Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan is under fire after Donald Trump publicly demanded his immediate resignation over alleged ties to Chinese companies, calling him “highly conflicted.” This comes as Senator Tom Cotton also raised concerns about Tan’s connections and their impact on national security. Even before Trump’s involvement, Tan was already clashing with Intel’s board over the company’s future strategy, including manufacturing and AI investments. The controversy sent Intel’s stock tumbling and signals deepening turmoil at the chip giant, which has struggled to keep pace with rivals and faced leadership upheaval since Pat Gelsinger’s exit.
Category: News
iPhone 17 Series May See Price Hike Ahead of September Launch
Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup, set to launch on September 9, 2025, is expected to come with higher prices due to costly components, China tariffs, and major upgrades. A leak suggests a $50 increase across models, with the iPhone 17 starting at $849 (₹74,000) and iPhone 17 Air at $949 (₹83,000). The Pro variants, starting from $1,049 (₹92,000), may begin with 256GB storage instead of 128GB. The lineup includes iPhone 17, 17 Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, with the Air tipped as the slimmest iPhone yet and the Pro models offering major design, camera, performance, and AI enhancements.
Read more: Hindustantimes
Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell Passes Away at 97
Legendary astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the famed Apollo 13 mission, died at his Lake Forest, Illinois home on August 7, 2025, at age 97. Known for his extraordinary leadership during the 1970 mission that faced a life-threatening malfunction, Lovell helped safely guide his crew back to Earth, turning crisis into one of NASA’s greatest triumphs. He flew four historic space missions and was the first person to journey to the Moon twice without landing. Portrayed by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, Lovell leaves behind a legacy of courage, optimism, and inspiration for generations.
Pinterest CEO: Agentic Shopping Is Not Here Yet
Pinterest CEO Bill Ready addressed investor concerns about AI’s role in shopping, clarifying that true agentic shopping—where AI buys for users—is still a distant reality. While Pinterest leverages AI for recommendations, personalization, and visual searches, Ready views the platform as an AI-enabled assistant, not a fully autonomous agent. He highlighted efforts to ensure AI is “used for good,” tuning algorithms for positivity and responsible usage. Not discussed were recent user complaints about AI-generated content and moderation issues. Despite beating revenue estimates, Pinterest’s stock fell due to earnings per share missing analyst forecasts. Gen Z and male user growth were strong.
Read more: TechCrunch
xAI Launches Grok Imagine: AI-Powered Image and Video Generator
xAI, the AI startup founded by Elon Musk, has launched Grok Imagine, a powerful new feature integrated into its Grok AI platform. This generative AI tool allows users to create images and short videos from text or image prompts with native audio, all accessible through the Grok iOS and Android apps for paid subscribers. Promoted as a versatile creative engine, Grok Imagine lets users enter text, upload images, or even use voice input to produce visuals that can be animated into up to 15-second video clips.
What sets Grok Imagine apart from many other AI generators is its “Spicy Mode,” which enables the creation of NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content, including sexually suggestive imagery and partial nudity. While the tool enforces some content moderation, tests have shown it can still generate semi-nude visuals, sparking ethical debates about AI content boundaries and misuse risks such as deepfakes and non-consensual imagery.
Users can choose from four animation styles—Custom, Normal, Fun, and Spicy—when converting images into videos. Grok Imagine has rapidly gained popularity, generating over 20 million images within its first days, showcasing its creative potential and hype in the AI multimedia space.
However, the inclusion of NSFW capabilities and relatively lenient content restrictions differentiates Grok Imagine from competitors like Google’s Veo 3 or OpenAI’s video tools, which typically have stricter guardrails. Elon Musk has described Grok Imagine as an “unfiltered” AI, appealing to those seeking more boundary-pushing creative freedom, though this has triggered concerns from advocacy groups about potential misuse.
Grok Imagine represents xAI’s ambitious push to innovate in AI-driven multimedia creation by combining text-to-image, voice input, video animation, and an emphasis on less restricted content generation, positioning itself as a bold, if controversial, player in the generative AI field.
Trump Media Tests AI Search with Truth Search AI Powered by Perplexity
Trump Media, the company behind the social media platform Truth Social, has launched public beta testing of a new AI-powered search engine called Truth Search AI. Developed in partnership with the AI startup Perplexity, this innovative feature aims to enhance the user experience by providing direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations, going beyond traditional search engine results.
Truth Search AI is currently available on the web version of Truth Social, with plans to expand to iOS and Android apps soon. The tool summarizes the best answers from various sources and provides citations so users can verify information themselves. This makes Truth Social more interactive and informative, catering to its user base with an AI “answer engine” rather than a simple link-based search.
A notable aspect of this AI search engine is its alignment with Trump Media’s mission to create an alternative digital ecosystem that reflects conservative values, often dubbed the “Patriot Economy” by its leadership. Early reports indicate that Truth Search AI tends to draw from conservative-leaning media outlets such as Fox News and Epoch Times. However, some tests suggest the tool is capable of providing diverse perspectives, including critical views on economic policies.
CEO Devin Nunes emphasized that user feedback during this beta phase will guide further refinement and expansion of the search function. The partnership with Perplexity reflects a broader trend where social platforms like Elon Musk’s X and Meta’s apps integrate AI to improve search and user engagement.
Truth Search AI represents Trump Media’s strategic move to challenge tech giants like Google by offering a tailored AI search experience for its audience, aiming to create a more controlled and curated information environment for its community.
Apple Commits $600 Billion to Advance U.S. Technology and Manufacturing
Apple has announced a significant increase in its investment commitment to the United States, raising its total planned spending to $600 billion over the next four years. This announcement, made in collaboration with President Donald Trump, highlights Apple’s dedication to strengthening its American manufacturing and innovation footprint. Originally, Apple had pledged $500 billion earlier this year, but with the new $100 billion boost, the company aims to expand its advanced manufacturing capabilities and supply chain within the US.
A major part of this investment is focused on advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies. Apple plans to open a new state-of-the-art factory in Houston, Texas, dedicated to producing AI servers that power its cutting-edge Apple Intelligence system. The company is also doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion to support skilled manufacturing jobs and innovation. Additionally, Apple is collaborating with key American companies such as Corning, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom to expand domestic production of critical components like glass for iPhones and lasers for facial recognition technology.
This investment also aligns with governmental policies aimed at encouraging domestic manufacturing, particularly in response to potential tariffs on imported semiconductors and other components. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook noted that many parts of their products, including semiconductors and glass, are already made in the US, and the company’s goal is to increase this further. An expansion of research and development activities is included, focusing on silicon engineering and AI.
Apple’s increased commitment is expected to create thousands of high-tech jobs across the country, foster innovation, and solidify its position as one of the largest contributors to U.S. economic growth in the technology sector. The move has been positively received by investors and industry watchers as a strategic step towards reinforcing Apple’s manufacturing base domestically while reinforcing American technological leadership.
GPT-5 Imminent Release: What to Expect from OpenAI’s Next-Gen AI Model
The AI world is buzzing with excitement as OpenAI gears up for the imminent release of GPT-5, its most advanced language model yet. After months of speculation, OpenAI has confirmed via social media and a scheduled livestream event on August 7, 2025, that GPT-5 is right around the corner.
What makes GPT-5 stand out? For starters, it’s expected to be a massive leap forward in reasoning, coding, and multimodal capabilities. Unlike previous models, GPT-5 will combine text, image, audio, and soon even video inputs, creating a seamless and more natural user experience. Developers can look forward to a model that can manage far larger contexts—a context window that could handle up to one million tokens—which means it can understand and work with entire books, lengthy research, or massive codebases without losing track.
CEO Sam Altman himself teased that GPT-5’s intelligence is impressive, even surpassing some human problem-solving abilities, describing a moment where GPT-5 answered a tricky question he couldn’t solve. This highlights the model’s advanced multi-step reasoning skills and potential for autonomous task execution.
Alongside enhanced natural language processing, GPT-5 aims to better automate workflows, from debugging code to creating documentation, making it a powerful tool for developers and businesses alike. OpenAI is also releasing lighter versions, such as GPT-5 mini and nano, to cater to different computational needs.
While OpenAI has not officially announced the rollout details beyond the live event, expectations are high for GPT-5 to redefine AI interaction, boosting efficiency, creativity, and problem-solving across diverse sectors.
Read more: Techradar, The Verge
AMD Reports Mixed Q2 Results, Projects Strong AI-Driven Growth in Q3
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) declared mixed financial results for the second quarter of 2025. The company posted a record $7.7 billion in revenue, marking a 32% increase compared to last year and surpassing analyst expectations. However, adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.48, slightly below forecasts, with margins affected by an $800 million inventory write-down related to U.S. export restrictions on AI chips destined for China. Looking ahead, AMD remains optimistic, forecasting third-quarter revenues between $8.4 billion and $9 billion. This positive outlook is driven by increasing demand for AMD’s AI-focused processors, signaling robust growth in its data center and AI business despite current market challenges.
Read more: Yahoo Finance
Genie 3: Google DeepMind Unveils Real-Time 3D Worlds from Text and Images
Google DeepMind has introduced Genie 3, an advanced AI model built to create real-time, interactive 3D environments from just a single text or image prompt. Unveiled as a major step in world modeling, Genie 3 allows users to instantly generate immersive worlds, enabling several minutes of continuous exploration at 720p and 24 frames per second. The model features dynamic memory—objects and changes within the environment remain consistent as users interact, a key improvement over earlier versions. Genie 3 has applications spanning gaming, education, research, and AI agent training, marking a significant advance toward more realistic, customizable AI-driven simulations
Read more: Google Deepmind