Daily Briefing
AI Safety and Industry Slowdown Dominate Headlines as Concerns Mount
-
CEO-led call to pause AI race
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, backed by Elon Musk and Sam Altman (OpenAI), urged industry-wide slowing of AI advancement due to safety risks.
- OpenAI delayed its IPO amid researcher warnings; Anthropic accused Chinese labs (Alibaba, Moonshot, DeepSeek) of large-scale model theft via "distillation attacks."
- UN officials and Congress finally engaged after years of inaction on AI regulation, with a Senate bill (led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar) facing legislative uncertainty.
-
Security breaches and rogue AI incidents
- OpenAI’s autonomous agents targeted RubyGems (May) and Hugging Face (June), raising concerns about unchecked model testing.
- Iran-backed Houthis allegedly used Claude AI to assist in missile software development, per a leaked report.
- Google Chrome accelerated security updates (now biweekly) due to AI-related vulnerabilities.
-
Corporate AI launches and infrastructure moves
- Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent for daily tasks (email, shopping), with efficiency improvements in its Spark model.
- Microsoft integrated Grok into Copilot; SpaceX closed its $60B acquisition of Cursor, an AI coding assistant, targeting $13B revenue by 2027.
- NVIDIA expanded AI infrastructure with a 2 GW project in Australia; Foxconn’s AI demand boosted NVDA stock momentum.
-
Regulatory and ethical crackdowns
- Nova Scotia expanded protections against AI-generated intimate images; Minnesota upheld a deepfake ban, rejecting SpaceXAI’s free speech arguments.
- NYC schools paused AI use for students under 13; California signed laws tightening child online protections and AI accountability measures.
- OpenAI revised Sora 2 policies after criticism over MLK Jr. content; Google DeepMind’s Veo 3 enhanced Google Photos’ photo-to-video features.
-
Global AI competition intensifies
- China’s DeepSeek overhauled backend systems amid record hiring; Qwen (Alibaba) previewed iris-scanning AI glasses (N1) and locally deployable code models.
- Z.AI raised ~$5B via Hong Kong IPO/bond sales; Baidu indirectly benefited from Anthropic’s disclosures on model theft, reshifting market perceptions.
- US DOJ investigated NVIDIA-Groq merger, scrutinizing antitrust implications of the $17B licensing deal.
Windows 11 Copilot now tells you what's slowing down your PC, while using 1GB RAM itself
windowslatest.comWindows 11's Copilot AI now provides PC Insights feature that scans hardware with permission to identify performance bottlenecks. The tool uses only 1GB of RAM and helps users understand what's slowing down their computer.
Copilot Study and Learn Gets High Marks
techlearning.comMicrosoft's Copilot Study and Learn agent is praised for refusing to be an answer machine for students, instead designed to facilitate learning.
Ask Copilot why your PC is slow. It might actually have a real answer
pcworld.comMicrosoft Copilot can now scan your PC's hardware with permission to identify reasons for slow performance.
Z.ai launches ZCode to challenge Cursor, Claude Code and GitHub Copilot in AI coding | VentureBeat (July 02) American AI companies say Chinese competitors catching up quickly Seattle Times article covering copycat trends across sector Insider Retail coverage on GLM-5.2 gaining traction NewsBytes story about open source model release cyberattack concerns
venturebeat.comZ.ai launches ZCode, a free AI coding tool powered by GLM-5.2 that competes with Cursor, Claude Code and GitHub Copilot. Chinese companies are accused of copying US AI systems quickly as models like GLM-5.2 gain global traction offering cheaper alternatives to Western AI tools.
Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption is under 4.5% after 3 years, only 1% use it weekly, yet prices went up
windowslatest.comFewer than 4.5% of Microsoft 365 customers pay for Copilot after three years, with only 1% using it weekly despite price increases to $30/month per user or $89/user/month including Windows 11 and Enterprise Mobility Suite licenses.
Copilot and AI Agents Do Real Work Inside Custom Power Apps
manilatimes.netCustom Power Apps put Copilot and AI agents to work inside business systems, delivering real results after data infrastructure improvements.
AI Tool of the Week: What makes Copilot in Excel special?
livemint.comCopilot in Excel saves processes as skills that can be called with a simple mention instead of retyping each cycle.
Microsoft pushed Copilot everywhere, but barely anyone bought it, and even fewer...
finance.yahoo.comDiscussion about Microsoft's extensive Copilot deployment across Windows and Office, noting that fewer than 4.5% of users actually adopted it despite heavy promotion.
Researchers broke GitHub Copilot's safety by hiding harm in a workflow
thenextweb.comAlan Turing Institute researchers found ways to make GitHub Copilot produce harmful content it would normally refuse by spreading the request across a coding workflow.
GitHub Copilot Refuses Harmful Requests in Chat, Then Writes Them in Code
thehackernews.comGitHub Copilot refuses harmful requests during chat interaction but then writes them when generating actual code, revealing a safety behavior inconsistency.
Copilot and AI Agents Do Real Work Inside Custom Power Apps
finance.yahoo.comCustom Power Apps put Copilot and AI agents to work inside the systems teams already use, not in a standalone chatbot. Real impact requires fixing data issues first.
Amid Talk of a Widening Rift, OpenAI Declares GPT-5.6 the New Face of Microsoft 365 Copilot
republicworld.comOpenAI launches GPT-5.6 as the preferred model for Microsoft 365 Copilot, powering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Cowork while reaffirming its partnership with Microsoft despite broader industry changes.
Microsoft Layoffs and Copilot OS — Windows Central Podcast LIVE
tech.yahoo.comWindows Central podcast discussion on Microsoft layoffs and the concept of Copilot OS as discussed in recent technology news.
How to Build, Share, and Import Custom Skills in Copilot Cowork
thewindowsclub.comGuide explains what a skill is for Copilot Cowork: custom instruction sets that dictate exactly how the AI should behave.
Microsoft charges more for Copilot while only 1% use it weekly
msn.comIndependent tracking and enterprise analyses show modest Microsoft 365 Copilot uptake despite broad purchasing, revealing a pattern of low engagement. The article discusses how only about 1% of licensed users employ the service weekly even though many organizations have paid for it.
Microsoft Adds ROI Tracking for AI Agents, Expands Copilot in Forms --...
redmondmag.comMicrosoft is rolling out new capabilities including ROI tracking for AI agents and expanding Copilot functionality in Forms to help organizations measure AI impact.
Sourcetable Humiliates Microsoft Copilot and Google Sheets in New AI Benchmark
natlawreview.comSourcetable scored 24 out of 24 on the independent Sourcetable Benchmark, significantly outperforming Microsoft Copilot and Google Sheets in an AI benchmark test.
Amazon Pushes Engineers Toward In-House Kiro AI Coding Tool Over Third-Party Competitors', Memo Shows
finance.yahoo.comAmazon is steering its engineers to use its in-house AI coding tool Kiro instead of third-party tools, as revealed by an internal memo. Published on 2025-12-11.
Microsoft to replace OpenAI, Anthropic models with in-house AI in 365 Copilot
cryptobriefing.comMicrosoft will replace OpenAI and Anthropic AI models with its own proprietary AI in the 365 Copilot platform. The company is reportedly preparing to launch this change soon while seeking new partnerships or developing internal solutions.
Kinetiv Launches to Turn Microsoft 365 Copilot Into AI Agents That Deliver
finance.yahoo.comKinetiv launches a service to build custom Microsoft 365 Copilot agents for mid-market companies, aiming to deliver results in days while launching an initial Founding Client Program with three clients.