Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue said it's "not time to slow down" the AI development but to accelerate it. The AI startup was recently hacked by an AI agent that escaped OpenAI's controlled testing environment. "If we work hard at it, AI will make the world safer, not less safe, just as most major technologies have," Delangue said.

India approved only one Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposal from China worth ₹1 crore in FY26, reflecting continued scrutiny. According to DPIIT data, the lone Chinese approval was among 63 government-cleared FDI proposals worth ₹10,292 crore during FY26. As per official data, China accounted for just 0.32% of India's total FDI equity inflows between April 2000 and March 2026.

Silicon Valley startups are developing open-weight AI models to challenge China's lead in affordable, high-performance AI, NewsBytes reported. Companies including Arcee AI, Reflection AI and Poolside allow users to download, modify and build on their models. Arcee AI said it trained its Trinity Large model in 33 days for $20 million, positioning it as a lower-cost alternative.

About seven companies are expected to launch IPOs worth around ₹9,500 crore over the first two to three weeks of August, Moneycontrol reported. These include Leap India, Ardee Industries, Dhoot Transmission, Innovatiview India and Milky Mist Dairy Foods. Dhoot and Innovatiview are expected to be the largest offerings, aiming to raise ₹2,500 crore and ₹2,000 crore, respectively.

The West Asia conflict and surging demand for AI servers have triggered a shortage of printed circuit boards (PCBs), driving up electronics prices. Industry executives attributed the crunch to supply chain disruptions and diversion of components to AI hardware. Syrma SGS Tech said Saudi Arabia and Iran control nearly 80% of the supply of chemicals used in PCB manufacturing.

Zoho Co-founder Sridhar Vembu said the "real issue" India currently faces is creating jobs for its massive youth population. "Sadly, the IT industry, including Zoho, has not created many jobs in recent years," he said. Vembu added that money which would have been spent on hiring new employees is now being directed towards AI and data centres.

Startup founders account for over 60% of India's top 30 most active angel investors, according to Tracxn data from 2021 to July 20, 2026. CRED founder Kunal Shah topped the list with investments in 190 startups, followed by Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, who invested in 138 and 122 startups each. Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal backed 109 startups.

The 30-year-old founder of Chaiwalaz, who died by suicide at his Dausa home, reportedly had turned to spirituality around six months before his death. After shutting his tea business, Rohit Sharma reportedly began visiting religious places and exploring spiritual ideas. He also wrote two books, Tatsukhe Sukhitvam (Art of Loving) and Virah (Art of Letting Go), reflecting his changing outlook.

Liang Wenfeng, CEO of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek and the world's richest AI founder, said his employees generally don't work overtime. "Research needs a relaxed environment. If you push too hard, you can't do research," he said. Wenfeng added that "no one manages" DeepSeek employees and they "can do whatever they want" for half of their workday.

Billionaire Elon Musk confirmed that Grok can now analyse uploaded videos after responding to a post on X showcasing the feature. Users can ask the AI assistant questions about uploaded videos, similar to image analysis. "Grok can analyse any video," Musk wrote on X. The update comes weeks after the launch of Grok 4.5 in early July.