Outside of tech there has been no financial payoff to US companies for using AI, now viewed as a margin-hurting cost center, as VC-backed firms burn more tokens  —  Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech.

Sources: Apple tweaked macOS for its OLED touch MacBook Pro, due Wednesday, with a dynamic interface that adapts to whether touch or the trackpad was last used  —  Also: The company rolls out a retail store tool to reduce wasted inventory.  —  Apple's touch-screen MacBook Pro will arrive on Wednesday …

Lawmakers and Hill staffers in both parties say AI leaders are becoming a political liability as they swing between claims of prosperity and existential dangers  —  Washington has always viewed Silicon Valley as culturally strange.  But the current crop of AI leaders is becoming …

Source: Replit recently moved most AI spend from Anthropic to OpenAI, which gave 30%+ off in a deal worth $100M+/year, after Anthropic discontinued its discount  —  OpenAI's efforts to undercut Anthropic on price are producing some results.  —  For instance, in May, Anthropic models powered 57% …

Kimi K3.1 Pro's debut draws scrutiny over allegations that influencers were asked to promote the model without disclosing a commercial relationship to Moonshot  —  That's because Kimi K3.1 Pro scores so high on third-party benchmarks — according to both Moonshot and third-party AI model …

The iTunes Store is re-emerging as a venue for big pop stars, including Taylor Swift, to hawk collectibles to superfans and bolster their chart positions  —  Record labels and artists including Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande are using the throwback music store to bolster their chart position and cash in on their fandom

Elon Musk says SpaceX closed $40B in GPU debt, debt markets have shut off credit for AI data center firms, and 200+ neoclouds face “death and consolidation”  —  Pretty much. As of the past few weeks, debt markets have almost entirely shut off access to money for any company that doesn't have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers. SpaceX closed $40B of debt for GPUs, but we're investment grade and have Starlink & launch revenue. That means...

Block unveils Dessa, a “true speech-to-speech” AI model trained on “nothing but human conversation” that it says runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or newer  —  You have got to listen to these conversations with Block's new Dessa AI model.

Data center tenants now demand $5M+ a day in late-delivery fees, up from $1M this spring, spawning new “delay-in-delivery” coverage from brokers like Marsh  —  This spring, Mike Mathews, who leads the global digital infrastructure practice at insurance broker Marsh …

Instagram launches an Apple TV app for watching Reels, longer videos, and live shows; the app previously launched on Fire TV, Google TV, and Samsung smart TVs  —  Instagram is now available on the Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows via the platform to Apple's streaming device for the first time.

Ukraine says Starshield was working normally again on Saturday morning; US officials said Trump asked Elon Musk to restore the service  —  Speed restrictions imposed by Elon Musk's SpaceX have hampered Ukraine's drone forces since Oct. 14  —  KYIV—Ukraine's military Starlink system …

How a Blackstone-led $2.3B private credit loan to CoreWeave in 2023 became a blueprint for chip-backed debt, which is on track to become a $1T market  —  “What is a GPU?”  Blackstone Inc. executives asked CoreWeave Inc.'s leadership.  Also: “Is AI real?”  —  These were entirely logical queries …

A look at Alpha School, a network of private schools that claims to teach kids 2x as fast using AI; data shows ~50% of K-8 students missed this goal in math  —  Alpha School, a private network, is spreading into public education.  While its students' test scores are high, some parents and educators say it doesn't live up to the hype.