Daily dispatch

May 8, 2026

Issue filed May 8, 2026 · 24 headlines · By Oz Gultekin

Daily dispatch for May 8, 2026. 24 headlines from labour, tech, and policy feeds, rewritten by hand for the class war in progress.

№ 01 TechCrunch

Why you can never get your doctor to call you back

An AI startup called Basata automates medical administrative work, raising questions about whether such tools augment or displace healthcare workers drowning in paperwork.
№ 02 The Verge

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

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, claiming it abandoned its nonprofit mission to benefit humanity and shifted focus to profit maximization instead of developing artificial general intelligence.
№ 03 The Guardian

Shivon Zilis, mother of four of Elon Musk’s children, testifies in OpenAI trial

Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive and mother of four of Elon Musk's children, testified as a key witness in Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI over the company's strategic direction.
№ 04 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, as Musk sued OpenAI alleging the company betrayed its founding mission to develop AI for humanity's benefit.
№ 05 The Verge

Mira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ouster

Testimony from Mira Murati revealed details about Sam Altman's abrupt ouster from OpenAI in November 2023, when the board cited his lack of candor in communications.
№ 06 TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s lawsuit is putting OpenAI’s safety record under the microscope

Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI hinges partly on whether the company's for-profit subsidiary advances or undermines its founding mission of ensuring AI benefits humanity.
№ 07 The New York Times

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Plans $55 Billion Investment to Make A.I. Chips

SpaceX plans to invest at least fifty-five billion dollars in a semiconductor factory called Terafab in Texas as part of Elon Musk's push to dominate artificial intelligence.
№ 08 Fast Company

Grok’s usage is so low that Elon Musk can sell compute to Anthropic

Anthropic will use computing capacity from SpaceX's Colossus 1 data facility in Memphis, suggesting Grok's usage is too low for Musk to fully utilize the infrastructure.
№ 09 The New York Times

Elon Musk’s Confidante Shivon Zilis Is Cast as His Inside Source at OpenAI

Shivon Zilis, who worked closely with Elon Musk while serving on OpenAI's board, was presented as his inside source during testimony in the landmark trial.
№ 10 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 company to abandon its nonprofit structure and operate on a commercial basis.
№ 11 MIT Tech Review

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

The first week of the Musk v. Altman trial saw two of AI's most powerful figures face off in court over OpenAI's mission and strategic direction.
№ 12 VentureBeat

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

Salesforce rebuilt Slackbot into a fully powered AI agent capable of searching enterprise data, drafting documents, and taking action on behalf of employees.
№ 13 The Guardian

‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?

Literary translators in Europe face disruption from AI tools, though human expertise remains valuable for complex translation work in publishing and other fields.
№ 14 Financial Times

Anthropic weighs deal for near $1tn valuation as revenue surges

Anthropic is fielding investment offers that could value the Claude maker at nearly one trillion dollars, potentially surpassing rival OpenAI in valuation.
№ 15 The Verge

SpaceX has a $55 billion plan to build AI chips in Texas

SpaceX plans to invest at least fifty-five billion dollars into a chip manufacturing plant called Terafab in Austin, Texas, seeking tax breaks for the project.
№ 16 Simon Willison

Notes on the xAI/Anthropic data center deal

A data center deal between xAI and Anthropic reflects shifting dynamics in AI infrastructure and compute allocation among competing artificial intelligence companies.
№ 17 The Verge

Google’s taking a big swing at AI health with the Fitbit Air

Google launched the Fitbit Air, a ninety-nine dollar screenless wearable band that competes with devices like Whoop and integrates AI health features.
№ 18 The New York Times

Anthropic’s C.E.O. Says It Could Grow by 80 Times This Year

Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei said the startup could grow eighty times this year, exponentially increasing its need for computing power and infrastructure.
№ 19 VentureBeat

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

Claude Code costs up to two hundred dollars monthly, but open source alternatives like Goose offer similar AI coding capabilities for free.
№ 20 Fast Company

Google used to be a search engine. Now it wants to be everything

Google, once a search engine, has transformed into a sprawling company with competing identities through its aggressive push into artificial intelligence.
№ 21 MIT Tech Review

Here’s how technology transformed babymaking

Technology continues to transform human reproduction, with advances in IVF and related techniques reshaping how people create families and have children.
№ 22 TechCrunch

OpenAI launches new voice intelligence features in its API

OpenAI launched new voice intelligence features in its API for customer service systems, education platforms, and creator tools.
№ 23 TechCrunch

OpenAI introduces new ‘Trusted Contact’ safeguard for cases of possible self-harm

OpenAI expanded ChatGPT safeguards by introducing a Trusted Contact feature to protect users in conversations that may turn toward self-harm.
№ 24 The Verge

Apple’s AirPods with cameras for AI are apparently close to production

Apple's rumored AirPods Pro 3 with cameras are nearing early mass production testing, marking the company's push into AI-powered wearable devices.

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