intelligence

According to Jinshi reports, the headquarters of the Iranian intelligence department in Ahvaz was bombed.

According to Business Insider, Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI and current head of Meta's Superintelligence Lab, stated at a Y Combinator event that AI has significantly narrowed the power gap between startups and giants. He recalled that when he founded Scale AI in 2016, "startups faced giants like David against Goliath, needing to find market entry points more intelligently"; however, with the development of AI agent technology, "it now feels more like Goliath against Goliath," and as long as startups apply AI agents in "the most ambitious way," it is not difficult to defeat large companies that already have an advantage.Scale AI, founded by Wang, is one of the earliest data annotation companies, employing thousands of contractors worldwide to train models for large AI labs. Last June, Meta reached a $14.3 billion deal with Scale AI, and Wang subsequently joined Meta. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also stated at the same event that "there has never been a better time to start a business."

According to Jinshi reports, the CEO of Meta Platforms stated that thanks to artificial intelligence, the company is creating a brand new experience, and the speed of product delivery has increased.

According to TechCrunch, bot detection startup Spur Intelligence has completed a $200 million financing round led by Insight Partners. Founded in 2017, the company's technology helps businesses distinguish between real users and hidden bot traffic, identifying fake users and threats.Cloudflare reported last month that by mid-2026, internet bot activity has surpassed human activity for the first time. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated that the growth of proxy traffic has exceeded expectations. Spur pointed out that with the surge of anonymizing infrastructures such as criminal VPNs and residential proxy networks, businesses face a blind spot where they can see activity but not the underlying infrastructure.

UK real estate technology startup Dwelly announced the completion of a $170 million financing round to acquire more real estate companies and integrate artificial intelligence into its operations.This round of financing was led by EQT Growth and General Catalyst, including $95 million in equity financing and a $75 million debt financing facility provided by Trinity Capital. The company did not disclose its valuation.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce responded to the U.S. claim that it would investigate Chinese AI companies for "distilling" U.S. cutting-edge models and may impose sanctions, stating that this move lacks factual and legal basis and is a typical act of artificial intelligence hegemony.China pointed out that some of its model capabilities are already at the leading level, and nearly 200 U.S. startups urged the government not to cut off access to Chinese open-source models. China urged the U.S. to stop the smear campaign and threats of sanctions; otherwise, it will take all necessary measures to safeguard its own rights and interests.

According to Business Insider, Musk reiterated and refined the timeline: within about 5 years, overall AI intelligence may surpass the total human intelligence; within about 10 years, humans are likely to no longer dominate (the intelligence gap is far greater than that between chimpanzees and humans). He stated that AI can do better in almost all aspects except "being human" itself.Musk believes the most likely outcome of AI development is an "era of astonishing abundance," where robots + AI can produce goods and services far exceeding human consumption capacity, allowing anyone to have whatever they want. By around 2036, "money may no longer matter."He believes that the government could directly issue checks to the public (similar to universal basic income), as output surges, and deflation is more likely to occur rather than inflation; the traditional logic of taxation/re-distribution may fail under the new paradigm. He accepts that there is about a 10-20% risk of human extinction from AI, but believes that the momentum of development is unstoppable, having reached a "philosophical conclusion": if it cannot be stopped, then join in and "enjoy the journey."

The Singapore Police Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen joint actions, intelligence sharing, training, and law enforcement assistance in online scams, cyber fraud, and money laundering cases.The two parties completed a joint operation targeting cross-border cryptocurrency fraud in Singapore and the United States, identifying 54 victims and potential victims through information sharing and blockchain intelligence, and preventing potential losses of approximately 2.7 million USD in the United States and about 388,000 SGD in Singapore.

In a 90-minute interview with The Economist, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, stated that artificial intelligence could surpass human intelligence levels within the next five years and predicted that in about ten years, AI and robotics might drive the world into a "highly affluent era." Musk believes that once AI systems and robots possess sufficiently powerful digital intelligence and production capabilities, the global economy could approach a state of "infinite supply," making human labor no longer a necessary condition for survival, and the importance of currency may gradually decline.He stated that in the future, if the number of robots is sufficient, society will have a "quasi-infinite economy," where artificial intelligence can produce goods and services that exceed human consumption capacity. He even predicted that by around 2036, the importance of the traditional currency system might significantly decrease. Regarding future economic operating models, Musk mentioned that governments might maintain social operations by directly distributing funds to the public and believes that the productivity improvements brought by AI could lead to deflation rather than inflation.However, regarding issues such as corporate profit models, government fiscal sources, and social transformation, Musk acknowledged that the economic structure in the age of artificial intelligence might differ greatly from traditional economic laws. Additionally, Musk discussed the integration of AI with space development. He indicated that in the future, data centers deployed in space might be used to support AI computing and reiterated the long-term plan for human exploration of Mars. In the interview, Musk also reflected on his previous involvement in the Trump administration's "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE). He admitted that he had invested too much energy in the political arena, "got a bit sidetracked," and stated that if he could choose again, he might spend more time on his own companies.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference released the "Global Artificial Intelligence Innovation Index Report 2026," which quantitatively evaluates the AI innovation development of 46 countries from five dimensions: foundational support, resources and environment, scientific and technological research and development, industry and applications, and international cooperation and exchange.The report points out that AI infrastructure continues to expand, and energy supply has become a new variable for future development; the focus of large model industrialization is shifting from general-purpose to vertical, from training to inference, driving the complete business process reshaping, with enterprises showing characteristics of heavy asset investment; at the same time, the global demand for AI governance is accelerating, and China is promoting global governance and inclusive cooperation from multiple dimensions.

The National Development and Reform Commission officially released the "Action Plan for the Cooperative Development of Artificial Intelligence," aimed at building an open, shared, secure, orderly, and collaboratively governed global artificial intelligence ecosystem. The plan clearly outlines eight core actions, comprehensively promoting deep international cooperation in the AI field from multiple dimensions, including data, computing power, algorithms, talent, and governance. At the foundational level of data and computing power, the action plan emphasizes the need to promote cross-border data flow and build a trustworthy cross-border data space, collaboratively constructing a high-quality corpus; at the same time, it promotes the interconnection of intelligent computing facilities, providing inclusive intelligent computing services to developing countries, and creating low-carbon intelligent computing infrastructure driven by green energy.In terms of industrial empowerment and ecological sharing, the plan encourages the co-construction of an international open-source community for artificial intelligence, promoting the sharing of general large models, basic algorithms, and tool components, and supporting countries in conducting localized innovation based on open-source models. By deepening "Artificial Intelligence +" cooperation, it aims to build a cross-national industrial cooperation platform, promoting the deep application and empowerment of AI technology in fields such as science, manufacturing, healthcare, education, agriculture, and governance. In addition, the plan also proposes the establishment of a joint training mechanism for top digital talent, collaboratively formulating occupational standards and skill certification systems, comprehensively enhancing public literacy, and jointly addressing the structural impacts of AI on employment.Regarding industry rules and technical security, the action plan advocates for the co-construction of rules and standards and collaborative governance for security. All parties will strengthen information sharing on cybersecurity threats and emergency response cooperation, researching ways to enhance the explainability, transparency, and safety of artificial intelligence. Finally, the plan emphasizes adherence to the technological ethics principle of "AI for Good," collaboratively constructing an ethical guideline system dedicated to eliminating algorithmic biases in the forms of racism, discrimination, and others. By promoting international governance cooperation in AI research, it aims to contribute public scientific products to the Global South, effectively serving the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

DeepSeek's first round of financing has officially landed. Business registration information shows that DeepSeek's affiliated company, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd., recently underwent a business change, adding Hangzhou Chengli Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) and National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) as shareholders, with registered capital increased to 16.4475 million yuan.

According to a report by Reuters, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced on Wednesday (July 15) that Apple's edge-generative AI service "Apple Intelligence" has successfully completed filing in China and is approved for use on iPhone devices in the Chinese market. The official announcement has not yet specified a concrete launch date.According to informed sources, Apple's AI service will integrate the AI model capabilities of Baidu and Alibaba. Alibaba subsequently confirmed in a statement that its "Tongyi Qianwen" (Qwen) large model will be integrated into the Apple Intelligence experience for users in China on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. Apple has not yet responded to this.

According to Jinshi reports, Goldman Sachs stated that the combined effect of rising prices for memory, software, and electricity brought about by artificial intelligence is contributing more than 0.2 percentage points to the year-on-year inflation of the U.S. core PCE, and this contribution is expected to rise to 0.5 percentage points by the end of the year.

According to TechCrunch, the privacy-focused artificial intelligence platform Venice AI has completed a $65 million Series A funding round, achieving a valuation of $1 billion and becoming a unicorn. This round of financing was led by the crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, North Island Ventures, and others.Venice AI stated that the platform provides access to over 200 artificial intelligence models and emphasizes user data privacy protection along with a "low censorship" experience. The company claims to currently have over 3 million active users, an annual revenue exceeding $70 million, and has achieved profitability.The company plans to use the new funds to purchase graphics processing units and build its own data centers to reduce reliance on leased computing power and improve gross margins.

The South Korean government has announced significant project plans in the areas of chips, physical artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence data centers. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stated that it is necessary to ensure the development of artificial intelligence elements faster than other countries, and chip production construction must be completed as soon as possible.The current factory site selection is nearing its limits in terms of water resources and other infrastructure. The southwestern region will invest between 50 trillion to 200 trillion won in the new projects, while Gwangju and Jeolla may invest 52 trillion won in the projects. Regarding the detailed planning for the factories, the South Korean government announced that it is expected to build four chip factories in the southwest, with an investment of about 800 trillion won; Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will each build two new factories; it is expected that investment in the chip sector will reach at least 300 trillion won over the next 15 years, including next-generation memory, edge artificial intelligence, and defense.Investment in the chip packaging cluster in the Chungcheong region is expected to reach 81 trillion won. It is anticipated that approximately 55 trillion won will be invested in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers. The South Korean government expects to double DRAM production capacity within five years, and the global memory market is expected to quadruple in five years. The South Korean side also stated that it seeks to distribute the growth dividends to the public.

The founder of [Oasis Labs](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Oasis Network?k=MjU3 "Decentralized Layer 1 network based on PoS consensus"), Dawn Song, co-founder of Virtue AI, announced on the X platform that she will join Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Research, along with several members of the Virtue AI team. She stated that she will participate in promoting Meta's work in the field of AI safety and AI safety protection, focusing on enhancing the security, reliability, and usability of cutting-edge AI models and agent systems.

According to Jinshi, Federal Reserve's Goolsbee stated that in a world where the productivity gains brought by artificial intelligence are factored into stock prices and lead people to consume based on that, the economy may experience overheating.