Issue #23
MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2026 · 3 CLAIMS CHECKED · 0 SURVIVED THE RECEIPTS · ISSUE 23 OF 23
A cabinet secretary told Bloomberg the Anthropic-Pentagon fight was over. One day later, the Pentagon's own weapons-research chief posted in writing that it wasn't.
Howard Lutnick called Anthropic "back on the right side." Under Secretary Emil Michael's post, unprompted, a day later: still a designated supply chain risk. Nothing on the actual designation moved.
Apple blamed "the rapid expansion of AI data centers" for the price hikes on your next Mac or iPad. Apple's own decision to cram more RAM into its devices for its own AI features is a second AI-driven cost its statement never mentions.
Tim Cook called June's Mac and iPad price increases "unavoidable" once "the situation has become unsustainable." Real, confirmed increases followed, up to $300 more for a MacBook Pro. What Apple's statement leaves out: some of that cost comes from Apple's own choice to add more on-device RAM for its own AI features, not only the external shortage.
Headlines say Musk's xAI lost its fight against Minnesota's AI-nudification law. The judge who ruled against xAI wrote, in the same order, that he hasn't decided yet whether the law is even constitutional.
Judge Donovan Frank denied xAI's request to block Minnesota's deepfake-nudity law while the underlying lawsuit continues, xAI's second loss at the preliminary stage. The First Amendment question xAI actually sued over goes to a later hearing.
