Good morning, today's Factwire has big tech's daily spending plan, Claude's new top plan, and a coming one-line opt-out from AI training.
Learn AI one step at a time. The news worth knowing, checked against the source, plus 3 things to try. Every Monday and Friday.
Four tech giants plan to spend about $2 billion a day
In one line: Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta guide to $720 billion to $740 billion of capital spending this year.
What happened:
Capital spending means buildings and equipment. The sum is our math.
That's about $2 billion every day.
None calls it AI-only, and each counts a bit differently.
Why it matters: It shows scale, but it is a company budget, not your bill.
Factwire's take: Big numbers are easy to cheer or fear, so watch what gets built.
Hit reply: yes or no, is this much spending a smart bet?
Claude's $200 plan is now Ultra and drops its five-hour limit
In one line: Anthropic renamed its $200 Max 20x plan Ultra and removed the five-hour limit for verified accounts.
What happened:
Current Max 20x members move to Ultra on their own, with no price change.
A weekly cap still applies, like a phone plan that drops the daily data cap but keeps the weekly one.
Why it matters: If you pay for the top Claude plan and your account is verified, you no longer hit a five-hour limit, though weekly limits still apply.
Claude on X, Oct 30, 2026. Also: Anthropic Help Center, page undated.
Big AI companies plan one robots.txt line to opt out of training
In one line: OpenAI, Google and Microsoft plan to honor one shared robots.txt signal for opting out of AI training, they said on Oct 30.
What happened:
OpenAI aims to start in the coming months, Microsoft on Feb 1, 2027, and Google in 2027. So nothing about the new signal is live yet. OpenAI and Google say their older controls keep working.
An Anthropic employee wrote the draft. It's a draft, not a final standard.
Why it matters: If you run a website, one line could soon cover several AI companies, like one do-not-call registration, but nothing changes until each switches it on.
Google, Oct 30, 2026. Also: OpenAI, Oct 30, 2026; Microsoft, Oct 30, 2026; IETF draft, Oct 30, 2026.
Start here
Learn this week: 3 things to try (5 minutes or less each)
On the Ultra plan, open Settings, then Usage in Claude. If there's no Current session bar, your account is verified.
In Gemini on the web, ask for a packing list as a Google Doc, then open it full screen and fix one line.
In Grok Bot, ask it to find a product and swipe through the shopping cards. Buy now only starts an order you approve.
Want to start with the basics? Get the free Grok Bot guides.
Try this today: ask your AI to show the math behind about $2 billion a day, then check it against the sources above.
Word of the week: robots.txt. It's a small file on a website that tells web crawlers, the programs that visit sites, what they may use.
xAI facts
Model or product: Grok Bot 0.78.1
Price: Paid individual plans start at $30 a month (Premium), as listed on x.ai/bot as of Nov 1, 2026. Any extra cost for 0.78.1 features is Not stated.
Docs: Grok Bot changelog
Who can use it: Grok Bot is included with eligible Premium, Super, Ultra, Teams and Enterprise plans, per x.ai
Date: Oct 27, 2026, per the changelog
Wires
Google says its test satellite got the first AI answer from a data center chip in orbit, a haiku, like a postcard from space. Google, Oct 30, 2026.
Google says Gemini 4 Carbon ranks first on Artificial Analysis's index and starts with a few cyber defenders, like a tool going to pros first. Google, Oct 28, 2026.
Mistral says its Large 4 AI model is free to download, like a free recipe, but firms selling it as a service need a license. Mistral, Oct 29, 2026.
Google says Gemini can make and edit Docs, Sheets, slides and PDFs inside the chat on the web, like a coworker editing while you watch. Google, Oct 29, 2026.
A tampered Claude Code add-on meant to plant a backdoor sat in Cursor's store for about 11 hours, like a fake key at a locksmith. Microsoft Security, Oct 30, 2026.
Grok Bot 0.78.1 shows shopping results as cards and adds subscription templates, like a clerk who confirms before changing anything. xAI, Oct 27, 2026.
MABLE Maps, now available on iPhone, uses AI to guide blind users in mapped host buildings, like a mall map, but is still in development. Sights for Hope, Oct 22, 2026.
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Next drop on Friday, enjoy your week.