6 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Archives for September 2026

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Suno yanks ad showing supposed endorsement from Mary J. Blige.

An ad for the AI music generator Suno showed Blige interacting with an AI song that seemed to use her own voice, while calling the output “dope.” The singer received backlash for the ad online, and now a Suno spokesperson tells Variety that the company canceled the campaign because it didn’t get proper approval:

We entered into a business deal with someone who presented themselves as Ms. Blige’s official representative. As soon as we learned this was not the case, and that Ms. Blige was uncomfortable, we terminated the advertising campaign.

Travis Larchuk
Travis Larchuk
Today’s Vergecast: Apple Home rumors, ranked.

Apple’s big hardware event is coming next week. iPhones are the main draw, but senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has her eyes on the rumors around — what else? — smart home gadgets. Andrew O’Hara from the Smart Home Insider podcast joins Jen to fire up the Vergecast Rank-o-Matic and speculate on which rumored gadgets are most likely to see the light of day.

Justine Calma
Justine Calma
A federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to curb CA clean air standards.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked to send tailpipe pollution policies to Congress to repeal. US District Judge Beryl Howell accused the EPA of “Orwellian doublethink.”

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Pro-natalist Elon Musk bans kids from riding in the Tesla Cybercab.

According to the company’s newly launched Robotaxi website, children under the age of 13 are not permitted to ride in the Cybercab — even if they’re riding with an adult. Kids between the ages of 8-13 are allowed in Tesla’s Model Y robotaxis, but only when riding with an adult. And those under 8 are not allowed at all. Even stranger, the Cybercab’s compliance documents (PDF) include detailed instructions for installing child seats. Which is it, Elon?

Image: Tesla
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Put on your finest Vaul-Tec jumpsuit and let’s head to the arcade.

Fallout, your favorite post-apocalyptic RPG-turned-Amazon series, is now a Stern Pinball machine. You can play as Lucy MacLean, The Ghoul, or Maximus. There’s a functional vault door and a Pip-Boy displays important game information. There’s even a V.A.T.S. cannon that shoots the ball targets on an upper playfield.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Los Angeles is the next major city to ban AI for students.

The announcement comes one day after New York City, the nation’s largest school system, unveiled similar restrictions. But LA’s goes even further, imposing the one-year restrictions on high schoolers, too.

OpenAI’s next big AI model has ‘entered the AGI era’

It emphasized stronger guardrails for GPT-6 Astra after the company’s models hacked Hugging Face.

Hayden Field
Justine Calma
Justine Calma
The planet is heating above a dangerous threshold, the UN confirms.

It says in a new report that global temperatures are probably going to climb 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial averages soon. We’ll have to cope with catastrophes the UN had previously hoped to avoid, like the “submersion of Small Island Developing States and low-lying coastal cities,” while continuing to cut down and capture CO2 emissions to prevent even worse damage.

Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
NONE OF YOUR F$%KING BUSINESS.

Privacy screen protectors that appear black when viewed to the side aren’t new. Neither are ones that display logos or messages. But I’m tickled by the “Intimacy Shield” from Joi AI. The pitch makes its screen-dimming effect seem like a breakthrough, though I guess it gets credit for injecting some corny graphic T-shirt energy into the screen protector space.

You’re in for a wild ride, babe
You’re in for a wild ride, babe
Image: Joi AI
Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
“We’ve heard from families with crying kids.”

That’s part of a vulnerable apology by Nex CEO David Lee for the current state of Starri, one of the Nex Playground’s most popular games. Its recent 2.0 update “missed the mark,” according to Lee, who wept while reading stories of how its changes disrupted family time around the motion-controlled console.