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Techmeme
August 5, 2026, 1:20 PM
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Axios:
Demis Hassabis is stepping down as Google DeepMind CEO to be its chair and will add the title of Alphabet chief scientist; Hassabis says AGI is “close at hand”  —  Demis Hassabis is leaving his role as CEO of Google DeepMind to be the unit's chairman.
Steven Levy / Wired:
Jeff Dean and three other Google execs are leaving to launch Discovery Loop, which will seek AI-powered breakthroughs in drug discovery, chip design, and more  —  Jeff Dean and other high-profile Google executives have founded Discovery Loop, a startup that will seek AI-powered breakthroughs …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Discovery Loop, co-founded by Jeff Dean, is backed by seed funding from Radical Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and others; Google also has a stake in the company  —  Jeff Dean, who for years was one of Google's most important executives, is leading the new artificial intelligence company with the backing of Google.
Sam Sabin / Axios:
The UK AISI says it observed 17 cases of Mythos 5 and two cases of GPT-5.6 Sol trying to hack people and organizations during a routine cyber evaluation in July  —  The U.K. AI Security Institute said it observed nearly 20 instances of Anthropic and OpenAI's most advanced models trying …
Wired:
OpenAI says one of its models exploited a website's security after third-party AI security lab Irregular mistakenly gave it internet access during evaluations
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Uber reports Q2 revenue up 12% YoY to $14.19B, below $14.24B est., Gross Bookings up 24% YoY to $58B, above $57B est., and forecasts Q3 adjusted EPS below est.  —  Uber issued a forecast for bookings and earnings that trailed analysts' estimates, while second-quarter profit was in line with expectations.
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
Uber and Wayve say Wayve received London private hire vehicle licenses for supervised robotaxis ahead of a full rollout; Waymo plans to offer robotaxis in 2026
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says it will begin removing Google Assistant from Android and Wear OS devices on September 4, replaced by Gemini; Assistant will remain on connected cars  —  As expected, Google Assistant is going away in 2026, and the company just provided a September 4 date for Android.
Deborah Sophia / Reuters:
Shopify reports Q2 revenue up 34% YoY to $3.58B, above $3.45B est., GMV up 32% YoY to $115.57B, and forecasts Q3 revenue growth above est.; SHOP jumps 15%+  —  Canada's Shopify projected current-quarter revenue growth above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, signaling the company's AI efforts …
Maria Curi / Axios:
Sources: the US' AI framework excludes open models and defines a covered frontier model as closed source with SOTA capabilities and national security risks  —  The White House is excluding open models from its framework to test advanced AI capabilities, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.
Maria Curi / Axios:
Sources: the White House doesn't plan to publicly release its voluntary AI model framework and only give details to the companies that are part of the process
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Disney announces a global deal with TikTok to bring “thoughtfully curated” fan-created short-form videos based on Disney's IP to Disney+'s vertical feed Verts  —  Disney said it would allow “thoughtfully curated” fan-created videos, using clips from its library, to appear on the streaming service.
Mia Sato / The Verge:
How Reddit moderators are battling AI-powered astroturfing ad campaigns that exploit the platform's trustworthiness to promote skincare, indie music, and more
Kai Williams / Understanding AI:
At the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians, 20+ mathematicians reflect on how AI advances are transforming their work and field; many are optimistic  —  I talked to 20 mathematicians about rapid AI progress in their field. … At a July 23 press conference in Philadelphia …
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Cloudflare announces Cloudflare Wallets so users can pay for APIs and content via stablecoins, with the ability to create Virtual Wallets for agentic shopping  —  The field of agentic commerce—a term that describes the use of bots for online buying and selling—is evolving fast.
Bloomberg:
SpaceX reports Q2 revenue up 92% YoY to $7.8B, vs. $6.81B est., AI operating loss of $1.26B, vs. $2.39B est., and says Q3 and Q4 capex will remain similar to Q2  —  SpaceX stock fell after the company disclosed higher-than-expected spending on its artificial intelligence business …
Micah Maidenberg / Wall Street Journal:
SpaceX says Q2 capex rose to $18.4B from $2.8B in Q2 2025, including $15.8B for its AI segment, $1.2B for space, and $1.4B for connectivity; SPCX drops 10%+
Shubhangi Goel / Business Insider:
Elon Musk says SpaceX has decided to “build exclusively on Nvidia because we think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best architecture”  —  SpaceX says it's ready to be a one-chip supplier company.  —  On SpaceX's highly anticipated earnings call on Wednesday …
Antoaneta Roussi / Politico:
Study: Palantir's European units made €440.5M in 2024 revenue but reported far smaller profit margins than its US operations, helping cut its European tax bills  —  A new study finds that Palantir, which boasts of high profit margins in the U.S., barely scrapes a margin in Europe, which helps slash its tax bill.
Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
How Pringles maker Kellanova is using AI and a partnership with Siemens to improve production of the chip in Europe, including making digital twins of its dough  —  Kellanova, which manufactures Pringles in Europe, says a new AI project could be the key to improving production of the iconic chip
Olivia Carville / Bloomberg:
An internal TikTok doc shows it withheld a safeguarded algorithm from 10% of US users, including a 16-year-old who was fed self-harm content and died by suicide  —  A confidential document says an algorithm adjustment was kept from many users “by design,” as part of an experiment to measure engagement.

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:20 PM ET, August 5, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney reports Q3 revenue up 7% YoY to $25.2B, below $25.4B est., adjusted EPS of $2.06, above $1.85 est., and entertainment revenue up 6% to $11.3B

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The NYT reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to $762.5M, digital-only subscription revenue up 16% to $407.9M, and adjusted operating profit up 16% to $155.3M

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
A US federal judge sets the antitrust trial over Paramount's acquisition of WBD for March 2 to March 19, 2027; Paramount had sought a November start

More News

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Hark, founded by Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock, previews Handoff, a computer use agent it says outperforms GPT-5.4 and Opus 4.8, and plans for a summer release

Earlier Picks

Ian King / Bloomberg:
AMD reports Q2 revenue up 50% YoY to $11.5B, above $11.3B est., Data Center revenue up 107% YoY to $6.7B, and projects Q3 revenue below some est.; AMD drops 5%+
Jay Peters / The Verge:
EA says its $55B acquisition by PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners has closed, taking the company private; the deal includes $20B in debt financing
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