01 — 60-SECOND READ
The Skim
01
xAI launches Grok 4.7. Despite aggressive pricing, Grok 4.7 trails Claude and GPT‑6 on major AI benchmarks, highlighting a performance‑price trade‑off in the frontier model market.
02
California tightens rules on AI data center energy and water use. New state laws force AI data centers to pay for grid and water upgrades and disclose resource plans, raising operating costs.
03
New Era signs 20-year gas PPA with Vistra subsidiary to power 250MW data center in Ector County, Texas. Secures 20-year gas supply to power a 250MW data center, ensuring long-term energy stability for the facility.
04
Kairos Power selects Samsung C&T to help build 50MW SMR for Google in Tennessee. Partners with Samsung C&T to develop a 50MW small modular reactor that will supply carbon‑free power to Google’s Tennessee data center.
05
Xiaomi's affordable flagship AI leads the open models, and Anthropic says Claude helped get it there. Xiaomi’s MiMo‑V2.6‑Pro tops open‑model leaderboards while training cost remains under $3 million, challenging incumbent AI providers on price.
06
Google inks deal to support nuclear uprates at Georgia Power's Vogtle and Hatch plants. Google’s backing helps increase output of two nuclear plants, securing additional low‑carbon power for its data centers.
07
Kantata debuts Agent Studio for building custom AI agents in plain language. Enables professional services firms to create AI agents without coding, accelerating deployment of customized automation.
08
Anthropic is setting up a biology lab where Claude guides robots through drug experiments. Moves AI‑driven drug discovery from simulation to wet‑lab validation, testing Claude‑guided automation in real biological assays.
02 — WHERE THE ACTION SITS
The 5 Layers
Energy01
Google’s backing helps increase output of two nuclear plants, securing additional low‑carbon power for its data centers.
News
Data Center Dynamics · Google News
→
Chips02
Proposes a hardware‑friendly recurrent layer swap that could replace transformer attention in existing models with predictable behavior.
Research
arXiv
Explores whether high‑level language‑model agents can produce competitive chip designs compared to traditional RTL flows.
Research
arXiv
→
Data Centers03
New state laws force AI data centers to pay for grid and water upgrades and disclose resource plans, raising operating costs.
seven billsNews
The Verge AI · Google News
Secures 20-year gas supply to power a 250MW data center, ensuring long-term energy stability for the facility.
250MWNews
Data Center Dynamics · Google News
Partners with Samsung C&T to develop a 50MW small modular reactor that will supply carbon‑free power to Google’s Tennessee data center.
50MWNews
Data Center Dynamics · Google News
→
Models04
Despite aggressive pricing, Grok 4.7 trails Claude and GPT‑6 on major AI benchmarks, highlighting a performance‑price trade‑off in the frontier model market.
46Launch
The Decoder · Google News
Xiaomi's affordable flagship AI leads the open models, and Anthropic says Claude helped get it there
Xiaomi’s MiMo‑V2.6‑Pro tops open‑model leaderboards while training cost remains under $3 million, challenging incumbent AI providers on price.
$2.62 millionLaunch
The Decoder · Google News
Makes Grok 4.6 accessible via Bedrock, giving developers a 500K‑token context model with selectable reasoning effort for agent workloads.
500K token context windowLaunch
AWS Machine Learning · Google News
→
Applications05
Enables professional services firms to create AI agents without coding, accelerating deployment of customized automation.
Launch
SiliconANGLE · Google News
Moves AI‑driven drug discovery from simulation to wet‑lab validation, testing Claude‑guided automation in real biological assays.
News
The Decoder · Google News
DLSS 5 adds AI‑driven 3D‑guided rendering and finer controls, letting game creators boost visual fidelity without sacrificing performance.
News
NVIDIA Developer
03 — TO USE · TO WATCH
Tools & Horizon
Tools you can use today
- xAI launches Grok 4.7 Models — Despite aggressive pricing, Grok 4.7 trails Claude and GPT‑6 on major AI benchmarks, highlighting a performance‑price trade‑off in the frontier model market.
- Xiaomi's affordable flagship AI leads the open models, and Anthropic says Claude helped get it there Models — Xiaomi’s MiMo‑V2.6‑Pro tops open‑model leaderboards while training cost remains under $3 million, challenging incumbent AI providers on price.
- Kantata debuts Agent Studio for building custom AI agents in plain language Applications — Enables professional services firms to create AI agents without coding, accelerating deployment of customized automation.
- xAI’s Grok 4.6 is now available in Amazon Bedrock Models — Makes Grok 4.6 accessible via Bedrock, giving developers a 500K‑token context model with selectable reasoning effort for agent workloads.
- Exclusive: Darktrace makes SECURE AI generally available to monitor enterprise AI use Applications — Extends behavioral‑based AI monitoring to all enterprise customers, broadening visibility over internal AI tool usage.
- Barracuda launches AI Data Security to control what employees send to chatbots Applications — Addresses the shadow‑IT risk of uncontrolled chatbot interactions by enforcing data‑loss prevention policies.
On the horizon
- nothing today
04 — THE WIRE · LATEST FIRST
Headlines
13:54zPalo Alto Networks equips OpenAI, Anthropic frontier models into AI defense products - Seeking AlphaAnthropic (Google News)
13:45zMetlen submits another 100MW Santiago data center grid request - BNamericasAI energy / power / nuclear (Google News)
13:41zEarth breaches 7 planetary boundaries as Climate Week opens - qz.comAI energy / power / nuclear (Google News)
13:39zWall Street expects Meta's AI agent to shape into a new revenue engine - TradingViewMeta AI / Llama (Google News)
13:39zSCGN To Convene Global Business & Governance Leaders On AI, Power & Accountability - Brand CommunicatorPower / gigawatt / SMR (Google News)
13:39zLG’s 2.5-MW battery system earns NVIDIA AI factory qualification - Interesting EngineeringAI energy / power / nuclear (Google News)
13:36zSovereign AI Isn’t so Sovereign: Meta’s Llama Powers 38% of Adapted Models - BenzingaMeta AI / Llama (Google News)
13:30zx2VOL Introduces an AI-Driven Tool to Quantify the Value and Impact of Experiential Learning - Business WireAI markets — IPO/funding/earnings (Google News)
13:22zWith new Macs, Apple aims to take on Microsoft, Nvidia in a rush to lower AI costs - ReutersAI chips / TSMC / AMD (Google News)
13:16zPalo Alto Networks Launches AI-Powered Cybersecurity Service Using Anthropic, OpenAI Models - marketscreener.comAnthropic (Google News)
13:08zNew Era signs 20-year gas PPA with Vistra subsidiary to power 250MW data center in Ector County, TexasData Center Dynamics