News and Updates: New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds rising U.S. electricity prices stem from aging infrastructure, costly parts, and natural disasters — not AI or data centers. Brave Software exposed vulnerabilities in AI browsers like Perplexity’s Comet and Fellou, showing hidden text in images can trigger prompt-injection hacks that access user data. AI search tools from Google, OpenAI, and others surface less popular websites than traditional search, broadening source diversity and fueling a new field called “Answer Engine Optimization.” PayPal will integrate directly into ChatGPT via OpenAI’s new Agentic Commerce Protocol, enabling users to chat, shop, and pay without leaving the platform starting in 2026. Microsoft’s Mustafa Suleyman reaffirmed that Copilot won’t engage in romance or erotic chats, emphasizing emotionally intelligent but “boundaried” AI designed for safety and family use. OpenAI finalized its conversion to a public-benefit corporation valued at $130 billion, giving Microsoft a 27% stake and pushing its market cap above $4 trillion as the firms deepen cooperation.
