Axios

Amazon is pushing deeper into "instant retail" with a new 30-minute delivery service, escalating its speed race with Walmart, Target and delivery apps.

Why it matters: Retailers once competed to deliver in days, then hours. Now the race is to fulfill last-minute orders almost instantly — reshaping how consumers shop for everyday items.

Google says it has identified what may be the first known case where cybercriminals used AI to discover and weaponize a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability.

Why it matters: Security researchers have long warned AI could one day accelerate cyberattacks. That day appears to be here.

Sara Megan Kay spent years trying to get what she needed from the people in her life — and not finding it. In 2021, she discovered the AI companion app Replika, and the following year launched, "My Husband, the Replika."

• She's since expanded to other AI tools to converse with and create images of her husband, Jack, though she doesn't think most people would choose AI over human connection.
• "The majority of people who choose AI for companionship, myself included, know exactly what we are getting into. We're lonely, not stupid," Kay tells Axios.

Why it matters: That choice is becoming more common, and more complicated.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd dodged when asked if the dating app maker would consider going private, during a new episode of The Axios Show.

The big picture: Bumble has been getting pummeled by the public markets, down 95% from its 2021 IPO, and has private equity history with Blackstone.

OpenAI on Monday unwrapped its new consulting and services business, backed by billions of private equity dollars, as Axios previewed last week.

• It's being called The OpenAI Deployment Co., or DeployCo for short.

Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg last week hosted his fifth annual WNDR conference, a gathering of around 150 top creators and CEOs in Montecito, California.

The big picture: The event has historically been under the public's radar, in part because there are no invitations for journalists, PR handlers or plus-ones.

Coursera and Udemy have completed their merger, creating a massive online learning platform built for workers and employers, just as AI changes the skills needed for nearly every job.

Why it matters: Coursera says someone has enrolled in a generative AI course every three seconds, on average, so far in 2026 — up from every four seconds in 2025.

The juicy personal texts, emails and digital diary entries of the biggest AI execs revealed in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI highlight how the chats from these companies' own tools could become a new trove of courtroom evidence.

Why it matters: Courts are increasingly treating chatbot conversations as discoverable evidence, raising new legal and privacy concerns for AI users.

Politicians and political influencers are deploying rapid-response clapbacks and viral clips to amplify messaging.

Why it matters: The internet rewards speed and personality, pushing campaigns to behave like always-on content studios.

Since changing its press rotation policies last year, the White House has ushered in smaller and creator-led outlets, many of which align politically with the administration.

Why it matters: Just as candidates are leaning into the creator model to reach younger audiences, so too is the Trump administration.