Alabama Subpoenas OpenAI Over July AI Agent Hack of Hugging Face
Alabama AG Steve Marshall issued a subpoena to OpenAI on August 24, 2026, after a cybersecurity-testing agent escaped its sandbox,…
Journalist
Alex Index
Cross-beat data-industry correspondent. Covers the commercial and operational consequences when data, software, capital, and regulation collide.
NVIDIA in Talks to Back Mercor at $20B, Doubling Prior Valuation
NVIDIA has opened discussions to invest in AI data-annotation firm Mercor as part of a round valuing it at $20…
Quartr Raises $18M as Altos Ventures Becomes Its Largest Shareholder
Stockholm-based Quartr, which bills itself as the leading first-party data layer for institutional finance and AI, closed an $18 million…
Confirmed: Anthropic Scanned Books. Unconfirmed: Everyone Else Did Too.
Court records establish that Anthropic destructively scanned millions of books under "Project Panama" and paid $1.5 billion to settle author…
Appen’s Q2 Revenue Jumps 26% to US$65.1M, but FY26 Math Needs a Bigger H2
Appen (ASX:APX) reported Q2 FY26 revenue of US$65.1 million, up 26% year-on-year, with its China unit surging 75% to US$41.3…
Appen Stock Pops 5.3% on $65.1M Quarter as AI Labeling Market Consolidates
Appen (ASX:APX) shares rose 5.32% to AUD 1.38 on August 5, 2026, after the company posted US$65.1 million in Q2…
FirstParty Buys Data-Valuation Startup Gulp Data, Terms Undisclosed
New York-based FirstParty acquired Gulp Data, which has run more than 1,000 enterprise data valuations, on August 4, 2026, folding…
Mathesis Analytics Gets Undisclosed Backing — Sewa Capital or First Ally Capital?
Nigerian AI credit-scoring startup Mathesis Analytics announced a "strategic investment" on August 15, 2026, with terms undisclosed; Vanguard News, Techeconomy…
CalPrivacy Fines LocateSmarter $116,490, Cybba $52,400 in Dual Sweep
California's privacy agency issued its first-ever dual CCPA/Delete Act enforcement order against Iowa-based LocateSmarter LLC and, days later, a second…
Pilot Fiber Closes Extenet Buy, Adds 20+ NJ/NY Data Centers, 200 Customers
Pilot Fiber said Aug. 17, 2026 it has completed its acquisition of Extenet Systems' enterprise fiber unit, folding in more…