The news: Disney and Universal are suing AI startup Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit states that Midjourney pirated their content libraries and continues to produce “innumerable” copies of their characters, including Shrek, Homer Simpson, and Darth Vader. Our take: A victory for the studios could cut off AI companies’ access to media libraries, accelerate a shift toward paid content licensing deals, and set legal precedents to help web publishers and IP owners protect their content from data scraping.

The news: Meta is in talks to invest upwards of $10 billion in Scale AI, a data labeling startup. The deal would be Meta’s biggest ever external AI investment and could help it position its Llama large language model (LLM) as an industry standard, per Bloomberg. Scale AI has already partnered with Meta to develop Defense Llama, an LLM designed for military use that’s built on Llama 3, and also works with Meta competitors like Microsoft and OpenAI. Our take: Meta’s massive investment could draw antitrust scrutiny in an era of acqui-hires. The outcome of active probes in Big Tech partnerships could influence regulatory action, especially if this investment contains any exclusivity that limits model training resources for other companies.

e at last: Microsoft’s update kills default Edge and Bing prompts, giving rivals room to breathe—and forcing marketers to rethink how they reach EU users.

AI can be both sword and shield in layoffs: Businesses are cutting costs and staff while repositioning around AI, which is slashing entry-level opportunities and pushing workers to upskill.

Neon fuses AI search, code generation, and digital agent tools into one browser—aiming to outpace Google by doing the work, not just finding it.

By snapping up staff and software without a full buyout, Google may have found a gray zone. Regulators want to know if it’s a loophole or a land grab.

GenAI search is gaining traction, but not all consumers are seeking out the conversational experiences that will eventually disrupt the search ad market.

Copilot, Edge, and Azure upgrades show Microsoft is building an AI pipeline to control development, infrastructure, and productivity.

Apple’s Fortnite feud, Amazon’s device division cuts, and Apple Music’s new user lure reveal how tech titans are adjusting strategies in a volatile regulatory and consumer landscape.

Tech layoffs surge as AI eats middle management: Microsoft, LinkedIn, and others are slashing jobs to “flatten” org charts, raising concerns that generative AI's rise will echo the dot-com era's reckoning.

As OpenAI downshifts profit goals, Microsoft may trade revenues for long-term access, reshaping one of AI’s most powerful partnerships.

A move to a public benefit structure could drastically cut Microsoft’s profits, signaling a power shift in the alliance that has fueled Azure’s recent growth.

Microsoft moves to kill the password for good: New accounts skip passwords entirely, and users can delete old ones—part of a bigger push to make passkeys the new normal.

More than just a cloud leader: Microsoft ad revenues surged 21%, gaming stabilized, and LinkedIn grew, too.

Amid dizzying policy unpredictability and a grab bag of unpleasant economic possibilities, precise ad spend forecasting is challenging. A scenarios-based approach can help clarify potential outcomes.

Agent Pay could transform the payments experience for consumers with hyperpersonalized recommendations

Lightrun isn’t building code—it’s safeguarding it, offering proactive debugging that major players like Microsoft and Salesforce trust to catch AI-generated mistakes before they cause chaos.

Microsoft’s once-controversial Recall tool, now optional and biometric-locked, could set Copilot+ PCs apart by helping users easily search their digital lives.

Chrome is the hottest browser no one can buy—yet: OpenAI, Yahoo, and Perplexity are lining up to bid if the DOJ forces a Google sell-off, eyeing a shortcut to AI search dominance.

Amid high costs and tariff risks, Amazon’s pause on colocation reflects a move to prioritize flexibility, control, and long-term scalability.