OpenAI's Massive Data Center Spending Under Scrutiny as CFO Works to Cut Costs - DTH

Want to get this show ad-free? Head to dailytechnewsshow.com slash subscribe to find out how. These are the Daily Tech headlines for Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. I'm Rob Dunwood. Open AI is reportedly facing financial scrutiny and a potential slowdown in growth, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive future data center spending, including large deals with Oracle, NVIDIA, Amazon, and modifications to its Microsoft partnership. Despite public denials of misalignment by CEO Sam Altman and CFO Sarah Fryer, the finance chief is reportedly working to cut costs, prompting closer board examination of computing deals ahead of the company's anticipated public offering. YouTube is testing a new AI-powered interactive search feature called Ask YouTube for premium subscribers in the U.S. age 18 and older who opt in. This tool provides comprehensive, step-by-step results for complex queries like recipes or travel plans, integrating text, short videos, and longer videos. Users can ask follow questions for seamless experiences This is part of Google larger initiative to expand AI search across its platform Google along with other major AI firms like OpenAI and XAI has secured a deal with the U Department of Defense allowing the Pentagon to use its artificial intelligence models for classified work including mission planning and weapons targeting The agreement is part of several contracts worth up to $200 million signed in 2025 with Top AI Labs permitting the Pentagon to use Google's AI for any lawful government purpose. However, Google's contract includes a clause that the AI is not intended for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons without human oversight, a commitment the company supports while acknowledging the government's right to operational decision-making. Meta has signed a major capacity reservation agreement with Overview Energy for up to 1 gigawatt of space-collected solar power for its data centers. Overview Energy plans to launch a fleet of spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit by 2030 to collect solar power, convert it to harmless near-infrared beams, and transmit it to terrestrial solar farms at night. This initiative will boost solar farm capacity, lessen META's reliance on battery storage or nighttime generation, and bypass complex transmission regulations, a method Overview Energy has already demonstrated from an aircraft. Microsoft is transitioning all GitHub co-pilot plans to usage-based billing models starting June 1 2026 which will replace the current system with one based on token consumption including a monthly allotment of GitHub AI credits and the option to purchase more This shift is due to the unsustainability of the previous premium request model, giving CoPilot's evolution into an agentic platform with higher compute demands. The new token-based pricing aims to align costs with actual usage and maintain service reliability. Customers will receive preview bills in May to help them understand the new pricing structure. Snapchat is launching AI-sponsored snaps in the main chat tab, which allows users to engage directly with brands' AI agents for questions and recommendations. This new conversational ad format is a response to the community's existing embrace of AI in chat and is designed to feel native to user communication. Snap views conversation as the most valuable real estate in advertising and is leveraging this format to connect brands with its nearly 1 billion monthly active users in the highly engaged chat feed. China has mandated Meta Platforms unwind its over $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup Manus, citing national security concerns. Chinese regulators have given a deadline to reverse the transaction, restore Manus' Chinese assets, and remove any transferred data or technology. The unwinding follows a January investigation and both companies risk penalties if the deal is not fully rescinded though Manus investors have already been paid and former Asian investors are ready to cooperate Google Gemini is rolling out a new feature called Proactive Assistance which is currently hidden in a beta version of the Google app on Android. The feature will offer unprompted personalized suggestions based on user data from apps like Calendar, Docs, Drive, Gmail, and Keep with potential future support for third-party apps. To ensure privacy, the feature will process information on device and aligns with previous demonstrations of Gemini's proactive capabilities, such as generating study quizzes. This functionality may be officially announced at Google I.O. 2026. And finally, Mike Carson has purchased the defunct 2002 social network Friendster for $30,000 and plans to relaunch it with a unique in-person-centric model. The new iOS app requires users to physically tap phones to connect, emphasizes real-world interaction by weakening connections that lack an in-person meeting within a year, and deliberately introduces friction to counter the passive scrolling of platforms like Facebook and TikTok. For more analysis of the tech news of the day, subscribe to DailyTechNewsShow.com. And if you enjoy this show, remember to tell a friend to check us out. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next time.