Moonshot AI Drops 2.8T-Parameter Kimi K3 as EU Targets Google and Iran Conflict Escalates
Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI unveiled Kimi K3 late Thursday, claiming it is now the world's largest open-source model at 2.8 trillion parameters [1]. The Beijing-based company said K3 was built for long-horizon coding, knowledge work, and reasoning tasks, and that it outperform
Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI unveiled Kimi K3 late Thursday, claiming it is now the world's largest open-source model at 2.8 trillion parameters [1]. The Beijing-based company said K3 was built for long-horizon coding, knowledge work, and reasoning tasks, and that it outperformed OpenAI's GPT-5.5, Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8, and rival Zhipu AI's GLM-5.2 on several self-reported benchmarks [1]. Moonshot acknowledged that K3 still trails the strongest proprietary models overall, but the release underscores how quickly Chinese labs are closing the gap with U.S. frontier systems [1].
Across the regulatory aisle, the European Commission issued two binding orders against Google under the Digital Markets Act on Thursday [2]. Brussels is demanding that Google give rival AI assistants the same system-level Android access that Gemini enjoys, including voice invocation, cross-app task completion, and on-device hardware priority [2]. The Commission also ordered Google to share anonymized search data, including ranking, query, click, and view information, with competing search engines by January 2027 [2]. Google pushed back through President of Global Affairs Kent Walker, arguing the rulings risk undermining privacy and security guardrails for European users [2].
Meanwhile, the U.S.-Iran conflict intensified for a sixth consecutive night. U.S. Central Command said it completed a major wave of airstrikes at dawn Friday, hitting bridges, energy sites, and a surveillance tower at Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman [3]. Iranian state media reported at least six bridges struck in Hormozgan province and power outages across southern Iran [4]. Iran retaliated by launching missiles and drones at Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and Syria; in Kuwait, a power and water desalination plant was damaged, while Qatar intercepted projectiles over Doha and reported one child injured by falling shrapnel [3][4].
The Strait of Hormuz remains the flashpoint. Tehran has effectively choked traffic through the waterway, sending oil above $86 a barrel and pushing vessel crossings to a three-week low [3]. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned the strait "will never return to what it was before the 40-day war" [4]. With the June ceasefire collapsed and mediators including Qatar still under fire, the risk of a wider regional spillover is rising fast.