THE RUNDOWN

OpenAI is reportedly close to closing what could be its largest funding round ever, valuing the company at $1.4 trillion. CEO Sam Altman has also clarified that an IPO won't happen until the company can make stronger guarantees about model safety — pushing the public debut to 2027 at the earliest. For a company that started as a nonprofit, it's now operating at a scale that puts it in the same conversation as the biggest companies on earth.

A group of AI researchers, including Irving, released a video warning that superintelligence is 'exactly as dangerous as it sounds.' Irving's coin-flip extinction estimate is striking coming from someone who worked inside these labs. It's a reminder that the people closest to this technology aren't universally optimistic — and some of them are genuinely alarmed. For anyone following developments in AI, this is worth taking seriously.

The US government will no longer use the term 'artificial intelligence' in official documents. By executive order, it's now called 'Super Intelligence' across policy websites and government communications. Whether this is branding, politics, or something else entirely, it's an odd move that's already drawing mockery — and it does nothing to address the actual policy questions the technology raises.

At its DevDay event, OpenAI unveiled Dots — a suite of agentic AI helpers it's positioning against Meta's Muse and, more broadly, against the traditional app store model. The idea is to turn ChatGPT into a place where software can be discovered and used directly, cutting out the Apple and Google middlemen. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's xAI apparently acquired the domain 'dot.com' before the announcement, redirecting it to Grok — a very deliberate piece of trolling.

AMD has agreed to acquire World Labs, an AI startup, for $8.2 billion in a deal expected to close before year-end. It's AMD's clearest signal yet that it's serious about challenging Nvidia's dominance in AI hardware and software. Nvidia has had a near-monopoly on AI computing for years, and AMD is spending big to change that story.

Tesla has locked down $30 billion in fresh credit facilities as it prepares to scale up production of the Cybercab robotaxi and its Optimus humanoid robot. The company says it won't actually draw on the funds this year — it's already committed to at least $25 billion in capital expenditure. These are enormous bets on products that haven't yet reached mass production.

Dutch police arrested a 24-year-old Amsterdam man suspected of leading ShinyHunters, the group behind some of the highest-profile data breaches of recent years. ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for leaking data from dozens of companies. It's a significant arrest in the ongoing fight against cybercrime, though hacking groups rarely disappear after one arrest.

Researchers at Northeastern University found that vehicles and their companion smartphone apps routinely share detailed user data with major tech companies — often without clear disclosure to drivers. This covers location, driving behaviour, and more. If you're driving a connected car and using its app, assume that data is going somewhere you didn't explicitly agree to.

BMW has finally shared the full specs on its revamped i3, now a four-door electric sedan built on the new Neue Klasse platform. The headline number is up to 468 miles of range — which, if real-world testing confirms it, would put it among the longest-range EVs available. BMW is clearly trying to signal that its electric ambitions are serious, not just cosmetic.

If you're on an iPhone 18 Pro, iOS 27.0.1 is out now with fixes for Face ID failures and touchscreen responsiveness issues. These are the kind of bugs you want patched quickly, so it's worth updating soon. Apple also updated Final Cut Camera to support the iPhone 18 Pro's variable aperture — a genuinely useful tool for anyone doing video work on their phone.

It's a day where the money flowing into AI and the warnings coming out of it are both hitting record highs. Keep watching — it's only going to get louder from here.