Tech News — 2026-06-02#

Story of the Day#

The battle for AI supremacy just escalated into an unprecedented capital arms race as Alphabet moves to raise $80 billion in equity—including a $10 billion investment from Berkshire Hathaway—while AI rival Anthropic filed confidentially for an IPO. These colossal financial maneuvers highlight a desperate, high-stakes sprint to secure the computational infrastructure, chips, and talent required to dominate the next era of tech.

Top Stories#

Microsoft Build 2026 Pivots to an Agent-First OS · The Verge Microsoft used its developer conference to introduce “Project Solara,” a new Android-based operating system designed explicitly for AI agent gadgets rather than traditional apps. Alongside this OS, the company debuted Microsoft Scout, an OpenClaw-based personal assistant that automates tasks across Microsoft 365, and its new MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning model. The shift signals Microsoft’s aggressive bet that the future of computing relies on continuous, background AI orchestration rather than manual user inputs.

Trump Signs Watered-Down AI Executive Order · TechCrunch President Trump signed a revised executive order establishing a purely voluntary framework for AI companies to submit frontier models for government review. After industry pushback, the order explicitly avoids creating mandatory licensing or permitting requirements, focusing instead on assessing cybersecurity risks without stifling innovation. This hands-off approach leaves tech giants largely to self-regulate while the White House tasks federal agencies with bolstering their own defense systems.

GitHub Copilot’s Pricing Shift Sparks Developer Outrage · Slashdot GitHub’s transition from request-based billing to a usage-based credit system for its Copilot AI service is giving subscribers massive sticker shock. Developers report burning through their monthly allotment of AI credits in less than a day, with heavy reliance on advanced models like OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 threatening to generate bills in the thousands of dollars. The intense backlash highlights the hidden inference costs of generative AI tools that companies are now passing down directly to end-users.

Sony’s State of Play Unveils New God of War and Wolverine · The Verge Sony’s latest showcase confirmed God of War Laufey, a new PS5 entry starring Kratos’ wife Faye with more aerobatic, magic-based gameplay. The event also featured a bloody, melee-heavy gameplay trailer for Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine and announced a September 2026 release date for Remedy’s Control Resonant. These reveals aim to inject momentum into a PlayStation brand currently grappling with high hardware costs and a struggling live-service strategy.

EU Parliament Ditches Google for Qwant · Slashdot The European Parliament is replacing Google with the French search engine Qwant as the default on all in-house computers. The move is part of Brussels’ broader push for “digital sovereignty” and stricter user data protection, intentionally reducing the bloc’s reliance on American tech giants. This operational shift precedes a forthcoming legislative package aimed at fostering and protecting domestic European technology alternatives.

Also Worth Knowing#

• Microsoft to Brick Older Mac Office Apps (Slashdot): Microsoft plans to remotely downgrade perpetually licensed Office 2019 and 2021 for Mac into “reduced functionality mode” starting July 2026, removing users’ ability to edit or save files.
• Impulse Space Raises $500M (Ars Technica): The orbital maneuvering company founded by SpaceX veteran Tom Mueller secured half a billion dollars in Series D funding to expand its space mobility operations.
• Mathematicians Warn Against AI Encroachment (Slashdot): The new Leiden Declaration urges mathematicians to resist the tech industry’s influence, warning that AI tools risk flooding the field with flawed proofs and disrupting research priorities.
• Android Gets Native Deepfake Scam Defenses (Ars Technica): Google’s Phone app will now automatically flag suspicious calls from scammers using AI voice-cloning to spoof the caller ID of trusted contacts.