Ai on Cowlpane

So you’ve heard these AI terms and nodded along; let’s fix that

Sat, 09 May 2026 21:45:00 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

Artificial intelligence is changing the world, and simultaneously inventing a whole new language to describe how it’s doing it. Spend five minutes reading about AI and you’ll run into LLMs, RAG, RLHF, and a dozen other terms that can make even very smart people in the tech world feel insecure. This glossary is our attempt to fix that. We update it regularly as the field evolves, so consider it a living document, much like the AI systems it describes.

Nvidia has already committed $40B to equity AI deals this year

Sat, 09 May 2026 14:43:30 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

Nvidia continues to be a major investor in the AI ecosystem, committing more than $40 billion to equity investments in AI companies — and that’s just in these early months of 2026,according to CNBC.

Much of that total comes from a single bet,a $30 billion investment in OpenAI. But CNBC reports that the chipmaker has also announced seven multi-billion dollar investments in publicly traded companies, most recently deals to invest up to $3.2 billion in glassmaker Corning and up to $2.1 billion in data center operator IREN.

The new Wild West of AI kids’ toys

Sat, 09 May 2026 11:00:51 +0000

Originally published by Ars Technica

The main antagonist ofToy Story 5, in theaters this summer, is a green, frog-shaped kids’ tablet named Lilypad, a genius new villain for the belovedPixar franchise. But if Pixar had its ear to the ground, it might have used an AI kids’ toy instead.

AI toys are seemingly everywhere, marketed online as friendly companions to children as young as three, and they’re still a largely unregulated category. It’s easier than ever to spin up an AI companion, thanks to model developer programs andvibe coding. In 2026, they’ve become a go-to trend in cheap trinkets, lining the halls of trade shows likeCES,MWC, andHong Kong’s Toys & Games Fair. By October 2025, there were over 1,500 AI toy companiesregisteredin China, and Huawei’sSmart HanHanplush toy sold 10,000 units in China in its first week. Sharp put itsPokeTomo talking AI toyon sale in Japan this April.

OpenAI Unveils GPT-5 with Multimodal Reasoning and Agent Capabilities

Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

OpenAI unveiled GPT-5 on Friday, its most capable artificial intelligence model to date, featuring native multimodal reasoning, autonomous agent capabilities, and what the company describes as “near-human” performance on professional-level reasoning benchmarks.

The new model can browse the live web, write and execute code in a sandboxed environment, analyze images and video, and hold coherent multi-turn conversations that span hours without losing context. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called it “a step change in what AI can do for people.”

Laid-off Oracle workers tried to negotiate better severance. Oracle said no.

Fri, 08 May 2026 22:59:05 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

As was widely reported, Oracleaxed an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 peoplevia email on March 31.

One of the employees cut that day told TechCrunch about the experience: “I had, like, this weird feeling in my stomach. I went to go sign into the VPN, and the VPN was like, ‘this user doesn’t exist anymore.’ Then I called my friend, and I was like, ‘Hey, can you see me in Slack?’ And she said, ‘No, your account’s been deactivated.’”

Sony says "efficient" AI tools will lead to even more games flooding the market

Fri, 08 May 2026 20:51:17 +0000

Originally published by Ars Technica

Anyone following the modern game industry knows thateasy-to-use game enginesandthe accelerating shift to digital distributionhave helped enable a massive increase in the quantity of commercial games released each year, bothon console storefrontsandespecially on Steam. Now, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Hideaki Nishino says we should expect the rate of new game releases to accelerate even faster as new AI development tools make it easier for developers big and small to pursue new projects efficiently.

Intel’s comeback story is even wilder than it seems

Fri, 08 May 2026 20:02:52 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

Bloomberg has adeep divethis week into how Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is trying to rescue one of Silicon Valley’s most storied, and stumbling, chipmakers. It’s worth a read, but it actually undersells the most jaw-dropping part of the story: Intel’s stock has risen a stunning 490% over the past year, a bet by Wall Street that may be running well ahead of the company’s actual turnaround.

Tan, who took over inMarch of last year, has spent much of his first year schmoozing rather than restructuring — locking in asweetheart dealwith the U.S. government (now Intel’s third-largest shareholder), cozying up to Elon Musk on afactory partnership, and reportedly landing preliminary manufacturing agreements with both Apple and Tesla.

Course correction: Google to link more sources in AI Overviews

Fri, 08 May 2026 19:43:47 +0000

Originally published by Ars Technica

The top of a Google search page is prime real estate, but it has primarily been the domain of AI Overviews for the past two years. Websites that spent years optimizing for Google search haven’t exactly loved being pushed down the page by a chatbot and may blame AI Overviews for recent traffic drops. Google is not admitting fault, but it isrolling out a number of changesthat will place more links to websites inside AI answers.

All the latest updates on AI data centers

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:45:08 +0000

Originally published by The Verge Social

Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.

From audacious plans tolaunch data centers into spaceto the latestlegal battlesover pollution,The Vergehas the biggest news and reporting surrounding data centers.

Cloudflare says AI made 1,100 jobs obsolete, even as revenue hit a record high

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:33:21 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

Cloudflare on Thursday joined a growing list of tech companies — including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon — that have reported increased revenue alongside massive layoffs, attributing both trends to their use of AI.

Cloudflare, which provides internet security and performance services to millions of websites worldwide, announced it was cutting its workforce by approximately 20%, which equates to 1,100 people, it said as part of its first quarter 2026 earnings report on Thursday.

Chrome's 4GB AI model isn't new, but you're not wrong for being confused

Fri, 08 May 2026 17:17:17 +0000

Originally published by Ars Technica

All of Google’s products have been getting more AI features, including Chrome, which now offers split-screen Gemini chatbot support, the ability toautomate web browsing, and more. Some desktop Chrome users have also noted that the browser appears to suddenly want more storage space for AI. This is true—Chrome does download a 4GB AI model for on-device processing. It’s been doing that for years, though.

Google hasn’t actually changedanythingabout Chrome’s on-device AI, but the confusion is understandable, as the company has done a poor job of explaining what it’s doing and why. This is, unfortunately, par for the course with Google’s AI efforts.

Did xAI just concede the AI race?

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:47 +0000

Originally published by Platformer

The Trump administration’s AI doomer moment

A year ago, officials all but sneered at the idea of AI safety. A new frontier model has them reconsidering

We may now know what kind of AI bubble this is

Think railroads, not crypto. PLUS: The government can’t decide what to do about Mythos, and week one of the OpenAI-Elon Musk trial

How we’re shaking up Platformer for the AI era

On newsletters in the age of AI automation. PLUS: Musk and OpenAI in court, and China blocks Meta’s Manus acquisition