In the last few months, the race to attract top AI talent has intensified, with multiple reports raising alarm that local startups might struggle to retain this talent. Leaders in the space, like Anthropic and OpenAI, have advertised roles as high as £600k per year. But this rise in wages has not cut across the entire AI supply chain.
Even as semiconductors become the backbone of AI advancements, factory workers who produce them say their pay is not commensurate with the tech giants that sell them at a premium to AI companies.
Workers at Samsung, a leader in the manufacturing of semiconductors, are now threatening a strike for later this month, a move that will affect the supply chain significantly in an already volatile scarcity environment. They have asked for a 7% increase in wages and overall bonuses from the company’s profits.
— Dennis, Managing Editor
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📟 Consumer Tech
- Google shut down Project Mariner on May 4, ending the 17-month experiment it launched in December 2024. The project's landing page now displays a single farewell notice: "Thank you for using Project Mariner. It was shut down on May 4th, 2026, and its technology voyaged to other Google products." We have all the details and alternatives you can try.
- Apple is working on a new AirPod with cameras for AI features. According to reports, the company is nearing the production of the AirPods soon.
👾 Artificial Intelligence
- The trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI kicked off in Oakland, California, with Musk alleging that CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman deceived him into bankrolling the company. What started as a dispute over a nonprofit becoming a for-profit turned into a public airing of Silicon Valley's dirtiest secrets. Five days of testimony produced courtroom gasps, handwritten confessions, and revelations about secret relationships. We have all the revelations that you should know.
- On April 23, OpenAI released GPT-5.5, its most powerful model yet, built for professional users doing complex coding, research, and multi-step work. That model was not for everyone. On May 5, OpenAI started the rollout of GPT-5.5 Instant, replacing GPT-5.3 Instant as the default version of ChatGPT for all users, free or paid, with no settings change required. Think of it as the everyday edition of OpenAI's frontier model. We have everything you need to know about ChatGPT’s new model.
👨🏾💼 Career Mobility
- A court in Hangzhou, China, has drawn a clear line in the growing debate around artificial intelligence and employment, ruling that companies cannot dismiss workers simply because AI is cheaper. The decision, one of the clearest legal signals yet on the limits of workplace automation, comes at a time when tech companies globally are aggressively restructuring around AI.
🎮 Gaming & Entertainment
- Nintendo Announces New "Star Fox" Game for Switch 2, Launching June 25
- All the Games that Dominated PlayStation Store in April 2026
- Everything We Know About "Stranger Than Heaven" So Far
- Nintendo Switch 2 Pokémon Pokopia Bundle Introduces a Cozy New Direction for Pokémon
- Fallout Nuka Girl Statue Returns in Limited Edition Run Starting at $399
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced Reimagines a Pirate Classic for a New Generation
🪙 Crypto & Global Finance
- Coinbase, the American cryptocurrency exchange, has laid off about 14% of its staff, or roughly 700 people, CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed in a post on X on Tuesday. The move comes as tech companies introduce AI into workflows, triggering a sea change in the workforce and the headcount required to keep companies running.
