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A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated Anthropic's First Amendment rights by blacklisting the AI company as a supply-chain risk. U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California found the government acted in "unlawful retaliation" after Anthropic publicly criticized the Pentagon's use of AI. Lin ordered the government to rescind all blacklisting directives. However, the Defense Department is already moving off Anthropic models by September 30, with OpenAI among competitors stepping in to fill the gap.

Midjourney has launched its V8.2 image edit model, now available for community testing. The model supports editing images with text instructions, generating images using up to four image references at once as a replacement for omni-reference, inpainting to modify specific areas, and outpainting to expand the canvas. It also supports personalization, moodboards, and srefs. Users can access it via drag-and-drop, the edit tab, lightbox, or Discord using the --edit command.

Google has launched Expert Intelligence, a new initiative allowing users to add purchased eBooks from Google Play Books directly into Gemini Notebook. Launching with over 100,000 books from publishers including Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and O'Reilly Media, the feature lets users ask questions, generate infographics, audio overviews, and quizzes grounded in book content. More than 15 bestselling authors, including Steven Pinker and Michael Pollan, collaborated on special Featured Notebooks. Future expansion will include the Gemini app, AI Mode in Search, and third-party subscriptions.

Anthropic is opening 10,000 free and discounted Claude subscriptions for scientists worldwide through a new Claude team plan for scientists. Standard seats are free, while premium seats with 5x usage limits cost $15 per month for one year. Principal investigators at academic or nonprofit institutions can qualify and add lab members to their plan. Researchers can also apply for up to $50,000 in credits per project through the AI for Science program, which is expanding beyond biology to other scientific fields.

Anthropic has launched a research preview of its Model Hardware Standard (MHS), a shared specification enabling AI agents to safely operate physical lab and manufacturing equipment such as microscopes, liquid handlers, and robotic arms. Developed with HHMI Janelia Research Campus, MHS reduces device integration from weeks to hours using standardized drivers and protocols including MCP. Early partners include Genentech, Carnegie Mellon, QuEra Computing, and vendors like AWS, Tecan, and Danaher, with open-source release planned after safety evaluations are complete.

OpenAI is calling for collective action from organizations, governments, cybersecurity firms, and frontier AI companies to strengthen cyber defenses before AI-enabled attacks become widespread. The company warns that hospitals, water treatment plants, and internet infrastructure face growing risk from increasingly capable AI-powered threats. OpenAI proposes four principles: treating current security as insufficient, empowering defenders with AI tools, mobilizing a global response, and urging every sector to accelerate funding, threat intelligence sharing, and hands-on support for under-resourced critical infrastructure operators.

Google has upgraded AI Mode in Search with three new travel features. Users can now track flight prices from over 300 partner airlines across 180 countries, view costs in points or miles for flights and hotels through partners including American Airlines, Hilton, and Wyndham, and book hotels directly via Google Pay through partners like Booking.com, Expedia, and Marriott. Hotel booking is rolling out in the U.S. in English, while points and miles viewing is globally available.

Google and Khan Academy have launched new Gemini-powered AI tools for classrooms ahead of back-to-school 2026. Built into Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI tutor, the updates include interactive diagrams that generate charts and geometric shapes in real time as students work through math and science problems. A redesigned Practice My Knowledge tool lets teachers partner with Gemini to draft, edit, and approve assignments before students see them. Six Google engineers worked alongside Khan Academy for six months through a Google.org fellowship to build these features.

Draft summary: Google Flow has received a major update powered by Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, adding several new creative control features. Users can now set start and end frames to maintain character and narrative consistency across transitions. Videos can be exported in 1080p or 4K for broadcast and social workflows. A new Draft Mode lets creators test concepts at 360p using fewer credits, then upscale to 720p before committing to full renders. All features are available now in the Google Flow app.

A randomized experiment by Bocconi University researchers, in collaboration with OpenAI Economic Research, tested over 1,000 first-year undergraduates on a real-world marketing assignment. Students with ChatGPT (GPT-4o) access scored nearly a full point higher on a five-point rubric, producing more polished, expert-like work. A separate causal reasoning exercise boosted idea originality and variety without improving rubric scores. Students receiving both showed gains across the widest range of measures, suggesting AI and critical thinking play distinct, complementary roles in education.