Google’s AI architect lived rent-free in Elon Musk’s head
Google’s AI architect lived rent-free in Elon Musk’s head

About a week into the Musk v. Altman trial, we’ve heard from some of the most powerful people in tech – including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Elon Musk’s fixer Jared Birchall, and Musk himself. But one of the most prominent characters is hovering around the margins: Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind. Hassabis is the […]

Facebook and Instagram are using AI bone structure analysis to identify photos of kids
Facebook and Instagram are using AI bone structure analysis to identify photos of kids

Facebook and Instagram have a new way to detect and remove users under 13: AI bone structure analysis. In a blog post on Tuesday, Meta – Facebook and Instagram’s parent company – says its AI system will scan photos and videos posted to its platforms for “general themes and visual cues,” including height and bone […]

OpenAI’s president does ‘all the things,’ except answer a question
OpenAI’s president does ‘all the things,’ except answer a question

The strongest witness for Elon Musk’s case against OpenAI so far has been Greg Brockman’s journal. Brockman himself is running as a close second. Brockman was called to the stand in a rather unusual way – he was cross-examined first, followed by a direct examination – and he had some serious high school debate club […]

Elon Musk will settle the feds’ Twitter lawsuit with pocket change
Elon Musk will settle the feds’ Twitter lawsuit with pocket change

Last year, the SEC sued Elon Musk over the way his acquisition of Twitter (now X, and a part of SpaceX) started, and today it announced a settlement that looks like a massive bargain, while Musk’s own lawsuit against Sam Altman continues to play out. A week before the Trump administration took over, the department […]

Planning For The End Of The Oil Age

This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at mining copper with AI-powered robots and using weed-killing lasers instead of chemicals for healthier farming

Meta’s historic loss in court could cost a lot more than $375 million
Meta’s historic loss in court could cost a lot more than $375 million

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez won a historic sum of $375 million in a landmark child safety case against Meta earlier this year. But the next stage of the fight could be even more consequential for Meta and the social media industry at large. Beginning Monday, attorneys for Meta and New Mexico will return […]

Spirit Airlines shuts down after Trump’s war on Iran doubled jet fuel prices
Spirit Airlines shuts down after Trump’s war on Iran doubled jet fuel prices

The ultra-low-cost air carrier Spirit Airlines shut down operations after 34 years in business and canceled all flights at 3AM ET on Saturday morning. Its website now redirects to spiritrestructuring.com, instructing fliers not to go to airports, with air traffic control records capturing controllers and pilots signing off to each other as its last flights […]

We just got a new reason to believe the Trump phone is real(ish)
We just got a new reason to believe the Trump phone is real(ish)

Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone’s whereabouts. This time we’ve discovered a little more evidence that the phone is on its way to a release. Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone has just passed another milestone on its slow […]

Pentagon strikes classified AI deals with OpenAI, Google, and Nvidia — but not Anthropic
Pentagon strikes classified AI deals with OpenAI, Google, and Nvidia — but not Anthropic

The Pentagon has struck deals with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Elon Musk’s xAI, and the startup Reflection, allowing the agency to use their AI tools in classified settings, according to an announcement on Friday. At the same time, the Defense Department has left out Anthropic – which it previously used for classified information – […]

Trump’s mass firing just dealt another blow to American science

This past week delivered another gut punch for science in the US. This time, the target was the National Science Foundation—a federal agency that funds major research projects to the tune of around $9 billion. The foundation’s efforts were overseen by a board of 22 prominent scientists. On Friday last week, they were all fired.…