AI News Roundup — June 7, 2026
Apple's WWDC 2026 preview dominated the day as Tim Cook prepared his final keynote featuring a Gemini-powered Siri overhaul, while the strangest political convergence of 2026 deepened — Trump and Bernie Sanders are now both explicitly calling for government equity stakes in AI companies, and xAI landed a sweeping federal government AI contract.
Apple WWDC 2026 Preview — Gemini-Powered Siri and Tim Cook's Final Keynote
Monday's WWDC at Apple Park marks CEO Tim Cook's last keynote — he announced in April he will hand the company to SVP of Hardware Engineering John Ternus on September 1. The centrepiece of the event: a ground-up overhaul of Siri powered by a custom 1.2-trillion-parameter Google Gemini model, licensed at roughly $1 billion per year. Apple is also building a multi-model Extensions system letting users choose between ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude for Apple Intelligence features — ending OpenAI's exclusivity that began with iOS 18. iOS 27, macOS 27, and AI-powered Photos editing tools are also expected.
Trump and Sanders Both Call for Government AI Ownership Stakes
The strangest political convergence in tech in recent memory continued to deepen. President Trump told reporters the US government may take direct equity stakes in AI giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI: "You make them a partnership in this revolution — it would be a beautiful thing." This echoed Senator Bernie Sanders' New York Times op-ed calling for a 50% public ownership stake days earlier. The two are driven by the same anxiety from opposite political directions: AI wealth is concentrating among a tiny group while ordinary Americans bear the disruption.
Sanders Introduces American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act — 50% Tax on OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI
Senator Bernie Sanders formally introduced legislation to impose a one-time 50% tax on frontier AI companies — paid in stock, not cash — targeting specifically OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI (not Google or Meta). Shares would go into a federal sovereign wealth fund giving the public voting rights on AI company boards and eventual dividend distributions. The timing: Anthropic quietly filed its confidential IPO S-1 the same day Sanders' op-ed ran. Industry reaction is strongly opposed, but some companies including OpenAI are privately exploring smaller government ownership mechanisms as political cover for upcoming IPO roadshows.
Sam Altman's Secret White House Talks — OpenAI Pitches Government Equity Stake
Behind the public theatre, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been privately discussing government equity stakes in AI companies with senior Trump administration officials since early 2025. When confronted by Sanders directly, Altman said he can't support the 50% threshold but wants to work with Sanders on the general concept — a negotiating position from a CEO who needs a smooth Wall Street IPO while managing populist risk on both sides of the aisle. Separately, Anthropic issued a rare public warning that its systems are advancing so rapidly they may soon be capable of self-improvement without human oversight, and joined OpenAI in asking Congress for stronger safeguards.
Grok for Government — xAI Lands Federal AI Contract at $0.42 Per Agency
xAI secured a sweeping federal government AI contract: the US General Services Administration signed an 18-month OneGov agreement making Grok 4 available to all federal agencies for $0.42 per agency — the longest-running AI contract the federal government has signed. The deal includes a dedicated xAI engineering team for deployment support and agency training programs. "Widespread access to advanced AI models is essential to building the efficient, accountable government that taxpayers deserve," said GSA's Josh Gruenbaum. At $0.42 per agency for 18 months, xAI is effectively buying government mindshare at a subsidised rate — betting that becoming the default tool for federal workers is worth more than contract revenue.
Grok Build — xAI Launches Terminal Coding Agent in Early Beta
xAI launched Grok Build, a terminal-based coding agent now in early beta for SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. It delivers terminal-based planning, clean diffs, parallel subagents, worktree support, headless mode, and Agent Communication Protocol (ACP) support. The coding agent market now has five credible players: Claude Code (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), GitHub Copilot (Microsoft), Gemini Code (Google), and Grok Build (xAI). xAI is the only player that also owns a social network (X), a federal AI contract, and the Colossus compute infrastructure — giving Grok Build a unique distribution surface.