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Tech News — 2026-04-28#

Story of the Day#

Google has signed a highly classified deal granting the US Department of Defense access to its AI models for “any lawful government purpose”. Coming right after Anthropic was blacklisted by the Pentagon for refusing to remove its weapons and mass-surveillance guardrails, Google’s move decisively cements Big Tech’s willingness to cross once-taboo lines to secure lucrative military contracts.

Top Stories#

Google and Pentagon strike classified AI deal · Engadget Google’s new DoD contract reportedly lacks any mechanism for the company to veto or control how the government actually uses its AI systems. The agreement sparked immediate internal backlash, with nearly 600 Google employees signing an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai urging him to cancel the deal over fears the tech will be used in extremely harmful ways. With this agreement, Google joins OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI in actively supplying AI to the US government.

OpenAI ends Microsoft exclusivity, launches agents on AWS · Stratechery Microsoft and OpenAI have amended their blockbuster partnership, officially ending Microsoft Azure’s exclusive cloud rights to OpenAI’s models. The immediate beneficiary is Amazon, which announced “Bedrock Managed Agents”—a new product that deeply integrates OpenAI’s frontier models with AWS’s native identity, permissions, and runtime environments. This is a massive strategic shift that allows OpenAI to reach countless enterprise clients who previously refused to leave the AWS ecosystem.

Musk v. Altman trial kicks off in California · The Verge The high-stakes legal battle over the soul and profits of OpenAI officially started with jury selection and testimony from Elon Musk. Musk, claiming he wants to prevent a “Terminator outcome,” argued that Sam Altman’s greed ruined OpenAI’s non-profit mission. The trial unfolds under a cloud for OpenAI, as a Wall Street Journal report revealed the startup is missing internal user and sales targets—sending partnered tech stocks tumbling, though OpenAI leadership insists the business is “firing on all cylinders”.

FCC targets ABC broadcast licenses after Kimmel joke · Ars Technica The Federal Communications Commission has ordered Disney-owned ABC to file for an early license renewal as part of an alleged “diversity, equity, and inclusivity” investigation. However, the aggressive regulatory move arrived just one day after President Trump demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke directed at Melania Trump. It is a blatant weaponization of the FCC against a broadcaster, a move former officials are actively urging a federal appeals court to block.

Trump administration pays $885M to cancel offshore wind farms · Engadget In a stark reversal of green energy efforts, the US government is paying energy developers $885 million to abandon early-stage offshore wind projects like Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind. In exchange for dollar-for-dollar reimbursements on their lease costs, the firms agreed to redirect their investments into liquefied natural gas and Gulf Coast oil projects. It’s a calculated move to cripple clean energy expansion while heavily subsidizing fossil fuel infrastructure.

Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of geofence warrants · The Verge The US Supreme Court heard arguments in Chatrie v. United States, a landmark case concerning police use of dragnet “geofence warrants”. The dispute stems from a 2019 bank robbery where law enforcement used Google Maps Location History to sweep up the data of anyone within a three-meter radius. The upcoming ruling will heavily dictate the privacy boundaries for location data stored by large tech companies.

Also Worth Knowing#

Categories: News, Tech
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Tech Policy, Openai, Privacy
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