The day in tech.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he is forming an AI Force modeled on the Space Force and will soon name an AI czar, dismissing AI safety concerns as a hoax and favoring limited regulation.

Apple released iOS 27, claiming over 30 performance improvements. Apps launch up to 30 percent faster, AirDrop transfers up to 80 percent faster, and Photos captures load up to 70 percent faster. The update supports iPhone 11 and newer models.

Epicland, a Dongfeng-Huawei brand, will launch its first model, the Epicland X9 SUV, on September 24. Pre-sales opened August 18 with prices from 299,800 yuan, and orders topped 20,000 within 24 hours.

Xiaomi revealed pricing for its SkyNomad SUVs in Beijing, with the entry-level N70 Pro starting at RMB 209,900 (about $31,000). The tech-laden vehicles feature reconfigurable interiors, a 1,000-mile combined range, and are set to launch in Europe in 2027.

Ripple says asset managers are preparing for XRP Ledger's Batch V1.1, which groups up to eight transactions to settle or fail together. Activation is expected shortly after Sept. 29 if validator support stays above 80 percent.

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to reobserve Chariklo, the 250-kilometer body between Saturn and Uranus whose two narrow rings were discovered in 2013, and found the rings have changed over the past decade.

A 72-hour packet capture of three idle Google Pixel 8 phones found each device sent an average of 348 background transmissions per hour to Alphabet servers, totaling over 8,300 daily pings without user interaction.

Toyota plans to start producing extended-range electric vehicles in China in April 2027, targeting about 200,000 units that year and 400,000 in 2028, Nikkei Asia reported.

Employees at OpenAI, Meta and DeepMind privately mocked viral claims that AI could kill everyone, calling the warnings vague. Anthropic said on Friday it will embed outside evaluators from Accenture-owned Faculty, after more than 100 AI workers signed a letter demanding independent oversight.

Six Nobel-winning economists endorsed California's Proposition 40, a one-time 5% wealth tax on residents worth over $1 billion. The measure, which could raise $100 billion, goes to voters in November.