Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Calls for an ‘Emergency Brake’ on AI Models

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a post on X that it is time “to step back and assess the trust architecture” of AI. He said the approach “means separating the model from the harness that orchestrates its work” and “externalizing controls and safeguards.” He called for every meaningful model action to be documented with tamper-proof, human-readable evidence, and for systems in which an authorized person can always pause or shut down a model mid-task. “We must assume a model is compromised and contain it from the start,” he said. His comments come as leading AI companies acknowledge more incidents where they seemed to lose control of their models.

Cloudflare Acquires Deno to Strengthen Its Workers Programming Model

Cloudflare announced Friday that it is acquiring Deno, the startup behind the programming runtime of the same name. According to Kenton Varda, principal engineer for Cloudflare Workers, the company will use the acquisition to improve Workers, its platform that lets customers build and run software on Cloudflare’s network. Deno, co-founded by Bert Belder and Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, recently launched celld, an open source implementation of Workers. Varda wrote that giving people an escape hatch is “good business.” Dahl said his team is joining to make the Workers programming model “a mainstream way to build servers.” Financial terms were not disclosed. Deno had raised a total of $26 million.

Apple Discloses Deal to Hire Huxe Team and License the Podcast Startup’s Technology

Apple has disclosed to the European Commission an agreement to make employment offers to “certain employees of Huxe AI” and to receive a non-exclusive license to Huxe’s intellectual property, TechCrunch reported, in what is commonly known as a reverse acqui-hire. Huxe, a personalized audio startup, was founded by developers who previously worked on the AI-generated podcast features in NotebookLM, since renamed Gemini Notebook. Huxe announced on May 21 that it was shutting down, and Apple notified the Commission of the deal on June 9. The filing does not say who received offers, whether they accepted, or anything about Apple’s plans.

Actuators Are the Likely Bottleneck as Humanoid Robots Move Toward Volume Production

Steve Ricketts, SVP of business development at Misumi Americas and Fictiv, told Robotics & Automation News that manufacturing humanoid robots at scale is “a fundamentally different problem” from building prototypes. He named actuators as the most likely pressure point, since each humanoid needs dozens of them, combining motors, precision gears, bearings, encoders and housings. High-precision gearing, rare-earth magnets for motors and specialized bearings and sensors are capacity or supply-chain concerns. Ricketts said costs will fall through design simplification, component standardization and a shift from machined parts to castings, stampings and molded components. He expects commodity parts to standardize while software, hand design and system architecture stay proprietary.

Petra Power Pitches Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Data Centers and Defense Vehicles

Petra Power, founded in 2017, sells solid oxide fuel cells, ceramic devices that convert fuel such as natural gas into electric power without burning it, TechCrunch reported. Founder Aaron Goodman said the cells have significantly lower fuel costs and emissions than traditional power sources and a smaller physical footprint. Petra is working with neoclouds and other infrastructure providers, targeting first deployment in 2028 and full-scale production in 2029, but has nothing firm yet with hyperscalers. The company of some 15 people has received nearly $9 million in Defense Department contracts; its fuel cells for auxiliary vehicle power remain in testing and have not deployed on a live vehicle.

New York Extends ElliQ AI Companion Program with Intuition Robotics

The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) has extended its partnership with Intuition Robotics to continue bringing the ElliQ proactive AI companion to aging New Yorkers at risk of loneliness and social isolation. Hundreds of older adults have received ElliQ through the program since it launched in 2022, and more than 3,500 applied in 2025 alone. Program data from 2026 shows participants engage with ElliQ an average of 48 times per day, up from 29, while 94 percent report feeling less lonely and 97 percent report improved overall wellbeing. NYSOFA director Greg Olsen called ElliQ “an essential tool to help combat the loneliness epidemic.”

A Growing Field of AI Agents Now Works Through Ordinary Text Messages

A growing number of AI agents can simply be texted like an ordinary person instead of used through another app, TechCrunch reported in a roundup of the most notable options. Such agents can remember context, connect to apps and services people already use, and complete tasks such as scheduling appointments, making reservations and shopping online. Instinct, valued at $10 billion after a $1 billion round, is among the buzziest. Others include family assistants Fambot and Ollie, travel agent Miso, and Wajo’s Fo, which has its own email address, phone number and payment card. Underdog runs its model entirely on the user’s device.

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