Daily dispatch

May 6, 2026

Issue filed May 6, 2026 · 24 headlines · By Oz Gultekin

Daily dispatch for May 6, 2026. 24 headlines from labour, tech, and policy feeds, rewritten by hand for the class war in progress.

№ 01 The Verge

Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAI

Elon Musk sued OpenAI in 2024, claiming the company abandoned its nonprofit mission to benefit humanity and instead prioritized profits. Musk took the stand as the first witness in the high-stakes trial that could reshape the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT.
№ 02 MIT Tech Review

Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: What it was like in the room

Sam Altman and Elon Musk faced off in court in Oakland, California, in a landmark trial over OpenAI's direction. Musk alleges that the millions he invested in the company were used contrary to its founding mission.
№ 03 MIT Tech Review

Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI’s models

During the first week of trial, Elon Musk testified that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman deceived him into funding the company. Musk also warned that artificial intelligence could destroy humanity and admitted xAI distills OpenAI models.
№ 04 The New York Times

Elon Musk Wanted OpenAI to Go Commercial, Greg Brockman Testifies

Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, testified that Elon Musk wanted the nonprofit company to operate commercially. The testimony contradicts Musk's claims about the company's mission and direction.
№ 05 The Guardian

US and tech firms strike deal to review AI models for national security before public release

The US government has struck deals with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and xAI to review early versions of new AI models before public release. The Center for AI Standards and Innovation will vet products for cybersecurity, biosecurity, and weapons risks.
№ 06 The Guardian

OpenAI president’s ‘deeply personal’ diary becomes focus in Musk’s case against Altman

Greg Brockman's personal diary and communications became central evidence in Elon Musk's case against OpenAI during the trial's second week. Brockman faced extensive questioning about emails, texts, and diary entries over several hours.
№ 07 The New York Times

Coinbase Lays Off 14% of Employees as A.I. Changes Work

Coinbase laid off 14 percent of its workforce, citing cryptocurrency market volatility and the need to optimize for the artificial intelligence era. The largest US crypto exchange is restructuring amid economic uncertainty.
№ 08 Financial Times

Meta and Zuckerberg sued by publishers over ‘massive’ copyright infringement

Meta faces a lawsuit from five major publisher groups alleging massive copyright infringement in the training of its Llama AI models. The tech giant is accused of using copyrighted works without permission or compensation.
№ 09 MIT Tech Review

The Download: inside the Musk v. Altman trial, and AI for democracy

The Download newsletter covers week one of the Musk v. Altman trial and explores how artificial intelligence intersects with democratic processes. Two of AI's most powerful figures are locked in a federal court battle.
№ 10 The New York Times

Elon Musk’s Lawyers Ask OpenAI’s President Why He Is Worth $30 Billion

Elon Musk's legal team questioned OpenAI president Greg Brockman about his $30 billion net worth during the federal trial. The lawyers implied Brockman was motivated by greed rather than building safe artificial intelligence.
№ 11 VentureBeat

Salesforce rolls out new Slackbot AI agent as it battles Microsoft and Google in workplace AI

Salesforce launched a rebuilt Slackbot AI agent that transforms the workplace assistant from a notification tool into a fully powered agent. The new version can search enterprise data, draft documents, and take action on behalf of employees.
№ 12 The Verge

Chrome’s AI features may be hogging 4GB of your computer storage

Google Chrome is automatically downloading a 4GB artificial intelligence model file to users' computers without clear notification. The weights.bin file is consuming significant storage space when certain AI features are activated.
№ 13 The Verge

Microsoft gives up on Xbox Copilot AI

Microsoft announced it is winding down Copilot on Xbox mobile and stopping development of Copilot on console. The decision follows a reorganization of the Xbox platform team under new CEO Asha Sharma.
№ 14 Financial Times

Public and private markets vie for gains from AI job disruption

Corporate leaders are betting that automation and artificial intelligence will produce outsized returns for investors. Both public and private markets are positioning themselves to profit from AI-driven job displacement.
№ 15 The Guardian

Major publishers sue Meta for copyright infringement over AI training

Five major publishers sued Meta in Manhattan federal court, alleging the company pirated millions of books and journal articles to train its Llama AI models. Elsevier, Cengage, Hachette, Macmillan, and McGraw Hill filed the class action lawsuit.
№ 16 The Verge

Book publishers sue Meta over AI’s ‘word-for-word’ copying

Meta faces a class action lawsuit from five major book publishers and author Scott Turow over allegations of massive copyright infringement. The publishers claim Meta engaged in word-for-word copying of copyrighted materials to train Llama AI.
№ 17 The New York Times

S.E.C. Settles Lawsuit Against Elon Musk Over His Twitter Disclosures

The Securities and Exchange Commission settled a lawsuit against Elon Musk over his Twitter stock disclosures. Musk agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve the case, which accused him of hiding his purchases of company stock.
№ 18 VentureBeat

Claude Code costs up to $200 a month. Goose does the same thing for free.

Claude Code costs up to $200 per month, but Goose offers similar artificial intelligence coding capabilities for free. The pricing disparity has sparked rebellion among software developers who rely on AI coding tools.
№ 19 The Guardian

‘RAMageddon’: is the era of cheap phones and laptops over?

The cost of computer components has surged as artificial intelligence competes for memory chips, threatening the era of cheap laptops and affordable phones. Major manufacturers including Microsoft and Samsung are facing rising production costs.
№ 20 Financial Times

AI Labs: Are Anthropic really the good guys?

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei positions his company as the ethical player in the artificial intelligence race. Questions remain about whether the company can maintain its principled stance as competition intensifies.
№ 21 TechCrunch

SAP bets $1.16B on 18-month-old German AI lab and says yes to NemoClaw

SAP plans to acquire German AI startup Prior Labs and invest $1.16 billion in the eighteen-month-old company. SAP is also restricting customer agent use to select providers like Nvidia's NemoClaw.
№ 22 The Verge

Google Home’s Gemini AI can handle more complicated requests

Google updated Gemini for Home to version 3.1, enabling the smart home assistant to handle more complex multi-step tasks. Users can now combine multiple requests in a single command and manage recurring events more effectively.
№ 23 TechCrunch

ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet on his company’s monopoly: no one is coming for us

ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet expressed confidence that no competitors are emerging to challenge the company's monopoly on semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Fouquet became CEO in 2024 after more than a decade at the company.
№ 24 Financial Times

Meta plans advanced ‘agentic’ AI assistant for consumers

Meta is developing an advanced agentic artificial intelligence assistant for consumers that aims to seamlessly carry out everyday tasks. The social media platform is investing in technology equivalent to OpenAI's advanced systems.

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