ICYMI: the 7 biggest tech stories of the week, from Meta's AI Tamagotchi to Google's answer to the Apple MacBook

• The US and China are competing for global influence in the development of artificial intelligence, with China making rapid advances over the past year and recruiting countries to its alternative vision. • China has recruited 29 countries, including Russia, Indonesia, and Pakistan, to its open models, which allow users to freely download, customize, and run AI systems without paying fees to American firms like Anthropic and OpenAI.

• The US and China have agreed to establish an AI incident channel, with their next high-level exchange on AI risks and benefits scheduled by November, according to the White House. • Chinese leader Xi stated that both countries have the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, ensuring it remains under human control.

• Chinese AI models have surged in global popularity, with their usage increasing substantially among businesses across the globe in 2026. • On major developer platforms like OpenRouter and Vercel, Chinese AI models now account for 55-67% of tokens used, up from 6-13% earlier in the year, with specific increases to 57%-67% on OpenRouter and 55% on Vercel.

• Apriorit launched CodeTuna, a cybersecurity-focused AI code reviewer for Bitbucket, to catch vulnerabilities that generic tools miss, as reported by EIN Presswire. • CodeTuna and similar tools, such as Fabrix.ai's Governed VibeOps and Legit's VibeGuard 2.0, aim to improve code security with features like centralized control and cost metering.

• A French company has received new funding from investors including Samsung, Scaleup Europe, and PSG Equity, valuing it at over €21 billion. • The company's valuation is based on its latest funding round, which was led by these prominent investors and has propelled it to a valuation of over €21 billion.

• The United States' technology sector is widening its gap with Europe's due to the AI boom, with American giants such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Nvidia, Google, and Meta benefiting from the revenue. • American hyperscalers plan to invest more than $1 trillion annually, further solidifying their position in the technology sector.

• Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo has suffered a multimillion-euro loss due to fraudsters using AI-powered impersonation and messaging to trick executives into authorising international money transfers. • The fraudsters specifically targeted Fideuram, Intesa Sanpaolo's private banking division, to carry out the fraudulent transactions.

• The University of Scranton has entered the U.S. News and World Report rankings of the best colleges in the United States, following its reclassification as a National University by Carnegie last year. • The university's impressive run in the U.S. News Regional rankings has been further validated by this new recognition, according to the report.

• Respan introduced Span-1, a dedicated behavior-evaluation model designed to judge full agent traces. • The model was benchmarked against Jev, frontier models, and open models, positioning it as an alternative to general-purpose LLM-as-judge evaluations.

• Billions of dollars are being invested in Europe, with several fast-growing sectors attracting significant funding, including defence technology, AI, robotics, and autonomous transport. • KPMG reports that defence technology is likely to remain a key investment area due to geopolitical tensions and European countries' efforts to develop their sovereign defence capabilities.

• Germany's startup ecosystem is gaining momentum, with 3053 startups founded in 2026, the highest number since 2019. • A total of 3053 startups were founded in 2026, indicating a surge in new company creation in the country.