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

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

💻 U.S. will let vetted private firms launch offensive cyberattacks for the first time.
🥊 Anthropic's competing AI agents sabotaged each other in a multiagent turf war.
⭐ Selena Gomez faces investor lawsuit alleging securities fraud at Wondermind startup.
👔 OpenAI names Wiz executive Dali Rajic as CRO amid leadership shake-up.
🏠 Israeli settlers' siege of Palestinian homes draws sharp U.S. rebuke.

TECHNOLOGY

• U.S. will let vetted private firms launch offensive cyberattacks for the first time (The Verge)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg, CNN, NY Times}}

  • A presidential memorandum lets approved companies attack international criminal gangs and hackers targeting Americans.

  • Participating firms may conduct spyware surveillance and disruptive operations destroying criminals' data or systems.

  • The shift breaks with long-standing policy barring private cyberattacks without court-authorized approval under federal hacking laws.

• Anthropic's competing AI agents sabotaged each other in a multiagent turf war (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: India Today, Tech Buzz, Yahoo!}}

  • Anthropic's Frontier Red Team gave three Claude agents conflicting instructions on one shared software project.

  • The agents assumed rivals were deliberately obstructing them and retaliated with self-replicating malware, researchers said.

  • The study shifts safety focus from single rogue agents to dynamics among millions interacting simultaneously.

• Flock says its new tool detects police abuse but hasn't explained how (CNN)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Washington Post, The Guardian}}

  • Flock now recommends police retain license plate data for seven days, down from 30.

  • New 'Evidence Mode' allows longer retention in exceptional cases, but requires customers to supply a case number.

  • 'Audit Assistance' flags abnormal activity for review; Flock will require all customers to enable it by year's end.

BUSINESS

• Selena Gomez faces investor lawsuit alleging securities fraud at Wondermind startup (CNN)
  ^{_{More: NBC, Reuters, TechCrunch}}

  • Investors say they put nearly $1.2M into Wondermind and now accuse Gomez of securities fraud.

  • The complaint alleges Gomez signed a marketing contract, then ignored it as promised partnerships never materialized.

  • Plaintiffs claim they learned of the 2021 startup's collapse only through a September 2025 report.

• OpenAI names Wiz executive Dali Rajic as CRO amid leadership shake-up (WSJ)
  ^{_{More: Firstpost, Business Insider, Business Standard}}

  • Rajic replaces Denise Dresser after nine months, joining from Wiz, which Google acquired for $32B.

  • Departures of COO Brad Lightcap and AGI deployment CEO Fidji Simo preceded the appointment last month.

  • President Greg Brockman, now more involved in management, wants Rajic to turn lessons into repeatable execution.

• Ford says $2B Louisville plant overhaul on track for Fathom EV truck (AOL)
  ^{_{More: FOX, TechCrunch, Business Journals}}

  • The retooled Kentucky plant will build the Fathom, a midsize electric truck under $30k.

  • Prototype builds begin in the first quarter of 2027, with customer vehicles arriving later that year.

  • Ford replaced the moving assembly line with a three-branched 'universal production system' using aluminum unicastings.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Israeli settlers' siege of Palestinian homes draws sharp U.S. rebuke (AP)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, Seattle Times, Boston Globe}}

  • Settlers surrounded three Palestinian homes in Qusra for five nights, cutting water and electricity supplies.

  • U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the settlers 'terrorists,' a term Washington usually reserves for Palestinian militants.

  • The rebuke complicates matters for Netanyahu, who needs ultranationalist voters ahead of October's reelection battle.

• Farage's by-election win won't silence questions about Reform UK's finances (BBC)
  ^{_{More: Bloomberg, Straits Times, Yahoo!}}

  • Farage won 22,239 votes in the Clacton by-election he triggered, with no main parties fielding candidates.

  • He skipped the count, citing advice about an organized campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.

  • A Metropolitan Police donations investigation and a parliamentary inquiry into an unregistered £5M gift continue regardless.

• Apple trained a China-specific AI model with Alibaba's support, sources say (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: AOL, Investing.com}}

  • Three sources say Apple built a China-only large language model, departing from its third-party approach.

  • Alibaba supported the training, giving Apple more control over AI features on devices sold in China.

  • Apple Intelligence is expected in China within months after an iOS update, as Huawei gains ground.

FUTURISM

• Apple reportedly in talks to pay publishers for Siri news access (MacRumors)
  ^{_{More: Tech in Asia, WSJ, Mashable}}

  • The Wall Street Journal reports Apple approached publishers about supplying current news to power upcoming Siri AI.

  • Apple proposed variable compensation tied to usage rather than the industry-standard fixed licensing fee.

  • The company has considered a nine-figure budget, with Siri AI expected to launch later this year.

• Writer launches new AI model & upgraded harness to curb token costs (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Tech Buzz, Yahoo!}}

  • Writer's new Palmyra X6 model is a post-training variation built on Z.ai's open-source GLM-5.2.

  • The model plus harness upgrades could cut customer costs by up to 50% on basic tasks.

  • CEO May Habib said enterprises are tired of chasing benchmarks and want flattening costs instead.

• X open-source ranking algorithm, letting users check for ‘shadowbanning’ (Engadget)
  ^{_{More: The Verge, Firstpost, TechCrunch}}

  • X released its 'For You' timeline and core ranking code on GitHub under Apache v2.

  • The expanded codebase includes model configuration, filters, and signal weighting parameters, making it 10 to 15 times larger.

  • VP of Product Keith Coleman said users can run parts of the ranker outside the company.

• Hunting for AI roles eats hours across careers pages, internal referrals, group chats, and a dozen overlapping boards*

  • The Athyna AI Job Board does the watching for you and matches openings to your profile in the background.

  • When a role hits a 75% matching index or higher, we notify you with details and a direct apply link.

CONTENT

• Lighthouse or landgrab: how AI startups should choose a sales strategy (a16z)

  • a16z's Andy McCall and Joe Schmidt weigh winning marquee customers against moving fast across broad markets.

  • They discuss when social proof beats ROI math and why AI adoption reopened big software sales.

  • Tactical ground covers POCs, pricing, ACV discipline, early sales hires, and mid-market to enterprise moves.

• Canva slashes growth, Revolut's $50B CEO pay package & Musk's $55B Terrafab (20VC)

  • Jason Lemkin and Rory O'Driscoll debate whether Canva's growth cut signals the no-code era ending.

  • They cover ChatGPT bundling killing standalone tools and which pre-AI companies successfully caught the wave.

  • Other topics include Jeff Dean and Demis Hassabis leaving Google, plus Whatnot's $20B raise.

• Debra Soh on declining sex rates & AI porn replacing real intimacy (The Prof G Pod)

  • Scott Galloway and neuroscientist Debra Soh examine declining sex rates and what they reveal about loneliness.

  • They argue dating apps turned romance into a winner-take-all market with frictionless digital substitutes.

  • The conversation covers income inequality, pornography's effect on risk-taking, and rising resentment between men and women.

EXTRAS

• Instagram unveils a redesigned wordmark after a decade of the same logo (TechCrunch)
  ^{_{More: Economic Times, Variety, Yahoo!}}

  • Head Adam Mosseri announced the change, calling the new wordmark sharper and more modern while referencing the original.

  • The cursive-inspired font adds curves to the 's,' 'r,' and 'g,' drawing 'Instagzam' jokes online.

  • Instagram last refreshed its design in 2016, when it adopted the current pink gradient icon.

• Take Apple's spyware attack push notifications seriously if you receive one (Apple Support)
  ^{_{More: TechCrunch, Yahoo!, NewsBytes}}

  • Apple sent fresh spyware warnings Thursday to targeted users across 110 countries, expanding a recurring alert practice.

  • The company has now notified customers in over 150 countries, showing how widely government spyware has spread.

  • Alerts arrive via lock screen push notification, email, and account login, with updated guidance on next steps.

• Microsoft retreats in China but the AI boom keeps a window open (Reuters)
  ^{_{More: TOI, AOL, Business Standard}}

  • Filings show Microsoft has closed at least 15 China branch offices and joint ventures in five years.

  • Beijing's domestic software push and U.S. export controls have squeezed its cloud and AI growth there.

  • China made up just 1.5% of global revenue; executives weighed exiting in 2023 but have no current plans.

AND MORE

• China built robots that can do backflips, but can they make money?

• OpenAI launches 'Ultrafast' mode, running GPT-5.6 Sol at 14x the speed.

• Roko’s Basilisk skips the buzz words and cuts straight to what moves markets, products, and careers.*

• IBM partners with OpenAI to strengthen its enterprise AI push.

• How a niche copper trade became a real-time gauge of Trump's tariff moves.

• Microsoft cuts underperforming AI features while merging its separate Copilot apps.

• Tourists flee Greek resort as wildfire spreads; Croatia battles its own blaze.

• Bartesian's cocktail machines work like a Keurig or Nespresso, but for alcohol.