This Week in Tech 1069

What happens when AI bots get their own social network, Silicon Valley execs cozy up to power, and Apple takes a cut from creators? This week’s panel calls out the bold, bizarre, and often problematic ways tech’s biggest players are reshaping everything from AI assistants to your everyday privacy.

• There’s a social network for AI agents, and it’s getting weird
• Moltbook is the most interesting place on the internet right now
• Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
• Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over military AI use, sources say
• Salesforce signs $5.6B deal to inject agentic AI into the US Army
• Angry Norfolk residents lose lawsuit to stop Flock license plate scanners
• SpaceX wants to put 1 million solar-powered data centers into orbit
• Elon Musk reportedly wants a June SpaceX IPO to align with his birthday, the planets
• Tesla hits a grim milestone: its second straight year of decline
• Tesla says production-ready Optimus robot is coming soon
• Microsoft reports strong cloud earnings in Q2 as gaming declines
• What We Learned From Meta, Microsoft and Tesla
• Apple tells Patreon to move creators to in-app purchase for subscriptions by November
• Apple CEO Tim Cook 'heartbroken' after repeated ICE killings in Minneapolis
• A rival smart glasses company is suing Meta over its Ray-Ban products
• TikTok, YouTube, and Meta are headed to court for a landmark trial over social media addiction
• The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
• TikTok users freak out over app’s ‘immigration status’ collection — here’s what it means
• A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
• Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign
• Samsung’s TriFold phone will cost $2,899 in the US
• Groundhogs are bad at predicting weather, but they're valuable animal engineers\
• Satellites encased in wood are in the works
• Belkin reminds users that its Wemo smart home products are shutting down this week

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Links

• Introducing OpenClaw — OpenClaw Blog
• There’s a social network for AI agents, and it’s getting weird
• Moltbook is the most interesting place on the internet right now
• Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
• Exclusive: Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over military AI use, sources say
• Salesforce signs $5.6B deal to inject agentic AI into the US Army
• Angry Norfolk residents lose lawsuit to stop Flock license plate scanners
• SpaceX wants to put 1 million solar-powered data centers into orbit
• Elon Musk reportedly wants a June SpaceX IPO to align with his birthday, the planets
• Tesla hits a grim milestone: its second straight year of decline
• Tesla says production-ready Optimus robot is coming soon
• Microsoft reports strong cloud earnings in Q2 as gaming declines
• What We Learned From Meta, Microsoft and Tesla
• Apple tells Patreon to move creators to in-app purchase for subscriptions by November
• Apple CEO Tim Cook 'heartbroken' after repeated ICE killings in Minneapolis
• A rival smart glasses company is suing Meta over its Ray-Ban products
• TikTok, YouTube, and Meta are headed to court for a landmark trial over social media addiction
• The ‘Social Media Addiction’ Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself
• TikTok users freak out over app’s ‘immigration status’ collection — here’s what it means
• A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
• Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign
• Samsung’s TriFold phone will cost $2,899 in the US
• Groundhogs are bad at predicting weather, but they're valuable animal engineers
• Satellites encased in wood are in the works
• Belkin reminds users that its Wemo smart home products are shutting down this week