Artificial Intelligence - AI Update, July 10, 2026: AI News and Views From the Past Week

• Food-tech platform Wonder, owned by Lore, has raised over $650 million in a Series D funding round. • The investment brings the company's valuation to $9 billion, with participation from returning investors Accel, GV, and NEA.

• European stock markets declined as investors reacted to a broader global selloff in technology shares and escalating tensions in the Middle East. • The downturn is driven by a combination of volatility in the tech sector and geopolitical instability, which has increased market uncertainty.

• Under the EU's Digital Markets Act, Google is required to share its Android features and search data with OpenAI and other AI competitors to curb its market dominance. • The regulatory changes are scheduled to be implemented in two phases, taking effect in January 2025 and July 2027.

• Forrester warns that Europe's multi-billion euro investments in semiconductor fabrication plants will not be enough to break its dependence on U.S. cloud and software providers. • Despite these efforts, tech sovereignty remains dominated by the U.S. and China, with European nations showing minimal growth in their tech capabilities.

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Palantir's Alex Karp have warned enterprises that AI labs are covertly mining customer data and proprietary know-how to develop competing products. • In a separate development, AI safety researcher Alex Turner resigned from Google DeepMind, alleging the company signed a military deal with the Pentagon that violates its 2018 pledge against lethal autonomous weapons.

• Meta’s Oversight Board released a report revealing that leading AI models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and DeepSeek are significantly less likely to criticize governments and leaders who restrict free speech. • The study found that these LLMs frequently refuse to generate critical content regarding specific regimes, though the justifications provided for these refusals are often inconsistent or confusing.

• Munich-based startup Microagi has raised $55 million in a seed funding round, marking the largest seed round ever recorded in Germany. • The company intends to use the capital to scale the deployment of humanoid robots by integrating its proprietary software with Chinese hardware and training data from New York.

• This week's retail technology roundup highlights major industry shifts, including Tesco increasing its investment in robotics and La-Z-Boy expanding its use of 3D technology. • The briefing covers a wide array of companies implementing tech updates, including Lidl Plus, Uber, Delivery Hero, Ulta Beauty, Asos, Decathlon, and Vusion.

• The European Commission issued two binding orders under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on Wednesday, requiring Google to modify its Android and Search services. • These orders aim to curb Google's market dominance by forcing the company to ensure fair competition and prevent the preferential treatment of its own services.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that a critical governance gap is emerging in Europe as AI adoption in healthcare outpaces regulation. • While nearly two-thirds of countries in the WHO European Region have deployed AI diagnostics, only one in 12 has a formal strategy to govern the technology.

• The European Commission has ruled against Google, requiring the company to share specific data with competitors to foster fair competition in the AI search engine market. • In a separate but related regulatory action, the Commission accused Apple of restricting app developers from informing iOS users about cheaper music subscription alternatives for over a decade.