AI Sector Daily Digest: August 15, 2026 — Encrypted AI, OpenAI turnover, and California's truck test

In brief

1. Google open-sources a path to encrypted AI inference

• Google introduced HEIR, an open-source compiler toolchain that lets developers work with homomorphic encryption, which performs computation on encrypted data. 1
• The project is designed to convert pre-trained AI models that normally use unencrypted inputs into models that can process encrypted inputs; Google says the goal is a one-click path for production applications. 1
• Google released four example applications covering recommendations, credit-card fraud detection, network intrusion detection, and hotword detection; the remaining question is whether the privacy gain can fit real latency and cost budgets. 1

2. Washington plans an exclusivity test for its AI coalition

• The Japan Times reports that Washington is preparing to tell dozens of countries they could be excluded from the U.S.-led Pax Silica coalition if they also join Beijing's competing framework. 2
• Pax Silica is aimed at securing supply chains for AI models, semiconductors, and critical minerals; about two dozen countries have joined, according to the report. 2
• Kazakhstan is cited as a country that has joined both camps, while Japan, Australia, and South Korea are among the U.S. partners; the reported policy is a planned warning, not yet a published legal exclusion rule. 2

3. OpenAI replaces its revenue chief after another senior exit

• OpenAI's chief revenue officer Denise Dresser left after less than a year at the company; Dali Rajic, formerly chief operating officer at Wiz, was named her successor. 3
• Dresser's departure came two days after longtime executive Brad Lightcap said he was leaving OpenAI, following Fidji Simo's July step-back; the company is still moving toward a possible IPO after a confidential filing in June. 3
• CNBC reports that OpenAI's enterprise business reached 2 million customers, double the prior year, and that business customers generated 32% month-over-month revenue growth in July; Rajic now has to turn that momentum into a steadier sales organization. 3

4. Kog bets software can make existing GPUs faster

• French startup Kog says its software can improve single-request AI decoding on conventional data-center GPUs, including AMD's MI300X and Nvidia's H200, rather than requiring a new inference chip. 4
• Its public demonstration reached 3,000 tokens per second, but it used Laneformer 2B, an open-sourced model with about 2 billion parameters; Kog says it expects a first major-model result at 10x speed in September. 4
• The company has a team of 11 and has not raised its Series A; the test that matters for buyers is whether the approach holds on larger production models, not the small-model headline number. 4

5. California permits autonomous heavy trucks on public roads

• California's Department of Motor Vehicles granted Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI permits to test autonomous heavy trucks on public roads; Kodiak said it had already started with a handful of trucks near Mountain View. 5
• Rules approved on April 28 lifted California's ban on testing driverless vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds, creating a path toward testing and eventual deployment in the companies' home state. 5
• The permits still require a human safety operator and restrict roads with speed limits of 25 mph or less, while Teamsters California is suing over the DMV's process and alleged safety and economic-impact gaps. 5

The read-through