Samwise Tech/AI/Robotics Newsletter
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Cloudflare Says AI Made 1,100 Jobs Obsolete Even as Revenue Hit a Record High
Cloudflare announced on May 8 that artificial intelligence had eliminated 1,100 positions at the company, even as the networking and security firm reported record quarterly revenue. The San Francisco-based company said AI tools absorbed work previously performed by those employees, making the roles obsolete. Cloudflare, best known for its content delivery network and DDoS protection services, is one of the largest publicly traded companies to directly attribute a significant layoff round to AI automation rather than economic conditions or restructuring. The announcement highlights the tension between AI-driven productivity gains and the human cost of that efficiency at profitable, growing tech firms.
Sources: TechCrunch
The Biggest U.S. Power Grid Is Under Strain from AI and No One Is Happy
PJM Interconnection, the operator of the largest electrical grid in the United States, is under acute capacity strain as AI data center construction accelerates across its 13-state service territory spanning the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, TechCrunch reported May 8. Utilities, regulators, transmission planners, and data center developers are locked in conflict over who should fund grid upgrades, how quickly interconnection requests can be processed, and whether the system can physically support the pace of AI infrastructure buildout. PJM delivers electricity to approximately 65 million people, and interconnection queues have grown dramatically as hyperscalers race to secure power for AI computing facilities.
Sources: TechCrunch
Airbnb Says AI Now Writes 60% of Its New Code
Airbnb disclosed on May 8 that artificial intelligence now generates approximately 60 percent of the new code written at the company, with CEO Brian Chesky describing the shift as transformative for how the platform is built and iterated. Chesky said the company is deploying AI coding tools extensively across its engineering teams. The vacation rental marketplace had previously trimmed its engineering workforce significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic. The disclosure adds to a growing body of corporate announcements suggesting AI is fundamentally reshaping software development at major platforms, with other technology companies reporting similar adoption rates in recent months.
Sources: TechCrunch
Anthropic Introduces Dreaming, a System That Lets AI Agents Learn from Their Own Mistakes
Anthropic introduced on May 8 a system called Dreaming that allows AI agents to learn from simulated versions of their own past mistakes without requiring additional human-labeled data. The technique works by having agents replay and analyze unsuccessful task attempts in an offline environment, identifying failure patterns and adjusting behavior before redeployment. Anthropic describes Dreaming as a form of autonomous experience consolidation, drawing an analogy to how humans process information during sleep. Unlike standard reinforcement learning, the system requires no reward signals from new interactions. Anthropic has not yet specified which commercial products will incorporate the Dreaming capability or provided a deployment timeline.
Sources: VentureBeat
Hackers Deface School Login Pages After Claiming Another Instructure Hack
The ShinyHunters hacking group defaced school login pages hosted by Instructure, the company behind the Canvas learning management system, following a claimed data breach, TechCrunch reported May 7. ShinyHunters, which has previously compromised platforms including Ticketmaster and Santander Bank, stated it accessed Instructure systems containing student and institutional data, though Instructure had not confirmed the scope of any breach as of publication. Canvas serves more than 30 million users at K-12 schools and higher education institutions globally. The login page defacements, displaying messages from the group, were visible to students attempting to access coursework at multiple affected institutions.
Sources: TechCrunch
Google’s $9.99-Per-Month AI Health Coach Launches May 19
Google announced on May 7 that its AI-powered health coaching service will launch May 19 at $9.99 per month. The subscription product will provide personalized health guidance based on user data, though Google has not detailed the specific data sources it will draw on or the clinical basis for its recommendations. The health coach offering represents Google’s latest expansion into consumer AI subscriptions and will compete in a market that includes digital health products from Apple, Amazon, and numerous startups. Google did not specify at announcement whether the service will integrate with its existing Fitbit hardware or Google Health platform.
Sources: TechCrunch
Kodiak AI Raises $100M at a Steep Discount, Sending Its Stock Tumbling 37%
Kodiak AI raised $100 million in new funding on May 7 at a valuation steep enough below its prior pricing that the autonomous trucking company’s stock fell 37 percent on the news. The dilutive capital raise reflects the difficult fundraising environment for autonomous vehicle companies that have spent years developing commercial operations without reaching profitability. Kodiak focuses on long-haul autonomous trucking and has operated commercially in Texas. The sharp stock decline signals that investors viewed the terms as unfavorable, underscoring persistent uncertainty about whether autonomous trucking ventures can build sustainable business models amid high operational costs and prolonged paths to full commercialization.
Sources: TechCrunch
Tech Pulse
Top Frontier Models: Claude Opus 4.7 (87.6%) | Claude Opus 4.5 (80.9%) | Gemini 3.1 Pro (80.6%)
Top Open Source Models: DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max (80.6%) | DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Max (79.0%) | Qwen3.6-27B (77.2%)
Top Small Models (15–50B): Qwen3.6-27B (77.2%) | Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (73.4%) | Qwen3.5-27B (72.4%)
Top Edge Models (0–15B): Phi-4 14B (82.6%) | Phi-4-mini 3.8B (74.4%) | Qwen3-4B (70.0%)
AI Leaders: NVIDIA $4.8T | Alphabet $4.7T | Microsoft $3.2T
Robotics Leaders: ABB $191B | Intuitive Surgical $171B | FANUC $39B
Curated by JD · samwise.agency