GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has announced his decision to step down later in the year to pursue new entrepreneurial ventures.
Instead of appointing a new CEO, Microsoft will integrate GitHub more closely into its CoreAI division. Since Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018, the platform has operated chiefly independently, but with this change, leadership will report directly to several Microsoft executives.
Under Dohmke’s leadership since 2021, GitHub’s user base more than doubled to over 150 million developers, supporting over one billion repositories and forks.
The platform has become essential to Microsoft’s AI and developer strategy, especially with growing competition from Google, Replit, and others in the AI coding market.
GitHub recently launched advanced AI tools like Copilot, which suggest code and automate programming tasks, helping developers work more efficiently.
Microsoft’s investment in AI is shaping the future of coding, with GitHub playing a central role by providing direct access to developers worldwide.
Dohmke will remain with Microsoft until the end of the year to assist with the transition, emphasising GitHub’s importance to Microsoft’s broader ambitions in AI and cloud computing.
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Elon Musk has announced plans to sue Apple, accusing the company of unfairly favouring OpenAI’s ChatGPT over his xAI app Grok on the App Store.
Musk claims that Apple’s ranking practices make it impossible for any AI app except OpenAI’s to reach the top spot, calling this behaviour an ‘unequivocal antitrust violation’. ChatGPT holds the number one position on Apple’s App Store, while Grok ranks fifth.
Musk expressed frustration on social media, questioning why his X app, which he describes as ‘the number one news app in the world,’ has not received higher placement. He suggested that Apple’s ranking decisions might be politically motivated.
The dispute highlights growing tensions as AI companies compete for prominence on major platforms.
Apple and Musk’s xAI have not responded yet to requests for comment.
The controversy unfolds amid increasing scrutiny of App Store policies and their impact on competition, especially within the fast-evolving AI sector.
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Bo Hines, executive director of the White House Crypto Council, has announced his departure to return to the private sector. Appointed in December 2024, Hines thanked the crypto community, calling his role ‘the honour of a lifetime’ and pledging ongoing support.
The council, formed to shape US digital asset policy, released a regulatory action plan in July. Despite progress, critics argued it failed to implement a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Deputy director Patrick Witt is expected to succeed Hines, though no official appointment has been made.
Hines strongly backed expanding the government’s Bitcoin holdings through budget-neutral strategies, which is in line with Trump’s January executive order that created a national crypto stockpile.
He previously suggested revaluing US gold reserves, which are priced far below market value. Part of the gains could then be converted into Bitcoin without impacting the federal budget.
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OpenAI’s new GPT‑5 model has been unveiled, and the company offers it free to all users. Three model versions, gpt‑5, gpt‑5‑mini and gpt‑5‑nano, offer developers a balance of performance, cost and latency.
CEO Sam Altman applauded India’s rapid AI adoption and hinted that India, currently OpenAI’s second‑largest market, may soon become the largest. A visit to India is planned for September.
The new GPT‑5 achieves a level of expertise akin to a PhD‑level professional and is described as a meaningful step towards AGI. OpenAI intends to make the model notably accessible through its free tier.
Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley noted that GPT‑5 significantly enhances understanding across more than twelve Indian languages, reinforcing India as a key market for localisation.
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James Cameron, the director behind the iconic Terminator franchise, has warned that the real-world use of AI could lead to a catastrophic scenario similar to the series’ apocalyptic Judgement Day.
While Cameron is writing the script for Terminator 7, he has expressed concern that mixing AI with weapons systems, including nuclear defence, poses grave risks.
He explained that the rapid pace of decision-making in such systems might require superintelligent AI to respond quickly. Yet, human error has already brought the world close to disaster in the past.
Cameron also highlighted three major existential threats humanity faces: climate change, nuclear weapons, and superintelligence. He suggested that AI might ultimately offer a solution rather than just a danger, reflecting a nuanced view beyond simple dystopian fears.
His evolving perspective mirrors the Terminator franchise itself, which has long balanced the destructive potential of AI with more hopeful portrayals of technology as a possible saviour.
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OpenAI has unveiled GPT-5, the latest generation of its widely used ChatGPT tool, offering what CEO Sam Altman described as a ‘huge improvement’ in capability.
Now free to all users, the model builds on previous versions but stops short of the human-like reasoning associated with accurate artificial general intelligence.
Altman compared the leap in performance to ‘talking to a PhD-level expert’ instead of a student.
While GPT-5 does not learn continuously from new experiences, it is designed to excel in coding, writing, healthcare and other specialist areas.
Industry observers say the release underscores the rapid acceleration in AI, with rivals such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Elon Musk’s xAI investing heavily in the race. Chinese startup DeepSeek has also drawn attention for producing powerful models using less costly chips.
OpenAI has emphasised GPT-5’s safety features, with its research team training the system to avoid deception and prevent harmful outputs.
Alongside the flagship release, the company launched two open-weight models that can be freely downloaded and modified, a move seen as both a nod to its nonprofit origins and a challenge to competitors’ open-source offerings.
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Rod Stewart is under fire for using AI-generated visuals in a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne during a recent US concert. The video showed a digitally recreated Osbourne taking selfies with late music icons in heaven.
The tribute, set to Stewart’s 1988 track Forever Young, was played at his Alpharetta performance. Artists like Whitney Houston, Kurt Cobain, Freddie Mercury, and Tupac Shakur featured in the AI montage.
While some called the display disrespectful and tasteless, others viewed it as a heartfelt tribute to legendary figures. Reactions online ranged from outrage to admiration.
Osbourne, who passed away last month at age 76, was honoured with global tributes, including flowers laid at Birmingham’s Black Sabbath Bench by fans and family.
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News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson has warned that AI could damage creativity by undermining intellectual property rights.
At the company’s full-year results briefing in New York, he described the AI era as a historic turning point. He called for stronger protections to preserve America’s ‘comparative advantage in creativity’.
Thomson said allowing AI systems to consume and profit from copyrighted works without permission was akin to ‘vandalising virtuosity’.
He cited Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, published by News Corp’s book division, questioning whether it should be used to train AI that might undermine book sales. Despite the criticism, the company has rolled out its AI newsroom tools, NewsGPT and Story Cutter.
News Corp reported a two percent revenue rise to US$8.5 billion ($A13.1 billion), with net income from continuing operations climbing 71 percent to US$648 million.
Growth in the Dow Jones and REA Group segments offset news media subscriptions and advertising declines.
Digital subscribers fell across several mastheads, although The Times and The Sunday Times saw gains. Profitability in news media rose 15 percent, aided by editorial efficiencies and cost-cutting measures.
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The journal Science will replace an editorial expression of concern (EEoC) on a 2020 Microsoft quantum computing paper with a correction. The update notes incomplete explanations of device tuning and partial data disclosure, but no misconduct.
Co-author Charles Marcus welcomed the decision but lamented the four-year dispute.
Sergey Frolov, who raised concerns about data selection, disagrees with the correction and believes the paper should be retracted. The debate centres on Microsoft’s claims about topological superconductors using Majorana particles, a critical step for quantum computing.
Several Microsoft-backed papers on Majoranas have faced scrutiny, including retractions. Critics accuse Microsoft of cherry-picking data, while supporters stress the research’s complexity and pioneering nature.
The controversy reveals challenges in peer review and verifying claims in a competitive field.
Microsoft defends the integrity of its research and values open scientific debate. Critics warn that selective reporting risks misleading the community. The dispute highlights the difficulty of confirming breakthrough quantum computing claims in an emerging industry.
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Reality Labs, Meta’s AR/AI hardware unit, has accumulated nearly $70 billion in losses but continues investing in the form factor. Zuckerberg likened AI glasses to contact lenses for cognition, which is essential rather than optional.
While Meta remains committed to wearable AI, critics flag privacy and social risks around persistent camera-equipped glasses.
The strategy reflects a bet that wearable tech will reshape daily computing and usher in what Zuckerberg calls ‘personal superintelligence’.
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