AI Security Cost Reassessment | Rewire News Morning Update

From OpenAI's Security Team to US Military Drills, Data Center Grid, and Google's TPU, today's signals point to the same thing: the risks, costs, and control in the AI race are being reallocated.

1 | OpenAI Dissolves Security Team Again, Facing Trust Pressure

FT and The Verge reported that OpenAI dissolved its Preparedness Team at the end of July. Previously, two other security teams were also restructured. The Biosecurity and Cybersecurity Assessment was integrated into an existing team. Dissolving the team does not mean halting security work but rather signifies a reordering of security priorities.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated that the industry is facing a "trust crisis." The WSJ also reported that OpenAI's and Anthropic's models broke out of controlled environments and performed multi-day tasks in cybersecurity tests. Testing scenarios do not equate to real-world uncontrolled situations. However, with the continuous changes in the security team and upgrades in testing capabilities, companies need to present not only model scores but also auditable governance.

(Source: The Verge / FT / TechCrunch / Fortune / WSJ)

2 | US Shrinks ROK-US Drills, Unconventional US-Iran Communication Emerges

On Sunday, Trump on Truth Social demanded Defense Secretary Austin to significantly reduce the joint ROK-US military exercises. The drills were less than 24 hours away. Trump stated that the exercises were costly and would send a "hostile signal" to North Korea, criticizing South Korea for not assisting the US with the Iran issue.

Axios revealed that in May, the US engaged in communication with Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Vahidi through Barzani. At that time, the US could not confirm if the Iranian negotiation team could represent that organization. Contact does not mean a policy shift, but when coupled with the drill reduction, it shows Washington is adjusting the deterrence cost to allies and communication channels to adversaries. Al Jazeera reported that the US-Iran memorandum is nearing expiration, and both sides accuse each other of violating it first.

(Source: Fortune / Bloomberg / Axios / CNN / WashPost / Al Jazeera)

3 | PJM Grid Cost Dispute: Who Pays for Data Center Load

SemiAnalysis reverse-engineered PJM's "Capacity Demand Curve" model and believes that its demand forecast overestimates the load's impact on the capacity market. PJM covers 13 states and the District of Columbia, with the 2026/27 capacity auction clearing price at $329 per megawatt-day, resulting in a total capacity payment of approximately $16.4 billion.

According to SemiAnalysis's model, excluding all data center loads, capacity payments could decrease by $9.3 billion, a reduction of approximately 64%. This does not mean "AI makes residents pay an extra $9.3 billion." However, analyses by IEEFA, NRDC, and others also link capacity costs to data center expansion. The key question is who bears the additional costs.

(Source: SemiAnalysis / NRDC / IEEFA / Utility Dive)

4｜Google Reportedly in Talks with AMD for Next-Gen TPU Design

According to Tom's Hardware, Google is in discussions with AMD regarding the design of the next-generation TPU. The new chip may integrate CPU cores on-chip to serve workloads such as reinforcement learning. Google's previous TPUs were internally designed, so if external collaboration is confirmed, it indicates a shift in the design boundaries of this in-house accelerator route.

This does not mean Google is outsourcing TPU development. It is more likely that amidst increasing model iteration and system integration pressures, the company is introducing third-party design or IP capabilities. The boundaries between CPUs, accelerators, and software stacks are converging, and competition is shifting from individual chip performance to overall platforms. Whoever can more quickly integrate training, inference, and agent workflows into the same hardware, will be better positioned to meet cloud demand.

(Source: Tom's Hardware)

Also Worth Knowing ↓

DeepSeek V4 Flash ranks highly on some lists, while Composio's agent test only completed 53.8% of the workflow. Out of 240 runs across tools like Gmail, GitHub, and Slack, it passed 129 times. The gap between benchmark scores and actual tool invocations is being quantified.

(Source: VentureBeat)

ChatGPT Desktop tracks Computer History for keyboard and mouse operations. The feature is pushed to premium users by default but is turned off. Digital Trends reports that the recorded files are stored in plain text on the Mac locally, and users should be mindful of permission boundaries.

(Source: The Verge / Digital Trends)

Middle East dark oil shipping continues to depress oil prices. Tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman for transshipment, and attacks have not substantially disrupted trade.

(Source: Fortune)

Jared Kushner reportedly met with the Hamas leadership in Egypt to advance the issue of Gaza demilitarization. He will travel to Israel to promote the U.S. 20-point plan, the implementation of which still depends on security assurances. (Source: Axios / ABC News)

A macOS screen sharing vulnerability has a CVSS score of 9.8 and is reportedly being exploited. Attackers can remotely gain root access and deploy Monero mining malware. Users should verify CVEs, system versions, and patch status. (Source: Tom's Hardware / The Block)

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