

Apple is reportedly on track to release its iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in September.

The leak comes at a difficult time ​for Apple, which last week raised iPad and MacBook prices due to soaring memory and storage chip costs, with analysts expecting Apple to increase iPhone prices in the coming months.

Reuters ​has previously reported the Tata Electronics leak of more than 200,000 files on the dark web by World Leaks, which had files with purported component design papers of older iPhones and some parts of Tesla - both Tata clients.

They also included documents of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Qualcomm, both of which make parts used in iPhones.

New documents reviewed by Reuters show there are at least six files that map ​many components in the iPhone 18 Pro models to the specific company that supplies them.

These include details of chips on its main circuit board and parts of ​the battery and cameras.

Apple considers this detail sensitive and is concerned about the documents being shared on the dark web as they relate to unreleased models, according to the person familiar with ‌the matter.

⁠The data maps suppliers to iPhone parts, which Apple does not disclose in its public database of suppliers, the person added.

In all, the documents detail hundreds of parts to be on the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models.

The records also show where Apple draws a part from several suppliers and where it relies on just a few, laying bare both its bargaining leverage and its vulnerabilities.

Spokespeople for Apple and Tata did not respond to Reuters queries.

World Leaks has previously claimed responsibility for a Nike break-in.

Reuters has not verified the ​authenticity of the data and could not ​immediately reach World Leaks for comment.

News website ⁠AppleInsider first reported last week that iPhone 18 Pro documents were part of the Tata leak.

Reuters has previously reported that Apple is investigating the matter and working with Tata on long-term measures.

Tata has restricted internal access to sensitive systems as it investigates the ​leak, and hired a global consultant to conduct a forensic audit.

Drop-test images

Several of the leaked files carried Apple “confidential” watermarks and internal ​Apple code-names consistent with ⁠the iPhone 18 Pro generation, according to the source familiar with the matter.

Inside the folder for iPhone 18 Pro files are photographs of iPhones undergoing drop tests at one of Tata’s plants, dated early 2026.

They depicted a conventional slab-shaped, grey handset with a three-rear-camera setup and the Apple logo.

Reuters could not with certainty identify the model number of the phone, ⁠but the source ​said the photos are of iPhone 18 Pro models.

For Apple and Tata, the breach cuts at the ​trust underpinning their partnership. Apple’s move into India rests on its newest major assembler, Tata, just as the company increasingly diversifies beyond China.

The bet has fast paid off: India is on track to make 26% of ​the world’s iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago, according to Counterpoint, a research firm.

The announcement would mark President Lee Jae Myung’s boldest push yet to align South Korea’s AI and chip ambitions with his pledge to narrow regional disparities and revive economies beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.

Lee will preside over the event, framed ​as a national “great leap” due to be unveiled around his office, said, with ministries covering industry, science, climate and ​transport set to outline policy support.

Samsung Electronics and SK are expected to present investment plans, and their chairmen, ⁠Jay Y.

Lee and Chey Tae-won are among the business leaders tipped to attend by local media.

Representatives of other firms, including LG Electronics, HD ​Hyundai Robotics, Korea Electric Power Corp and Korea Water Resources Corp are also attending, Lee’s office said.

The package will span semiconductors, AI data centres and ​physical AI, including robotics, Lee’s office said, while the president’s social media posts signalled a new chip cluster planned for the underdeveloped southwest, including Gwangju and South Jeolla province.

Local media have reported the planned investments could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($651.41 billion) over the coming years.

South Korean construction and engineering shares surged in early trade ahead of ​the announcement on expectations that the investments could drive massive regional infrastructure development.

Major cement producers Asia Cement and Hanil Cement jumped 15% and 7%. The ​KOSPI fell more than 2%, with both chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix down over 4% and 3% respectively, as global tech stocks took a breather from their ‌recent sharp ⁠rally.

President defends the plan

Besides Samsung Electronics, South Korea is also home to SK Hynix, the world’s two largest memory chipmakers, whose high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips are pivotal in the global race to build advanced AI systems.

Both companies already operate major semiconductor facilities in and around the Seoul metropolitan area.

The government is also set to detail extensive support measures covering power, water, land, infrastructure, workforce training and housing.

Lee has defended the proposed southwest ​chip hub in a series of ​X posts over the weekend, ⁠rejecting criticism that it favours a liberal stronghold.

He framed it instead as a “national survival strategy” to ease regional imbalances and expand capacity for the AI era.

“The creation of a semiconductor industrial ecosystem in (the southwest) is ​not a special favour for a particular region,” Lee wrote in one post.

“It is the additional creation of ​the most rational ⁠semiconductor industrial centre through the decisions of relevant companies under full government support.”

Industry experts say diversifying chip investment beyond Seoul could ease infrastructure bottlenecks, but warn that building cutting-edge fabs requires vast electricity and water, advanced logistics, deep supplier networks and highly skilled labour - elements that may not scale quickly enough ⁠in a ​new region to meet surging AI demand.

Opposition politicians have sharply criticised the plan, questioning ​whether the proposal is politically motivated, given that 85% of voters in the region backed Lee in last year’s presidential election.

The announcement comes as Lee’s approval rating has slid for ​six weeks to 46.5%, according to pollster Realmeter.

In a letter to EU Technology Commissioner Henna ​Virkkunen released by the Austrian government, Austria’s State ​Secretary for Digitalisation, Alexander Proell, wrote it was ⁠important that Europe was not cut off from major ​innovations.

“Let us jointly explore the strategic establishment and participation of ​Anthropic within the European Union. With legal certainty, market access, capital and a set of values that suit this company,” Proell ​said in the letter.

He did not say how the ​step could be taken and acknowledged there would be scepticism about whether ‌it ⁠was possible.

“The real question is not whether it is easy,” Proell wrote. “The question is whether we Europeans are prepared to be the architects of our technological future, ​or whether we ​wish to ⁠remain mere administrators of decisions made elsewhere.”

Anthropic did not immediately reply to a request ​for comment on the Austrian proposal.

Earlier this month, ​the ⁠European Commission proposed laws to boost domestic cloud, AI and semiconductor industries and cut reliance on US Big Tech, defying ⁠US ​government criticism of the bloc’s crackdown ​on its industry.

The move follows the ‌world-first restrictions that took effect in December, a policy being watched closely by many countries seeking to emulate it, as evidence suggests children are still able to access the ​platforms.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there were still too many children on ​social media and tech firms were not doing enough to comply ⁠with the law.

“We’re calling time on the social media companies today and ​doubling down on the changes that we have made and that we’re prepared ​to make,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Today, we’ll introduce legislation this afternoon that goes further to ensure social media companies are doing everything within their power to stop children under ​16 from being on their platforms.”

The regulator is investigating possible non-compliance by five platforms: ​Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Google’s YouTube.

There was no immediate comment from Meta, ‌Google ⁠and Snapchat. TikTok declined to comment.

Albanese called on the conservative coalition opposition to back the bill, noting the original policy passed with bipartisan support.

The changes, announced on Sunday, would double fines to A$99 million ($68.2 million) from A$49.5 million.

They also give ​the eSafety Commissioner power ​to compel documents ⁠such as company board minutes and internal emails, ensuring legal cases being built against platforms failing to comply are ​as “strong as possible”, said Communications Minister Anika Wells.

“My message to ​Big Tech ⁠is this: we are not stopping. Every effort you make to frustrate these laws will be met with our efforts to make these laws work,” she said.

“If ⁠the ​eSafety Commissioner finds companies are not doing everything ​they can to comply, they will face the full force of the law.”

Google, owned by Alphabet, told Meta around March ​it could not meet the full Gemini capacity the ​company had sought to purchase, the newspaper said, ⁠adding that the shortfall disrupted and delayed some of ​Meta’s internal AI projects.

Several other Google clients have also been ​affected, though to a lesser extent, according to the report.

Meta has been particularly impacted due to its exceptionally high demand for Google’s ​models, the FT said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the ​report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Google and Meta did ‌not ⁠immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.

Due to the restrictions, Meta has encouraged staff to be more efficient with AI tokens, the units that measure AI usage, ​the FT report ​said.

Even as ⁠companies continue to spend billions on chips and data centres, they are still struggling to ​secure enough computing power to support the growing ​demand ⁠for AI services.

Revenue at Google Cloud grew to $20 billion in the first quarter ended March, but CEO Sundar Pichai said computing ⁠power ​constraints prevented even higher growth and ​contributed to the cloud unit’s backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter.

More than 100 ‌companies and institutions will now have access to Mythos 5, including many Fortune 500 companies, a source familiar with the new directive said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Concern that powerful AI systems could be misused by military intelligence users in China, Russia or other countries of concern has prompted President Donald Trump’s administration to take an aggressive approach to oversight of releases of Anthropic’s and rival OpenAI’s frontier models.

OpenAI said earlier in the day that it ​was delaying a full public launch of GPT-5.6 at the US government’s request, limiting its access to a small group of vetted partners whose details were shared with the authorities.

Anthropic ​had abruptly disabled its most advanced AI models — Mythos 5 and Fable 5 — for all users after the government’s June 12 export control order.

“Today, the government notified ⁠us that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a set of US organisations that operate and defend critical infrastructure,” Anthropic said in a statement on Friday.

“We’re restoring access for these ​organisations quickly, and we’re continuing to work with the government to expand access to Mythos 5 and make Fable 5 available for general use again,” it added.

Govt criticised for picking who gets access

The government’s vetting ​of which companies can gain access to Mythos has drawn much criticism.

“No one knows how these companies are picked and why everyone else is excluded,” said John Coleman, legislative counsel for the Philadelphia-based nonpartisan free speech organisation, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

“This is putting too much power in the hands of the government. There’s little transparency, and it raises questions about the rule of law.”

OpenAI boss Sam Altman echoed concerns about the government’s choice of who gets ​access to top models in a post on X.

Extensive safety testing “is not a bad idea. I just don’t like the idea of the government picking the customers,” he wrote.

Experts have said that Mythos models, ​in the wrong hands, could dramatically accelerate sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly in sectors such as banking that rely on complex, interconnected, and often decades-old technology systems.

A letter from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to Anthropic said there had been “significant ‌progress” in ⁠work done by the company with the government to address “risks associated with the Covered Models.”

It was not immediately clear what safeguards had been adopted.

Anthropic said earlier this month that it understood the government believed there is a method of bypassing, or “jailbreaking,” a safeguard that would prevent Fable 5 from being used in identifying software vulnerabilities.

No export licence needed for non-US citizens

Lutnick said in the letter that an export license will no longer be needed for Mythos 5 to trusted companies and their employees who are not US citizens, or to Anthropic’s employees who are not US citizens, but licensing restrictions will remain in place for ​companies that are not on the approved list.

The source ​said many of the approved companies are ⁠part of Anthropic’s Project Glasswing, which includes about 100 well-known tech companies and institutions.

The government is also moving towards allowing Anthropic to release Fable soon, although a timeline is unclear, the source said.

Both Fable 5 and Mythos use the same underlying AI model, but Fable 5 is designed to be widely available ​for public use, whereas some safeguards are lifted for Mythos.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI plan to go public.

Anthropic’s relationship with the US government has, however, been ​particularly rocky.

The company refused ⁠to allow the US military to use its AI models for domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems, and the government retaliated by putting it on a national security blacklist.

The government’s restrictions on Anthropic and OpenAI follow Trump’s signing of an executive order this month establishing a voluntary framework for AI developers to offer “covered frontier models” to the US government for up to 30 days before releasing them to trusted partners.

The administration’s latest ⁠order is “a practical ​interim step, but leaves unresolved the larger issue of how companies can widely release updated models,” said Kate Koren, an ​analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and a former Commerce Department official.

“The longer there isn’t a system in place that will allow US companies to widely release new models, the more likely it is that China will be ​able to catch up,” she said.

Inclusion in the index typically boosts the stock price, as exchange-traded funds looking to replicate the index’s performance buy shares of the newly ​included firm.

To make it more attractive for companies seeking US listings, Nasdaq, ​along with other index providers FTSE Russell and MSCI, relaxed ⁠its entry requirements, including profitability, the number of days after a company ​goes public and the number of shares available for trading.

SpaceX, which made its ​Nasdaq debut on June 12, has swung between sharp losses and small profits over the past three years. Last year, the company reported a net loss of $4.9 billion.

Large Language ​Model (LLM) makers OpenAI and Anthropic are also expected to file for their ​initial public offerings this year or next year and likely target valuations of more ‌than $1 trillion.

Investors ⁠buy mutual funds and ETFs, such as Invesco’s QQQ and QQQM, that track the Nasdaq 100, to get broader exposure.

J.P. Morgan estimated that SpaceX’s inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 could draw $4.3 billion in passive inflows.

“Clearly, there’s a ​lot of demand; ​that’s why they ⁠fast-tracked the integration into the index,” Michael Field, chief equity market strategist at Morningstar, said. “A lot of people will ​be happy with it.

Some fund managers are less so, the ​sceptics ⁠amongst them, us included. We think the stock is overvalued.“

S&P Global said this month that it was not changing the requirements for SpaceX to enter its ⁠major indices, ​including Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index, ​and will wait for at least 12 months before even considering it.

The strike by Alibaba is described as a “distillation” effort, which Anthropic has said involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one.

Anthropic said the campaign was conducted between April 22 and June 5, 2026, and generated more ​than 28.8 million exchanges with Claude through almost 25,000 fraudulent accounts.

Anthropic said in the letter that ​distillation is a way to help accelerate China’s ability to reach Anthropic’s advanced Mythos ⁠Preview capabilities.

It said the campaign was conducted by operators affiliated with Alibaba and Alibaba Qwen, Alibaba’s AI lab. ​

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter, dated June 10, was sent to Senators Tim ​Scott and Elizabeth Warren, the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the US Senate Banking Committee, ahead of a scheduled hearing on AI.

In April, the White House accused China of stealing US AI labs’ intellectual property on an industrial scale.

Anthropic said in the ​letter that it was supportive of the US government’s efforts to combat the attacks, including partnering with private sector ​AI companies through threat-intelligence sharing and other exercises.

Anthropic said in a February posting that it had identified a campaign by Chinese AI ‌startup ⁠DeepSeek — whose low-cost AI model sent shockwaves through the technology world in January 2025 — and two other Chinese AI labs to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude AI platform.

It said DeepSeek’s operation involved over 150,000 exchanges, while Moonshot AI was at a scale of over 3.4 million, and MiniMax over 13 million.

It also said at the ​time that the campaigns were ​growing in “intensity and sophistication” ⁠and that addressing the threat would require “rapid, coordinated action among industry players, policymakers and the global AI community.”

Alibaba was added to the Pentagon’s Chinese military companies list this ​month, a designation it is challenging.

But the Commerce Department has held off placing DeepSeek on ​a trade blacklist, ⁠as Reuters exclusively reported this month, despite it being deemed a national security risk by an interagency governmental committee, as the department tries to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.

Meanwhile, on June 12, two days after Anthropic sent the ⁠letter, the ​Commerce Department imposed controversial restrictions on Anthropic’s latest Mythos and Fable ​AI models because officials feared they could be deployed by military intelligence users in China and other countries of concern.

The restrictions resulted in ​Anthropic disabling access to the models globally.

The Saudi oil loadings come even though a ship belonging to Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine was hit by an unknown object in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.

Middle Eastern producers had been ramping up oil and gas output and exports in the lead-up to the interim deal between ​the United States and Iran to halt the war and reopen the strait, where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies ​used to pass.

Two Very Large Crude Carriers controlled by Saudi’s shipping arm Bahri were seen loading crude at Ras Tanura, the ⁠world’s biggest oil port, while another waited nearby, the data showed. Each VLCC is capable of loading 2 million barrels of oil.

Saudi Aramco, among the last of ​the major Gulf producers to resume exports from inside the Gulf, could not be immediately reached for comment outside office hours.

British Navy agency UKMTO paused its operation to escort ships ​through the strait after the attack on the cargo ship, reigniting concerns about whether the preliminary deal to end the Iran war will hold.

Two US officials told Reuters that Iran had fired on the ship, while Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Tehran established to manage requests for ships to travel through the strait, said vessels outside routes it has set will not be ​guaranteed safe passage.

Ras Tanura port

Ras Tanura sits on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast on the Gulf and is west of the Strait of Hormuz.

It used to export ​more than 5 million bpd of crude before the conflict.

The country’s largest domestic 550,000 bpd refinery is also located at Ras Tanura, which was shut during the war as a ‌precautionary measure.

Aramco ⁠last loaded a cargo from Ras Tanura port for China on March 8, LSEG data showed, and had to divert its exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu after the Iranian blockade of the strait during its war with the US, and Israel prevented ships from entering the Gulf.

The war has caused Saudi crude exports to slump to about 4 million bpd in the past three months, the data showed, from more than 7 million bpd in February.

Oil slips on rising supply

Global oil prices ​fell more than $1 a barrel on Friday ​after edging up on reports ⁠of the attack on the cargo ship.

Supply pressure is increasing after crude shipments through the strait rose this week to their highest level since the conflict broke out.

Saudi Aramco may cut August prices sharply next week as competition among producers intensifies.

Iraq’s SOMO and Qatar ​issued tenders offering crude, following similar moves by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran is also rushing its exports ​after Washington temporarily lifted ⁠sanctions.

Two empty VLCCs — Natsumi and Halti — entered the Gulf on Friday to load Iranian oil, shipping data showed.

Tankers ferrying UAE oil continued transiting the strait on Friday, with two laden VLCCs exiting and one heading to Zirku port, the data showed.

“Two million barrels a day came back online in three weeks, and the recovery is spread across the ⁠region,” Rystad Energy’s ​MENA research director Aditya Saraswat said in a note, adding that the supply picture is clearly ​improving.

The consultancy now estimates that shut-in production across the Gulf has fallen to 9.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in mid-June, down from 11.7 million bpd just three weeks ago, and expects a full supply recovery ​in the region by the end of the year.

As pre-orders for the year’s biggest game open on Thursday, here is what we know about the latest instalment in the juggernaut series that has sold over 470 million copies worldwide.

What’s the plot?

Every “Grand Theft Auto” title since the 1997 original has put players in the shoes of a gangster working up the ladder of organised crime in a fictional American metropolis, with the backdrop changing for each episode.

This time, the protagonists are a Bonnie and Clyde-style couple of hoodlums, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos.

The game’s website says the pair “find themselves… in the middle of a criminal conspiracy” as the plot unfolds.

Other members of the larger-than-life cast include a conspiracy-theorising hacker, a strip club owner and two women rappers-influencers.

Images from the two trailers Rockstar has released so far feature breakneck car chases, scantily clad women and innumerable winks to social media culture.

Where is it set?

The plot of “GTA VI” takes place in the fictional US state of Leonida, a stand-in for Florida, and its megalopolis Vice City, the Miami-inspired setting for a “GTA” title of the same name released in 2002.

So far, the published imagery shows off a highly detailed urban world of varying neighbourhoods teeming with non-player characters (NPCs).

Protagonists are shown driving cars, shopping in a grocery store and working out with weights at the beach.

Players will also be able to explore beyond the city, including in a swampy region reminiscent of Florida’s Everglades and a tropical archipelago.

What is there to do?

Heists and gunfights will once again take pride of place in the game’s mechanics.

As in previous episodes of the “open world” series, players will be able to take on missions that move the main story forward, ranging from robberies to murder and drug trafficking.

But one of the major draws of “GTA” is the freedom for players to simply explore the world — whether abiding by the law or causing as much mayhem as possible while dodging authorities’ increasingly muscular efforts to bring them to justice.

On offer will be vehicles ranging from motorbikes and cars to jetskis and aircraft.

What’s new in the sixth instalment?

On its website, Rockstar Games calls the coming title “the deepest and most immersive GTA experience yet”.

Available only for the latest-generation Playstation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, it promises far higher graphical fidelity and detail compared with its 13-year-old predecessor, which was designed for much less capable hardware.

Players will likely experience far shorter loading times when travelling between different areas of the game.

It is also the first time since 1997 that the series has put a woman in a starring role, after years of criticism of Rockstar for its often crude depictions of female characters.

The many set pieces inspired by viral videos shown off in the trailer hint that “GTA VI” will pick up the satirical baton from its predecessors, taking aim at the domination of social networks in the public sphere.

When is it released and what does it cost?

Unless delayed for a third time, “GTA VI” will be available to play on November 19 in digital or physical editions.

Rockstar says the versions available to buy in stores will have a download code inside the box to install the game on a console.

In the United States, “GTA VI” will cost $79.99 for the standard version and $99.99 for an “Ultimate” edition with bonus content such as additional weapons and vehicles.

Players who have pre-ordered the title will be able to download it onto their console from November 12, but can only launch the game on the official release date.