Flourish raised $500M at a reported $2.5B valuation in 2026 to model AI on biological neurons, backed by Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital and Google Ventures. Co-founder Thomas Reardon IV (Columbia neuroscience PhD) works with Amazon ex-Williams and DeepMind’s Greg Wayne, who gets 20% time negotiated by Demis Hassabis. Bezos started with $50M after a two-page pitch and nearly doubled his stake.
The heads of several major AI companies signed a public letter in June 2026 calling on Congress to pass laws requiring synthetic DNA and RNA providers to screen customers and orders for potential…
Lovable, the Stockholm-based vibe-coding startup, announced an expanded multiyear partnership with Google on Wednesday, June 4, 2026, that will increase its footprint on Google Cloud by five times,…
Apple will enforce Texas App Store age checks June 4, 2026, after the appeals court reversed a Dec. 2025 block on SB 2420 while litigation continues. New accounts must confirm 18+ using a credit card or government-issued ID; under-18s join Family Sharing with guardian consent, and developers can check age ranges via the Declared Age Range API.
On June 4, 2026, Amazon engineers Liesl Wigand and Patrick Schloesser told Seattle’s city council to demand data-center regulations, arguing cities should set buildout terms. The hearing comes as Seattle considers a one-year permit pause because it has no data-center-specific rules, amid worries about water, power prices, and carbon emissions.
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is asking a federal court to strip four pseudonymous plaintiffs of their anonymity in a class-action lawsuit alleging that xAI’s Grok chatbot was used to generate…
Google Labs’ Dreambeans (launched June 2026) for iOS/Android generates 10–14 AI‑illustrated daily stories from Gmail, Calendar, Photos, YouTube, and Search History, aiming to curb doomscrolling. Stories are viewable only by the user, data can be deleted, and access is limited to eligible U.S. Google AI Ultra subscribers.
Substack announced on Wednesday, June 4, 2026, a new feature called “Reply Rules,” giving creators greater control over how audiences respond to their content across posts, Notes, and Chat.
With…
Meta agreed to spin off Supernatural into independent Supernatural Health in 2026 after it stopped adding new content following layoffs of its VR team. The original founders will run the app later this year, after Meta’s 2023 $400M Within purchase ended an eight-month FTC antitrust fight.
Early June 2026, Instagram told users their accounts were hijacked via Meta’s AI support chatbot: attackers claimed ownership, got it to link accounts to attacker-controlled emails, then reset passwords and sometimes locked owners out. Andy Stone said Monday it was fixed, but Telegram claims ran into Tuesday, including OG handles and U.S. Space Force CMSgt John Bentivegna; Meta denied an Obama White House breach.
Wearable health-tech startup Ultrahuman disclosed that hackers gained unauthorized access to customers’ wellness data after stealing credentials from a malware-infected employee laptop, affecting…
On June 3, 2026, GitLab cut ~350 jobs (~14% of staff) and exited 22 countries as it rebuilds infrastructure for AI agents at “machine scale,” targeting 100x growth needs. Q1 2026 revenue hit $264M (+23%) with 88% gross margins; it expects $30–$35M in restructuring charges.
