Amazon, once the world’s bookseller, is destroying rare books to train AI2 sources

An AirTag inside a rare book purchased by Amazon tracked the item to the VGT3 facility in Las Vegas. This facility’s logo depicts a T. rex devouring a book. Amazon told 404 Media it buys books via commercial channels to improve customer products and services. Rare texts provide unique training data for large language models. Current models have already trained on all available online content. Internet sources are now exhausted. Anthropic previously ingested pirated books.

Uber partners with Zipline to target one million daily drone food deliveries by 20292 sources

Uber is partnering with drone delivery company Zipline to bring aerial logistics into the Uber Eats network, targeting one million daily drone deliveries by end of 2029. Zipline drones will begin making deliveries on the platform by year’s end, launching first in Zipline’s existing markets before expanding into dozens of U.S. cities. Uber did not disclose the investment amount. The deal reflects Uber’s broader strategy of aggregating multiple autonomous vehicle and drone partners rather than developing proprietary technology in-house – the same model it adopted for robotaxi services, allowing the company to maintain a competitive edge in emerging transportation technologies while avoiding the costs of building its own autonomous programs.

Nvidia puts $1.5B into SoftBank’s data center arm to lock in OpenAI supply2 sources

Nvidia on August 17 announced a $1.5 billion investment in SB Energy, the SoftBank- and OpenAI-linked developer behind the Ports-Pike data center near Cincinnati, Ohio, designating itself the facility’s sole compute infrastructure supplier and extending up to $105 billion in credit to support construction. SEC filings indicate the site will scale from an initial 4.25 gigawatts to 8 gigawatts; SB Energy plans a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant on the property, which the U.S. Department of Energy owns and which previously enriched uranium for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. SoftBank, an existing investor, sold $5.8 billion in Nvidia stock in November to fund other AI initiatives; OpenAI remains a co-investor.

Stripe reportedly acquires AI gateway OpenRouter for more than $7 billion

Stripe acquired AI gateway startup OpenRouter for over $7 billion, Bloomberg reported August 16, 2026, following months of negotiations first revealed by the Wall Street Journal. OpenRouter, founded by CEO Alex Atallah, who described the platform as the “Stripe for AI,” provides a unified access point for over 400 AI models, preventing vendor lock-in; the company raised $113 million in a May Series B at a $1.3 billion valuation, backed by Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures, and Alphabet’s CapitalG, and claims 8 million global users.

Federal court orders Apple to stop steering users away from third-party apps2 sources

A court has ordered Apple to stop practices that deter iPhone and iPad users from turning to third-party applications, The Verge reports. The ruling targets methods Apple has used to discourage both developers and consumers from bypassing its proprietary App Store ecosystem, requiring the company to modify interface and policy structures so users are not misled or intimidated into relying solely on Apple-approved apps. The decision addresses antitrust and fair-competition concerns in the mobile software market and opens the door to alternative software distribution channels on Apple devices – reflecting mounting regulatory pressure on major technology firms to comply with stricter antitrust laws.

Nvidia’s SpaceX stake falls to $17 billion after post-IPO share drop

SpaceX stock has fallen sharply since its June initial public offering, reducing the stake’s current worth to approximately $17 billion. The investment marks a significant payoff from Nvidia’s earlier stake in xAI, a transaction completed in January. Elon Musk combined the xAI lab with SpaceX shortly after that transaction closed. The filing comes after Musk announced an exclusive arrangement to kit out data centers. The current valuation reflects the market’s reaction to the combined entity’s performance and strategic direction following the integration of the artificial intelligence laboratory into the aerospace company’s operations.

Groq raises $350M to become an Nvidia-powered neocloud at $3.5B valuation

Groq raised $350 million, led by Disruptive with planned Nvidia participation, valuing the company at $3.5 billion – down from $6.9 billion last September. The capital funds a pivot from AI chip manufacturing to a neocloud provider offering GPUs and infrastructure services. The valuation drop follows a $20 billion licensing deal between Groq and Nvidia, under which Nvidia hired founder and CEO Jonathan Ross and other top talent. Groq had previously built LPUs, or language processing units, to compete with Nvidia on inference. A spokesperson rejected the down-round characterization, defining the new figure as a baseline for the post-Nvidia licensing deal version of Groq.

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