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Satellite operators are finding it harder to book rides to orbit as SpaceX scales back its workhorse rocket in favor of newer vehicles, while competing launch companies have yet to ramp up capacity to match demand. The resulting supply crunch is forcing smaller satellite makers and researchers to compete more aggressively for limited slots.
Four paying subscribers of ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Gemini have filed a proposed class action in California federal court, alleging that the four AI companies illegally coordinated to slow product development. The suit cites Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's September 12 essay calling for an industry-wide pace slowdown, which was publicly endorsed by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis, along with an earlier July statement acknowledging pressure not to unilaterally slow progress. Plaintiffs say this coordinated restraint, not individual safety decisions, amounts to an antitrust violation that shortchanges paying customers.
A lawsuit alleges that Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI and Google entered into an unlawful agreement to coordinate the pace of AI development rather than compete independently. The claim frames this coordination as an antitrust violation rather than a safety measure, arguing it restrained competitive behavior among rival AI labs.
SpaceXAI has opened public beta access to Grok Bot, a software agent that logs into services like Gmail, LinkedIn and Salesforce to complete tasks such as filling forms, sending emails and posting on social media. Unlike the conversational Grok chatbot or the coding-focused Grok Build, Grok Bot acts as a persistent digital assistant that can run multiple linked bots on a shared cloud account, working autonomously and reporting back or requesting approval when needed.
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed by four paying subscribers of ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Gemini accuses the four AI companies of colluding to deliberately slow AI development, allegedly starting after the firms signed a joint safety statement. The plaintiffs' attorney, Nick Rowley, argues the coordinated slowdown reduces the value of paid subscriptions and lets powerful companies dictate AI safety policy through a private, self-serving arrangement rather than individual accountability.
SpaceX is targeting September 28 at 8:15AM Eastern for Starship's 14th flight, pending regulatory approval, after pushing the date back from September 22. Unlike prior suborbital tests, this flight will send Starship into orbit for six loops around Earth over 10 hours and deploy 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into the constellation. The Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper stage will later be deorbited into the Pacific.
NASA has expanded its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract with SpaceX, adding three additional crewed Dragon missions to the International Space Station through 2030. The new award is worth up to $946 million and brings SpaceX's total operational flights under the contract to 17, pushing its cumulative earnings from NASA to $5.92 billion. SpaceX shares ISS crew transport duties with Boeing, whose Starliner is set to begin crewed flights in 2027 after an unpiloted test flight.
Italian launch provider Avio says it is fielding a wave of new customer inquiries after SpaceX told several prospective clients it would not accept new commercial Falcon 9 orders. Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said some of these spurned customers lobbied European institutions at the International Space Summit in Paris for subsidies to offset the higher cost of flying on Europe's Vega C, which reportedly runs about $60 million per launch.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman denied OpenAI's request to access the confidential terms of a settlement between X, SpaceX AI, and Apple in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit. X and SpaceX AI plan to drop their claims against Apple after reaching the deal, but the case continues against OpenAI. Pittman reviewed the agreement privately and concluded it holds no information pertinent to the remaining dispute.
At the first International Space Summit in Paris on September 10, European leaders including Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron called for the continent to build its own launch and crewed spaceflight capacity rather than relying on NASA and firms like SpaceX. The event took on added significance after reports that the White House discouraged US companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin from attending, which one former satellite executive called a wake-up call.
SpaceX has redesigned its Starship engine, the Raptor, from a version covered in exposed pipes and wires into the compact Raptor 3 that first flew in May. Despite looking simpler, the newer engine produces roughly 35% more thrust than the original Raptor 1, prompting some observers to initially doubt images of the stripped-down design were genuine.
SpaceX has completed a record-breaking IPO, and reports indicate Anthropic is targeting a valuation of $2 trillion or more for its own public offering, with OpenAI also considering going public. Together these potential listings could rank among the largest in market history and significantly influence how capital flows through public markets.