The Stack — May 28, 2026

Today's technology briefing highlights significant developments across AI/ML, industry movements, infrastructure, and the developer world.

AI & Machine Learning

In AI, YouTube is implementing a new system to automatically label AI-generated content, improving transparency by using internal signals and metadata like C2PA. This move addresses the growing difficulty in distinguishing AI-generated videos as AI tools become more advanced. Meanwhile, tech CEOs are reportedly overestimating AI's capabilities, leading to potential organizational challenges, as noted by Box founder Aaron Levie. Additionally, PostHog is exploring AI model training on platform data to enhance features like session replay analysis, focusing on transparency and user consent.

Industry

China is tightening travel restrictions on its top AI researchers to prevent brain drain, requiring government approval for international travel. This move aims to retain talent and maintain competitiveness in AI development. In the U.S., AI coding startup Cognition has raised $1 billion at a $25 billion valuation, signaling significant growth in enterprise usage and revenue. Additionally, DuckDuckGo has seen a surge in app installations following criticism of Google's AI-powered search updates, reflecting user concerns over AI-generated search results.

Infrastructure

A notable cybersecurity incident involves the takedown of the Glassworm botnet by CrowdStrike, Google, and Shadowserver. This botnet targeted software developers in supply chain attacks, and its dismantling disrupted its command-and-control infrastructure. In cloud infrastructure, Snowflake's $6 billion agreement with AWS for AI CPU chips highlights the growing demand for AI processing power, positioning AWS competitively against Nvidia.

Developer World

In software engineering, a new tool, XLIDE, allows editing Excel VBA code directly in VS Code without requiring Excel. This open-source project enhances productivity by supporting syntax highlighting and integration with GitHub Copilot. Additionally, a project involving running Rust and Slint on a jailbroken Kindle showcases the versatility of Rust in embedded systems development, using cargo-zigbuild for cross-compiling Rust for ARM devices.

These updates reflect ongoing innovations and challenges in the tech industry, with a focus on AI transparency, cybersecurity efforts, and the practical application of new technologies in both industry and development contexts.