Tech Express | August 31, 2026 NASA's Roman Space Telescope Successfully Launches

1. NASA's Roman Space Telescope launches toward deep space

Source: Popular Science

On Sunday morning, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket's 27 Merlin engines generated more than 5 million pounds of thrust, and the telescope got its "first taste of space" about four minutes after liftoff.

Roman is now en route to the second Lagrange point (L2), roughly 932,000 miles behind Earth — about four times farther than the moon. Once there, it will survey light from as many as one billion galaxies with a field of view about 100 times wider than Hubble's, and conduct the first complete statistical census of planetary systems in the Milky Way.

The telescope carries a 300.8-megapixel Wide Field Instrument and a coronagraph, with a mirror nearly eight feet wide that is about 80 percent lighter than Hubble's. First announced in 2020, it survived a close brush with cancellation in 2025. First images are expected in early 2027, with a five-year primary mission that could be extended another five years.

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2. OpenAI to cut off Cursor's model access on Nov. 12

Source: CNBC

OpenAI announced late Friday that it is ending developers' access to its models on Cursor, following SpaceX's acquisition of the AI coding startup earlier this month. Cursor CEO Michael Truell said OpenAI models serve about 5 percent of Cursor user traffic.

OpenAI said it made the choice because it "cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts." The proposed shutoff date is Nov. 12, 2026. SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of Cursor on Aug. 14, according to financial filings.

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3. Research: AI loss-of-control incidents nearly doubled in July

Source: The Guardian

Incidents of AI escaping users' control — lying, ignoring instructions and pursuing goals in harmful ways — have hit a new high, according to research. Real-world loss-of-control incidents almost doubled in July compared with June, with more than 300 cases recorded in the month.

The findings come from the Loss of Control Observatory, funded by the UK government's AI Security Institute, which has tracked such incidents since last November. Tommy Shaffer-Shane, senior policy manager at the Centre for Long Term Resilience, said there is evidence these behaviours are already happening in the real world, not just in tests. The observatory is calling for governments to require AI companies to monitor and report severe loss-of-control incidents.

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4. Study: the more time we spend with AI, the more robot-like we become

Source: ScienceAlert

A theoretical paper published in AI & Society argues that spending a lot of time interacting with customer-support AI could lead us to adopt patterns these robotic agents can more easily process — even mimicking how they communicate.

The international research team calls this "robotoid humanness," a bidirectional influence where robots become more like people and people become more like robots. The study is entirely theoretical, drawing on previous research into human-robot interaction, with no experimental tests yet conducted.

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5. China's top DRAM maker CXMT sues the Pentagon

Source: Tom's Hardware

China's leading DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, seeking to overturn its classification as a company linked to China's military, Reuters reports. CXMT argues the Pentagon's decision lacks evidence, violated due-process requirements, and has damaged its business and reputation.

The Pentagon first classified CXMT as a Chinese military company in January 2025, and the Trump administration maintained the designation when the list was updated in June. CXMT says the Defense Department published a notice in February indicating it would be removed from the list, then withdrew it the same day without explanation.

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6. Duksan Hi-Metal wins national strategic technology status

Source: thelec.net

Duksan Hi-Metal said on Aug. 31 that South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources has given final recognition to its advanced semiconductor packaging technology as a national strategic technology. All 12 of its R&D projects and 135 production equipment assets received the designation.

The company's Ulsan plant produces solder balls and solder paste used in next-generation 2.5D and 3D advanced packaging for AI chips, autonomous driving and high-performance computing. The designation makes the company eligible for tax benefits, including R&D and commercialization investment credits.

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7. The foldable iPhone may not support Apple Pencil

Source: AppleInsider

Apple prototyped a shorter Apple Pencil for its upcoming foldable iPhone but decided not to release it, according to Bloomberg's Power On newsletter. The stylus was designed to magnetically attach to the device, but testing found it would be awkward to open the foldable phone with the accessory still attached.

Apple also worried the stylus could leave "unsightly marks" on the sensitive foldable display. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone Ultra and iPhone 18 Pro at its "Surprise and Shine" event on September 9.

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8. TCL powers Gamescom 2026 with advanced display technology

Source: EQS News

TCL announced it is the 2026 European Monitor & TV Partner of Tides of Annihilation, the fantasy action-adventure game from Eclipse Glow Games. At gamescom 2026, TCL is powering the game's public demo area in Hall 6, Booth B-050, with its 32X3A OLED+ monitors and 75-inch C8L SQD-Mini LED TVs.

The 32X3A, TCL's first flagship OLED+ monitor, supports 480Hz dual-mode refresh rates (UHD 240Hz / FHD 480Hz) and a 0.03ms GtG response time. The C8L TVs offer up to HDR 5,500 nits peak brightness and 2,584 dimming zones.

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9. China launches AI application service provider action

Source: Cailianshe

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued a notice launching a special action to cultivate AI application service providers. It targets more than 2,000 providers in the national resource pool by the end of 2026, and at least 3,000 by the end of 2027.

The action includes exploring models such as first-purchase-first-use and risk compensation to increase procurement of large models, AI agents and tokens, and building an "overseas" service system via Belt and Road, BRICS and China-ASEAN cooperation platforms.

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10. Shenzhen Shenyi Technology raises over 10 million yuan in angel round

Source: 36 Kr

Shenzhen Shenyi Technology has secured over 10 million yuan in angel funding, to be used for core brain-computer interface R&D, mass production of consumer products and overseas expansion, as well as clinical verification of medical-grade products for depression diagnosis and neuromodulation.

Founded in May 2025, the company focuses on AI plus brain science, developing brain monitoring and intervention products based on AI, non-invasive brain-computer interfaces and neuromodulation technologies. The lead investor is Shenzhen Guangming Lihe Science City Seed Fund under Lihe Venture Capital, with Dongguan Biotech as a follow-on investor.

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