Opinion | The Stakes of the Trump-Xi Summit
President Trump’s Beijing visit aims to secure “stability” with China amid trade, technology, and Iran talks. The most realistic outcome is a tariff truce and a pledge from Beijing not to weaponize rare‑earths again. Xi may seek U.S. purchases of farm products and aircraft, but past promises failed to restore market share. Meanwhile, Beijing could leverage its rare‑earth dominance to extract concessions on advanced chip exports as AI rivalry intensifies.
For Palantir, AI Is a Product, a Punching Bag—And a Problem
Palantir Technologies has leveraged the AI boom to boost revenue, yet CEO Alex Karp repeatedly dismissed external AI outputs as "slop" during a recent investor call. The criticism underscores a paradox: Palantir sells AI‑driven platforms while warning customers about the...
The End of Helicopter Parenting
The Wall Street Journal highlights a cultural shift from intensive "helicopter" parenting to a more relaxed "beta mom" approach, where parents scale back extracurricular overload and let children set their own schedules. This change reflects a growing emphasis on parental...
The JPMorgan Banker Behind the Sexual-Assault Suit Captivating Wall Street
Chirayu Rana, a 35‑year‑old JPMorgan private‑credit banker, filed a sexual‑assault lawsuit against the bank and former colleague Lorna Hajdini after leaving the firm six months earlier. Rana, who previously worked at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, was credited with landing new deals for JPMorgan’s...
The Secret Diary That Has Spilled Into the Musk Vs. OpenAI Feud
OpenAI President Greg Brockman's personal diary was entered into evidence in Elon Musk's lawsuit against the AI firm, turning private reflections into a public courtroom drama. The diary, recorded during a high‑stress period for Brockman, allegedly reveals internal decision‑making and...
A Robot You Can Snuggle Debuts at WSJ’s Flagship Event
At the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything conference, former iRobot founder Colin Angle unveiled Familiar, a soft four‑legged robot designed to form emotional bonds with users. The prototype, presented by startup Familiar Machines & Magic, can interpret tone of...
‘AI for Good’ and ‘I Am Not a Robot’: Learning the Machines
The new book *AI for Good* spotlights pragmatic leaders who are applying artificial intelligence to solve immediate, high‑impact problems. It profiles Cleveland Clinic’s Rita Pappas, who used AI to streamline patient admissions, and retired Army General Gustave Perna, who built...
AI Is Distorting Practically Everything About the Economy
Greg Ip argues that artificial intelligence has shifted from a growth catalyst to a hurricane‑strength force reshaping the U.S. economy. AI is inflating headline GDP numbers while masking underlying productivity shortfalls, and it is distorting stock market valuations, corporate profit outlooks,...
Elon Musk Wanted Tesla to Take Over OpenAI, Romantic Partner Testifies in Court
Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis testified in federal court that she failed to disclose Elon Musk as the father of her twins while serving on the nonprofit's board. Zilis said her allegiance was to the best outcome for AI,...
IBM CEO Says AI Triggers Need for New Operating Models
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says that to get the most out of AI investments, companies must overhaul their operating models, not just add new tools. He explains that AI adoption moves from individuals to teams to the entire enterprise, with...
White House Officials Discuss Assessing AI Models That Pose Security Risks
The White House is weighing a cybersecurity‑focused executive order that would create a formal review process for artificial‑intelligence tools deemed high‑risk. Officials plan to establish an oversight group to draft standards for powerful models such as Anthropic’s Mythos, which has...
I Let AI Look at My Breasts—And I’m Glad I Did
Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern let an artificial‑intelligence system read her mammograms after years of early screening due to dense breast tissue. The AI flagged subtle patterns that radiologists might miss, offering a personal case study of how machine‑learning...
You Have No Idea How Much You Still Use BlackBerry
Despite BlackBerry’s consumer brand fading, its QNX operating system remains a hidden backbone of modern technology. The real‑time OS runs in over 70% of new automobiles and powers more than a billion embedded devices across automotive, industrial and IoT sectors....
Robotaxis Are Rolling Out Across America
After a decade of hype, setbacks, and renewed interest, driverless taxis are now appearing on streets across the United States. Waymo, Tesla and five other firms are operating fleets in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Illinois, with plans to...
Zoom Has a ‘SWAT Team’ to Stand Out on ChatGPT and Gemini
Zoom has assembled a cross‑functional SWAT team to dominate search results within large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The effort, dubbed generative engine optimization, aims to turn Zoom’s 99% brand awareness into a stronger perception advantage across...
Goldman Sachs and Bain Lead Investment in AI Marketing Startup
Hightouch, a generative‑AI marketing platform, secured a $150 million round led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ Growth Equity and Bain Capital Ventures, pushing its valuation to $2.75 billion. The funding follows a 2025 valuation of $1.2 billion and reflects strong investor confidence in AI‑driven creative...
Opinion | China’s AI ‘Hotel California’
Beijing’s National Development and Reform Commission abruptly cancelled Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Chinese AI startup Manus, a deal that had closed in December. The regulator issued a terse one‑sentence notice without detailing its reasoning. Analysts suspect the move reflects growing...
The Small Midwest Community Leading America’s Crusade Against Data Centers
Festus, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, voted out four council members who backed a new data center, signaling strong local opposition. The newly elected council, opposed to the project, was sworn in amid cheers and public protests. Residents gathered at City...
Meta Signs Multibillion-Dollar Deal With Amazon to Use Its CPU Chips for AI
Meta Platforms has inked a multiyear, multibillion‑dollar agreement with Amazon Web Services to run tens of millions of AWS Graviton5 CPU cores for its AI agents and related workloads. The contract, lasting three to five years, makes Meta one of...
Shares of Apple Supplier STMicroelectronics Jump After Strong Quarter
STMicroelectronics reported first‑quarter revenue of $3.10 billion, a 23% year‑over‑year increase that topped both its own guidance and analyst expectations. The European chipmaker highlighted accelerating AI‑related demand as major tech firms expand data‑center capacity. Shares in Paris jumped as much as...
Opinion | Open Source Isn’t a Security Boon
The author contends that open‑source software, while valuable for early‑stage innovation, becomes a security liability when deployed in critical systems. He challenges the notion that openness automatically improves safety, warning that publicly available code enables attackers—including AI‑driven tools—to locate and...
OpenAI Is Working With Consultants to Sell Codex
OpenAI has launched a Codex consulting program with Accenture, Capgemini and PwC to accelerate enterprise sales of its AI‑coding tool. Weekly active users hit four million, up from three million just two weeks earlier, while the firm appointed Colleen Kapase...
Inside BlackRock’s AI Transformation
BlackRock is rolling out RockAI, a natural‑language platform that lets employees spin up AI agents for tasks ranging from research to internal operations without writing code. The tool, first deployed to 5,000 developers, aims to expand to all staff, enabling...
Anthropic, Amazon Tighten Bond in $5 Billion Investment and Computing Deal
Amazon announced an additional $5 billion investment in Anthropic, expanding a partnership that could ultimately reach $25 billion if commercial milestones are met. In return, Anthropic will purchase more than $100 billion of AWS cloud services and tap 5 gigawatts of Amazon‑built AI chips....
Altman’s Personal Investments
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has a sprawling portfolio of personal tech investments but owns no shares in OpenAI itself. He recently pushed for OpenAI to commit $500 million to Helion, a nuclear‑fusion startup where he is a major shareholder, but employees...
Why Some Companies Say AI ‘Tokenmaxxing’ Is Key to Survival
A viral internal dashboard at Meta that ranked employees by AI token usage ignited a heated debate about the value of “tokenmaxxing,” the practice of maximizing the number of tokens processed by generative AI. Critics argue that token counts are...
Where Does Our Free Time Go in Retirement? Too Often, It’s Social Media
Retirees are increasingly filling their newfound free time with smartphones and social media, often at the expense of hands‑on activities. A recent column by former Wall Street Journal editor Stephen Kreider Yoder illustrates how an evening of YouTube videos replaced a...
Big Pharma Is Turning to China for the Newest Drug Ideas
Pfizer is intensifying its search for breakthrough cancer treatments by tapping Chinese biotech. Last summer the company paid $1.25 billion to Shanghai‑based 3SBio for rights to a promising oncology candidate. The move reflects a broader shift as China evolves from a...
White House Races to Head Off Threats From Powerful AI Tools
The White House has assembled an interagency task force, led by National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, to pre‑empt cybersecurity threats from emerging AI models. Officials are focusing on identifying vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure before releases from leading labs such as...
How AI Is Reimagining the Game of Golf—For Both Players and Courses
Artificial intelligence is moving from novelty to core infrastructure on golf courses, reshaping everything from tee‑time reservations to fairway upkeep. Virtual assistants can ingest player preferences, budget constraints and pacing goals to deliver hyper‑personalized booking options. Meanwhile, sensor networks, drones...
A Fiery Re-Entry Awaits the Artemis Astronauts
NASA’s Artemis II crew of four is set to begin the most demanding phase of their mission—re‑entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The Orion capsule will encounter a fireball of roughly 5,000 °F as it descends, testing the heat‑shield technology that faltered on the...
In This Critical Part of Audits, the Accountant’s Role Is Shrinking Fast
Accounting giants are rapidly shifting routine audit testing—payroll, expense vouching, and contract verification—to AI agents. KPMG will launch a summer pilot and aim for full deployment of orchestration agents by next year, while EY, PwC, and Deloitte experiment with similar...
Locals Are Using AI to Fight Data Centers Being Built in Their Backyards
Ohio residents are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT to bolster their opposition to new data‑center projects slated for their neighborhoods. Activists such as Jessica Sharp and realtor Jessica Baker use the technology to draft legal requests, transcribe meetings and...
College Kid Brings Down a Botnet
A 22‑year‑old college student partnered with cybersecurity researchers to dismantle a large botnet that was hijacking millions of IoT devices. By reverse‑engineering the command‑and‑control infrastructure, he helped authorities seize servers and issue takedown notices. The operation disrupted the botnet’s ability...
These AI Whiz Kids Dropped Out of College and Got Investors to Pay Their Bills
Harvard sophomore Andrew Castellano left school to build an AI startup, joining co‑founder Nebiyu Demie in a venture‑backed apartment owned by Link Ventures. The investors are covering rent, furniture, and even housekeeping, turning traditional capital into a full‑service living arrangement....
ServiceNow CEO Builds New Business Model Around AI
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott announced that the company’s total addressable market has ballooned to at least $600 billion, up from roughly $90 billion when he took the helm. The rapid leap in AI model capabilities since late 2023 has forced software firms...
How the Elevator Reshaped the Way We Live and Work
The elevator’s breakthrough came in 1853‑54 when Elisha Otis demonstrated a safety brake at the New York World’s Fair, proving that vertical transport could be reliable. Otis’s invention eliminated the primary safety fear, turning height from a dare into a...
Tech, Media & Telecom Roundup: Market Talk
Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell Technology, cementing Marvell’s role as a strategic AI‑infrastructure partner and sending its shares up 6.6%. SpaceX filed for an initial public offering, marking the likely first of three major AI‑focused IPOs expected this...
Caltech Researchers Claim Radical Compression of High-Fidelity AI Models
Caltech professor Babak Hassibi and his team at PrismML announced a 1‑bit large language model that compresses model size by orders of magnitude while preserving benchmark performance. The technology, unveiled Tuesday, was released as open‑source code, allowing developers to integrate...
What Happens When AI Agents Go Rogue?
At the RSA Conference in San Francisco, a leaked Anthropic internal document revealed a next‑generation AI model that could be weaponized by hackers, sparking concerns that the AI race is eclipsing cybersecurity. The disclosure highlighted a widening gap between AI...
What the Legendary Bell Labs Can Teach Us About Innovation
Bell Labs celebrated its centennial in April 2025, marking a century of breakthroughs that shaped modern technology. Founded in 1925 and later moving to Murray Hill, the lab produced the transistor, laser, and information theory, among countless other innovations. Now...
The Texas Lawyer and Part-Time Pastor Who Beat Meta and Google
Texas attorney Mark Lanier, also a part‑time pastor, is leading a high‑profile trial against Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube, alleging the platforms are designed to be addictive and harm teenagers. In closing arguments in Los Angeles, Lanier illustrated his point...
Opinion | The EU Trips Itself Up in the AI Race
The authors argue that the EU’s heavy‑handed AI regulations will slow innovation, jeopardizing Europe’s economic growth and security. They cite a White House Council of Economic Advisers report warning of a new "Great Divergence" between AI‑rich and AI‑poor economies. U.S....
Companies Aren’t Ripping Out Business Software for AI. Here’s What They’re Doing Instead.
Despite a steep decline in software‑stock valuations, major U.S. corporations are not discarding legacy business applications. Instead they are leveraging the market dip to negotiate better vendor terms and employing AI‑driven “vibe‑coding” to build custom extensions on platforms like Salesforce,...
The Smartest Minds in AI Just Learned the World’s Most Valuable F-Word
The article argues that the most valuable "F‑word" for AI leaders today is funding, a shift highlighted by a 2024 Slack message from Anthropic engineer Boris Cherny showcasing a new internal tool. Since that moment, AI firms have entered a...
Teaching AI to Smell
Researchers are advancing electronic noses (e‑noses) that pair chemical sensors with AI to identify and quantify odors. These systems can discern volatile compounds with up to a thousand times the precision of human noses, enabling applications from medical diagnostics to...
The E-Nose Knows: AI Learns to Smell
Researchers have advanced electronic nose (e‑nose) technology, pairing dense sensor arrays with AI to detect odors with up to 1,000 times human precision. The systems can decompose volatile compounds, enabling applications such as breath‑based infection screening, indoor air quality monitoring,...
IBM Closes $11 Billion Deal for Confluent
IBM completed an approximately $11 billion acquisition of data‑streaming firm Confluent, aiming to make real‑time data the backbone for AI agents across enterprise environments. The deal, IBM’s second‑largest ever, dovetails with Arvind Krishna’s vision of a hybrid‑cloud platform that can pull data...
Going Electric?
Rising oil prices are prompting consumers to reconsider electric vehicles, citing lower operating costs and performance advantages. The author shares personal challenges from a year of EV ownership, highlighting limited charging convenience, steep depreciation, and immature repair and insurance processes....
FedEx Is Planning an AI Agent Workforce
FedEx announced a multiyear plan to embed artificial‑intelligence agents across more than half of its core operational workflows by 2028, extending AI beyond software development into network planning, customs clearance and marketing. The company is building a data‑centric foundation, consolidating...