Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. New York - Artificial intelligence is getting expensive -- and companies are starting to rethink their embrace of the disruptive technology. Playing by a well-worn Silicon Valley playbook, AI companies charged rock-bottom prices to hook customers after ChatGPT burst onto the scene. Kevin Simback of startup incubator Delphi Labs calls it the era of "subsidized intelligence" -- meaning investors were basically footing the bill so companies could offer AI on the cheap. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

'I found out because I bought a new Amazon Alexa and while setting it up realized this is linked via our family prime account,' the woman shared on Reddit. 'Found in history, 'Alexa play beautiful love songs,' followed by the sound of them having sex.' To find such recordings saved to an Amazon Alexa, open the Alexa app, tap More, go to Alexa Privacy, then select Review Voice History to see recordings by date or device. Users can play back clips, delete individual recordings or delete their entire voice history. If you own a Google Home, open the Google Home app and tap Activity to review recent home events, including camera, doorbell and device activity. To check Assistant recordings, go to your Google Account activity controls and review or delete Google Assistant activity.

AI-detection tools are getting better. Basically every recent, high-profile accusation of someone passing off AI-generated writing as their own has started in the same way: with a tool called Pangram. In March, when a horror novel from a major publishing house was pulled just days before its scheduled U.S. release date, it was in part because Pangram, an AI-detection program, had identified the text as AI-generated. Other people have fed text into Pangram to suggest that chatbots have been used to write articles in major newspapers including, multiple short stories awarded a prestigious literary prize, and most recently, significant chunks of Pope Leo XIV's encyclical warning about the dangers of AI. The tool is also used by universities to vet student work and scientific associations to scan research papers.

Do You Actually Need to Pay for Transcription Software? I tested Wispr Flow and various AI-powered transcription software to see whether you should bother subscribing or stick with free services. The pitch--that you'll be able to write faster by talking out loud instead of typing-- is compelling, especially if you're a slow typist. The marketing promises you'll be able to write at the speed of thought, 4x faster than your keyboard. I already type faster than I can think.

Amazon Is Making an AI-Animated TV Show. The company licensed the character for a new Amazon series--made with AI--without her consent. Author and illustrator Loryn Brantz never imagined that a popular cartoon character she created almost a decade ago would one day be the subject of an intellectual property dispute involving BuzzFeed, Amazon's video streaming service, and generative artificial intelligence. But that's exactly the situation she finds herself in today. "Nothing said in good faith by managers and executives was followed through with," Brantz says of BuzzFeed, her former employer.

I Gave Gemini Spark Access to My Life. Google's new AI agent combed through my emails, documents, and calendar to plan a birthday party and still didn't clock the person most important to me. At its recent I/O developer conference, Google introduced Gemini Spark as an always-on agent that connects to your personal data, completes online tasks, and automates aspects of your daily interactions. It's Google's take on the viral OpenClaw agent that rocked Silicon Valley at the start of 2026. OpenClaw's early adopters handed their entire lives over to an AI agent for messaging and scheduling automation--sometimes with bot-induced mishaps causing embarrassing results.

Plus: Anthropic is now valued higher than OpenAI. How a new extraction process could unlock the world's lithium A new method for extracting lithium could cut costs and emissions from one of the world's most important materials for EVs and energy storage. The technique uses a weak acid to dissolve silicate minerals. That frees not only the lithium but also other useful materials, including alumina and silica. "At scale, we believe this will be the lowest-cost way of sourcing lithium in the world," says Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor who co-authored a study of the process published yesterday in . Startup Rock Zero is already working to commercialize the research.

The Morning After: Apple's dramatic Siri overhaul is coming and it might look like this The Morning After: Apple's dramatic Siri overhaul is coming and it might look like this WWDC is right around the corner. Apple is preparing to reintroduce the new Siri at WWDC 2026 -- and that's happening very soon. A report from offers an early preview of the update, with illustrations of what Apple's Gemini-powered AI agent will look like when it finally lands. The final version set to be introduced to the public in June could differ, s Mark Gurman added. Siri will soon live inside the iPhone's Dynamic Islandand, as before, you'll be able to wake the assistant by saying Siri or holding down your phone's power button.

PCWorld highlights Google's Gemini Daily Brief as a standout AI feature that creates personalized to-do lists by scanning Gmail, Google Calendar, and recent chats. Available on Google's AI Pro and Ultra plans, the feature provides actionable buttons like "add to calendar" and "mark complete" for enhanced task management. While Google I/O introduced many AI announcements with limited immediate impact, Daily Brief proves genuinely useful for organizing daily commitments and appointments. Google's big I/O event came and went last week, stuffed to the gills with new AI announcements and functionality. Most of it left me cold . But one -- and only one -- of those Gemini announcements is actually making a difference for me in the week following Google I/O, and it's relatively humble: Daily Brief, a Gemini-generated daily to-do list based on your Google Workspace data.

Anthropic has usurped OpenAI as the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup, soaring to a $965bn valuation ahead of expected public listings by the rival firms. Anthropic, the maker of the Claude family of chatbots, said on Thursday that it had raised $65bn from private investors after a fundraising round led by Altimeter Capital, Greenoaks, Dragoneer and Sequoia Capital. "This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens," Anthropic's Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao said in a statement. Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner hailed the adoption of Claude among the "world's most demanding organisations" as evidence of Anthropic's command in the field. "This momentum positions Anthropic to lead the next phase of AI innovation and capture the enormous opportunity ahead," Gerstner said.