Associated Press: Musk v. Altman: in closing arguments, Musk's attorney doubled down on claims of Altman's untrustworthiness, while OpenAI's lawyer said Musk has no evidence  —  Lawyers for Elon Musk and OpenAI made their final arguments Thursday in the landmark trial whose outcome could shape the future of artificial intelligence.

<p>This <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2026/May/14/mitchell-hashimoto/">Mitchell Hashimoto quote</a> about Bun migrating from Zig to Rust reminded me of a similar conversation I had at a conference last week.</p> <p>I was talking to someone who worked for a medium sized technology company with a pair of legacy/<a href="https://simonwillison.net/2018/Jul/17/mark-norman-francis/">legendary</a> iPhone and Android apps.</p> <p>They told me they had just completed a coding-agent driven rewrite of both apps to React Native.</p> <p>I asked why they chose that, given that coding agents presumably drive down the cost of maintaining separate iPhone and Android apps.</p> <p>They said that React Native has improved a lot over the past few years and covered everything their apps needed to do.</p> <p>And... if it turned out to be the wrong decision, they could <strong>just port back to native</strong> in the future.</p> <p>Like Mitchell said:</p> <blockquote> <p>Programming languages used to be LOCK IN, and they're increasingly not so.</p> </blockquote> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/react">react</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/coding-agents">coding-agents</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-assisted-programming">ai-assisted-programming</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a></p>

Here's what the biggest tech court case of the year is all about.

<blockquote cite="https://twitter.com/mitchellh/status/2055039647924007222"><p>[...] On the interesting side is how fungible programming languages are nowadays. Programming languages used to be LOCK IN, and they're increasingly not so. You think the Bun rewrite in Rust is good for Rust? Bun has shown they can be in probably any language they want in roughly a week or two. Rust is expendable. Its useful until its not then it can be thrown out. That's interesting!</p></blockquote> <p class="cite">&mdash; <a href="https://twitter.com/mitchellh/status/2055039647924007222">Mitchell Hashimoto</a>, on Bun porting from Zig to Rust</p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/zig">zig</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/mitchell-hashimoto">mitchell-hashimoto</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/rust">rust</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/agentic-engineering">agentic-engineering</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/bun">bun</a></p>

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state's current treatment of prewritten software is unfair to those who are already paying sales taxes. Jeff Chiu/AP California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to ensure that the state's sale tax applies to digital software. Newsom said it isn't fair that someone has to pay sales tax for an in-person purchase but not for a download. If passed, the tax could be another blow to already reeling software and SaaS companies. California could deliver a big blow to already reeling SaaS and software companies. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed expanding the state sales tax to ensure it covers digital prewritten software. Newsom, whose term ends in January, said he had been "slow" to recognize that consumers were paying a 7.25% sales tax when they buy software in a store but not when they buy it online. "As someone who lives near a Best Buy, I'm at Best Buy often," Newsom told reporters during a news conference. "And I'm paying sales tax on a lot of this prewritten software. And then I find out that all my friends that aren't near a Best Buy, they're downloading and they are not paying sales tax. How is that fair?" Companies like Microsoft and Salesforce could be significantly affected by the tax. Newsom's proposal comes after the SaaSpocalypse, the significant Wall Street sell-off that hit software companies amid fears that generative AI models and vibe coding could replace their products and services. Newsom's proposal would have to be approved by the California legislature. He called for state lawmakers to make the new tax effective January 1, 2027. Newsom said 35 other states already tax digital prewritten software, and 24 states have a SaaS tax. "By the way, 75% of those transactions we estimate are business-to-business. "75%. That's why we're not doing streaming," he said, adding that the state legislature might feel differently about taxing streaming services. According to Newsom's office, the proposed tax is estimated to bring in $450 million in this budget year and $900 million in subsequent years for the state's general fund. Additionally, it is estimated to generate $560 million in local tax revenues in this budget year and $1.1 billion in subsequent years. Altogether, Newsom proposed a $350 billion spending plan that would leave the state without a budget deficit for two years. Newsom is widely viewed as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate. Read the original article on Business Insider

Bloomberg: Cerebras shares closed up 68% at $311.07 in the company's Nasdaq debut after it raised $5.5B in the year's largest IPO, giving it a market value of $67B  —  Cerebras Systems Inc. shares jumped 68% in its trading debut after raising $5.5 billion in the year's largest IPO …

Former Disney animator Tom Bancroft says Marvel layoffs reflect Hollywood’s shift toward freelancers, AI tools, and uncertain creative pipelines. The post Former Disney Animator: Marvel Layoffs Point to a Bigger AI Shift appeared first on TechRepublic.

OpenAI poked fun at the open laptops meme in a teaser. Screenshot via OpenAI OpenAI announced a Codex tab in the ChatGPT mobile app that lets users manage their AI coding projects from their phones. The mobile interface could help reduce the time spent with laptops slightly cracked open. "Step away from your laptop," OpenAI developers wrote on X while nodding to the recent trend. OpenAI's latest offering could come in handy for the open-laptop walkers. The company is making it easier to remotely control their Codex AI coding app while on the go. The company on Thursday announced Codex for mobile phones, available in the ChatGPT app. While users will not be able to program directly on their phones, they can prompt Codex to start vibe coding a new project or manage and view the agent's actions while it continues to run remotely on their computer or Mac Mini. Using the ChatGPT mobile app, users can see threads, review outputs, approve commands, and change models. In plain terms, that means more remote control of Codex, which could lead vibe coders to leave their laptops at home or the office more often. OpenAI launched a Codex tab in the ChatGPT mobile app, enabling remote control of the AI coding agent. OpenAI "As agents take on longer-running work, a new rhythm for collaboration is emerging," an OpenAI blog post reads. "To keep work moving, you need to be able to easily answer a question, review what Codex found, change direction, approve what comes next, or add a new idea." The advent of AI coding tools has led to a rise in people walking around with their laptops slightly open so that their local Codex agent can continue running. The AI coders previously told Business Insider that they're bringing these open computers to offices, schools, and ice rinks. (Of course, as many techies have pointed out, there are other ways to keep a laptop running while shut.) But the trend quickly became a meme, one that OpenAI joined in on earlier this month while teasing "iykyk but we may be in for a treat soon 👀." pic.twitter.com/l9OZrEYGAL — OpenAI Developers (@OpenAIDevs) May 14, 2026 Ahead of its Thursday announcement, OpenAI also poked fun at the laptops-ajar trend in a video the company posted to its developers' X account. The video showed several laptops opened just enough to stay running. "Step away from your laptop," OpenAI developers wrote on X. "Keep building with Codex on your phone." Read the original article on Business Insider

The open source AI ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with over 2.5 million models available and thousands added each month. Yet 95% of AI pilots never reach production—not because of model […] The post Why 95% of AI Pilots Fail – and How to Build Infrastructure That Doesn’t appeared first on BigDATAwire.

Study suggests "the bias is real but socially constructed, rather than grounded in how women actually sound."

More than 50 employees have reportedly left Elon Musk’s newly merged SpaceXAI since February, raising questions about burnout, leadership changes, talent poaching, and whether liquidity events weakened retention incentives.

Unity Catalog was designed for the open lakehouse. Previously, data teams were stuck...

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: OpenAI adds remote access to Codex in the ChatGPT mobile app, letting users control Codex sessions running on a connected computer directly from a phone  —  OpenAI has released a new way to interact with its Codex app from your smartphone.  An update to ChatGPT's mobile app brings remote access …

One little mystery—solved.

Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters: Figma reports Q1 revenue up 46% YoY to $333.4M, vs. $313.2M est., and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates, citing AI monetization; FIG jumps 8%+ after hours  —  Figma (FIG.N) raised its annual revenue forecast on Thursday, as growing adoption of its artificial intelligence tools helped convert …

The update gives users enhanced flexibility over how they can manage their workflows.

Executive SummaryThe electric utility industry stands at a critical inflection point...

The acquisition looks to boost visibility into third-party ecosystems, which are becoming a bigger concern as vectors for supply chain attacks.

Hardware company Atech raised $800,000 in pre-seed funding, including from a16z’s scout fund, Sequoia Scout Fund, and Nordic Makers.

Sea Limited's CPO explains why the company is deploying Codex across engineering teams to accelerate AI-native software development in Asia.