Sources: OpenAI's first device will be a moveable, screen-free smart speaker with a camera and sensors, meant to serve as a humanlike AI companion  —  OpenAI's much-anticipated push into consumer devices is slated to begin with a mobile, screen-free smart speaker designed to be a new type …

Sources: Stripe and PE firm Advent International have jointly offered $60.50/share to acquire PayPal, a 28% premium to Tuesday's close, valuing it at $53B+  —  Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) …

OpenAI says it is “not aware of any evidence” that Apple's lawsuit alleging trade-secret theft has merit, adding that it believes in fair competition  —  OpenAI said on Tuesday that it's “not aware of any evidence” that an Apple Inc. lawsuit alleging trade-secret theft has merit.

The Trump administration launches the “Gold Eagle” federal clearinghouse for sharing AI cyber threat information between the government and private sector  —  The White House said the clearinghouse has already started to receive intelligence on vulnerabilities and prioritize patches.

Meta is sued by 26 current and former employees, who allege its use of AI in May layoffs unfairly targeted workers with disabilities or on protected leave  —  Lawsuit alleges social-media company relied on AI that disproportionately targeted workers with disabilities or who were on medical or parental leave

Sources: DeepSeek has started planning for an IPO in China and may file as soon as this year, allowing it to debut in 2027  —  Chinese AI pioneer DeepSeek has begun preparations for an initial public offering and may file as soon as this year, setting the stage for what could be a landmark debut for the country's technology industry.

IBM reports preliminary Q2 revenue up 1% YoY to $17.2B, below $17.9B est., as CEO Arvind Krishna says customers are shifting spending to chips; IBM falls 25%  —  International Business Machines Corp. shares slid by the most in at least 58 years after the company reported preliminary second-quarter sales …

The UK government proposes a default overnight social media curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds and disabling features like auto-play and infinite scroll by default  —  Britain will introduce a default overnight curfew on social media apps for 16- and 17-year-olds, the government said …

ASML reports Q2 net sales of €9.3B, above €8.8B est., a €2.9B net profit, above €2.6B est., and raises its 2026 net sales forecast from €36B-€40B to €43B-€45B  —  ASML on Wednesday raised its guidance for the second time this year and reported stronger …

PrismML launches Bonsai 27B, a model based on Qwen3.6 27B that it says runs natively on Apple devices via MLX; its CEO says Apple is evaluating the tech  —  Apple is in talks with a small Silicon Valley company that says it can shrink powerful artificial intelligence models enough to run directly …

Anthropic announces a new Claude for Teachers initiative, as part of which it will provide K-12 teachers in the US free access to premium Claude features  —  Anthropic is providing free access to premium Claude AI features to K-12 teachers in the United States.  The effort is part of a new Claude for Teachers initiative.

Court filing: Google says it is ready to add third-party app stores in Google Play in the US on July 22, as Google and Epic withdraw their joint motion  —  Get ready for rival app stores inside of Google Play. … Epic Games and Google have just jointly withdrawn their attempt …

Researcher: SpaceXAI's Grok Build CLI uploaded user repos to a Google Cloud Storage bucket; uploads have now stopped and Musk says prior uploads will be deleted  —  Researcher confirms the uploads have stopped, but says xAI's privacy command was not what fixed them

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signs a moratorium blocking new environmental permits for data centers over 50MW for up to one year, the first state to do so  —  But a version approved by state lawmakers could go even further. … New hyperscale data centers can't set up shop in New York …

A US judge dismisses a proposed class action accusing Apple of failing to stop the dissemination of CSAM through iCloud, saying Section 230 shields the company  —  A U.S. judge has dismissed a proposed class action accusing Apple (AAPL.O) of failing to stop the dissemination …

The European Commission proposes exempting wearable tech from rules requiring removable batteries, clearing a hurdle for Meta's smart glasses, after US pressure  —  Commission exempts smart glasses like Meta's from batteries regulation, clearing a major hurdle to European expansion.

As China's rules for humanlike AI interaction take effect, many users are bemoaning the loss of the virtual companions they had created on Chinese AI platforms  —  For days, 19-year old student Yan Yongqi has been consumed by grief over the imminent loss of her virtual boyfriend of more than a year.

A profile of PsiQuantum, which raised $1B in 2025, is building a quantum computer with photonic chips made by GlobalFoundries and is closely monitored by DARPA  —  The company has drawn governments, a major chipmaker, and the Pentagon into an effort to control fragile photons and build a useful quantum machine.

The UAE gained broader US AI chip access after aiding the US in the Iran war, letting G42 buy freely for at least nine months; G42 plans to become a US company  —  Gulf state's main AI firm can freely buy the chips and has a plan to become a U.S. company  —  The United Arab Emirates …

NYC-based Hadrius, which provides AI-native compliance tools for financial services, raised a $22M Series A led by CRV with participation from Y Combinator  —  Hadrius, which makes compliance software for financial firms, raised a $22 million Series A, CEO Thomas Stewart tells Axios exclusively.

Anthropic faces ridicule and criticism for an ad titled “There's hope in hard questions” that unsettled viewers with weird graveyard imagery and doomer-ist tone  —  Anthropic is known for its creative marketing, but the AI company may have been a little bit too creative when it conjured up its most recent advertisement.

Sources: OpenAI researcher Miles Wang is leaving the company to launch an AI drug discovery startup, and is in talks to raise $200M at a $2B valuation  —  Miles Wang, an OpenAI researcher whose work includes using AI to accelerate scientific and biological discovery, is leaving the ChatGPT maker …

Study: social networks drove 5.7M+ visits to nudify sites between December 2025 and March 2026, with YouTube accounting for 1.82M and X for 1.3M visits  —  A new study found that social media platforms are referring people to sites where they can create nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes for as little as $1 an image.

Monitoring Analytics: PJM's recent electricity auction is expected to add $6.3B to customers' bills in 13 states and DC through 2029 due to data center demands  —  A power auction conducted by a giant grid operator is expected to add $6.3 billion in additional charges to consumers and businesses …