Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

🧠 Amazon acquires Bee AI, maker of a $50 wristband that transcribes conversations.
📱 Apple updates iOS 26 beta with Liquid Glass tweaks and AI notification summaries.
💰 OpenAI reopens $40B fundraising round, led by SoftBank with a $30B pledge.
🍫 Hershey raises chocolate prices by up to 20% amid cocoa cost surge.
🕊️ Syrian inquiry confirms 1,426 Alawite civilians killed in sectarian violence.

TECHNOLOGY

• Amazon acquires Bee AI wearable that listens to everything you say

  • Amazon is buying Bee, maker of a $50 AI wristband that transcribes conversations and creates summaries, reminders, suggestions.

  • The acquisition follows Amazon's previous wearable Halo project and aims to enhance privacy controls and data muting options.

  • Bee’s entire team is joining Amazon Devices, with continued focus on user consent, no audio storage, and broader AI integration.

• iOS 26 beta 4 arrives with Liquid Glass tweaks and AI news summaries

  • Apple reintroduces AI-powered notification summaries with disclaimers and improves Liquid Glass design elements across core apps.

  • Beta 4 updates include dynamic tinting in Notification Center, new splash screens, wallpapers, and refined translucent visuals.

  • The release precedes a public beta expected later this week ahead of a full rollout in September with iPhone 17.

• Apple’s 2026 foldable iPhone will follow Samsung's cue

  • Apple’s first foldable iPhone is due in 2026, likely mirroring Samsung’s book-style design with crease-minimizing hinge tech.

  • The upcoming M5 iPad Pro is set to feature two front-facing cameras for better usability in both landscape and portrait modes.

  • These moves signal Apple’s late but refined entry into foldables and multitasking devices, emphasizing quality and polish.

BUSINESS

• OpenAI seeks more funding as part of $40 billion round led by SoftBank

  • OpenAI reopened its $40 billion fundraising round on July 28, aiming to finalize remaining capital commitments.

  • SoftBank has pledged up to $30 billion, with $7.5 billion already contributed alongside $2.5 billion from other investors.

  • A planned shift to a public benefit corporation by year’s end is required to secure full investment.

• GM profit plunges 35 %, but full‑year outlook remains intact

  • General Motors reported a 35 % drop in Q2 profit to $1.89 billion, mainly due to a $1.1 billion tariff hit.

  • Revenue slightly exceeded forecasts at $47.1 billion, and EV sales reached 46,300 units in the quarter.

  • GM confirmed its revised full‑year outlook and is offsetting tariffs via U.S. investments in manufacturing.

• Hershey raises chocolate prices amid cocoa cost surge

  • Hershey is hiking product prices by a low‑teens to 20 % range due to elevated cocoa costs.

  • Cocoa futures, despite easing from December highs, remain significantly above historical norms.

  • The move aligns with rising prices taken by peers as consumers continue purchasing despite cost increases.

MARKETS

WORLD

• More than 1,400 killed in sectarian violence on Syria’s coast

  • A Syrian government inquiry concluded at least 1,426 Alawite civilians died during several days of sectarian violence in March.

  • The committee identified almost 300 suspects, including security personnel and armed civilians, and referred them for prosecution.

  • Investigators found no evidence that military leadership directly ordered the attacks, emphasizing localized retaliation dynamics.

• Protests in Ukraine as Zelensky signs bill targeting anti‑corruption bodies

  • Thousands rallied against new legislation that undermines the independence of Ukraine’s main anti‑corruption agencies.

  • Critics warned the bill, rushed through parliament, threatens EU integration and reverses post‑Maidan reforms.

  • Zelensky defended the law as a move to remove Russian influence, while opponents fear growing authoritarian control.

• EU leaders brace for frosty China summit as trade frictions bite

  • Ahead of the July 24 summit in Beijing, the EU-China meeting was shortened and faced low expectations amid escalating trade tensions.

  • EU leaders plan to push China on rare earth exports and Ukraine policy, but anticipate little beyond a joint climate statement.

  • The gathering highlights deep divisions over EV tariffs, sanctions, and market access, signaling a challenging diplomatic climate.

CONTENT

• Chelsea Finn: Building robots that can do anything

  • Chelsea Finn explains how her team trains robots to generalize across real-world tasks like folding laundry using foundation models.

  • Robots learn without hand-coded logic, instead gaining physical intelligence from massive datasets and trial-and-error exploration.

  • Her approach focuses on adaptability, enabling robots to operate in unstructured, unpredictable environments beyond lab settings.

• OpenAI just released ChatGPT agent, its most powerful agent yet

  • OpenAI’s new agent combines browsing, terminal access, and APIs into a single system for long, multi-step task execution.

  • It maintains shared state across tools and uses reinforcement learning for better real-world safety and decision-making.

  • The team emphasizes how small, applied research teams can create transformative AI products through focused iteration.

• Did COVID prepare us for the next pandemic?

  • Sam Harris and Marc Lipsitch discuss post-COVID lessons, including trust erosion, vaccine communication, and institutional failings.

  • They explore the ethics of gain-of-function research and how future outbreaks could be better managed.

  • Lipsitch urges stronger global health coordination and stricter scientific guardrails to prevent lab-related catastrophes.

FUTURISM

• Google users click fewer links when AI summaries appear in search results

  • Around 58 % of U.S. adults saw AI-generated overviews in March 2025 and clicked traditional links only 8 % of the time.

  • Users rarely clicked links within AI summaries—just 1 %—and were likelier to end browsing sessions than with regular results.

  • The shift suggests web traffic to original sources has dropped significantly as summaries satisfy user questions directly.

• Our contribution to a global environmental standard for AI

  • Mistral AI announces creation of an open framework measuring AI’s carbon and resource footprint via shared methodologies.

  • The initiative proposes transparent reporting across model training, inference energy use, hardware lifecycle, and data center emissions.

  • Collaboration with industry and NGOs aims to establish consistent benchmarks and help developers reduce environmental impact.

• U.S. nuclear weapons agency breached in Microsoft SharePoint hack

  • The National Nuclear Security Administration was compromised via a SharePoint zero-day vulnerability exploited in a global cyberattack.

  • No classified data appears to have been accessed, though Energy Department systems beyond NNSA were also affected.

  • Federal cyber agencies and Microsoft are investigating; affected systems are being restored with new security measures.

EXTRAS

• Apple alerted Iranians to iPhone spyware attacks, say researchers

  • Apple reportedly notified numerous Iranian users that state-linked spyware had targeted their iPhones with sophisticated exploit chains.

  • The company issued security patches and urged users to update iOS promptly to counter zero-day vulnerabilities.

  • Researchers emphasized the need for broader alerts to other at-risk populations facing similar digital surveillance threats.

• OpenAI’s Sam Altman faces internal ‘fraud’ concerns amid crisis

  • Allegations emerged internally at OpenAI questioning whether Sam Altman misled the board on investor funding projections.

  • Staff fear the situation could escalate into formal investigations or threaten the company’s credibility.

  • OpenAI leaders reportedly aim to improve transparency and rebuild trust after the turmoil.

• Guterres hails climate breakthrough as clean energy surpasses fossil fuels

  • UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced that global clean energy capacity now exceeds fossil fuel generation for the first time.

  • He described the shift as a ‘planetary breakthrough,’ marking a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change.

  • Guterres urged world leaders to seize this momentum and accelerate investment in renewables to stabilize global warming.

AND MORE

• Central banks warn of climate-driven labour shocks, urging policy preparedness.

• U.S. withdraws  from UNESCO again, citing cultural disagreements.

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• Gold prices ease after U.S.–Japan trade deal boosts risk appetite.

• Japanese and South Korean automakers shares surge on auto tariff reduction.

• Asia stock markets lifted by Nikkei’s rally post Japan trade deal.

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• U.S. dollar under pressure against yen following trade announcement.