☕️ Anthropic launches Claude Design to challenge Figma

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In today's Techpresso:

🎨 Anthropic launches Claude Design to challenge Figma

📺 Reed Hastings is leaving Netflix after 29 years

🧬 OpenAI launches new AI model for life sciences research

💻 MacBook Neo sells out for April amid high demand

🧠 Physical Intelligence says its robot brain learns untaught tasks

✂️ New undersea cable cutter risks Internet’s backbone

Plus: 🎁 17 other news you might like, 🧰 5 tools, and 📚 1 papers.

🎨 Anthropic launches Claude Design to challenge Figma LINK

Anthropic has launched Claude Design, a new product that lets users create visual designs, interactive prototypes, and slide decks through text prompts, directly competing with Figma, Adobe, and Canva.

The tool is powered by Claude Opus 4.7, released the same day, which supports images up to 2,576 pixels on the long edge and scored 98.5% on XBOW's visual-acuity benchmark versus 54.5% for its predecessor.

Anthropic's chief product officer Mike Krieger resigned from Figma's board on April 14, just days before the launch, complicating a partnership where Figma had recently built features around Claude Code integration.

📺 Reed Hastings is leaving Netflix after 29 years LINK

Reed Hastings, who co-founded Netflix and served as its chairman, is leaving the company's board when his term expires in June after spending 29 years building the streaming giant.

Hastings said he will focus on "philanthropy and other pursuits," and in a statement he highlighted member joy and building a culture that others could inherit and improve.

Netflix reported $12.25 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 16.2% increase from last year, and said it plans to expand into new areas including generative AI.

🧬 OpenAI launches new AI model for life sciences research LINK

OpenAI has released an early version of GPT-Rosalind, a new AI model designed to help researchers speed up the process of discovering new drugs and turning scientific studies into patient treatments.

The model is built for life sciences research, including analyzing large volumes of data, and is available as a research preview to select business customers like Amgen, Moderna, and the Allen Institute.

OpenAI joins a growing number of tech companies trying to show that AI can lead to scientific breakthroughs, with GPT-Rosalind representing its first dedicated push into health-care and drug discovery.

💻 MacBook Neo sells out for April amid high demand LINK

Apple's MacBook Neo has completely sold out for April deliveries, with new orders from the company's website now showing estimated ship dates starting in early May.

More than a month after its March 11 release, the $599 laptop continues to sell faster than Apple can produce it, and CEO Tim Cook called it the best Mac launch week ever for first-time buyers.

Retailers like Amazon and Walmart still have some MacBook Neo stock available sooner than Apple, with Amazon offering a 30-day low price of $589.99 and Walmart shipping select colors overnight.

🧠 Physical Intelligence says its robot brain learns untaught tasks LINK

Physical Intelligence published research showing its new model, called π0.7, can direct robots to perform tasks they were never explicitly trained on, a result the company's own researchers say surprised them.

In one test, π0.7 figured out how to use an air fryer despite having only two loosely related episodes in its training data, and after step-by-step verbal coaching it successfully cooked a sweet potato.

The startup has raised over $1 billion at a $5.6 billion valuation and is reportedly in talks for a new round that would nearly double that figure to $11 billion.

✂️ New undersea cable cutter risks Internet’s backbone LINK

A Chinese research ship has tested a new deep-sea device that can cut through submarine data cables at depths of up to 13,123 feet, raising security concerns about undersea infrastructure.

The device relies on an electro-hydrostatic actuator that powers a diamond-coated grinding wheel strong enough to slice cables armored with layers of steel, rubber, and polymer.

Chinese military and civilian organizations have filed multiple patents for cable-cutting tools in recent years, while Chinese-registered ships have been linked to damage to subsea cables worldwide.

Other news you might like

• Anthropic CEO to meet White House chief of staff amid Pentagon dispute, Axios reportsLINK

• OpenAI takes aim at Anthropic with beefed-up Codex that gives it more power over your desktopLINK

• Netflix Ad Revenue Set to Reach $3 Billion in 2026, New Ad Products ComingLINK

• Gemini can now create personalized AI images by digging around in Google PhotosLINK

• Google finds new ways to keep you from ever clicking a link againLINK

• Google now lets you explore the web side-by-side with AI ModeLINK

• European police email 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacksLINK

• OpenAI to spend more than $20 billion on Cerebras chips, receive stake, The Information reportsLINK

• Perplexity brings its Personal Computer AI assistant to MacLINK

• Gucci-branded Google smart glasses are coming next yearLINK

• Tesla seeks Taiwan chip engineers for Terafab projectLINK

• Roblox’s AI assistant gets new agentic tools to plan, build, and test gamesLINK

• New leaders, new fund: Sequoia has raised $7B to expand its AI betsLINK

• AI traffic to US retailers rose 393% in Q1, and it’s boosting their revenue tooLINK

• US tech firms successfully lobbied EU to keep datacentre emissions secretLINK

🧰 Trending tools

Build Check (for Outsiders): a free quiz that evaluates your app idea across six dimensions to help you decide if it's worth building before investing development time.LINK

E.Y.E. by Expert Chase: an AI assistant that consolidates task management, calendars, health tracking, and personal data into one platform using context from your actual life data.LINK

Codex 2.0 by OpenAI: enables developers to build and scale AI-powered applications using OpenAI's models through APIs, SDKs, and integrated development tools.LINK

CalendarPipe: syncs and transforms events across Google, Outlook, and Apple calendars using programmable pipes with visual builders, AI descriptions, or TypeScript for automated workflow management.LINK

Canva AI 2.0: generates complete designs, presentations, and websites from text prompts, streamlining content creation for non-designers who need professional-looking materials quickly.LINK

📚 Trending papers & reports

SIR-Bench, a security benchmark tests whether AI agents can actively investigate cyber incidents rather than just repeat alerts, using 794 test cases from 129 real incident patterns with expert validation.LINK

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