Tesla

Semi charmed

What we know about Tesla’s Semi truck as production nears

Musk says “high-volume production” will start this year. Wall Street thinks that’s more like 5,000 to 15,000 trucks.

3/20/26 9:54AM

Tesla’s long-awaited Semi trucks are back in the spotlight. The Wall Street Journal reports that truck drivers testing prototype models are enthusiastic — and the rest of us may not have to wait much longer. The company is expected to begin producing and shipping the electric freight trucks, which feature driver-assistance technology, from its northern Nevada factory this summer.

Here’s what we know:

How many

CEO Elon Musk said last month that the Semi would enter “high-volume production this year.” The Journal, citing Tigress Financial Partners, estimates Tesla could produce between 5,000 and 15,000 trucks in 2026, eventually ramping up to 50,000 annually.

That’s a long delay from the truck’s 2017 unveiling, when production was originally slated for 2019.

The Journal also reports that trucking companies have secured $195 million in grants for 1,002 Semis through a California nonprofit that funds zero-emissions trucks. That’s roughly double the number of zero-emissions big rigs currently operating in Southern California.

How much

The Journal, citing people familiar with orders, reports that the trucks cost under $300,000, or about twice as much as a regular diesel truck.

Tesla hasn’t confirmed pricing, but it has consistently argued the Semi will be cheaper to operate per mile. In 2017, Musk said operating costs would be $1.26 per mile versus $1.51 for diesel trucks. More recently, he has framed it more broadly, saying it will be “better than a diesel truck.”

How far

The Semi comes in two versions: one with a 325-mile range and another with a 500-mile range, or about double that of some competing electric big rigs.

Tesla says the battery can charge to 60% in 30 minutes. That’s fast for an EV, but still slower than refueling a diesel truck.

A fully loaded Semi can go from 0 to 60 mph in about 20 seconds. One driver told the Journal he was able to haul a 25,000-pound load up a mountain pass with ease.

Chris Stokel-Walker

Bot bias

6/17/26

Companies are getting AI chatbots to smear their competitors

The race to influence AI chatbots is leading to some companies to adopt shady competitive tactics.

Tom Jones6/17/26

Prediction markets have, predictably, been given a boost by the summer of sports

Major platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have seen huge upticks in users of late, thanks in no small part to what’s felt like a recent sporting smorgasbord, with major competitions across hockey, basketball, and soccer soaking up fans’ time (and spending, clearly) at the outset of summer.

While gaming industry groups may not like it, there’s been a huge change in the methods people are using to put money on the big games, with everyone from fortunate NYC bar owners, to a far less fortunate Spanish supporter, turning to prediction markets to try and turn their sports know-how into cold, hard cash.

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

2026 World Cup Reverses Seasonal Lull for Sports Betting Apps

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals

Gold Tesla Cybercabs are piling up, but they’re not picking up passengers yet

Low-volume production started in April. Now people are noticing them more and more in the wild.

Rani Molla6/15/26

Millie Giles

TAKING ACCOUNTS

6/15/26

Britain announces social media ban for under-16s starting early 2027

The UK government plans to use the same model for the restrictions as Australia — but how successful has that case study been so far?

UK Prime Minister Announces Under-16s Social Media Ban

Jon Keegan6/15/26

Anthropic pulls Fable and Mythos access worldwide after Trump administration bars their use by foreign nationals

Only days after releasing two versions of its next-gen AI model, Anthropic has disabled them for users worldwide.

Anthropic says it received a Friday night order from the Trump administration to suspend access to the models for any foreign national (anywhere in the world) — a group that included some Anthropic employees. In response, the company turned off access to everyone.

Last week, the company released to the public its much-anticipated Claude Fable 5 model (and its restricted version Claude Mythos 5, which is still being tested with trusted partners). Anthropic said in a blog post announcing the action that officials cited national security concerns with the new models, while offering few specific details.

The post said that the government gave the company “verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak” of the public Fable 5 model. A jailbreak is a means by which users can evade restrictions built into the code to unlock prohibited functionality. Anthropic downplayed the significance of the attack, and said other major models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.5, could also be affected by the technique described.

Fears of these first Mythos-class models being misused are running high, after Anthropic warned the cybersecurity world in May that the advanced cyber capabilities of Mythos have rapidly discovered thousands of vulnerabilities in ubiquitous software, leading to the decision to restrict the full version of the model to a close group of trusted partners for testing.

This morning, Axios reported that Anthropic technical staff have flown to Washington to meet with White House officials to resolve the issue.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Trump administration’s decision to take action against Anthropic was prompted by discussions that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had with officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to the report, Amazon researchers said they had been able to evade some of Fable 5’s security restrictions using specific prompts. Amazon is a major investor in Anthropic.

Anthropic is currently suing the US government to fight the Pentagon’s blacklisting of the company on national security grounds.

Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5