RAIDD Recap - Week 27

🧠 Meta launches Superintelligence Labs

Meta has officially announced the launch of Superintelligence Labs, a new AI research division focused on building next-generation Llama models and competing at the frontier of AGI (artificial general intelligence). The unit is led by high-profile hires Alexandr Wang (founder of Scale AI) and Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO), who have already begun recruiting top researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. Backed by major investment in compute infrastructure and in-house chip design, this marks a major shift in Meta’s AI strategy—less about content moderation, more about foundational AI leadership.
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🔒 Cloudflare blocks AI bots by default

In a bold move to protect web content, Cloudflare has begun automatically blocking AI scrapers—like those used by OpenAI and Google—from accessing new domains added to its platform. Website owners can still opt-in, but the default setting now favors privacy and publisher control. Cloudflare is also piloting a “Pay-Per-Crawl” system, allowing sites to charge AI companies for content access. This approach could redefine the economics of how AI models are trained and help publishers monetize their work in the age of data-hungry algorithms.
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🏛️ Senate drops ban on state AI regulation

A major shift in U.S. AI policy: the Senate has overwhelmingly voted to remove a proposed 10-year ban on state-level AI laws from the sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The clause would have centralized all AI regulation at the federal level, limiting states’ ability to respond to local risks or needs. By removing it, lawmakers are keeping the door open for more nuanced, regional approaches to AI governance—something many business leaders and policymakers had called for. The vote passed 99–1, showing rare bipartisan agreement on the need for flexible oversight.
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🌐 Lightchain AI raises $21M for decentralized AI

UK-based Lightchain AI has secured $21.1 million in new funding as it prepares to launch its mainnet in July. The company is building an infrastructure layer that blends blockchain and AI, designed to decentralize access to compute power and model training. Lightchain’s token model will allow contributors to earn from shared GPU resources and data pipelines, creating an open ecosystem for distributed AI development. This funding round boosts its credibility as one of the key players aiming to democratize AI infrastructure outside of Big Tech.