ChatGPT Creator OpenAI Just Closed the Largest Private Tech Deal Ever, Raising $40 Billion: ‘Make AI More Useful in Everyday Life’
OpenAI is now valued at $300 billion, joining the ranks of the most valuable private companies in the world.
Roundtables: A New Look at AI’s Energy Use
Big Tech’s appetite for energy is growing rapidly as adoption of AI accelerates. But just how much energy does even a single AI query use? And what does it mean for the climate? Join editor in chief Mat Honan, senior climate reporter Casey Crownhart, and AI reporter James O’Donnell for a conversation exploring AI’s energy…
April 2025
Someone is trying to recruit security researchers in bizarre hacking campaign
An obscure wannabe hacker’s tantalizing (and clearly sketchy) job offer has some security researchers asking, why?
Sam Altman says that OpenAI’s capacity issues will cause product delays
In a series of posts on X on Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the popularity of the company’s new image-generation tool in ChatGPT will cause unspecified product delays. “We are getting things under control, but you should expect new releases from OpenAI to be delayed, stuff to break, and for service to sometimes […]
Roblox partners with Google on ads
Google on Tuesday announced a new partnership with gaming company Roblox, which will allow advertisers to purchase and scale Roblox’s Rewarded Video and other immersive ad formats. That means marketers who want to reach the younger Gen Z audience that dominates the platform will be able to use Google Ad Manager to place their video […]
NaNoWriMo shut down after AI, content moderation scandals
NaNoWriMo, a twenty-five-year-old online writing community-turned-nonprofit, announced on Monday evening that it is shutting down. NaNoWriMo — an abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month — is an annual challenge for writers to complete a rough draft of a novel during the month of November. After starting as a Yahoo! mailing list in 1999, the project […]
Qualcomm acquires generative AI division of Vietnamese startup VinAI
Qualcomm has acquired the generative AI division of VinAI, an AI research company headquartered in Hanoi, for an undisclosed amount, the companies announced on Monday. The move marks Qualcomm’s continued expansion into the AI tooling sector. VinAI, which was founded by former DeepMind research scientist Hung Bui, develops a range of generative AI technologies, including […]
The Upcoming Real ID Deadline Is Bringing Long Lines to the DMV — and Scalpers Charging Up to $300 for an Appointment
The deadline to have Real ID-compliant identification for domestic travel is May 7.
I Built Two Companies, Then Got an MBA — Here’s What I Learned
An MBA seemed like the perfect way to level up my business skills — and spoiler: it absolutely was.
Meet Ponte Labor, a startup matching Hispanic immigrants to jobs using WhatsApp
While working on their MBAs at Harvard Business School, Colombian immigrants Stephanie Murra and Lorenza Vélez noticed that most of the workers in the cafeteria were Hispanic. In conversations with them, a common theme kept coming up: how difficult it was for people who legally moved to the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries to find their […]
The Beagle is a new long-range drone with more than one application
When there are damages to energy infrastructure, such as electricity pylons or gas pipelines, expensive helicopters are frequently used to inspect them. Drones have begun to replace some of those inspections, but the flight-time for these can be limited. Now a new company has produced a drone with a very long range to fill this […]