Anthropic made Claude Opus 4.7 generally available on April 17, scoring 64.3% on SWE-bench Pro and 87.6% on SWE-bench Verified — surpassing OpenAI's GPT-5.4 and Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro on key benchmarks including agentic coding and scaled tool use. The model remains "less broadly capable" than the restricted Claude Mythos Preview, which Anthropic has no plans to release publicly. Opus 4.7 is available across all Claude products and the API at unchanged pricing.
Alongside Opus 4.7, Anthropic debuted Claude Design — a new product that turns text prompts, uploaded documents, and website captures into prototypes, pitch decks, and mockups. It can ingest a company's design system and codebase to maintain brand consistency. Figma stock dropped on the news, signaling the market views this as a serious competitive threat to established design tools.
Snap is cutting 16% of its workforce — roughly 1,000 full-time roles plus 300 open positions — in what CEO Evan Spiegel called a "crucible moment." The company disclosed that AI now generates over 65% of new code at Snap, enabling smaller teams to match previous output. The restructuring is expected to save over $500 million annualized by H2 2026.
Between 30% and 50% of US data centers planned for 2026 are now expected to be delayed or scrapped entirely. Of an estimated 12–16GW of planned capacity, only 5GW is under construction, with 11GW still in the announcement stage despite 12–18 month typical build times. Power constraints, transformer shortages, community opposition, and labor shortfalls are the primary bottlenecks threatening the AI infrastructure buildout.
Maine's legislature passed LD 307, banning data centers larger than 20 megawatts until November 2027 and creating a Data Center Coordination Council to evaluate future projects. The bill, now headed to Governor Janet Mills' desk, makes Maine the first US state to freeze large-scale data center construction. The move follows months of community opposition fueled by concerns over energy consumption and water demand.
Google rolled out an opt-in feature linking Google Photos to Gemini and its Nano Banana model, allowing paid subscribers to generate new images featuring their real-life people and scenes. The integration blurs the line between personal media and generative AI, raising fresh questions about consent and synthetic media as AI gains access to users' private photo libraries.
