AI Round-up: 3 August 2026

Alibaba unveiled its most capable AI model to date while DeepSeek's latest model became the cheapest of the best-known systems to run, according to new analysis. Reuters and independent coverage presented the releases as fresh evidence that Chinese labs are tightening the performance gap while competing aggressively on cost.

Elsewhere, resistance to AI infrastructure spending spread from data-centre politics to questions about market exposure, while Axios tracked a widening dispute over open-weight models. GitHub launched stacked pull requests, Replit added reusable design systems and model comparison, and CNBC revisited the security warnings exposed by the OpenAI-Hugging Face hack.