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Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu said the AI boom is making smartphones and laptops expensive. He noted that massive spending on infrastructure puts pressure on supply chains. “The sticker shock seen by anyone trying to upgrade their smart phone or laptop in 2026? That is the AI investment boom,” he said.
Cerebras Systems stock jumped 15% to close at $251.98 on August 17. The company got a boost from its partnership with OpenAI, which uses Cerebras compute for its GPT-5.6 Sol Ultrafast mode. Many investors are watching as AI cloud revenue jumped 281% year over year to about $126 million.
Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham’s Together Fund joined a $280 million Series B round for the voice-first startup Wispr. The firm said, "For the first time, the interface is adapting to the human instead of the other way around." This investment highlights India as a key market for voice-based computing technology.
OpenAI scaled back its Instant Checkout feature six months after the September 2025 launch due to low user adoption. While many people use AI to research products, they prefer buying on retailer websites. Industry leaders said that changing customer habits and trust issues currently hold back chatbot-led commerce growth.
Meta has taken steps to address Child Sexual Abuse Material concerns after talks with the government. IT Ministry sources said, "The message has gone home," noting they have seen action on the issue. The government warned that safe harbour protection will not apply if Indian laws are violated by platforms.
A leaked video shows Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods identifying a book by sight. Found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate, the footage features a product codenamed B790. The device uses Visual Intelligence to help Siri see objects. As the voiceover said, "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable."
Smack Technologies raised $61 million in a Series B funding round to speed up production of its military AI tools. CEO Andy Markoff said, "The future of war ... will be more decentralized than any conflict that we've ever fought." The startup now works with the Marine Corps and Navy.
A 16-year-old Canadian student, Evan Budz, built an autonomous AI-powered robot turtle to detect microplastics in water. The invention uses 3D holographic imaging and artificial intelligence to scan for pollution. Budz got the Gordon E. Moore Award at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair for his hard work.
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods, codenamed B790, which could launch by the end of this year. These devices use Visual Intelligence to help Siri identify your surroundings. Leaks show the cameras need an unobstructed view to work. These new AirPods will likely cost more than the current Pro models.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on August 18 that physical infrastructure is now the biggest hurdle for AI growth. Access to land, power, and data centres matters more than algorithms. Huang noted, "Their growth is increasingly constrained not by algorithms or customer demand, but by the availability of compute."
OpenAI will lease a massive new data centre in the United States for 20 years, backed by a $105 billion financing commitment from Nvidia. The project in Ohio will run exclusively on Nvidia chips. Sam Altman said, "This is going to be a huge site, with enough computing power."
Alphabet’s Google is buying internal business data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for $10 million. Google said it plans to use the data for product development and training its AI models. A U.S. bankruptcy judge will consider approving the sale at a Wednesday court hearing. Spirit shut down in May.