The Download: Google’s AI shake-up and Meta’s rogue model

This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

After a wave of painful losses in the tech talent wars , delays to its next flagship model , and murmurings of poor morale , Google has announced a major shake-up to its AI operations. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened and why it matters.

DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is stepping back from running the unit day-to-day He’s becoming the unit’s chairman and Alphabet’s chief scientist , a broader role. DeepMind will now be led by CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu, under the title of senior vice-president.

DeepMind may be absorbed into Google’s wider business Google is expected to tighten its control over the AI lab , which it acquired 12 years ago.

Jeff Dean is leaving to start a new AI company After 27 years at Google, the company’s former chief scientist is launching Discovery Loop with three former colleagues . The startup’s goal is to fully automate the process of scientific research, and Google is one of its early investors.

The changes come amid financial concerns at Google AI In the latest quarter, the company turned cash flow negative for the first time on record. Google is now concentrating its AI leadership in California .

The company is now shifting its AI science strategy It’s moving from specialized tools, like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, toward agentic AI systems that can conduct research more autonomously. Find out more in our recent story .

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I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Meta has become the latest firm to say its AI hacked another company It blamed a “misconfiguration” by an independent cybersecurity tester. ( CNN ) + The model reportedly involved was Muse Spark ​1.1. ( The Information $) + It follows similar breaches by OpenAI and Anthropic models. ( Guardian ) + This is why AI agents can lie to reach their goals. ( MIT Technology Review ) 2 Samsung and SK Hynix are testing Chinese chip tools amid US export curbs The Korean chip giants are hedging against tighter restrictions. ( Reuters $) + Beijing has launched a probe into Palo Alto Networks. ( Bloomberg $) + US-China tech tensions are rising ahead of the Xi-Trump summit. ( SCMP ) 3 London just granted robotaxis a license to operate On the condition that they still have a human driver, for now. ( BBC ) + Uber plans to spend over $10 billion expanding its robotaxi network. ( FT $) 4 Scientists have created gene-edited dogs that don’t trigger allergies They used CRISPR to remove a reaction-causing protein. ( Wired $) + And now want approval to start selling the beagles. ( New Scientist $) + Other firms are planning gene-edited babies. ( MIT Technology Review ) 5 OpenAI has asked a judge to toss Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit The ChatGPT maker called Apple’s allegations “meritless.” ( Verge ) + And claimed the suit is an attempt to stem an employee exodus. ( FT $) 6 AI is reviving Silicon Valley’s super-app dream Tech giants are merging products into all-in-one assistants. ( Business Insider ) + Is a secure AI assistant possible? ( MIT Technology Review ) 7 A mystery book-buying spree has sparked new AI fears The buyers’ identities remain unclear amid data concerns. ( Atlantic $) 8 Restaurants, pubs, and theatres are banning Meta’s “spy glasses” The venues have cited privacy threats to customers. ( Guardian ) 9 The SpaceX moon crash has created a unique scientific experiment It could reveal more about lunar soil and space debris. ( BBC ) 10 AI is helping to perfect the Pringle It involves over 200 data points, from humidity to harvest location. ( WSJ $)