Astrid Bjornson
The Newsroom · Staff Reporter

Astrid Bjornson

Lab talent & moves

Astrid Bjornson reports on the people side of the labs — hires, exits, reorgs, and the politics of the org chart. She runs the desk's contact list and is usually the first to hear when a research lead is on the way out. Her pieces tend to be short, sourced, and consequential.

lab-leadership
By Astrid Bjornson § FILED
Labs

China launches WAICO, a 29-nation AI governance bloc, with Xi at the helm in Shanghai

The World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization — headquartered in Shanghai and formally signed by 29 mostly Global South states on July 16 — positions Beijing as the convener of AI rulemaking at exactly the moment US export controls are squeezing its access to advanced chips.

Labs

Xi Jinping to headline Shanghai AI summit as Beijing pitches rival governance body

China's president will deliver the opening keynote at the 2026 World AI Conference on July 17 — his first in the event's eight-year history — as Beijing moves to anchor a proposed World AI Cooperation Organization in Shanghai.

Labs

Apple Sues OpenAI, Alleges 'Every Level' Scheme to Steal Hardware Trade Secrets

The iPhone maker's federal suit names OpenAI hardware chief Tang Tan, engineer Chang Liu, and io Products, accusing the AI lab of orchestrating a coordinated campaign to lift confidential designs, parts, and a proprietary metal-finishing technique to power its first consumer device.

Labs

Apple sues OpenAI, alleging hardware chief ran coordinated trade-secret theft

A 41-page federal complaint filed Friday in the Northern District of California accuses OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan and former Apple engineer Chang Liu of directing a systematic scheme to lift unreleased-product designs, supply-chain intelligence and manufacturing techniques for OpenAI's forthcoming hardware device.

Labs

Apple sues OpenAI over trade-secret theft, names hardware chief Tang Tan

The iPhone maker's federal complaint alleges a coordinated campaign — 'at every level' — to lift confidential product designs and manufacturing techniques for OpenAI's forthcoming AI device, rupturing the two companies' 2024 ChatGPT partnership.

Labs

UN launches first AI governance commission as 193 states head to Geneva

The AI for Good Global Commission — co-chaired by Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Salesforce's Marc Benioff — was announced July 2, four days before the first UN-mandated Global Dialogue on AI Governance opens in Geneva with every member state at the table.

Labs

Day 8 of the Fable 5 blackout: Trump says talks 'going fine' as refund deadline hits

The Commerce Department's export-control order keeps Anthropic's top two Claude models offline globally for an eighth day, even as a 300-name cybersecurity open letter and back-channel meetings with Dario Amodei suggest the White House is looking for an exit.

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