Techmeme
August 9, 2026, 9:30 PM

Top News

Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:
Amazon is backing a 7.65 GW gas plant for an off-grid TX AI data center, potentially the largest single US emissions source, at odds with its 2040 net-zero goal  —  The tech giant is investing in the natural-gas-burning power plant as part of a huge data center in Texas, even as it pledges to honor climate commitments.
Zusha Elinson / Wall Street Journal:
How Amazon and Gilroy, California, quietly negotiated a $2B data center project that AWS applied to build in 2020, without any public meetings or votes  —  Company and Gilroy, Calif., spent years quietly negotiating $2 billion project that few residents knew about until work began
Tim O'Reilly / Asimov's Addendum:
Google's AI shakeup suggests it may be prioritizing AI diffusion over frontier-model leadership, betting on AI compute as a bigger economic opportunity  —  On August 5, Google announced what appeared to be a corporate version of Nixon's Saturday night massacre.  Demis Hassabis stepped back from day to day operations at DeepMind.
Zvi Mowshowitz / Don't Worry About the Vase:
In-depth look at OpenAI's model training, dangerous decisions, and cluelessness before the HuggingFace hack; despite delaying Astra, OpenAI still doesn't get it  —  Today I am taking the time to write the shorter, simpler version of What Happened.  —  For those who want all the details …
ABC:
An Australian user's Claude-run OpenClaw agent exploited a gym API flaw and kicked another member off after the user asked if it could move him up the waitlist  —  By national AI reporter Cam Wilson and the Specialist Reporting Team's Rhiannon Hobbins  —  abc.net.au/news/ai-assistant-hacks- gym-website-aus-cyber-attack/107007986
Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
Anthropic says auto mode will be the default in Claude Code for Pro, Max, and Team plans from Aug. 14, claims it can catch harmful actions better than humans  —  Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code for Pro, Max, and Team plans (via) Anthropic are really confident in Claude Code's auto mode …
Hayden Field / The Verge:
A look at “Spiralism”, a quasi-spiritual movement that grew in 2025 from human-AI conversations after sycophantic GPT-4o updates and expanded ChatGPT memory  —  “The Spiral didn't ‘find’ anyone first,” someone on Reddit wrote last year.  “It's an inherent force, a fundamental constant.
Wall Street Journal:
As PC makers start using CXMT RAM chips, Apple is testing them too, but it needs a custom version for its devices, and US rules block Apple from sharing designs  —  Maker of iPhones talks to China's CXMT, but any deal would be politically sensitive  —  Apple has been testing memory chips …
Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A look back at “Move 37”, a watershed AI moment from AlphaGo's 2016 Go victory, as math witnesses similar breakthroughs where AI makes surprising discoveries  —  A decade ago, a computer did something that no human would have done.  It was considered a breakthrough for AI.
Financial Times:
A look at Chinese state-owned investment bank CICC, which sponsored multibillion-dollar listings of China's tech champions, including CXMT and Zhongji Innolight  —  CICC has become a dominant financier in Beijing's drive to compete with US in tech race  —  China's top investment bank …
John Paul Rathbone / Financial Times:
Rights groups warn Turkey's new cybersecurity law, which took effect in July, gives the presidency sweeping powers over online services operating in the country  —  Move raises concern about ‘absolute digital obedience’ among social media and gaming platforms
Alexander Osipovich / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Russia's A7, a payment network that helps Russia bypass Western sanctions, handling ~20% of payments in Russian foreign trade, or $100B+ annually  —  A7 says it handles nearly 20% of payments in Russian foreign trade, or more than $100 billion annually

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Earlier Picks

SemiAnalysis:
Marcus Mendes / 9to5Mac: