February 22, 2025

US AI Safety Institute could face big cuts

The National Institute of Standards and Technology could fire as many as 500 staffers, according to multiple reports — cuts that further threaten a fledgling AI safety organization. Axios reported this week that the US AI Safety Institute (AISI) and Chips for America, both part of NIST, would be “gutted” by layoffs targeting probationary employees […]

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The Download: 4G on the moon, and parenting in the digital age

February 18, 2025
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Nokia is putting the first cellular network on the moon Later this month, Intuitive Machines, the private company behind the first commercial lander that touched down on the moon, will launch a second…

Legal AI-startup Luminance, backed by the late Mike Lynch, raises $75M

February 18, 2025

Given Generative AI is very good at interpreting dense texts, it’s been a boon for startups attacking one of the most complex sets of texts there is: the law. We’ve thus seen an explosion of legal tech, supercharged by AI, in the last year or so.  Lawtech startup Eudia bagged $105 million only last week.  […]

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Level Zero Health banks $6.9M to prove wearable medtech can take the strain out of hormone testing

February 18, 2025

Level Zero Health, a female-founded medical device startup that’s aiming to break new ground by developing a device for continuous hormone monitoring, has closed an oversubscribed $6.9 million pre-seed funding round despite being only a little over a year old. The startup wants to do away with the need for invasive blood draws and support […]

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How to have a child in the digital age

February 18, 2025
When the journalist and culture critic Amanda Hess got pregnant with her first child, in 2020, the internet was among the first to know. “More brands knew about my pregnancy than people did,” she writes of the torrent of targeted ads that came her way. “They all called me mama.”  The internet held the promise…

Inside China’s electric-vehicle-to-humanoid-robot pivot

February 18, 2025
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. While DOGE’s efforts to shutter federal agencies dominate news from Washington, the Trump administration is also making more global moves. Many of these center on China. Tariffs on goods from the country…

Nokia is putting the first cellular network on the moon

February 18, 2025
Later this month, Intuitive Machines, the private company behind the first commercial lander that touched down on the moon, will launch a second lunar mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The plan is to deploy a lander, a rover, and hopper to explore a site near the lunar south pole that could harbor water ice,…

X doubles its Premium+ plan prices after xAI releases Grok 3

February 18, 2025

Hours after Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI released the latest version of its AI model, Grok 3, X has significantly hiked the price for its top Premium+ subscription plan, which gives users access to the latest model, to almost $50 per month. On the support page that lists X’s premium plans, the monthly subscription price […]

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Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, releases its latest flagship model, Grok 3

February 18, 2025

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, released its latest flagship AI model, Grok 3, late Monday night, along with new capabilities in the Grok app for iOS and the web. Grok, xAI’s answer to models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini, can analyze images and respond to questions, and powers a number of features on Musk’s social network, X. […]

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Thousands protest Elon Musk’s DOGE in NYC on Presidents’ Day

February 17, 2025

More than 10,000 protesters gathered in New York City on Presidents’ Day to speak out against the current Trump administration and the actions in particular of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  It was one of several protests that took place Monday in major cities across the country and came during the same long […]

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