AI news
What happened in AI today, filtered for what matters to automation operators. New post every morning, 9am BRT.
SpaceXAI announces Grok 4.5, an "Opus-class" model cheaper than rivals
On July 8, 2026, SpaceXAI (formerly xAI) announced Grok 4.5, a model the company describes as comparable in class to Claude Opus 4.7, with public availability expected on July 9. The model costs $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, undercutting rival pricing.
ANPD and UNDP hire consultants to study AI agents and data protection in Brazil
Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), in partnership with the UNDP, published five calls on July 7, 2026 to hire consultants for strategic technical studies, one of them focused on AI agents in the context of personal data protection.
Illinois Enacts the Toughest AI Safety Law in the US So Far
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 315 (Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act) into law on July 6, 2026, described as the strictest AI safety legislation in the United States to date.
Rest of the week
Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, cites AI efficiency, two thirds in Xbox
On July 6, 2026, Microsoft announced it would cut 4,800 jobs worldwide, about 2.1% of its total workforce, with roughly 3,200 of those positions concentrated in the Xbox division.
Zapier launches independent ranking to measure whether AI actually automates business tasks
Artificial Analysis, working with Zapier, launched AutomationBench-AA, an independent benchmark that measures whether AI agents automate real business tasks without breaking the rules. Announced on July 6, 2026, the first ranking put Claude Fable 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 in the lead, completing 48.6% and 48.5% of tasks respectively.
OpenAI launches gpt-realtime-2.1, low-latency voice models for customer service agents
On July 6, 2026, OpenAI launched gpt-realtime-2.1 and gpt-realtime-2.1-mini, two low-latency voice models in the Realtime API built for automated customer service agents.
SK Hynix seeks record $28 billion Nasdaq IPO betting on AI memory shortage
South Korea's SK Hynix, the world leader in HBM memory, started marketing its Nasdaq listing under the ticker SKHY on July 6, 2026, seeking to raise up to $28 billion, with shares set to debut on July 10.
Taiwan approves another $20 billion TSMC investment in Arizona
Taiwan's government approved, on July 2, a new $20 billion capital injection from TSMC into its Arizona subsidiary, bringing the company's total cleared US investment to about $44 billion.
OpenAI proposes giving the US government a 5% stake in the company
According to the Financial Times, OpenAI is internally discussing giving the US government roughly a 5% equity stake, worth about $42.6 billion at the company's current valuation.