Category: Biz Tech

SpaceX is moving towards a record-breaking stock market debut that could value Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence empire at about $1.75 trillion, placing public investors before one of the most ambitious and complex listings ever attempted on Wall Street.The company is preparing to list on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX as early as June, with plans that could raise roughly $75 billion. Such a deal would eclipse Saudi Aramco’s 2019 market debut and transform SpaceX from a closely

Malta has struck a landmark agreement with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Plus access across the country, making it the first government-backed national rollout of the paid artificial intelligence service tied to a public AI literacy programme.The partnership, announced on 16 May 2026, will allow eligible Maltese citizens to use ChatGPT Plus at no personal cost for one year after completing a free course on artificial intelligence. The programme is scheduled to begin in May and expand as participants complete the

Lumen Technologies is expanding its long-haul fibre network with a new Seattle-to-Minneapolis route designed to carry heavier artificial intelligence and cloud traffic across a growing northern US data corridor.The project, named NorthLine, is expected to be available by the end of 2026 and will initially support 100G and 400G wavelength services. The route is being positioned as a low-latency link between the Pacific Northwest and central US markets, giving enterprises, cloud providers and AI infrastructure operators a more direct path

Claude has overtaken ChatGPT in paid adoption among US businesses for the first time, marking a shift in the enterprise artificial intelligence market as companies move beyond experimentation and begin choosing tools for daily operations.Payments data covering more than 50,000 businesses showed Anthropic’s Claude products used by 34.4 per cent of firms in April, ahead of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and related services at 32.3 per cent. Overall paid AI adoption among the surveyed businesses reached 50.6 per cent, underlining how quickly

Floci has crossed 10,000 GitHub stars as software teams look for a free, no-account alternative to LocalStack for local AWS emulation after a licensing and distribution change disrupted established development workflows.The milestone, reached on May 15, 2026, marks a sharp rise for the MIT-licensed project, which presents itself as a drop-in replacement for LocalStack’s former community edition. The shift has drawn attention from developers running automated tests, integration suites and CI/CD pipelines that depend on simulated cloud services rather than

A Bitcoin holder’s claim that Anthropic’s Claude helped unlock a college-era wallet containing 5 BTC has stirred fresh debate over artificial intelligence, digital forensics and the vast store of cryptocurrency believed to be stranded behind forgotten passwords.The pseudonymous user, posting on X, said access was regained after more than a decade of failed attempts to recover an old wallet created during college years. At current market levels, the recovered coins are worth about $396,000, though the exact value would move

Jurors in Oakland are set to begin deliberations on Monday in a closely watched trial over whether OpenAI’s leadership broke charitable-trust obligations as the maker of ChatGPT shifted from its nonprofit origins into a profit-seeking artificial intelligence powerhouse.The nine-person jury will consider claims brought by Elon Musk against OpenAI, chief executive Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman after three weeks of testimony that exposed deep divisions over the company’s founding mission, commercial growth and control of advanced AI systems.

Two vulnerabilities in the Avada Builder plugin have exposed around one million WordPress websites to attacks that could reveal sensitive files or extract database information, prompting urgent calls for administrators to update to the fully patched version 3.15.3.The flaws affect Avada Builder, also known as Fusion Builder, a widely used page-building plugin bundled with the Avada WordPress theme. The higher-rated issue, tracked as CVE-2026-4798, is an unauthenticated time-based SQL injection vulnerability affecting versions up to and including 3.15.1. The second,

Singapore will host the first stop of a new Sea and OpenAI Codex hackathon series across Asia Pacific, placing the city-state at the centre of a wider push to accelerate AI-native software development among experienced builders.The Sea x OpenAI Codex Hackathon is scheduled for 6 June 2026 and will bring together more than 150 developers, engineers and AI builders working in up to 40 teams. Participants are expected to build practical AI applications using Codex and related coding-agent tools, with

Global companies are moving AI agents into sensitive cyber security workflows faster than many can secure them, raising fresh concerns over identity systems, privileged access and recovery readiness after a breach.A global survey of 1,100 organisations across the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Singapore found that 93% either already use or plan to use AI agents for security tasks such as password resets and VPN access. The finding points to a rapid shift from experimental AI use

Meta has begun rolling out an incognito chat mode for WhatsApp users who want to speak with its AI assistant without leaving a stored conversation trail, marking a significant privacy shift as technology companies compete to make generative AI feel safer for everyday use.The new feature, called Incognito Chat with Meta AI, is being introduced on WhatsApp and the Meta AI app over the coming months. It allows users to start a temporary conversation with the chatbot in a protected

OpenAI has launched Daybreak, a cybersecurity initiative designed to use frontier AI models and Codex Security to find software flaws, generate fixes and verify remediation before attackers can exploit weaknesses in code.Daybreak marks a sharper push by the ChatGPT maker into defensive cybersecurity, where AI systems are being positioned not merely as coding assistants but as tools for secure-by-design software development. The service is built around the idea that security should be embedded at the start of the software

Alphabet is preparing its first yen-denominated bond sale as the Google parent broadens its financing base to support a sharp increase in artificial intelligence spending, underscoring how the world’s largest technology groups are moving beyond domestic debt markets to fund the infrastructure race.A term sheet shows the planned multi-tranche offering may include notes with maturities of three, five, seven, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 years, though one or more tranches could be dropped depending on investor demand and market

TikTok has begun offering UK adults a £3.99 monthly option to use the short-video app without advertising, marking a significant shift in how one of the world’s largest social media platforms balances user privacy, advertising revenue and regulatory pressure.The subscription, called TikTok Ad-Free, is being rolled out gradually to users aged 18 and above. Those who sign up will no longer see adverts on the platform, and TikTok says their data will not be used for advertising purposes. Users who

Dubai-founded OTT Cybersecurity LLC has secured a place in Anthropic’s Cyber Verification Program, giving its Lyrie. ai platform formal recognition within a controlled framework for dual-use cybersecurity work involving advanced AI systems.The company also released the Agent Trust Protocol, an open cryptographic standard designed to verify the identity, authority and integrity of AI agents as they operate across digital systems. The protocol is being positioned as a trust layer for autonomous agents that can read emails, write code, trigger transactions,

Dubai has honoured more than 47 Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors for helping attract international and regional business events, reinforcing the emirate’s drive to turn knowledge exchange into a core pillar of economic growth.The annual gala, organised by Dubai Business Events, the city’s official convention bureau under the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, took place at The Lana, Dorchester Collection, Dubai. The ceremony recognised ambassadors whose work supported bids for conferences, congresses, meetings and homegrown events across healthcare, technology, academia,

Fake DDR5 memory modules fitted with plastic dummy chips have surfaced in online hardware checks, raising fresh concern across PC component markets already strained by tight memory supply and rising prices.The counterfeit modules appear at first glance to resemble legitimate DDR5 sticks, carrying printed labels and layouts that imitate recognised brands. Closer inspection by hardware testers showed that the supposed DRAM packages were not functional silicon but plastic pieces or bare board sections placed where memory chips should be. Some

Alphabet has moved within striking distance of becoming the world’s most valuable company, as investor confidence in its artificial intelligence strategy reshapes Wall Street’s view of Google’s parent after years of concern that it had fallen behind rivals in the AI race.Shares of the company have surged this year, lifting its market value to about $4.86 trillion by the close of trading on May 8, 2026. Nvidia remains ahead at roughly $5.27 trillion, but the gap has narrowed sharply as

SpaceX has moved closer to a vast semiconductor manufacturing project in Texas that could require as much as $119 billion if fully built, placing Elon Musk’s companies at the centre of a high-stakes push to secure advanced chips for artificial intelligence, robotics, vehicles and space-based computing.Filings in Grimes County show Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is seeking a property tax abatement for a proposed facility at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir and surrounding areas, about 20 miles east of Bryan-College Station. The

Amazon Web Services has moved to give AI agents the ability to pay for digital services during a task, unveiling Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe as technology companies race to build the financial plumbing for autonomous software.The preview launch, announced on 7 May 2026, allows developers using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore to connect AI agents to wallets, set spending limits and let those agents make controlled payments for web content, application programming interfaces, Model Context Protocol

Anthropic has struck a major compute agreement with SpaceX that will give its Claude artificial intelligence platform access to more than 300 megawatts of capacity and over 220,000 Nvidia graphics processors, marking one of the largest infrastructure moves yet in the race to support commercial AI demand.The deal, announced on May 6, gives Anthropic use of all compute capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data centre within the month. The company said the additional infrastructure has enabled immediate increases in usage

Adnoc Distribution will roll out an artificial intelligence-powered self-checkout system across 50 Oasis by Adnoc convenience stores from the second quarter of 2026, marking a new phase in the company’s push to turn its fuel-station retail network into a digitally enabled mobility and convenience platform.The agreement with UAE-based DTEK. ai will introduce SWIFT, a computer-vision and machine-learning checkout system designed to recognise products instantly and allow customers to place, pay and leave in under 30 seconds from the start of

Cisco has patched a high-severity denial-of-service flaw that could allow unauthenticated attackers to knock key network management systems offline by flooding them with connection requests, raising operational risks for service providers and large enterprises that rely on automated orchestration platforms.The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20188, affects Cisco Crosswork Network Controller and Cisco Network Services Orchestrator, two products used to manage complex, multi-vendor networks and automate service provisioning. The flaw carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5, placing it in the high-severity

Snap has confirmed the quiet end of its $400 million artificial intelligence partnership with Perplexity, removing a high-profile growth lever from its 2026 outlook just as the Snapchat parent faces pressure from uneven advertising demand, geopolitical disruption and a deeper push for cost discipline.The agreement, announced in November 2025, was designed to bring Perplexity’s conversational answer engine into Snapchat’s Chat interface, allowing users to ask questions and receive AI-generated responses inside one of the app’s most used communication surfaces. Perplexity

Anthropic has struck a major compute agreement with SpaceX that will give the maker of Claude access to all capacity at the Colossus 1 data centre, adding more than 300 megawatts of power and over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs within a month.The deal is aimed at easing capacity pressure on Claude as demand rises for AI assistants, developer tools and enterprise services. Anthropic said the extra resources will directly improve access for Claude Pro and Claude Max users, while allowing higher

OpenAI is reportedly accelerating work on a ChatGPT-centred smartphone, raising the prospect that the artificial intelligence company could move from software into mass-market consumer hardware as early as 2027.Supply-chain checks point to a device designed around AI agents rather than the familiar app-led smartphone model. The project is being described as OpenAI’s first AI agent phone, with mass production targeted for the first half of 2027 if development remains on track. The shift would place OpenAI in direct competition with

Google Home is being reshaped into a more conversational smart home platform as Google rolls out Gemini 3.1 for its connected-home assistant, alongside camera, automation and notification upgrades aimed at making household devices faster and easier to manage.The update marks another step in Google’s attempt to replace the older Google Assistant experience on compatible speakers and displays with Gemini for Home, an AI-driven system designed to interpret longer commands, handle follow-up questions and manage several household tasks in one request.

Panthalassa has secured $140 million in Series B financing to push artificial intelligence computing into open waters, backing a plan to run inference workloads on floating platforms powered by ocean waves rather than land-based grids.Peter Thiel led the round, joined by John Doerr, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Max Levchin’s SciFi Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Hanwha Asset Management’s venture fund, Fortescue Ventures, Future Positive, Super Micro Computer and other investors. Existing backers Founders Fund, Gigascale Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Unless and WovenEarth

OpenAI plans to open its Trusted Access for Cyber programme to government cyber defenders across federal, state and local levels, marking a broader push to place advanced artificial intelligence tools in the hands of public agencies responsible for protecting critical systems.The expansion is aimed at agencies handling national security, emergency response, public health systems, benefits delivery, municipal infrastructure and other services that face rising digital threats. OpenAI said the programme will create pathways for government users with varying levels of

Croatia has been thrust into Europe’s artificial intelligence infrastructure race after Pantheon Atlas LLC outlined plans for a €50 billion data centre and innovation campus in Topusko, a small town in Sisak-Moslavina County that could become one of the continent’s most ambitious compute hubs.The proposed Pantheon AI campus is designed around 1 gigawatt of total power capacity, including about 800 megawatts of usable information technology load for AI computing and cloud services. Construction is targeted for early 2027, with full

Ooredoo has launched Smart Wi-Fi Analytics in Qatar, giving large venues and enterprises a tool to convert everyday wireless connectivity into real-time operational intelligence for business, customer experience and network management.The service has been introduced as an add-on to Ooredoo’s existing Smart Wi-Fi portfolio and is designed for high-density environments such as shopping malls, universities, large office buildings, hospitality venues and other sites where thousands of users rely on stable connectivity throughout the day. It brings network health, user behaviour

Palo Alto Networks has agreed to acquire Portkey, a Bengaluru-founded AI infrastructure startup, as the cybersecurity group pushes further into securing autonomous software agents now moving from pilot projects into business-critical systems.The Santa Clara-based company said the deal is expected to close in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, subject to customary conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed, though market estimates place Portkey’s potential valuation at about $140 million, roughly twice the level implied by its latest funding round. The

A new botnet campaign is turning poorly secured Jenkins servers into attack nodes aimed at online game infrastructure, including Valve Source Engine servers used for titles such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. The activity shows how a single exposed continuous integration system can be repurposed to generate UDP, TCP and application-layer floods against multiplayer platforms.Cybersecurity researchers observed the activity on March 18, 2026, after a threat actor gained access to a Jenkins honeypot configured with weak credentials. The attacker

Attackers are shifting credential theft campaigns towards QR codes, fake CAPTCHA pages and ClickFix-style prompts, turning familiar security checks into tools for large-scale account compromise.Fresh threat telemetry for the first quarter of 2026 shows email-based phishing remains vast in scale, with about 8.3 billion threats detected between January and March. Although monthly volumes eased from 2.9 billion in January to 2.6 billion in March, the composition of attacks changed sharply. Link-based threats accounted for 78% of email attacks, underlining a