AI news, 31 August: OpenAI stockpiles Macs as Apple silicon gains AI traction

OpenAI buys tens of thousands of Macs for AI training. According to a report by The Information, OpenAI has purchased tens of thousands of Mac mini and Mac Studio computers to run reinforcement-learning workloads and train computer-use agents that interact with software like humans. Anthropic is also renting Mac capacity via Amazon Web Services for similar tasks. The move leverages Apple’s unified-memory architecture, which avoids some bottlenecks of traditional GPU setups. Nvidia reportedly now views Apple as a top rival in local or on-device AI processing, as Macs gain popularity among developers. Apple’s Mac revenue rose 29% year-over-year in its latest quarter, its fastest-growing hardware segment. The development underscores how consumer hardware is unexpectedly becoming infrastructure for frontier AI labs.

John Ternus takes Apple’s helm with AI as priority. Hardware veteran John Ternus becomes Apple CEO on 1 September, succeeding Tim Cook (who moves to executive chairman). Reports from Bloomberg and others frame AI as his central challenge: Apple leads in smartphones but trails rivals in generative AI features. Ternus, who oversaw hardware engineering including iPhones and Apple silicon, inherits fall product launches including a rumored foldable iPhone and AI-enhanced devices. Analysts say he will lean on product excellence rather than treating AI as an end in itself, while navigating supply issues and geopolitics.

OpenAI ends model access for Cursor after SpaceX deal. OpenAI notified SpaceX it will wind down the contract supplying its models to the popular AI coding tool Cursor, with a proposed cutoff of 12 November 2026—the maximum notice under the agreement. OpenAI cited lack of confidence that SpaceX (which acquired Cursor’s parent) would honor terms of service, pointing to past contract issues with Elon Musk’s companies including X and xAI. Musk responded dismissively on X. Anthropic has said it will expand Claude support on the platform. The split deepens the long-running Altman-Musk rivalry and affects developers relying on Cursor.

Andreessen Horowitz raises $1.1 billion Machine Age Fund. The venture firm announced its new fund focused on the physical buildout of AI infrastructure—chips, memory, networking, storage, data centers, robotics, and even home appliances. In a blog post, a16z called accelerating this hardware layer a “social and national imperative” amid surging compute demand that outpaces traditional supply growth. Partners including Martin Casado and Raghu Raghuram will lead investments. The shift marks a notable pivot for a firm long associated with software.

Anthropic battles malware draining Claude accounts. Anthropic is signing out affected users, removing saved payment methods, and refunding unauthorized charges after infostealer malware (including Vidar, LummaC2 and others on Windows, plus Atomic Stealer on some Macs) stole active browser login sessions from infected PCs. Attackers then used the sessions to burn through usage limits without passwords or two-factor authentication. The company stressed the malware is unrelated to Claude itself and urged users to clean their devices, as signing out alone does not remove the infection. Separately, major music publishers’ lawsuit against Anthropic over training data continues to draw attention but saw no major new developments reported in the latest 24 hours.