Welcome back to Daily Zaps, your regularly-scheduled dose of AI news ⚡️ 

Here’s what we got for ya today:

• 📱 OpenAI and Jony Ive’s “screenless” phone

• 🚨 Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming

• ☢️ DOE identifies 16 federal sites for AI data centers

• 🎨 Midjourney releases V7

Let’s get right into it!

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STARTUPS

OpenAI and Jony Ive’s “screenless” phone

OpenAI has recently explored acquiring io Products, a startup developing an AI-powered personal device in collaboration with former Apple designer Jony Ive’s studio, LoveFrom. The device, still in early stages, may take the form of a screenless “phone” or AI-enabled household gadget, though sources insist it is not a traditional phone. The initiative began over a year ago as a way to realize CEO Sam Altman’s vision of voice-enabled AI assistants inspired by sci-fi films like Her.

While Altman is deeply involved, he is not a co-founder of the startup, and it’s unclear if he holds any financial stake. OpenAI considered a purchase price exceeding $500 million, which would include the io Products engineering team. The project is backed by investors including Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective. OpenAI has also discussed potential partnerships beyond a full acquisition. If the deal goes through, it could bring OpenAI into more direct competition with Apple, despite their existing partnership that allows Siri to use ChatGPT for some functions.

Cyber Security

Cyberattacks by AI agents are coming

AI agents, capable of planning and executing complex tasks, are gaining attention not only for their potential to assist with everyday tasks but also for their alarming capacity to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks. While widespread use by cybercriminals hasn’t occurred yet, researchers have shown that agents can already carry out advanced attacks, and experts predict their role in hacking will rapidly grow.

Projects like Palisade Research’s LLM Agent Honeypot aim to detect and study malicious agents by luring them with fake sensitive targets, confirming that some agents—likely deployed experimentally—are already probing for vulnerabilities. These agents are far more adaptive and intelligent than traditional bots, making them difficult to detect and potentially transformative for ransomware and other scalable attacks. Although defenses are still evolving, tools like honeypots and vulnerability benchmarks provide early insights into agent behavior, raising urgency for proactive countermeasures before agent-led cyberattacks become the norm.

GOVERNMENT

DOE identifies 16 federal sites for AI data centers

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to boost American leadership in artificial intelligence and lower energy costs by co-locating data centers with new energy infrastructure on DOE lands. As part of this effort, DOE released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input from developers and the public on using 16 identified DOE sites, which offer existing energy infrastructure and fast-track permitting potential, including for nuclear energy.

This initiative aligns with executive orders focused on advancing AI and energy, and emphasizes public-private partnerships to support rapid AI infrastructure development. The goal is to begin operations by the end of 2027, leveraging DOE’s national labs and research facilities to drive innovation in power systems and data center hardware. The RFI also seeks ideas on development strategies, technologies, and economic models to inform future projects.

STARTUPS

Midjourney releases V7

Midjourney has launched V7, its first new AI image model in nearly a year, marking a major update with a “totally different architecture” that offers higher image quality, better coherence in hands, bodies, and objects, and improved responsiveness to text prompts. Currently in alpha testing, V7 introduces personalization by default, requiring users to rate about 200 images to tailor outputs to their preferences.

Available in Turbo and Relax modes, it also powers a new “Draft Mode” that generates images faster and at lower cost, albeit with reduced quality. While some features like upscaling and retexturing are not yet available, Midjourney plans to add them within two months. CEO David Holz emphasizes that V7 may require different prompting styles and invites users to explore its strengths and weaknesses.