Tech

Disney hires Karandeep Anand as Chief Technology Officer to enhance technological innovation across its entertainment empire. Anand, formerly CEO of generative AI platform Character.AI, will lead enterprise technology, AI, and product development. This strategic move underscores Disney’s commitment to technology-driven growth, leveraging AI to improve content creation, consumer engagement, and its streaming services.

SpaceX has secured a contract extension with NASA for three additional crewed Dragon missions to the ISS through 2030, potentially worth up to $946 million. This expands their total operational flights to 17, solidifying their role as a key partner in NASA’s human spaceflight program. The agreement covers comprehensive mission services, reinforcing SpaceX’s capabilities despite ongoing development of its Starship program.

At Dreamforce 2026, AI safety debates took center stage, with executives discussing rapid model development. However, many attendees expressed a greater challenge in implementing current AI, desiring a pause to catch up. While some companies embrace frontier models for complex tasks, others find existing, more mature AI sufficient and cost-effective for routine operations. The industry is also navigating a shift to a token-based economy, impacting profit margins for SaaS providers.

Markets are volatile as Warren Buffett transitions leadership at Berkshire Hathaway. AI regulation debates continue amidst rapid technological advancement, with industry urging action while governments lag. The auto industry sees a V-8 resurgence in trucks, crucial for funding future tech. Consumer spending blurs lines between beauty, health, and wellness, presenting adaptation challenges for businesses.

The US and China are in an AI supremacy race. Accusations of “distillation,” a technique where less advanced AI models learn from superior ones, have surfaced, with the US claiming China uses it to steal intellectual property and bypass R&D costs. However, some experts, like Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez, argue this overlooks China’s independent innovation and world-class capabilities, suggesting the US lead is rapidly diminishing. China refutes these claims, citing its own advancements and resilience despite chip restrictions.

Over 100 AI experts are demanding better resources and protections for AI safety testers. They emphasize the need for independent oversight of powerful AI models. A consortium of academics and evaluators, including Geoffrey Hinton, published a letter urging AI providers to ensure third-party evaluators have objectivity, transparency, and independence. This initiative follows recent commitments by AI companies to embrace more rigorous third-party testing, with proposals suggesting “employee-like access” for evaluators to audit cutting-edge models and development processes. The call for standardization aims to build confidence in AI risk assessment.

AI leaders Anthropic and OpenAI are shifting from massive, multi-gigawatt data center projects to smaller, 20-30 megawatt deals. This strategic pivot prioritizes faster deployment and addresses the growing demand for inference workloads, which can be managed by smaller compute clusters. This trend is driven by community opposition to large-scale developments, land/power scarcity, and the efficiency of smaller, distributed deployments for inference.

AirAsia co-founder Tony Fernandes has refuted speculation about the airline’s financial health, asserting its sustainability and plans for growth amidst rising fuel costs and geopolitical instability. He clarified capital raising efforts are for refinancing, not operational deficits. Fernandes highlighted AirAsia’s competitive advantages and upcoming strategic announcements with Airbus, alongside AI integration for fuel savings and enhanced customer experience. The airline anticipates returning to pre-pandemic capacity levels by year-end.

Despite calls to decelerate AI development for safety, geopolitical competition between the US and China makes a significant slowdown unlikely. Game theory, particularly the prisoner’s dilemma, suggests that without enforceable cooperation, both nations will continue rapid advancement to avoid losing their leadership position. Investors should consider this dynamic, as a slowdown is improbable.

Anthropic introduced three new metrics to transparently measure AI development pace, supporting a call for an industry slowdown. These metrics focus on R&D autonomy, AI agent oversight, and compute allocation for safety. The company aims to foster industry-wide transparency and enable informed societal decisions regarding AI.