Ford plans to reveal more details about its upcoming low-cost electric vehicles at an event on August 11, with CEO Jim Farley calling it "a Model T moment." This announcement follows a reported $1.3 billion loss in Ford's electric vehicle division in Q2 2025, despite declining sales of the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E.

A skunkworks team, led by former Tesla executive Alan Clarke, is developing the low-cost EV platform, with talent from Tesla, Rivian, Apple, and Lucid Motors. The first vehicle, a mid-size pickup truck, is set for release in 2027. Ford aims to build multiple vehicle styles for retail and commercial customers, featuring personalized digital experiences.

While affordable EVs are scarce in the U.S., competition is expected to increase by 2027 with Tesla planning a stripped-down Model Y, GM reviving the Chevy Bolt, and Slate Auto launching a low-cost electric pickup.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes AI glasses will become the primary interface for AI interaction, giving wearers a cognitive advantage. He envisions glasses enabling AI to see, hear, and communicate with users, enhancing the blending of physical and digital worlds. Meta's smart glasses, like Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta, have seen surprising success. Despite Reality Labs' significant losses, Zuckerberg positions it as an investment in the future of AI and consumer computing. While other form factors like AI pins and pendants exist, glasses currently offer the most practical and socially acceptable approach for AI integration. Zuckerberg emphasizes the Metaverse vision, accelerated by AI, will greatly benefit from AI glasses.

Meta plans to significantly increase its investment in AI infrastructure, including data centers and servers, with capital expenditures expected to reach $66-72 billion in 2025, a $30 billion year-over-year increase. This aggressive investment will continue into 2026 as Meta pursues opportunities to expand its AI capabilities.

The company is developing leading AI infrastructure to build the best AI models and product experiences, with potential collaborations with financial partners to co-develop data centers. Meta has announced major AI "titan clusters" like Prometheus in Ohio and Hyperion in Louisiana, along with other unnamed projects.

Meta also anticipates increased employee compensation to attract AI engineers and researchers for its Superintelligence Labs unit, focusing on "personal superintelligence." The company's stock surged 10% after reporting strong revenue growth driven by AI-powered advertising tools, despite a $4.5 billion loss in its Reality Labs segment.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attributes the rise in user engagement on the company's apps during the second quarter to advancements in AI. According to Zuckerberg, AI improvements in recommendation systems have led to a 5% increase in time spent on Facebook and a 6% increase on Instagram this quarter alone. Overall, Meta reports that its family of apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) had over 3.4 billion daily users in June, a 6% year-over-year increase. This growth contributed to a total family of apps revenue of $47.1 billion, a 22% year-over-year rise. The company also noted a 20% year-over-year increase in video time spent, driven by optimized ranking systems and the promotion of original content on Instagram. Even Threads, Meta's competitor to X, experienced gains in time spent due to the incorporation of LLMs.

Google has proposed changes to its Play Store policies in India, aiming to allow more real-money gaming apps on its platform. This move is an attempt to settle an antitrust case with WinZO. The proposal involves replacing the current pilot program with broader access for real-money games, requiring developers to prove their games are "games of skill" via third-party certification.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is reviewing Google's proposal, which includes updating Developer Program Policies and finalizing a business model for real-money game developers. Google plans to allow compliant games on the Play Store within 120 days of CCI approval and ad policy changes within 150 days.

This initiative could benefit Google by increasing revenue from real-money gaming apps and their ads. It may also help developers distributing apps outside the Play Store. However, the CCI's investigation into Google's practices is ongoing.

The Trump administration has announced collaborations with major tech companies like Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Anthropic, and Apple to develop a digital health ecosystem. The initiative aims to improve patient and provider data sharing and create personalized tools for health management, including AI-powered assistants and digitized paperwork. Over 60 companies are participating, with expected results in early 2026.

Conversion, an AI-powered marketing automation startup founded by UC Berkeley dropouts, has raised a $28 million Series A led by Abstract. The company was conceived when the founders sought to enhance HubSpot with automation features.

The startup's AI-driven approach allows for automating personalized follow-up emails and lead organization, which has attracted midsize businesses looking to replace legacy marketing tools.

With the new funding, Conversion aims to target businesses using older marketing tools, leveraging the growing interest in AI to reach nearly $10 million in ARR over the past two years. The company competes with legacy and AI-native marketing platforms in a crowded market.

Hackers breached Allianz Life and stole customer Social Security numbers along with other personal data.

The breach occurred on July 16 and compromised the customer relationship database through a social engineering attack.

Affected data includes names, dates of birth, postal addresses, and Social Security numbers of a majority of 1.4 million customers.

Allianz Life is notifying affected individuals starting August 1 with specific details about the compromised data.

This breach is part of a recent increase in cyberattacks targeting insurance companies using social engineering tactics.