--- title: Best The Next Web posts — May 2026 | daily.dev description: The most upvoted The Next Web posts from May 2026, curated by the daily.dev community. canonical: https://daily.dev/sources/tnw/best-of/2026/05 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:url: https://daily.dev/sources/tnw/best-of/2026/05 og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Best The Next Web posts — May 2026 | daily.dev og:description: The most upvoted The Next Web posts from May 2026, curated by the daily.dev community. og:image: https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VAY5ToZt--/f_auto/v1724209435/public/daily.dev%20-%20open%20graph --- # Best of The Next Web — May 2026 1. 1 [](https://daily.dev/posts/openai-opens-chatgpt-subscriptions-to-openclaw-s-3-2m-users-as-anthropic-blocks-claude-access-to-the-upnsxm5ie "OpenAI opens ChatGPT subscriptions to OpenClaw's 3.2M users as Anthropic blocks Claude access to the AI agent platform") Article The Next Web · 19w OpenAI opens ChatGPT subscriptions to OpenClaw's 3.2M users as Anthropic blocks Claude access to the AI agent platform OpenAI has integrated ChatGPT subscriptions with OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent framework with 346,000 GitHub stars and 3.2 million users. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can now run autonomous agents via GPT-5.4 for $23/month total. This directly contrasts Anthropic's April decision to block Claude Pro and Max subscribers from using OpenClaw, citing unsustainable compute costs from agent-generated API calls. OpenAI is betting that converting OpenClaw's massive user base into ChatGPT subscribers will outweigh the increased compute burden, effectively making ChatGPT the default model backend for the world's most popular agent framework. The move carries significant security risks, as OpenClaw has suffered multiple critical vulnerabilities including a remote code execution flaw, a marketplace with 824 confirmed malicious entries, and a breach exposing 1.5 million API tokens. 66 2 2. 2 [](https://daily.dev/posts/malta-just-became-the-first-country-to-give-every-citizen-free-chatgpt-plus-there-s-one-condition--9p4kzphmq "Malta just became the first country to give every citizen free ChatGPT Plus. There’s one condition.") Article The Next Web · 17w Malta just became the first country to give every citizen free ChatGPT Plus. There’s one condition. OpenAI has signed a deal with the Maltese government to provide all citizens and residents with free ChatGPT Plus for one year, contingent on completing an AI literacy course developed by the University of Malta. The programme, called 'AI for All,' launched in May 2026 and is managed by the Malta Digital Innovation Authority. Malta, with a population of \~540,000, becomes the first country to tie national AI access to mandatory AI education. The deal fits a broader trend of AI companies partnering with governments — similar deals exist with Greece, Iceland, and the UK — but Malta's is the first to condition access on completing a literacy course. For OpenAI, the partnership is a low-risk test of whether government-subsidised adoption can convert non-paying users into long-term customers as growth in mature consumer markets slows. 48 15 3. 3 [](https://daily.dev/posts/microsoft-s-quiet-claude-code-retreat-and-the-real-cost-of-enterprise-ai-8ycsrgrmm "Microsoft’s quiet Claude Code retreat and the real cost of enterprise AI") Article The Next Web · 16w Microsoft’s quiet Claude Code retreat and the real cost of enterprise AI Microsoft is cancelling most Claude Code licences inside its Experiences and Devices division, redirecting engineers to GitHub Copilot CLI by June 30\. The move is framed as toolchain unification but the real driver is cost: agentic AI coding tools consume tokens at a rate that breaks enterprise budget models. Uber's CTO revealed his company burned through its entire 2026 AI coding budget in four months, with individual engineers spending $500–$2,000/month on tokens. The core problem is that token-based pricing behaves like a metered utility, not a per-seat licence — and agentic systems consume more tokens per task with each generation, not fewer. Gartner places generative AI in the trough of disillusionment, with 25% of 2026 AI budgets expected to slip. The analysis argues this signals the end of the experimental 'absorb arbitrary costs for learning' phase, with enterprises moving toward capped budgets, tiered access, and AWS-style billing rather than flat-seat models. 44 6 4. 4 [](https://daily.dev/posts/jury-deliberations-to-begin-in-openai-nonprofit-trial-after-musk-skips-closing-for-beijing-e7godpacl "Jury deliberations to begin in OpenAI nonprofit trial after Musk skips closing for Beijing") Article The Next Web · 18w Jury deliberations to begin in OpenAI nonprofit trial after Musk skips closing for Beijing Closing arguments concluded Thursday in the Musk v. Altman trial in Oakland, with jury deliberations set to begin Monday. Musk was absent for closing arguments, attending Trump's Beijing delegation alongside Tim Cook and Jensen Huang. The case centers on whether OpenAI's 2025 recapitalisation from nonprofit to capped-profit structure breached the charitable trust under which Musk donated roughly $38 million between 2015 and 2017\. Musk seeks up to $134 billion in disgorgement and removal of Altman and Brockman. The jury's verdict is advisory, with Judge Gonzalez Rogers retaining final say on remedies. The case is widely seen as a precedent-setter for AI labs that began as charities and became highly valued commercial entities. 19 5. 5 [](https://daily.dev/posts/silicon-valley-spends-25m-backing-matt-mahan-for-california-governor-but-polls-show-4-as-hilton-an-yszs9ovna "Silicon Valley spends $25M backing Matt Mahan for California governor but polls show 4% as Hilton and Steyer lead June primary") Article The Next Web · 19w Silicon Valley spends $25M backing Matt Mahan for California governor but polls show 4% as Hilton and Steyer lead June primary Silicon Valley has poured over $25 million into San Jose mayor Matt Mahan's California gubernatorial campaign, with backers including Sergey Brin, Reed Hastings, and Steve Huffman. Despite the massive financial support, Mahan polls at just 4% with the June 2 primary weeks away, trailing Steve Hilton (20%), Tom Steyer (18%), and Xavier Becerra (10%). The campaign reflects a broader tech industry strategy to reshape California politics, including a proposed $500M endowment (California Renewal) to fund long-term political activity and opposition to a billionaire wealth tax ballot measure. The piece draws parallels to past tech-backed California campaigns that failed despite massive spending, and frames the effort as Silicon Valley building a political machine rather than simply backing one candidate. 14 1 6. 6 [](https://daily.dev/posts/nadella-feared-microsoft-would-become-the-next-ibm-as-92b-openai-return-projection-revealed-at-tr-u0db6mowc "Nadella feared Microsoft would become 'the next IBM' as $92B OpenAI return projection revealed at trial") Article The Next Web · 18w Nadella feared Microsoft would become 'the next IBM' as $92B OpenAI return projection revealed at trial Satya Nadella testified in the Musk v. Altman trial that he feared Microsoft would become 'the next IBM' if it didn't invest in OpenAI. A January 2023 memo from Brad Smith projected a $92B return on Microsoft's $13B cumulative investment, with a 20% annual escalator from 2025\. The testimony reframes the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership as a survival-driven financial hedge rather than a commitment to nonprofit AI safety. Other trial revelations include Greg Brockman's journals calling the nonprofit mission 'a lie,' former board members testifying about Altman's untrustworthiness, and Musk admitting xAI partly uses OpenAI model outputs to train Grok. Meanwhile, Microsoft has since dropped its exclusive OpenAI license and launched its own in-house AI models, suggesting Nadella's IBM fear drove a broader strategy to avoid dependency. 13 2 7. 7 [](https://daily.dev/posts/palantir-s-earnings-test-arrives-in-the-middle-of-an-ai-software-sell-off-tnjjheuch "Palantir’s earnings test arrives in the middle of an AI software sell-off") Article The Next Web · 19w Palantir’s earnings test arrives in the middle of an AI software sell-off Palantir faces its Q1 2026 earnings report after a 30% year-to-date stock decline, triggered partly by a short-seller post claiming Anthropic is displacing it in enterprise AI and by broader AI software multiple compression. Despite strong consensus expectations — $1.54bn revenue, up 74% YoY, and US commercial revenue up 94% — the real test is whether management commentary on net dollar retention, AIP renewals, and government contract durability can restore investor confidence in Palantir's differentiation thesis. The company's forward price-to-sales ratio remains above 50x even after the sell-off, and options markets are pricing a \~10.5% post-earnings move. The structural tension between its stable government franchise (Maven Smart System, $10bn Army agreement) and its high-multiple commercial growth narrative is now under scrutiny. 12 1 8. 8 [](https://daily.dev/posts/duckduckgo-installs-jumped-18-after-google-killed-the-blue-links-on-apple-devices-the-spike-hit-7-aadijugsy "DuckDuckGo installs jumped 18% after Google killed the blue links. On Apple devices, the spike hit 70%.") Article The Next Web · 15w DuckDuckGo installs jumped 18% after Google killed the blue links. On Apple devices, the spike hit 70%. DuckDuckGo saw an 18% week-over-week surge in US app installs following Google's I/O 2026 announcement to replace traditional blue-link search results with AI-powered answers. On Apple devices, the single-day peak hit nearly 70%. Traffic to DuckDuckGo's AI-free search page (noai.duckduckgo.com) rose 23% on average. CEO Gabriel Weinberg attributed the growth to user frustration with Google's mandatory AI integration and the undisclosed installation of a 4 GB Gemini Nano model via Chrome. DuckDuckGo positions itself not as anti-AI but as pro-choice, offering AI optionally via duck.ai while preserving traditional search. Despite the spike, DuckDuckGo holds only \~3% of the US search market, so the numbers don't threaten Google's dominance — but the signal is notable. 171 26 9. 9 [](https://daily.dev/posts/google-launches-gemini-3-5-flash-its-fastest-agentic-ai-model-for-coding-ty28ptq48 "Google launches Gemini 3.5 Flash, its fastest agentic AI model for coding") Article The Next Web · 17w Google launches Gemini 3.5 Flash, its fastest agentic AI model for coding Google unveiled Gemini 3.5 Flash at I/O 2026, positioning it as its fastest and most capable model for coding and autonomous AI agents. The model is claimed to be 4x faster than competing frontier models (12x in an optimized variant), and can run autonomously for hours before pausing for human input. It was co-developed with Antigravity 2.0, Google's new agent-first IDE and desktop platform, which includes a CLI, SDK, and integrations with Google AI Studio, Firebase, and Android. A live demo showed AI agents collaboratively building an operating system from scratch. Architecturally, a forthcoming Gemini 3.5 Pro will act as orchestrator while Flash handles sub-agent execution. Flash is now the default model in the Gemini app, AI Mode in Search, and the new Gemini Spark personal agent. Google also noted strengthened safety guardrails for the 3.5 generation amid ongoing legal scrutiny. 10 [See all The Next Web archives](/sources/tnw/best-of) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw/best-of/2026/05#page","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw/best-of/2026/05","name":"Best The Next Web Posts — May 2026","description":"The most upvoted The Next Web posts from May 2026, curated by the daily.dev community.","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","url":"https://daily.dev"}},{"@type":"ItemList","@id":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw/best-of/2026/05#items","numberOfItems":9,"itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/openai-opens-chatgpt-subscriptions-to-openclaw-s-3-2m-users-as-anthropic-blocks-claude-access-to-the-upnsxm5ie","name":"OpenAI opens ChatGPT subscriptions to OpenClaw's 3.2M users as Anthropic blocks Claude access to the AI agent platform"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"url":"https://daily.dev/posts/malta-just-became-the-first-country-to-give-every-citizen-free-chatgpt-plus-there-s-one-condition--9p4kzphmq","name":"Malta just became the first country to give every citizen free ChatGPT Plus. 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