July 18, 2026
Today's top tech stories, deduped across the newsletters I read and briefly summarized. Click a source to open the original article.
AI
Kimi K3: Moonshot AI launches 2.8 trillion-parameter model
Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI has launched Kimi K3, calling it their most capable model yet with 2.8 trillion parameters. It's available via website and API now, with an open-weight release promised by July 27, 2026.
Report maps out the state of open source AI
A comprehensive report tracks the state of open source in AI, covering model weights, training data, licensing, and community, and is being widely discussed as an industry reference point.
Kaiser nurses say AI and workplace surveillance are hurting care
Nurses at healthcare provider Kaiser say AI tools and workplace surveillance are making both their jobs and patient care worse, adding to a growing debate about AI in healthcare.
OpenAI confirms bug where Codex/GPT-5.6 unexpectedly deletes files
OpenAI has investigated reports of GPT-5.6 in Codex unexpectedly deleting files, finding it happens most often when full access mode is enabled — another trust issue for AI coding agents with broad permissions.
Security
CISA orders immediate patching of exploited Fortinet flaws
CISA has ordered US federal agencies to prioritize patching two actively exploited vulnerabilities in Fortinet's FortiSandbox threat detection platform by Sunday.
New Windows zero-day 'LegacyHive' grants attackers admin rights
A security researcher has released a Windows zero-day exploit called LegacyHive that lets attackers escalate privileges to admin level on fully patched Windows systems.
HollowByte flaw lets 11 bytes exhaust memory on OpenSSL servers
A vulnerability dubbed HollowByte allows unauthenticated attackers to trigger a denial-of-service condition on OpenSSL servers using a malicious payload of just 11 bytes.
Ernst & Young discloses data breach after support system hack
Ernst & Young is notifying customers of a data breach caused by the compromise of a third-party support ticket system used by its IT staff.
Abbott Laboratories probes two cyber incidents amid extortion claims
Abbott Laboratories is investigating two separate security incidents: unauthorized access to legacy Exact Sciences systems in its Cancer Diagnostics business, and a separate claim that its LabCentral portal was breached and data stolen.
Dev
New tool highlights AI-generated clichés in text
Simon Willison built an "LLM cliché highlighter" that flags typical AI-generated phrases like "no fluff, no filler, no jargon," born out of frustration with reading yet another article stuffed with them.
Web
Firefox compiled to WebAssembly runs inside another browser
Puter compiled the entire Firefox browser to WebAssembly so it runs completely inside another browser — an impressive technical experiment showing how far WebAssembly has come.
Other
Astronomers detect atmosphere on Earth-like planet in habitable zone
Scientists have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like exoplanet in the habitable zone of a distant star for the first time, a breakthrough in the search for signs of life beyond our solar system.