Morning Scan

The AI industry is stress-testing its own edges this week — internally (OpenAI's red-team model, employee revolt), competitively (Murati's open-weight debut), and politically (Anthropic's state-law push, exec security fears). Add a messy data center IPO, a key AWS departure, and a Musk acquisition, and it's a busy Friday for anyone whose job touches computing infrastructure.

7x — Digital threats against AI executives and data centers grew sevenfold from late February to May, per threat-intelligence firm Liferaft. (Wall Street Journal)

Machines & Minds

Everyone's Mad at OpenAI — Even Its Employees

OpenAI staff are now funding a super PAC to push AI regulation — against their own employer's interests, which is a sentence that requires no additional commentary. (WIRED)

Thinking Machines Lab Debuts Inkling, an Open-Weight Model Anyone Can Access

Mira Murati's first model is a 975B-parameter MoE that's fully open-weight — a direct philosophical shot at her former employer. (Thinking Machines Lab)

Why Anthropic Is Pushing for Tougher State AI Laws

Anthropic is actively lobbying for state-level frontier AI safety rules that most of Silicon Valley opposes — either a genuine safety-first stance or an effective competitive moat, depending on your priors. (WIRED)

AI Execs Are Bolstering Personal Security Amid Rising AI Opposition (paywall)

The abstract "AI backlash" has become concrete enough that executives are now paying for physical protection — a different kind of infrastructure cost. (Wall Street Journal)

Connected World

Data Center Company Csquare Raises $1.05B in Its US IPO — Below Range

Pricing at $21 against a $23–$27 marketed range is the market telling you something; the data center boom narrative is still intact, but investor patience for elevated valuations is fraying. (Reuters)

Greylock Capped Its New Fund at $1.5B When It Could Have Raised More

Deliberately leaving LP money on the table to preserve ownership concentration is a rebuke to the mega-fund arms race. (TechCrunch)

Dave Brown, AWS SVP of Compute, AI, and Platform, Is Leaving After 19 Years

An S-team member with direct AI infrastructure responsibility walking out the door is not a routine departure — the timing, mid-AI-buildout, will raise questions. (Reuters)

Elon Musk Quietly Bought Gas Turbine Company APR Energy for ~$1B

A stealth acquisition of mobile diesel and gas turbines — the same tech powering Colossus 2 — suggests Musk is building an off-grid energy supply chain for his AI infrastructure with minimal public disclosure. (Electrek)

AST SpaceMobile Delays Satellite-to-Phone Service to 2027, Eyes $1B in Convertible Notes

The Blue Origin mishap cost AST a year of runway, and raising $1B in convertible notes while pushing the launch date is the kind of combination that will test investor conviction. (PCMag)

Connected World

Google and Epic Abandon Settlement, Clearing the Way for Rival Android App Stores

The court effectively forcing a do-over could produce a stronger remedy than the settlement would have — third-party Android app stores just got a cleaner path forward. (MacRumors)

OnePlus Officially Exits the US and Europe

A brand that built a cult following on flagship-killer pricing closing the door on Western markets is a data point in a larger story about Chinese hardware's retreat under trade pressure. (The Verge)

Uber and Waymo Are in a DC Lobbying Battle Over AV Legislation (paywall)

Uber wants a world where human drivers and robotaxis coexist; Waymo wants pure autonomous — whatever Congress decides here will set the commercial geometry for the next decade. (Bloomberg)

The Open-Source Printer With No Ink Locks Now Has a Prototype

Paris startup Open Tools has a working prototype of a printer with no proprietary ink cartridges — a small act of rebellion against one of consumer tech's most enduring rackets. (Yanko Design)