In Brief

TikTok’s biggest star was detained by ICE, with help from another influencer

Government & Policy /

Khaby Lame, currently the world’s top TikTok creator, was recently detained by U.S. immigration officials in Las Vegas and has since left the country, The New York Times reports. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Lame, an Italian Senegalese influencer known for his silent, deadpan reactions to viral clips, overstayed the terms of […]

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Wikipedia pauses AI-generated summaries pilot after editors protest

AI /

Wikipedia has reportedly paused an experiment that used AI to summarize articles on its platform after editors pushed back. Wikipedia announced earlier this month it was going to run the experiment for users who have the Wikipedia browser extension installed and chose to opt in, according to 404 Media. AI-generated summaries appeared at the top

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Disney and Universal sue Midjourney, alleging AI-related copyright infringement

AI /

Disney and Universal have sued generative AI platform Midjourney for allegedly training its art-generating and -editing models on their content without permission. Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that Midjourney ignored their earlier requests to cease violating their intellectual property rights, according to The Wall Street Journal. The suit, filed in the U.S.

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Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z bio and health strategy, steps down

Biotech & Health /

Vijay Pande, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who founded the firm’s a16z Bio + Health strategy, announced that he is stepping down from his role. Since its founding in 2014, a16z Bio + Health has raised four funds of nearly $3 billion each, including a $1.5 billion fund that closed in 2022. However, it’s

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Google says its updated Gemini 2.5 Pro AI model is better at coding

Apps /

Google on Thursday announced an update to its Gemini 2.5 Pro preview model that the company claims is better at certain programming tasks. The company’s calling it an “updated preview,” building on the upgrade to Gemini 2.5 Pro that Google announced around a month ago. Google says the model will roll out in general availability

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Yoshua Bengio launches LawZero, a nonprofit AI safety lab

AI /

Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio is launching a nonprofit AI safety lab called LawZero to build safer AI systems, he told the Financial Times on Monday. LawZero raised $30 million in philanthropic contributions from Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn, former Google chief Eric Schmidt, Open Philanthropy, and the Future of Life Institute, among others. The

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Elon Musk’s xAI reportedly looks to raise $300M in tender offer

Fundraising /

Billionaire Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is reportedly launching a $300 million share sale that values the company at $113 billion. According to The Financial Times, the secondary stock offering, which comes after xAI acquired Musk’s social media platform, X, for $33 billion, will allow staff to sell shares to new investors. The tender offer

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Elon Musk is lobbying lawmakers on driverless vehicle rules

Transportation /

Elon Musk may have stepped away from his duties as the lead of the Department of Government Efficiency and adviser to President Trump, but he’s still active in D.C. circles. This time, he’s on the other side, lobbying lawmakers on legislation related to autonomous vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg that cited unnamed sources.

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Delaware attorney general reportedly hires a bank to evaluate OpenAI’s restructuring plan

AI /

Delaware’s attorney general is hiring an investment bank to advise on OpenAI’s for-profit conversion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The independent evaluation could prolong the transition, or gum up OpenAI’s plans even further. OpenAI’s conversion will help it attract new investment and eventually go public, but first, the startup needs to secure approvals

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Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings joins Anthropic’s board

AI /

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings is joining Anthropic’s board of directors, the company announced on Wednesday. Hastings’ appointment adds a veteran big tech executive to one of OpenAI’s largest — and youngest — competitors in the AI race. The Netflix co-founder seems likely to help Anthropic grow from a startup into a major company, pulling from

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