# Morning Briefing

Monday, April 27, 2026
📰 Top Stories

## OpenAI and Microsoft redefine partnership — exclusivity ends, revenue share dropped

OpenAI · Techmeme · HN · Bloomberg · Reuters
OpenAI can now serve its products across any cloud provider (Amazon, Google, etc.), and Microsoft will no longer pay a revenue share. The "AGI" IP-rights clause has been removed; Microsoft retains model access until 2032. A seismic shift in the most important AI partnership.
ai openai microsoft

## Shooting at White House Correspondents' Dinner — Trump safe, suspect in custody

Ground News · NPR · AP · Reason · 653 sources
A gunman opened fire at the WHCD security checkpoint before being subdued. The suspect, an indie game developer, aired grievances against Trump in writings to family. Suspect faces federal court today.
politics breaking

## Musk vs. Altman head to court over the fate of OpenAI

NPR · Reuters
Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman goes to trial, revealing the ongoing power struggle for control of one of the world's top AI companies. The outcome could reshape OpenAI's structure and the broader AI landscape.
ai legal openai

## Iran's flurry of diplomacy as Trump insists US has "the cards"

NPR · AP · Reuters
Iran's foreign minister raced to Russia seeking leverage as US-Iran talks stall. Iran reportedly offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade. Germany's Merz says Iran is "humiliating the US." Oil shipping remains muted.
geopolitics iran
💻 Tech

## OpenAI: SWE-bench Verified no longer measures frontier coding capabilities

OpenAI · HN (332 pts, 172 comments)
OpenAI declares the benchmark saturated and no longer useful for distinguishing frontier models. The HN discussion is worth reading for the debate on whether AI coding benchmarks measure anything meaningful anymore.
ai benchmarks

## AI should elevate your thinking, not replace it

HN (677 pts, 482 comments)
A nuanced take on using AI as a cognitive amplifier rather than a replacement. Nearly 500 HN comments debating where the line actually falls — one of the weekend's most-discussed threads.
ai philosophy

## US companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back

Rest of World
World ID has partnered with Tinder, Zoom, and DocuSign for user verification — while being halted or investigated in multiple countries. The privacy-vs-identity-verification tension is only growing.
privacy biometrics worldcoin

## China blocks Meta from acquiring AI startup Manus

NPR · Techmeme · Financial Times
Chinese regulators blocked Meta's $2B acquisition of the AI agent startup, telling both companies to cancel the deal. Manus had moved to Singapore in 2025, but China still claimed jurisdiction. A sign of tightening AI sovereignty.
ai china meta

## PgBackRest is no longer being maintained

HN (235 pts, 105 comments)
The widely-used PostgreSQL backup tool has gone unmaintained. 105 comments from DBAs and infra engineers discussing alternatives and what this means for production Postgres deployments.
postgresql infrastructure
🌍 Wider Lens

## Supreme Court considers constitutionality of "geofence" warrants

NPR
The Court will decide whether police can tap tech-company databases to find everyone near a crime scene. The ruling could reshape digital privacy law for location data — relevant to anyone with a phone.
privacy legal surveillance

## Inflation is sucking the life out of teacher pay raises, report says

NPR
State data shows teacher pay increases can't keep up with inflation, and fewer students are enrolling in public schools. The compounding effect on education quality is starting to show.
education economy

## King Charles III arrives in Washington for state visit

NPR · AP
The King and Queen Camilla arrive in DC on a delicate mission to restore the UK-US relationship amid tensions over AI regulation alignment and trade. A rare state visit with real diplomatic stakes.
diplomacy uk
🔥 HN Deep Reads

## I bought Friendster for $30k — Here's what I'm doing with it

HN (954 pts, 484 comments)
Someone bought the defunct social network's domain and assets for pocket change. The HN thread covers nostalgia, the fate of dead internet services, and what happens to user data when platforms die. Weekend's #1 story.
internet-history side-projects

## Fast16: High-precision software sabotage 5 years before Stuxnet

SentinelOne · HN (298 pts, 74 comments)
New research reveals a reference in Shadow Brokers leaks to software sabotage predating Stuxnet by five years. The HN discussion digs into the implications for cyber-weapon history and attribution.
security history stuxnet

## Chrome's Prompt API for built-in AI

Google · HN (200 pts, 105 comments)
Google ships a Prompt API letting web devs call on-device AI models directly from the browser. The HN thread debates browser-as-platform vs. browser-as-runtime and whether this is a walled garden in the making.
browsers ai web-standards
🎮 Gaming

## Peter Molyneux's Legacy: millions in NFT sales, dead in weeks

Ars Technica
Ars tracks down the players who lost money on the hyped "play to earn" game. Molyneux walked away with a business win while players got worthless NFTs — a familiar pattern, thoroughly documented.
crypto game-design

## Alien: Isolation 2 teaser gives fans hope 12 years later

Kotaku · PC Gamer
Sega posted a cryptic teaser for Alien: Isolation 2 — "A feeling of being safer than one really is." After more than a decade, one of the best survival horror games might actually get a sequel.
horror sequel

## Return to Castle Wolfenstein: console-exclusive levels coming to PC for 25th anniversary

PC Gamer
Modders are porting the PS2/Xbox-exclusive missions to PC for the first time. A nice retro preservation win for a classic FPS.
retro fps modding
⚖️ Bias Check

## Trump says WHCD shooting shows why a White House ballroom is needed

Ground News · 120 sources (Left: 37%, Center: 29%, Right: 33%)
Left outlets frame it as Trump exploiting a violent incident for his building project; right outlets emphasize the security argument at face value. The near-even split across bias categories is unusual — this one genuinely divides opinion.
bias-check politics

## WHCD shooting coverage — 653 sources

Ground News · 653 sources (Left: 27%, Center: 47%, Right: 24%)
Heavily center-weighted coverage. Left outlets focus on the suspect's motivations and gun access; right outlets emphasize the security response and Trump's safety. Both agree on the basic facts — rare for a Trump-adjacent story.
bias-check breaking