Morning Skim

AI

More than 1,100 AI staff ask Washington to help build a way to slow AI down

A letter titled Pacing the Frontier, signed by 1,178 workers including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki, asks the US to back international tools that could coordinate a slowdown if AI ever outpaces human oversight. OpenAI and Anthropic endorsed it.

Why it matters: Insiders building the frontier are now lobbying for the brakes, moving AI safety from papers into policy.

Dive deeper → Notebookcheck

China's Moonshot releases Kimi K3, the largest open-weight AI model yet

Moonshot published the weights for Kimi K3 on July 27, a 2.8 trillion parameter system it calls the world's largest open model, built for advanced reasoning and long-horizon coding. It is the first open release to approach the 3 trillion mark.

Why it matters: China's open models keep narrowing the gap with closed US frontier labs, and anyone can download this one.

Dive deeper → CTV News

Tech

The AI data-center land grab hits a new gear with gigawatt-scale deals

AMD is locking up as much as 2.5 gigawatts of AI data-center capacity, Nvidia is reportedly backing a 50 billion dollar infrastructure lease tied to its own chips, and Amazon is preparing an estimated 200 billion dollar capex push.

Why it matters: The buildout is now measured in power plants and tens of billions, raising the stakes if AI demand cools.

Dive deeper → Tech Startups

EU forces Google to open Android to rival AI assistants

Under two binding decisions, Google must give competing AI assistants the same system-level Android access it reserves for Gemini, opening 11 features such as voice activation and screen context. Most changes are due by August 2027, with fines up to 10 percent of global revenue for noncompliance.

Why it matters: It could let ChatGPT or Claude act as a phone's default assistant, cracking Google's grip on mobile AI.

Dive deeper → Fortune

Business

A divided Fed holds rates steady as three officials dissent

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent in a 9-3 vote, with the Cleveland, Minneapolis and Dallas presidents dissenting as inflation stays above target. Officials called it a rigorous review rather than a firm pause.

Why it matters: The rare three-way dissent signals a policy fight brewing over how long to hold the line on inflation.

Dive deeper → CNBC

Microsoft and Meta report, and Wall Street rewards restraint over spending

Microsoft revenue rose 18 percent to about 90 billion dollars with Azure up 43 percent, and shares climbed after it held its capex outlook steady. Meta's profit fell 14 percent to 15.85 billion dollars and it lifted the floor of 2026 capex to 130 billion, sending the stock lower.

Why it matters: The split verdict shows investors will pay up for AI only when the spending has a visible payoff.

Dive deeper → Money Morning

Science

Japan's Kikai supervolcano is quietly refilling with magma

Kobe University and JAMSTEC researchers used seafloor seismometers and airgun surveys to find a shallow magma reservoir 2.5 to 6 kilometers beneath the submerged Kikai caldera, which produced the largest eruption of the last 10,000 years about 7,300 years ago.

Why it matters: An eruption is not imminent, but the find offers a rare model for how giant calderas like Yellowstone recharge.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

NASA releases a time-lapse from Psyche's Mars gravity assist

NASA published imagery and a time-lapse video from the Psyche spacecraft's flyby about 2,800 miles above Mars, where its cameras and instruments were tested on windblown craters and the polar cap. The metal-asteroid probe reaches its target in 2029.

Why it matters: The pass banked free speed from Mars and proved the science gear works before the real destination.

Dive deeper → ScienceDaily

World

US and Saudi forces strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq as Iran hits back

US Central Command and Saudi aircraft struck weapons and logistics sites in eastern Iraq after more than 30 militia drone attacks in 72 hours, and the Popular Mobilization Forces said at least 20 fighters were killed. Iran's IRGC then fired missiles at a US airbase in Jordan.

Why it matters: The exchange widens the Iran conflict into Iraqi soil and risks pulling more of the region into direct fighting.

Dive deeper → NPR

France orders more evacuations in its biggest wildfire crisis in decades

Authorities evacuated nearly 4,000 more people from Atlantic coast tourist sites as heat revived a vast fire west of Bordeaux, part of a southwest France emergency that has displaced more than 250,000 people, the country's largest peacetime evacuation since World War II.

Why it matters: Climate-driven heat is turning European summers into mass-displacement events with no rain in the forecast.