Demis Hassabis is stepping down as CEO of Google DeepMind to be the unit's chairman and will add the title of Alphabet chief scientist; GOOG drops 3%+  —  Demis Hassabis is leaving his role as CEO of Google DeepMind to be the unit's chairman.  Chief scientist Jeff Dean and several Google AI colleagues …

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 …

Meta releases Muse Code in beta, a terminal coding agent powered by Muse Spark 1.2, a coding-focused model priced at $1.25/1M input and $4.25/1M output tokens  —  Meta is rolling out its first coding agent called Muse Code as the company tries to challenge leading AI labs Anthropic and OpenAI.

Nikita Bier says he will step back from leading product for X and continue as an adviser  —  Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to pass the torch and demote myself to my natural state: a poster. I'll be stepping back from leading product for 𝕏 and will continue on as an advisor. Serving the X community has been the privilege of a lifetime. X is, and will remain, the most [video]

Etsy says it will cut ~220 employees, or ~12% of its workforce, mostly in product and engineering, and reports Q2 revenue up 6% YoY to $668.3M, vs. $649.1M est.  —  Etsy said Wednesday it's laying off about 220 employees, or roughly 12% of its workforce, as the online marketplace looks …

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 estimates; SHOP jumps 17%  —  Canada's Shopify projected current-quarter revenue growth above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, signaling the company's AI efforts …

eBay reports Q2 revenue up 15% YoY to $3.13B, vs. $3.02B est., GMV up 15% to $22.4B, and forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates  —  EBay (EBAY.O) forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, leaning on its push into authenticated luxury goods, collectibles …

Filing: Microsoft recorded $24.1B in revenue from OpenAI during the year ended in June, suggesting OpenAI accounted for more than half of Microsoft's AI sales  —  Microsoft Corp. generates most of its artificial intelligence revenue from OpenAI, according to new disclosures from the company.

Mysk: Apple's Private Relay tool can leak users' IP addresses due to issues in Apple's WebKit browser engine, also affecting OnionBrowser, a Tor browser for iOS  —  Researchers found a group of issues that mean Private Relay isn't actually protecting users' real IP addresses.

Anthropic confirms it is building an in-house silicon team to design custom chips for Claude, co-designing hardware and models and using a “multi-chip approach”  —  - Anthropic plans to design its own AI chips to run Claude, the company told Business Insider.

Uber reports Q2 revenue up 12% YoY to $14.19B, below $14.24B est., Gross Bookings up 24% to $58B, and forecasts Q3 adjusted EPS below estimates; UBER drops 5%  —  Uber issued a forecast for bookings and earnings that trailed analysts' estimates, while second-quarter profit was in line with expectations.

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.

Reddit expands its test of Rules Hub, a suite of tools that rely on LLMs to help moderators manage their communities, and plans a full launch later this year  —  It's also planning big changes for developers and old Reddit. … Reddit is enlisting AI to help moderate new subreddits — and eventually the rest of site.

Canadian national Connor Moucka pleads guilty to participating in the 2024 Snowflake hacks involving data theft from at least 165 companies, including AT&T  —  A Canadian national is facing decades in prison for participating in the hacking of data storage platform Snowflake.

Figma reports Q2 revenue up 48% YoY to $370.1M, vs. $351.6M est., and lifts annual revenue forecast but keeps profit outlook intact; FIG drops 15%+ after hours  —  Figma (FIG.N) on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in costs and a decline in profit margins as the design software company ramps up AI investments …

Amazon's Zoox will start charging for rides in Las Vegas from August 10, marking the launch of its commercial operations after offering free rides since 2025  —  Nearly a year ago, Zoox opened its robotaxi service to the public in Las Vegas.  Now, it is ready to start charging for those rides.

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.

Block reports Q2 revenue up 9% YoY to $6.62B, vs. $6.49B est., Cash App gross profit up 31% to $1.97B, and raises its FY 2026 gross profit forecast  —  Block (XYZ.N) raised its full-year gross profit forecast on Wednesday after delivering market-beating second-quarter results …

Sapiom, which helps businesses build, ship, and scale AI agents and lower token costs, raised a $35M Series A led by Dragonfly, taking its total funding to $50M  —  THE SCOOP  —  Quintessential San Francisco AI startup Polsia employs nobody and operates swarms of AI agents to help run other businesses.

Binance affiliates are suing RedotPay's founders for allegedly diverting 470K+ users to a competing product in a “fraudulent scheme”, claiming $472.8M in losses  —  Binance affiliates are suing the founders of Hong Kong-based crypto payments firm RedotPay for allegedly diverting hundreds …

Salesforce appoints Miguel Milano, its chief revenue officer, as COO; Chief Operating and Financial Officer Robin Washington will keep her title  —  Salesforce has appointed an operating chief under CEO Marc Benioff, promoting Miguel Milano to the role.  —  Milano, a former Oracle executive …