SAMWISE
Good morning John. Here is your personal morning briefing · samwise.agency
Thursday, June 25, 2026
CHAMPIONSHIP
Mercedes Admits Title Threat Real, Brings Austrian GP Upgrades After Barcelona Reality Check
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff acknowledged that Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona win was a “reality check” for his team, and the Silver Arrows are responding with a new performance and reliability upgrade package at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s June 14 victory was the first time Mercedes had been beaten in seven 2026 races, ending six straight wins from Melbourne. Wolff admitted Ferrari and Hamilton are genuine title contenders. The Austrian upgrades will target both aerodynamic performance and the power unit battery reliability issues that forced Kimi Antonelli and George Russell to retire in Montreal and Barcelona, costing Mercedes an estimated 43 championship points across two failures.
FIA Expected to Rule on Controversial Mercedes Diffuser Design at Austrian Grand Prix
The FIA is reportedly closing in on a ruling over the legality of Mercedes’ controversial diffuser, with Italian outlet AutoRacer.it reporting a decision could come as early as the Austrian Grand Prix. Mercedes introduced the unusual design at the Canadian GP, featuring serrated edges along the upper diffuser section and an additional flow deflector on the waterfall section. Rivals claim the concept resembles ideas rejected during pre-season scrutineering. Ferrari raised the matter formally in Monaco, with Hamilton personally inspecting Antonelli’s W17 rear. A technical directive before Saturday qualifying would force Mercedes to revert the design, altering the championship picture currently led by Antonelli with 156 points.
Verstappen Cannot Hit July 1 Exit Clause Target as Red Bull Shareholders Split Over Contract Buyout
Max Verstappen is now mathematically unable to meet the top-two championship position reportedly required to trigger a performance exit clause in his Red Bull contract by July 1. Verstappen sits seventh with 55 points, 101 behind leader Kimi Antonelli, after a winless start to 2026 in which Red Bull have fallen to fourth in the constructors’ standings. However, German outlet Bild reports the clause can be invoked through to October. Red Bull shareholders are reportedly split on buying out the clause, with Thai stakeholder Chalerm Yoovidhya favouring a buyout while Mark Mateschitz and Oliver Mintzlaff are said to oppose the move.
McLaren to Trial Inverted Rear Wing in Austrian GP Friday Practice
McLaren will trial an experimental inverted rear wing during Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix, one of the more unconventional technical developments seen from the Woking team in recent seasons. The design reverses the standard orientation of the wing’s main plane and flap assembly to explore a different aerodynamic load profile on the Red Bull Ring’s high-speed layout. McLaren confirmed the wing will run in both FP1 and FP2 for evaluation but is unlikely to race until later in the season. The team has also modified front suspension geometry and reworked aerodynamic devices at the car’s rear corners as part of the broader upgrade package.
Red Bull Brings Weight-Reduction Package to Home Race but Boss Warns Wins Still Out of Reach
Red Bull arrives at its home race with a significant upgrade package that Max Verstappen described as “exciting,” though team boss Laurent Mekies has publicly warned the updates will not be sufficient to challenge for victories. The package centres on a weight reduction and revised floor geometry, aimed at addressing the traction and balance issues that have blighted the RB22. Verstappen has scored just 55 points across seven races this year without a win after dominating the previous three seasons. The Austrian GP carries additional significance as the team’s home event, with speculation over Verstappen’s future intensifying ahead of a reported contract decision deadline.
Ferrari Debuts First ADUO Engine Upgrade in Austria but Downplays Competitive Impact
Ferrari will debut its first ADUO-influenced power unit upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix, though the team has swiftly managed expectations over its immediate competitive impact. The update is estimated to deliver fewer than ten additional horsepower, with Ferrari framing it as a foundational step ahead of a larger package planned after the summer break, including a revised turbocharger. Alongside the engine change, Ferrari has made aerodynamic revisions: the floor edge, fences, and bodywork have been updated, with the diffuser reworked to operate with the new floor. The effect will be scrutinised on the Red Bull Ring’s long straights, where Ferrari acknowledges a continuing power deficit.
Briatore Sets Summer Deadline for Alonso to Decide on Alpine Return as F1 Future Hangs in Balance
Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s de facto team chief, has set a pre-summer break deadline for Fernando Alonso to decide whether he wishes to return to the French team from Aston Martin. Briatore is prepared to offer the two-time world champion a race seat for 2027 but requires a commitment before teams finalise their driver lineups. Alonso, who holds one championship point from seven races as Aston Martin struggles competitively, is reportedly “leaning towards” a major decision on his F1 future and may be weighing retirement. Briatore’s public deadline increases pressure on the 44-year-old and could trigger a driver market reshuffle heading into the summer break.
Three Teams Name Rookie Drivers for Austrian GP FP1: Beganovic, Browning, and Aron Step In
Three teams have confirmed young driver substitutions for Friday’s first practice session at the Austrian Grand Prix. Ferrari will replace Charles Leclerc with Swedish prospect Dino Beganovic, continuing the team’s reserve program. Williams has confirmed Luke Browning will take Carlos Sainz’s car, his second FP1 appearance of the season. Audi has selected Alpine reserve Paul Aron to replace Gabriel Bortoleto, an unusual cross-team arrangement given Aron’s lack of a 2026 race seat. All three changes comply with 2026 regulations obliging teams to field a driver with fewer than three grand prix starts in at least two practice sessions per season.
Drivers' Championship
1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli — 156 pts
2. Lewis Hamilton — 115 pts
3. George Russell — 106 pts
4. Charles Leclerc — 75 pts
5. Lando Norris — 73 pts
6. Oscar Piastri — 68 pts
7. Max Verstappen — 55 pts
8. Pierre Gasly — 41 pts
9. Isack Hadjar — 34 pts
10. Liam Lawson — 28 pts
11. Oliver Bearman — 18 pts
12. Franco Colapinto — 16 pts
13. Arvid Lindblad — 13 pts
14. Carlos Sainz Jnr — 6 pts
15. Alexander Albon — 5 pts
16. Esteban Ocon — 3 pts
17. Gabriel Bortoleto — 2 pts
18. Fernando Alonso — 1 pts
19. Nico Hülkenberg — 0 pts
20. Valtteri Bottas — 0 pts
21. Sergio Pérez — 0 pts
22. Lance Stroll — 0 pts
Constructors' Championship
1. Mercedes — 262 pts
2. Ferrari — 190 pts
3. McLaren — 141 pts
4. Red Bull — 89 pts
5. Alpine — 57 pts
6. Racing Bulls — 41 pts
7. Haas — 21 pts
8. Williams — 11 pts
9. Audi — 2 pts
10. Aston Martin — 1 pts
11. Cadillac — 0 pts
RACE RESULT
Lundgaard Charges From Last to First at Road America After First-Lap Chaos
Christian Lundgaard survived first-lap chaos to charge from last to first at the XPEL Grand Prix of Road America on June 21. Starting 12th, the Arrow McLaren driver suffered front-wing damage and a tire puncture at the start, pitting for emergency repairs that dropped him to the rear. The switch from damaged hard primaries to fresh alternate tires proved decisive over a race that featured five cautions. Lundgaard moved into the lead when Marcus Armstrong’s Honda expired with three laps remaining. The race ended under caution after a collision involving Graham Rahal and Will Power, securing his second 2026 victory. Felipe Nasr substituted for injured Josef Newgarden at Team Penske.
Honda Apologizes After Engine Failure Costs Armstrong Shot at First IndyCar Win
Honda Racing Corporation US president David Salters issued a public apology after Marcus Armstrong’s mechanical failure at Road America denied the New Zealander a potential first IndyCar win. Armstrong qualified third and led the race in the #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda before his engine expired three laps from the finish, triggering a late caution and dropping him from the lead to 24th. Salters said: ‘I am extremely sorry to Marcus and the valiant MSR team.’ Armstrong had delivered a near-flawless weekend — leading Friday’s opening practice session and qualifying third — before the mechanical ended his day. He remains winless in 2026.
Simpson Holds Ground Against Palou in Ganassi Intra-Squad Road America Battle
Kyffin Simpson delivered a breakthrough result at Road America, finishing fourth and leading Chip Ganassi Racing’s trio home — ahead of championship leader Alex Palou. The 21-year-old from the Cayman Islands, in his third season, faced a key test of intra-squad etiquette when Palou — penalized earlier for speeding in pit lane — attempted to pass Simpson’s #8 Honda. Simpson held firm. ‘At this team, Chip always says rule number one is to not hit your teammates, and as long as we don’t do that, we’re free to race,’ Simpson said. Palou accepted the battle, saying: ‘He’s doing his own race, and he has to go for it.’
Rosenqvist Confirmed Leaving Meyer Shank Racing After 2026 Season
Meyer Shank Racing officially confirmed that Felix Rosenqvist will leave the team after the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. The announcement came just weeks after Rosenqvist and MSR claimed the 2026 Indianapolis 500 together. Team co-owner Mike Shank confirmed the parting. Rosenqvist sits sixth in the championship with 248 points — making his available seat one of the most attractive in the paddock. Rosenqvist’s 2027 destination has not been publicly named, nor has his replacement at Meyer Shank. The news caps a busy stretch for IndyCar’s silly season, following a series of driver movement stories in recent weeks.
Clutch Control Unit Failure Ends Rasmussen’s Road America After 28 Laps
A clutch control unit failure stranded Christian Rasmussen’s ECR Honda on the Road America frontstretch, triggering one of the race’s five cautions and ending his afternoon after just 28 laps. Rasmussen was unable to change gears as the malfunctioning CCU left the car locked in a fixed gear. The failure also damaged the car’s hybrid system as a secondary consequence, making recovery impossible. Rasmussen’s retirement was particularly costly in a race that offered significant points opportunities through the chaotic multi-caution format. The explanation clarifies an incident that briefly blocked the frontstretch and forced a caution period mid-race.
Kirkwood Leads 14-Car Mid-Ohio Test in Preparation for July 5 Race
Kyle Kirkwood led 14 drivers through a productive team test at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Tuesday, June 23, in preparation for the Honda Indy 200 on July 5. Kirkwood’s No. 27 Andretti Global Honda paced the field with a best lap of 1:05.354 seconds, edging Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay (1:05.413) and Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger (1:05.670). The six participating teams — Andretti Global, Dale Coyne Racing, ECR, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Team Penske — ran through a combined 14 entries. Felipe Nasr again filled in for injured Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet.
Road America Broadcast Draws Largest Non-Indy 500 IndyCar Audience Since 2011
The XPEL Grand Prix of Road America drew the largest non-Indianapolis 500 television audience for an INDYCAR SERIES race since 2011. FOX data released Wednesday shows the event averaged 1,803,000 viewers — a 131-percent jump over last year’s Road America broadcast, which drew 781,000 viewers. Viewership peaked at 2,943,000 viewers. The milestone reflects a broader trend for INDYCAR on FOX: through 10 races in 2026, the series is averaging 2,033,000 viewers per event, up 14 percent from 2025’s first-year-on-FOX average of 1,783,000. The next race, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, airs July 5 on FOX.
Malukas Rated Top Palou Challenger With Eight Races Remaining
With eight races remaining, three IndyCar journalists at indycar.com gave their verdict on who can challenge championship leader Alex Palou: three of four panelists named David Malukas as the strongest threat. Malukas, still seeking his first IndyCar victory after 71 career starts, sits 60 points back with three oval races, three road courses and two street circuits on the remaining schedule. Kyle Kirkwood (61 back) and Christian Lundgaard (77 back) are the other contenders. The panel noted Malukas has outscored Palou over the last five races, Kirkwood has led just five laps in seven starts, and Palou’s oval average finish is 16th.
Drivers’ Championship
1. Alex Palou — 374 pts
2. David Malukas — 314 pts
3. Kyle Kirkwood — 313 pts
4. Christian Lundgaard — 297 pts
5. Pato O’Ward — 257 pts
6. Felix Rosenqvist — 248 pts
7. Scott McLaughlin — 248 pts
8. Josef Newgarden — 247 pts
9. Marcus Ericsson — 213 pts
10. Scott Dixon — 211 pts
11. Marcus Armstrong — 203 pts
12. Graham Rahal — 200 pts
13. Rinus VeeKay — 187 pts
14. Will Power — 180 pts
15. Alexander Rossi — 180 pts
16. Kyffin Simpson — 179 pts
17. Santino Ferrucci — 168 pts
18. Louis Foster — 147 pts
19. Dennis Hauger — 143 pts
20. Romain Grosjean — 132 pts
21. Nolan Siegel — 125 pts
22. Christian Rasmussen — 117 pts
23. Caio Collet — 113 pts
24. Mick Schumacher — 102 pts
25. Sting Ray Robb — 100 pts
26. Conor Daly — 24 pts
27. Takuma Sato — 20 pts
28. Jack Harvey — 8 pts
29. Jacob Abel — 6 pts
30. Helio Castroneves — 5 pts
31. Ed Carpenter — 5 pts
32. Ryan Hunter-Reay — 5 pts
33. Katherine Legge — 5 pts
Teams’ Championship
1. Team Penske — 809 pts
2. Chip Ganassi Racing — 764 pts
3. Andretti Global — 706 pts
4. Arrow McLaren — 684 pts
5. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing — 469 pts
6. Meyer Shank Racing — 456 pts
7. ECR — 302 pts
8. Juncos Hollinger Racing — 287 pts
9. A.J. Foyt Enterprises — 281 pts
10. Dale Coyne Racing — 275 pts
11. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing — 32 pts
12. Abel Motorsports — 6 pts
13. HMD Motorsports w/ AJ Foyt Racing — 5 pts
GT3
Garage 59 McLaren tops Spa 24H qualifying to head into Superpole
Marvin Kirchhöfer put the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo on top of the Pro qualifying group at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday evening, securing the right to run last in Friday's Superpole session at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. Kirchhöfer posted a lap of 2m16.221s, while co-driver Benjamin Goethe contributed fourth-fastest to give the crew a combined average that led the 69-car Pro class. The result hands Garage 59 first pick of grid slot heading into Saturday's 24-hour race.
Porsche unveils 911 GT4 R at Spa — first 911-platform GT4 car
Porsche Motorsport revealed the 911 GT4 R at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday, marking the first time a 911-platform car has competed in GT4-class regulations. The car retains the 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six from the Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport but mounts it in the rear-engined 911 body. Porsche says the switch brings improved aerodynamic balance and a lower centre of gravity compared to the outgoing Cayman-based car. Customer teams are expected to take delivery ahead of the 2027 season.
Spa Prologue: Güven fastest in rain as Haase keeps Audi’s benchmark
Berkay Güven set the fastest lap of the two-day Prologue at Spa-Francorchamps on Thursday morning, clocking a 2m18.4s in wet conditions for the #33 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. His time was 0.3 seconds clear of the field as rain fell during the final hour of running. Markus Haase had set the benchmark in dry conditions on Wednesday for the same squad. With the grid now confirmed at 69 cars, attention shifts to Pro qualifying scheduled for Thursday evening before Friday's Superpole.
Spa 24H grid confirmed at 69 cars after late Porsche withdrawal
The final entry list for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa stands at 69 cars following the withdrawal of a Porsche 992 GT3 R entered by a privateer team citing a logistics issue. The updated grid retains 22 Pro-class cars, 31 Silver entries, and 16 Am crews. Eleven manufacturers are represented, led numerically by Porsche with 18 cars and Mercedes-AMG with 14. The race starts Saturday at 16:30 local time and runs through Sunday afternoon.
Gulf 12 Hours deferred to 2027/2028 over Middle East logistics crisis
Organisers of the Gulf 12 Hours have confirmed the event will not run in 2026, with the race deferred to either the 2027 or 2028 calendar year due to ongoing logistics difficulties affecting international freight and team travel in the Middle East region. The announcement follows similar decisions by the Asian Le Mans Series and the Gulf Endurance Championship to restructure their calendars. No replacement venue has been announced. Affected teams have been notified and entry fees will be refunded or carried forward.
IMSA delivers largest 2026 BoP boost to Porsche 963 for Watkins Glen
IMSA issued the Balance of Performance update for the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen on Thursday, handing the Porsche 963 the largest single-round boost of the 2026 season. Both factory-spec and customer variants of the 963 receive a combined weight reduction and minimum-fuel-weight relief. BMW M Hybrid V8 and Cadillac V-Series.R entries hold their existing parameters. The adjustments follow Porsche's podium finish at Mid-Ohio but reflect the manufacturer's deficit in dry-weather pace at longer circuits.
IMSA reaches season midpoint at the Glen as BMW eyes first GTP win
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship arrives at Watkins Glen International this weekend for the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen, marking the halfway point of the 2026 season. BMW M Team RLL heads to the Finger Lakes circuit with renewed confidence after back-to-back second-place finishes, with drivers Augusto Farfus and Connor De Phillippi targeting the squad's first GTP-class victory. Cadillac Whelen leads both the driver and team standings heading into round six.
Asian Le Mans teams in holding pattern as Middle East calendar hangs in doubt
Asian Le Mans Series teams have been asked to hold logistical commitments for the opening rounds of the 2026–27 season while organisers finalise venue negotiations following the withdrawal of two Middle East circuits. Series promoter ACO Asia Pacific confirmed that at least one of the cancelled rounds will be replaced, with teams given a decision deadline of 15 July. Several squads have indicated they are also monitoring the Gulf 12 Hours situation before committing resources to the full calendar.
WEC Hypercar — Drivers
1. Kobayashi / Conway / de Vries — 75 pts
2. Rast / Frijns — 71 pts
3. van der Linde — 61 pts
4. Hartley / Hirakawa / Buemi — 56 pts
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing — 132 pts
2. BMW M Team WRT — 96 pts
3. Ferrari AF Corse
IMSA GTP — Drivers
1. Aitken / Bamber — 1,760 pts
2. Heinrich — 1,616 pts
3. Andlauer / Nasr — 1,606 pts
4. van der Zande / Yelloly — 1,552 pts
1. Cadillac Whelen #31 — 1,760 pts
2. Porsche Penske #7 — 1,606 pts
3. #93 — 1,552 pts
Le Maple Leaf [III, Monaco, avril 1911, bateaux de course] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]</div> — Agence Rol, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
DRAFT
Maple Leafs Expected to Select McKenna No. 1 as Draft Opens Friday in Buffalo
The 2026 NHL Draft opens Thursday at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, with Round 1 at 7 p.m. ET. Toronto holds the No. 1 pick and is expected to select Brendan McKenna, 18, a Penn State left wing from Whitehorse, Yukon, and a member of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation. McKenna posted 51 points (15G, 36A) in 35 NCAA games and ranked No. 1 among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting. San Jose holds No. 2 and their GM says they’re “not afraid” to trade it. The top four picks belong to Toronto, San Jose, Vancouver, and Buffalo (from Chicago). Buffalo is hosting the Draft for the fourth time.
Blues Trade Jordan Kyrou to Washington; Blues Net Four First-Round Picks
The Washington Capitals made a significant move Wednesday, acquiring right wing Jordan Kyrou from the St. Louis Blues. Washington sent centre Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin, and the No. 16 pick in this week’s Draft to St. Louis. Kyrou, 28, is a three-time 30-goal scorer under contract for the next five seasons. The Blues now hold four first-round picks at Nos. 11, 15, 16, and 29. Kyrou said he has “a lot to prove” following the move. The deal further cements Washington’s status as an aggressive off-season buyer ahead of the draft.
Buffalo Trades Byram to Chicago for the No. 4 Pick; Blackhawks Add Mobile Blueliner
The Buffalo Sabres traded defenseman Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday in a significant pre-draft deal. Chicago sent Buffalo the No. 4 overall pick, defenseman Louis Crevier, and the No. 45 pick. The Sabres also included forward Jordan Greenway in the move. Byram, 25, posted career highs of 42 points and 11 goals in 82 games, carrying a $6.25M cap hit through 2026–27. He said he is “just scratching the surface” and views Chicago as a “huge opportunity.” The Blackhawks, rebuilding around Connor Bedard, add a mobile offensive defenseman to their core.
Alex Tuch Signs 8-Year, $84M Deal with Washington in Sabres Sign-and-Trade
Buffalo added more cap flexibility Wednesday, shipping winger Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals in a sign-and-trade. Tuch agreed to an eight-year, $84M contract ($10.5M AAV) with Washington. The Sabres received centre David Kampf (a UFA as of July 1) and a 2027 third-round pick in return. It marked the second major trade in as many days to send players to Washington, following Jordan Kyrou’s arrival from St. Louis. Buffalo appears to be using draft eve to clear salary and stockpile assets while the franchise reshapes its roster heading into 2026–27.
Zach Benson Signs 7-Year, $52.5M Extension to Stay in Buffalo
The Buffalo Sabres locked up one of their brightest young forwards Wednesday, signing Zach Benson to a seven-year, $52.5M contract extension ($7.5M AAV). Benson, 21, was approaching restricted free agency on July 1 following a breakout 2025–26 campaign: 43 points (13G, 30A) in 65 regular-season games and 9 playoff points (5G, 4A) in 13 games. In 211 career games since being selected 13th overall in 2023, he has accumulated 101 career points (34G, 67A). GM Jarmo Kekalainen said Benson and Josh Doan will help fill voids left by the departures of Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram this week.
Dynasty or One-Time Wonder? Experts Divided on Hurricanes’ Chances at Back-to-Back Titles
Can the Carolina Hurricanes repeat? That’s the question the hockey world is debating after Carolina’s second Stanley Cup in franchise history. Historian Stan Fischler argues it’s a long shot, citing the absence of a McDavid- or MacKinnon-level superstar. The Canes’ core — Slavin, Aho, Svechnikov, Jarvis, Ehlers, and K’Andre Miller — is deep but lacks a transcendent name. Undrafted goalie Brandon Bussi went 3–1 with a 1.60 GAA and .931 SV% in the Final. Jordan Staal, 37, earned Conn Smythe honors with 12 points in 19 playoff games. Bobby Holik called a dynasty “a very long shot.” Ottawa coach Travis Green countered: “The Canes are for real — for sure.”
Wild Owner Publicly Commits to Re-Signing Quinn Hughes as Priority No. 1
Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold confirmed Wednesday the team plans to re-sign defenseman Quinn Hughes. Hughes, 26, is in the final year of a six-year, $47.1M deal originally signed with Vancouver in October 2021. Acquired by Minnesota on December 12 in a trade involving Rossi, Ohgren, Buium, and a first-round pick, Hughes put up 76 points (7G, 69A) in 74 games — including 53 points in 48 games post-trade and 15 in 11 playoff games before the Wild fell to Colorado in the Western Conference Second Round. GM Bill Guerin called re-signing Hughes “priority No. 1.” Hughes said in May: “I really like it here.”
RECAP
Betts Hits 300th Career Homer, Ohtani Pitches Dodgers Past Twins for Sweep
Mookie Betts hit his 300th career home run and Shohei Ohtani pitched six strong innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night. Betts connected in the second inning for a solo shot off Joe Ryan, marking the milestone. Ohtani (8-2) surrendered three runs in the second but retired his final seven batters, finishing with eight strikeouts. He then sparked a three-run third with an RBI single. Max Muncy and Alex Call drove in the tying and go-ahead runs, and Tanner Scott recorded his 11th save. The MLB-leading Dodgers improved to 52-29.
Swanson Sets Cubs Franchise RBI Record with 11 in Doubleheader Sweep of Mets
Dansby Swanson set a Cubs franchise record with 11 RBI in a single doubleheader as Chicago swept the New York Mets 10-3 and 10-5 on Wednesday. In Game 1, Swanson hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth and a grand slam in the eighth. In Game 2, he added a go-ahead RBI triple and finished with four more RBI. The previous franchise record of 10 was set by Hall of Famer Ron Santo in 1970. New York fell to a season-high 12 games under .500 and lost its fifth consecutive game. Francisco Lindor made his return from a left calf strain in Game 2, going 0-for-4.
Mets Trade David Peterson to Cubs for Prospect Cole Mathis
The New York Mets traded left-hander David Peterson to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night for 22-year-old first base prospect Cole Mathis. Peterson, 30, posted a 6.09 ERA in 60 innings this season split between the bullpen and rotation. He spent his entire seven-year MLB career with New York, going 40-36 with a 4.31 ERA lifetime. In Mathis, New York receives a High-A player batting .272 with a .981 OPS, 10 home runs and 39 RBI in 39 games. Cubs president Jed Hoyer had said Tuesday the front office was exploring the trade market for depth arms. The deal was announced during Chicago's four-game series at Citi Field.
Goldschmidt Homers Twice, Yankees Beat Tigers 4-2
Paul Goldschmidt hit two home runs and Jasson Dominguez delivered a go-ahead two-run shot in the sixth inning off Tarik Skubal as the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 on Wednesday. Skubal (3-4) tied a career high by surrendering three home runs, equaling a mark he had not reached since 2021. The reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner allowed just four hits total, walked nobody and struck out nine over six innings. Ryan Weathers (3-5) went six frames for the Yankees, scattering six hits with two runs allowed. David Bednar closed it out for his 16th save. New York has now won two of three in the series.
Guardians Survive Rain Delay and 9th-Inning Collapse to Tie White Sox Atop AL Central
Khalil Watson singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning Wednesday, and the Cleveland Guardians survived a stunning ninth-inning collapse to beat the Chicago White Sox 4-3 and tie them atop the AL Central. After a 2-hour, 40-minute rain delay, Tanner Bibee threw six shutout innings extending his scoreless-inning streak against Chicago to 15. With Cleveland leading 3-1, Braden Montgomery and Randal Grichuk each homered off closer Cade Smith to tie the game. In the 10th, Watson singled to left off Grant Taylor to score automatic runner Petey Halpin from third. Watson finished with three RBI. Shawn Armstrong (2-1) earned the win.
Back-to-Back 9th-Inning Homers from Devers and Bericoto Give Giants Walk-Off Win Over A's
Rafael Devers led off the ninth with a tying home run and Victor Bericoto followed with a walk-off shot one out later as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Oakland Athletics 2-1 Wednesday. Both connected off Elvis Alvarado (3-3), who blew the save. Max Muncy of the Athletics had broken a scoreless tie with a home run in the eighth inning. Giants starter Tyler Mahle carried a no-hitter into the fifth before Jacob Wilson singled. Erik Miller (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless ninth. Bericoto also threw out a runner at home plate during the game, providing both the offensive and defensive highlight of the evening.
Derek Hill's Pinch-Hit Homer in 9th Lifts Phillies Past Nationals 5-4
Derek Hill hit a pinch-hit two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies over the Washington Nationals 5-4 on Wednesday. Kyle Schwarber, out with lower back tightness, pinch hit and walked off Orlando Ribalta before Hill connected on a 1-2 pitch to right center. Brandon Marsh collected three hits and went 7-for-13 in the series with two homers and four runs. Curtis Mead hit a pinch two-run homer for Washington in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Seth Johnson (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth and Jhoan Duran struck out the side for his 19th save.
Back-to-Back Homers Lead Brewers Past Reds 6-5, Complete Sweep at 20 Games Over .500
William Contreras and Jake Bauers hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep and improving to a season-high 20 games over .500 at 49-29. Contreras drove a two-run shot off Rhett Lowder, then Bauers connected for his team-leading 14th homer. Chad Patrick (5-3) earned the win. Shane Drohan pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings on 98 pitches. Milwaukee extended its lead to 6-1 in the seventh on Andrew Vaughn's bases-loaded double. Joel Kuhnel recorded his third save, inducing a game-ending 6-4-3 double play. Cincinnati was swept at home for the first time since August 2024.
Padres Sweep Division-Leading Braves; JP Sears Wins Season Debut
JP Sears won his season debut and Ty France homered as the Padres beat the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves 5-2 Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep. Sears (1-0), recalled from Triple-A after Lucas Giolito went on the injured list, held Atlanta to two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. France hit his ninth homer in the third, added a sacrifice fly in the fourth and doubled in the sixth, scoring on Samad Taylor's two-run single. Joey Bart hit a two-run homer for Atlanta. San Diego now hosts the Dodgers this weekend, having won five of its last seven games.
Rockies Rally with Five Late Runs to Beat Red Sox 8-6
Tyler Freeman's sacrifice bunt drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Colorado rallied with five late runs to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-6 Wednesday at Coors Field. The Rockies trailed 6-3 entering the seventh, tied it with three runs, then took the lead in the eighth when Mickey Moniak and Willi Castro singled off Justin Slaten (0-4), and Freeman bunted Moniak home. Cole Carrigg added an RBI double and finished with three RBI. Antonio Senzatela (8-0) struck out two in two perfect innings, and Jimmy Herget recorded his second save. Kyle Freeland allowed six runs on 11 hits in five innings for Colorado.
American League
1. Yankees — 48-30, —
2. Rays — 44-33, 3.5
3. Orioles — 38-40, 10.0
4. Blue Jays — 39-41, 10.0
5. Red Sox — 34-43, 13.5
1. White Sox — 41-38, —
1. Guardians — 41-38, —
3. Twins — 38-41, 3.0
4. Tigers — 31-47, 9.5
5. Royals — 30-47, 10.0
1. Mariners — 41-39, —
2. Athletics — 36-43, 4.5
3. Rangers — 35-38, 4.5
4. Astros — 34-41, 5.5
5. Angels — 36-42, 5.0
National League
1. Braves — 48-31, —
2. Phillies — 44-36, 4.5
3. Nationals — 38-38, 9.0
4. Marlins — 43-39, 5.5
5. Mets — 31-43, 14.5
1. Brewers — 49-29, —
2. Cardinals — 42-35, 6.5
3. Cubs — 43-37, 6.0
4. Pirates — 36-41, 13.0
5. Reds — 37-42, 12.5
1. Dodgers — 52-29, —
2. Padres — 39-34, 12.0
3. D-backs — 37-39, 13.5
4. Giants — 35-43, 16.5
5. Rockies — 27-47, 24.0
HARDWARE
OpenAI Unveils Jalapeño, Its First Custom AI Inference Chip
OpenAI unveiled Jalapeño, its first custom-built inference processor, developed in partnership with Broadcom. Designed specifically for running pre-built AI models at scale, Jalapeño delivers significantly better performance-per-watt than current alternatives, according to the company. OpenAI’s own AI models assisted in the chip’s design — a recursive development process the company says deepened its hardware instincts. President Greg Brockman described the chip’s origins: “We have a deep understanding of the workload. We’ve really been looking for specific workloads that are underserved.” The announcement signals OpenAI’s ambition to own its full infrastructure stack, from model development through chip architecture, memory systems, and deployment.
Agility Robotics Plans $2.5B SPAC IPO for Its Digit Humanoid Robot
Agility Robotics announced plans to go public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The deal is expected to generate more than $620 million in proceeds, including roughly $200 million from a PIPE financing backed by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The Oregon State spinout, best known for its bipedal Digit robot, currently operates across nine customer sites including Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, GXO, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre. CEO Peggy Johnson said “humanoid robots are poised to become a critical driver of productivity, supply chain resilience, and American technology leadership.” Agility plans to trade under ticker AGLT.
Mistral Launches OCR 4, a 170-Language Document AI With On-Premises Deployment
Mistral launched OCR 4, a document intelligence model supporting 170 languages and every major document format — PDF, DOC, PPT, and OpenDocument — in a single deployable container. Priced at $4 per 1,000 pages ($2 via batch API), OCR 4 scored 85.20 on OlmOCRBench and achieved a 72% average win rate against competitors across more than 600 real-world documents. The release arrives as enterprise clients reassess their AI vendor risk following the June 12 export restriction that suspended access to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch has made AI sovereignty a central theme, and OCR 4’s on-premises deployment option directly addresses that demand.
Another Wave of Top AI Researchers Is Leaving Google for Anthropic and OpenAI
Top AI researchers continue to exit Google for rivals. Researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, who played key roles in developing Google’s Gemini model, are joining Anthropic. The departures follow researcher Noam Shazeer — a Google veteran of over two decades — leaving for OpenAI last week, and Google DeepMind director John Jumper, who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his AlphaFold work, also departing for Anthropic. As OpenAI and Anthropic prepare for public offerings, the lure of pre-IPO equity makes recruiting top talent easier than ever. The sustained exodus raises questions about Google’s ability to retain the research depth that built its AI lead.
Xiaomi’s HarnessX Rewrites Its Own AI Scaffolding Mid-Task — Smaller Models Gain the Most
Xiaomi researchers introduced HarnessX, a framework that treats an AI agent’s scaffolding as code to be evolved rather than fixed. A meta-agent powered by Claude Opus 4.6 analyzes logs and rewrites the harness mid-task, then tests the result on worker models including Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.4, and Qwen3.5-9B. Across 15 model-benchmark combinations, HarnessX delivered an average +14.5% performance gain — with Qwen3.5-9B seeing +44% on embodied planning tasks and +18.2% on SWE-bench. When harness-evolved data was used to fine-tune open-weight models, researchers observed an additional +4.7% boost. The findings suggest that improving the environment around a model can rival improving the model itself.
Figma Adds Code Layers and AI Agent Skills to Its Collaborative Design Canvas
Figma’s annual Config update brings code layers directly to its collaborative canvas, letting teams clone repositories and extract flows from existing code into design layers for rapid prototyping. Chief Product Officer Yuhki Yamashita described the feature as designed for fast exploration rather than production-quality code, with designers, engineers, and product managers iterating in a shared spatial environment. The update also adds native support for animations, transitions, and 3D transforms, plus AI-generated shader effects. Users can now write natural-language prompts to build reusable AI agent skills within Figma, connect tools including Notion, GitHub, and Excel, and auto-generate custom plugins like layout generators or vector path tracers.
Former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka Raises $32M Seed for AI-Driven IT Services Challenger
Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys who spent twelve years building enterprise software at SAP, has launched Hang Ten Systems with a $32 million seed round led by Mayfield with strategic backing from Aramco Ventures. The company helps enterprises continuously build, modify, and operate software using AI-driven development and automation — a direct bet that AI will hollow out traditional IT services. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang sits on the board, and early customers include Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Fresenius. The launch comes as Infosys shares have fallen more than 35% this year, and analysts at Jefferies forecast IT services among the first sectors to face meaningful AI disruption.
CYBERSECURITY
Amazon's One Medical Discloses Breach of Iora Health Legacy Systems, ShinyHunters Claims 8.8TB Stolen
Amazon subsidiary One Medical Seniors disclosed Tuesday that an unauthorized party accessed third-party file storage systems — legacy archives from its 2021 Iora Health acquisition — between June 8 and June 11. Archived patient files, including demographic and clinical records, were exposed for patients at former Iora clinics across eight U.S. markets including Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle. ShinyHunters, an extortion group that previously targeted Medtronic, claimed 8.8 terabytes of exfiltrated data and set a June 22 ransom deadline. One Medical's current EHR system and clinical operations are unaffected. Security experts warn that HIPAA obligations extend to all inherited data environments following healthcare acquisitions.
31 House Democrats Press CMS for Data on Medicare AI Prior Authorization Pilot
Thirty-one House Democrats sent a letter Monday to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz requesting additional data on the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction, or WISeR, pilot — an AI-backed prior authorization program active in six states for certain Medicare services. Lawmakers asked for vendor determination times, approval and denial rates, beneficiary appeal counts, and audit details. Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington noted that WISeR vendor Virtix has been ordered to submit a corrective action plan for missing the pilot's 72-hour review requirement. Democrats have previously introduced resolutions to roll back the program, which critics say is delaying and denying care to Medicare beneficiaries.
Voice AI Startup Assort Health Raises $120M Series C, Hits $1.2B Unicorn Valuation
Assort Health raised $120 million in Series C funding led by Menlo Ventures, the San Francisco company announced Wednesday, pushing its valuation to $1.2 billion and its total funding to $222 million. Investors in the round include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Felicis, First Round Capital, Chemistry, Joe Montana, Tau Ventures, and Quiet Capital. Assort plans to use the funds to expand its platform of voice AI agents, which automates administrative tasks for healthcare providers including scheduling, referrals, patient intake, medication refills, eligibility checks, and payments. The company hit unicorn status with the raise.
Stryker Moves to Dismiss Employee Class Action Over March Iranian Hacktivist Cyberattack
Stryker asked a federal court Tuesday to dismiss a class action brought by current and former employees following its March cyberattack by Iranian hacktivist group Handala. Eight plaintiffs filed within 48 hours of Stryker's March 11 disclosure, alleging their Social Security numbers and other PII were compromised. Stryker's CISO submitted a declaration stating the company found no plaintiff PII in files potentially accessed during the attack; Handala claimed at the time to have stolen 50 terabytes of data. Legal experts say courts now demand more than speculation to establish standing, and that receiving a breach notification letter is typically foundational to such lawsuits.
Oracle Health Partners With Theator to Automate Surgical Documentation Using AI Video Analysis
Oracle Health is partnering with surgical intelligence company Theator to bring AI-powered surgical documentation and analytics to Oracle Health customers, the companies announced Wednesday in a news release. Theator's platform captures surgical video footage as procedures occur, analyzes it alongside EHR data to identify procedural steps, safety milestones, and clinically significant events, then generates a structured operative report that surgeons can review and sign within their existing workflow. The collaboration aims to address longstanding documentation delays — surgeons often complete reports hours or days after procedures — while capturing procedural data to improve quality, safety, and efficiency.
Mount Sinai Taps Signal 1's AIMS Platform to Govern Expanding AI Portfolio
Mount Sinai Health System announced Wednesday it is evaluating Signal 1's AI Management Platform, known as AIMS, to centralize governance and performance monitoring across its expanding AI portfolio. The platform is designed to provide visibility into AI tools currently in use or under evaluation, streamline AI intake and approval workflows, and automate monitoring and reporting for deployed solutions. Signal 1 says AIMS supports generative and agentic AI applications alongside predictive and imaging AI, and tracks return on investment. Mount Sinai Chief Digital Transformation Officer Robbie Freeman said the health system's priority is monitoring AI performance, safety, and impact at scale without slowing innovation.
CMS: U.S. Healthcare Spending Hit $5.7 Trillion in 2025, Projected to Reach $9 Trillion by 2034
CMS actuaries released Wednesday projections showing U.S. healthcare spending reached $5.7 trillion in 2025 — a 7.3 percent increase and the third consecutive year of growth exceeding seven percent — driven primarily by higher utilization rather than price increases. Published in Health Affairs, the figures also project spending will reach $9 trillion by 2034, representing 20.6 percent of GDP. Prescription drug spending, including GLP-1 medications and oncology drugs, is forecast to grow fastest through 2034. The insured share of the U.S. population is projected to fall from 91.8 percent in 2024 to 90.5 percent by 2034, partly reflecting ACA subsidy expirations and Medicaid cuts.
Coval Raises $28M to Improve AI Voice Agent Reliability and Compliance in Healthcare
Coval, an AI evaluation platform focused on voice agent deployment, closed a $28 million Series A led by Norwest, the company announced Wednesday. Base10 Partners, Twilio Ventures, and Y Combinator also participated. Founded by Brooke Hopkins, formerly of Waymo's evaluation infrastructure team, Coval works with more than 60 organizations — including Zoom and Deepgram — and plans to use the funding to address reliability and compliance challenges in voice AI deployment, expand its sales team, and advance product capabilities. Executives say the platform reduces manual quality assurance by up to 30 times and increases voice agent deployment speed by 10 times.
<div style="font-weight:bold;display:inline-block;"><div style="display:inline-block" dir="ltr" lang="en"><i>Boy looking at a Gaggle of Geese <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111026058#P1476" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20"></a></span></i></div></div><div style="display: none;">title QS:P1476,en:"Boy looking at a Gaggle of Geese <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111026058#P1476" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20"></a></span>"</div><div style="display: none;">label QS:Len,"Boy looking at a Gaggle of Geese <span class="mw-valign-text-top noprint" typeof="mw:File/Frameless"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111026058#P1476" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20"></a></span>"</div><div style="display: none;">label QS:Lnb,"Gutt betrakter en gåseflokk"</div></div> — Erik Werenskiold, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
HARDWARE
A Look At A Gaggle Of Transputer Boards
Before supercomputer clusters and multi-core CPUs dominated, the transputer explored distributed task-level parallelism in the 1980s. [Lance Harvie] dusted off his university-era collection and recently expanded it with an eBay find, walking through boards including the single-processor T400 and a T425 quad-processor card bearing late-1990s ST Microelectronics date codes. Designed by UK firm Inmos and programmed in the concurrent Occam language, transputers communicated via high-speed serial links to form parallel computing clusters. Getting them running today requires adapters bridging the ISA bus to modern USB interfaces, but the effort reveals a fascinating and largely forgotten chapter of European semiconductor history.
Laser Scanning a Cave With Homebrew Gear
Mapping a cave with homebrew lidar is already a niche pursuit; [9nl] pushed it further by building the entire scanning rig from the ground up. The core sensor is a surplus Ouster VLP-16 lidar unit, but its 40-degree vertical field of view proved too narrow for capturing real cavern geometry. The fix: mount the unit sideways on a custom rotating belt-drive shaft, sweeping a full 360-degree plane on a second axis and stitching together complete spherical point clouds. Everything — mounting hardware, rotation control, data capture pipeline — was hand-built, yielding dense 3D scans of underground spaces no commercial scanner could practically reach.
VFD Clock Runs on a Single AA
Running a vacuum fluorescent display from a single AA cell is a deceptively tricky power challenge. VFDs need tens of volts to illuminate their phosphor segments, making them an odd match for a 1.2 V NiMH cell — but that is exactly what [Sciter_] built. The design pairs an ATmega328P microcontroller with a 32.768 kHz timing crystal, a salvaged calculator VFD, and an HV5812 shift-register driver chip. A custom transformer-based boost converter steps the cell up to high voltage, while an LM2576-ADJ buck converter handles USB charging separately. Addressable RGB LEDs under the PCB add color underglow, turning a genuine power engineering puzzle into an elegant, compact clock.
Raspberry Pi Locator Website to Shut Down in July
Andre's rpilocator.com — once the definitive stock tracker for finding Raspberry Pi boards at retailers worldwide — is shutting down in July. The site served around 11,000 monthly users during and after the chip shortage, helping makers track down boards that vanished from shelves for years. The problem: most online retailers have now blocked the monitoring bot that powers the service, likely caught in the same anti-scraper defenses deployed against AI crawlers. With data feeds drying up, reliable stock tracking has become impossible. Andre has not ruled out a future return if technical conditions change, but for now, Pi hunters are without their most trusted radar.
A T9 Keyboard for Your Smartphone
[Jarrett] missed the speed and feel of T9 texting enough to build a dedicated Bluetooth keyboard for his modern smartphone. The build salvages a Nokia E52 keypad, fitting the keys over a custom PCB using Alps SKRK tactile switches wired through a diode matrix to prevent ghosting. An ESP32-C6 handles Bluetooth HID pairing; a TP4200 charger IC and LiPo battery keep the device self-contained. First tests with 0.98 N actuation switches felt mushy; swapping to 1.57 N units nailed the right tactile response. The completed device pairs wirelessly with any modern phone and revives a text-entry style many found faster than touchscreen keyboards.
A BIOS for Your ESP32-C6
[Rompass] built what amounts to a BIOS for the RISC-V ESP32-C6 microcontroller. The project, openc6-bios (github.com/Rompass/openc6-bios), sits between the hardware and user applications, providing a bootloader, a system call API, and the ability to load executables dynamically from RAM — eliminating the need to reflash the chip for every code update. Network loading is supported too, meaning new programs can be pushed wirelessly without a cable. The work pushes the ESP32-C6 beyond its usual role as a fixed firmware target toward something closer to a general-purpose computing environment, with runtime extensibility that opens the door to dynamic application stacks on small embedded hardware.
OSHWA's Open Hardware Summit 2026: Hottest Hardware Event of the Year?
The annual Open Hardware Summit touched down at Technische Universitat Berlin last weekend for a packed day of talks followed by a full Sunday of workshops. Highlights included a proposal for standardized Maker Resilience Kits (MaRK) for community emergency preparedness, a flow battery research project aiming to let makers fabricate their own stationary energy storage, and a frank talk from Mitch Altman on open hardware's future now that Qualcomm owns Arduino. A CircuitPython butterfly-PCB workshop let attendees take their code home. Seeed Studio demoed the reBot arm and the expanding XIAO microcontroller line. All talks are on the OHS YouTube channel.
HIRING
Engineers Defy the Odds: New Data Shows Resilience Despite AI Layoff Wave
New data from venture firm SignalFire challenges the notion that AI is eliminating software engineering. Tracking employees at more than 80 million companies, SignalFire found engineers made up 55% of new hires at major tech firms in 2025—up from 46% in 2019—even as overall tech hiring fell 25% from pre-pandemic peaks. Engineering declined just 11%, the smallest drop. Early-stage startups hired 7% more engineers than in 2019. Challenger, Gray & Christmas data shows May 2026 saw the highest single-month tech layoff total in years, AI most-cited. Still, Anthropic’s Peter McCrory found “no larger material difference in unemployment rates” between AI-exposed and unexposed workers.
Google’s Top AI Researchers Keep Departing for OpenAI and Anthropic
Google’s loss of elite AI talent continued this week, with Bloomberg reporting that Jonas Adler, who worked on AI-powered coding tools, and Alexander Pritzel, who contributed to Gemini’s training infrastructure, are joining Anthropic. Their departures follow Noam Shazeer—a Gemini VP of engineering and co-author of the landmark “Attention Is All You Need” paper—who announced a move to OpenAI on June 18, and John Jumper, director of DeepMind and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold, who is headed to Anthropic. Alphabet shares fell roughly 7% on June 22 amid the news. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are approaching IPOs, making pre-IPO equity a powerful recruiting lever.
Ex-Infosys Chief Sikka Launches Hang Ten Systems with $32M, Global Hiring Underway
Vishal Sikka, the former CEO of Infosys, has launched Hang Ten Systems, a Bay Area startup aiming to upend the global IT services market using AI agents. The company raised a $32 million seed round led by Mayfield and Aramco Ventures, with participation from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang. Early enterprise customers include Siemens Gamesa and Fresenius, the global medical company. Hang Ten is actively hiring across delivery, engineering, sales, and leadership roles worldwide. Sikka built his reputation at Infosys by pushing AI into traditional enterprise services; his new venture bets that AI agents can replace large swaths of that work and deliver it autonomously at lower cost.
Workday AI Bias Case Survives Dismissal—Every Hiring Vendor Should Take Note
A California federal judge has again refused to dismiss most claims in the landmark Mobley v. Workday lawsuit, which alleges that Workday’s AI-powered applicant screening tools discriminated against job seekers on the basis of age, race, and disability. Judge Rita F. Lin upheld claims under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, ruling that because Workday’s AI tools were designed and maintained at its California headquarters, state anti-discrimination law can apply to nonresident plaintiffs as well. The case, first filed in February 2023 by Derek Mobley—who applied to more than 100 positions without securing a role—covers roughly 1.1 billion rejected applications.
From Tokenmaxxing to Token Rationing: Accenture Scrambles to Rein In Employee AI Spend
After spending months encouraging employees to maximize AI use, companies are hitting a wall. Leaked audio from an internal Accenture meeting—reported by 404 Media—shows the consulting firm is now trying to stop employees from burning through its AI token budget on low-stakes tasks like converting PDFs to slides. Accenture’s agentic AI strategy lead Justice Kwak acknowledged the problem directly: “Spend is becoming very unpredictable; and leadership, especially at the CFO, COO, and CIO level, are still asking the question of whether they’re getting value.” The reversal is striking—Accenture previously warned employees they would “risk losing out on promotions” if they didn’t use AI.
IMPACT
Ballroom Culture as Democratic Model: Philanthropists Investing $1.4 Million in Black Trans Femme-Led Organizations
Ballroom culture — the underground dance and performance world that Black and Latino queer and trans communities created decades before mainstream recognition — is being reframed as a model for democracy and civic belonging. NPQ’s Lupe Mahida explores how ballroom’s structures of chosen family, mutual support, and radical inclusion prefigured the inclusive democracy its members were denied. The philanthropic stakes are real: only 3.5 cents of every $100 in philanthropy currently reaches trans communities. The Fund for Trans Generations doubled its grant amount in 2026, committing $200,000 to 25 trans-led organizations, while the Flower Crown Project is investing $1.4 million over two years in 10 Black trans femme-led groups.
MIT’s Schwarzman College of Computing Marks Seven Years: $1 Billion Raised, 50 New Faculty, Ongoing Ethics Questions
When Stephen Schwarzman gave $350 million to MIT in 2018, he launched what became one of the most significant efforts to reshape how artificial intelligence is taught and governed. The Chronicle of Philanthropy revisits that gift seven years on, finding a mixed but consequential legacy. The Schwarzman College of Computing raised $1 billion in total, hired 50 new faculty across 19 departments, and introduced a new undergraduate major in AI and decision making. Its ethics counterpart, the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing institute, now engages more than 300 students across 25 departments and reaches over 1,000 students annually — but key questions about AI’s societal impact remain open.
Giving USA 2026 Reports Record $617 Billion in Charitable Donations as Donor Base Shrinks for Fifth Year
Giving USA’s 2026 report puts American charitable giving at a record $617.2 billion, but Tiltify CEO Michael Wasserman argues the headline misses the real story. The donor base shrank for the fifth consecutive year, falling 3.6 percent even as total dollars climbed. More critically, Giving USA’s methodology is blind to the explosion of digital and peer-to-peer fundraising: platforms powered by streamers are generating tens of millions per campaign. Piotr Hancke raised $70 million in nine days; Ryan Trahan brought in $11.6 million for St. Jude; TeamWater raised $40 million. A sector measuring success in dollars while losing donors may be reading its own health backwards.
LA Event Producer Tammy Dickerson Marks 25 Years in Philanthropic Events, Eyes World Cup and Olympics Opportunities
Tammy Dickerson, founder of LA-based tbg Events, has spent 25 years producing philanthropic gatherings that blend storytelling with high-impact fundraising. Her clients include the Milken Institute, Magic Johnson Foundation, LA84 Foundation, and Dodgers Foundation. In a conversation with Inside Philanthropy, Dickerson reflects on how nonprofit events work has grown to represent 30 percent of her firm’s portfolio — and why that growth has changed how she thinks about the purpose of a room. With the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics converging on Los Angeles, she sees a rare opportunity to embed equity-focused programming into the city’s biggest moment on the global stage.
Living Billionaire Founders Now Lead 20 of America’s 50 Largest Foundations, Up From Six in 2000
The face of American philanthropy has changed dramatically in a generation: 20 of the 50 largest U.S. foundations now have living founders, compared to just six in 2000 and one in 1984. Inside Philanthropy’s Michael Kavate traces the arc of this shift, which reflects the extraordinary wealth creation of the tech era. Today’s roster of founder-led philanthropies includes the Gates Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Elon Musk’s foundation, and the new Huang Family Foundation linked to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The concentration of philanthropic power in the hands of living individuals raises questions about accountability, institutional independence, and whether big-donor priorities are crowding out other voices.
Billionaire Women Commit Over $1 Billion to Women’s Health Research as Funding Gap Persists
Women’s health has been chronically underfunded in medical research — just 5 percent of R&D dollars were dedicated to women’s health as recently as 2020. Inside Philanthropy profiles four billionaire donors working to close that gap. Melinda French Gates has committed $215 million in new funding for menopause and midlife health, part of more than $600 million over two years. MacKenzie Scott directed $275 million to Planned Parenthood. Alexandra Cohen has focused on menopause research, giving $4.7 million in 2024. Nicole Shanahan pledged $100 million for reproductive longevity. Meanwhile, the Gates Foundation has made a separate $2.5 billion five-year commitment to global women’s health through 2030.
AWARDS
Academy Invites 529 New Members for 2026, Including Jacob Elordi, Jenna Ortega, and Josh O’Connor
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 529 new members to join its ranks for 2026 — the most global class in years. Headlining the Actors branch: Jacob Elordi , Jenna Ortega, Josh O’Connor, Mia Goth, and Simu Liu, alongside directors Josh and Benny Safdie and musician Sara Bareilles. Animation brings in Spider-Verse veterans Michael Lasker and Sharon Bridgeman. Artist Representatives include powerhouses Aleen Keshishian and Jimmy Miller. Among Executives, new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro joins the Academy. In Marketing and Public Relations, among 25 honorees is David Gray Edwards of Thanks Pictures — a well-deserved nod to the awards campaign community. Of the class, 42% are women and 53% come from outside the U.S.
Toy Story 5 Eyes $88M–$96M Second Weekend as Supergirl Heads for $40M–$50M Debut
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is tracking for an $88 million–$96 million second weekend as it holds the domestic top spot, its cumulative gross now past $200 million after seven days—a milestone that earned praise from Disney chairman Alan Bergman. Analysts project a 40–45 percent sophomore decline. Opening against it is Warner Bros./DC’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow , tracking $40 million–$50 million across more than 3,600 theaters—a figure that would place it firmly in franchise-launch territory. Paramount’s Jackass: Best and Last is eyeing approximately $10 million as a third new opener, targeting a dedicated fanbase at a lower screen count.
Netflix Sets 28-Day Theatrical Window for Cannes Acquisition La Bola Negra
Netflix will release Spanish-language film La Bola Negra —its major acquisition from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival—in theaters on November 6 before arriving on the streaming platform on December 4, a 28-day window that signals the platform’s continued push for theatrical credibility with prestige titles. The film, directed by the team that won the Cannes Best Directors prize and set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, stars Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close. It received a 20-minute standing ovation on the Croisette, with U.S. distribution rights acquired for a reported $4 million–$5 million .
Invincible Renewed for Season 6 at Prime Video, Tying Record for Longest-Running Streaming Animated Series
Prime Video has renewed animated superhero series Invincible for a sixth season—announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 24—tying it with BoJack Horseman as the longest-running streaming animated series in history. The series, with Season 4 recently charting in the top 10 across more than 50 territories and accumulating more than 7 billion TikTok views , also confirmed that actor Jack Quaid will join the cast in Season 5, which is due next year. Creator Robert Kirkman and showrunner Simon Racioppa made the announcement alongside studio Skybound Entertainment.
Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn Sets Netflix Debut for December 18
Netflix has set a December 18 release date for animated feature Ray Gunn —the first directorial feature from Brad Bird since Incredibles 2 in 2018—revealed during the platform’s session at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 24. Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, a private detective navigating Metropia, an alternate-future city imagined through a 1939 aesthetic; Scarlett Johansson plays femme fatale Venus Nova and Tom Waits also appears in the cast. The film is produced by Skydance’s David Ellison and Dana Goldberg alongside former Pixar chief John Lasseter and Lisa Beroud.
Amazon Drops Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 Trailer at Annecy, Sets July 31 Premiere
Prime Video unveiled the first trailer for Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 at Annecy on June 24, confirming a July 31 premiere for the Bad Robot production. Hamish Linklater returns as Bruce Wayne in the noir-inflected animated series. In the same session, Prime Video confirmed Helluva Boss Season 3 , Part 1 will debut October 14, and announced Conan the Barbarian, an animated series in development from Cartoon Network Studios and Genndy Tartakovsky. Amazon and Netflix held competing Annecy sessions on the same day, with both platforms revealing major animation slates to an industry audience.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas Discusses The Bluff’s Global Streaming Success at Cannes Lions
Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas took the stage at the Cannes Lions advertising festival on June 24 to discuss the global streaming performance of The Bluff , her Prime Video period action film about female pirates, which topped the platform’s global charts across dozens of countries following its late-February release. Produced through her company Purple Pebble alongside the Russo Brothers’ production company AGBO , the film is being cited as a case study in cross-cultural streaming reach. She also referenced director S.S. Rajamouli’s upcoming Varanasi, starring Mahesh Babu, now set for April 2027 .
Curated daily by Samwise · samwise.agency