Tech News — 2026-04-29#

Story of the Day#

OpenAI is facing a highly disturbing lawsuit from the families of Canadian school shooting victims after the company allegedly overruled its own safety team’s recommendation to report the shooter to law enforcement. According to whistleblowers, OpenAI opted to deactivate the user’s account to protect their privacy instead of flagging the credible threat of gun violence to authorities, even going so far as to instruct the shooter on how to circumvent the ban.

Top Stories#

Big Tech’s $130B AI Capex Bill Spooks Investors · The New York Times Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta reported a staggering combined $130 billion in quarterly capital expenditures as they race to build out AI data centers. The massive outlay is finally testing Wall Street’s patience for the AI boom: Meta shares plummeted after the company raised its full-year capital spending projection to between $125 billion and $145 billion. Investors are beginning to demand proof that this historic infrastructure investment will actually yield proportionate returns.

Musk Testifies He Built OpenAI to Counter Google · Slashdot Taking the stand in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Elon Musk testified that he co-founded the AI lab purely as a nonprofit counterweight to Google. Musk claimed he was motivated by an argument with Google co-founder Larry Page over AI safety, and stated he was misled by CEO Sam Altman into funding an organization that eventually pivoted to a for-profit model. OpenAI’s legal team fired back in opening statements, characterizing the lawsuit as a baseless harassment campaign.

Apple Effectively Shelves the Vision Pro · Slashdot / MacRumors Apple has paused development on the Vision Pro headset following the commercial failure of its recent M5 chip refresh. With only about 600,000 units sold and a remarkably high return rate, the $3,499 device simply couldn’t overcome its weight issues and prohibitive price tag. The hardware team is reportedly being reassigned to work on a pair of Ray-Ban-style smart glasses powered by AI instead of continuing to experiment with VR.

Motorola’s 2026 Razr Lineup Gets Pricier Amid Memory Crisis · Ars Technica Motorola unveiled four new foldables, including the tablet-style Razr Fold, but the real story is the brutal impact of the ongoing memory component shortage. The Razr Fold will cost a massive $1,900, while the base flip models have seen $100 to $200 price hikes despite offering only modest hardware upgrades. It’s a tough year to launch premium hardware, and the pricing makes it clear that the dream of an affordable foldable phone is on hold for now.

Beijing Blocks Meta’s $2B Takeover of AI Startup Manus · Bloomberg In a sharp escalation of the geopolitical battle over advanced technology, the Chinese government has ordered Meta to unwind its $2 billion acquisition of the Chinese AI startup Manus. The regulatory intervention effectively kills the deal and serves as a major cautionary tale for Silicon Valley firms trying to absorb Chinese AI talent and models.

EU Rules Meta is Failing to Protect Minors · The Verge The European Commission issued a preliminary ruling stating that Meta is violating the Digital Services Act by failing to keep children under 13 off Facebook and Instagram. Regulators found that minors can bypass age restrictions simply by entering a fake birth date, leaving Meta exposed to potential fines of up to $12 billion if the company doesn’t overhaul its verification systems.

Also Worth Knowing#

• Ubuntu’s AI Push Angers Linux Users: Canonical’s plan to deeply integrate AI into Ubuntu has prompted immediate backlash from users demanding a global “kill switch” to opt out of the new features.
• Uber Pivots to Super App with Hotel Bookings: Uber is integrating hotel reservations directly into its app through a partnership with Expedia, marking its largest expansion into general travel accommodations.
• Mistral AI Launches Workflows: The European AI company introduced a new orchestration layer built on Temporal to help enterprises reliably deploy and manage multi-step, fault-tolerant AI agents.
• GitHub Targets the Large Merge Problem: GitHub introduced gh-stack, a native CLI extension that brings “stacked pull requests” to the platform to help developers review and merge complex code changes faster.
• Joby Aviation Demos NYC Air Taxi: The electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company successfully tested an uncrewed 14-minute flight from JFK Airport to a Manhattan helipad.