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. How a 1980s toy robot arm inspired modern robotics —Jon Keegan As a child of an electronic engineer, I spent a lot of time in our local Radio Shack as a kid. While…
Samsung is in investment talks with Perplexity that would see the Korean firm incorporating the AI company’s tech into its devices, Bloomberg reported.
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. The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies The Trump administration has terminated National Science Foundation grants for more than 100 research projects related to climate change, according to an…
The Trump administration has terminated National Science Foundation grants for more than 100 research projects related to climate change amid a widening campaign to slash federal funding for scientists and institutions studying the rising risks of a warming world. The move will cut off what’s likely to amount to tens of millions of dollars for…
Generative AI comes in many forms. Increasingly, though, it’s marketed the same way: with human names and personas that make it feel less like code and more like a co-worker. A growing number of startups are anthropomorphizing AI to build trust fast — and soften its threat to human jobs. It’s dehumanizing, and it’s accelerating. […]
Elon Musk’s interview with CBS Sunday Morning seemed to get off to an awkward start, as reporter David Pogue asked the SpaceX CEO about his thoughts on his ally Donald Trump’s policies, including growing restrictions on international students. “I think we want to stick to the subject of the day, which is, like, spaceships, as […]
Netflix released a flurry of announcements and trailers around high-profile projects including “Squid Game,” “Wednesday,” and “Stranger Things 5” last night at its annual Tudum marketing event. While this year’s Tudum (made for the sound that plays when you open the app) was livestreamed for the first time on Netflix itself (as opposed to YouTube), […]
Elad Gil started betting on AI before most of the world took notice. By the time investors began grasping the implications of ChatGPT, Gil had already written seed checks to startups like Perplexity, Character.AI, and Harvey. Now, as the early winners of the AI wave become clearer, the renowned “solo” VC is increasingly focused on […]
In “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey examines our AI-obsessed moment through one of its key figures — Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Hagey begins with Altman’s Midwest childhood, then takes readers through his career at startup Loopt, accelerator Y Combinator, […]