Warren presses Pentagon over decision to grant xAI access to classified networks

Warren presses Pentagon over decision to grant xAI access to classified networks

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday expressing concern over the Pentagon’s decision to give Elon Musk’s company xAI access to classified networks. “Grok, the controversial AI model developed by xAI, has provided disturbing outputs for users, including giving users ‘advice on how to commit murders and terrorist…

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The trap Anthropic built for itself

The trap Anthropic built for itself

Friday afternoon, just as this interview was getting underway, a news alert flashed across my computer screen: the Trump administration was severing ties with Anthropic, the San Francisco AI company founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had invoked a national security law to blacklist the company from doing business with the…

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The OpenAI mafia: 18 startups founded by alumni

The OpenAI mafia: 18 startups founded by alumni

Move over, PayPal mafia: There’s a new tech mafia in Silicon Valley. As the startup behind ChatGPT, OpenAI is arguably the biggest AI player in town. The company is reportedly now in talks to finalize a $100 billion deal, valuing the company at more than $850 billion.   Many employees have come and gone since the company first launched a decade ago, and some have launched startups of their own. Among these,…

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Is safety ‘dead’ at xAI?

Is safety ‘dead’ at xAI?

Elon Musk is “actively” working to make xAI’s Grok chatbot “more unhinged,” according to a former employee who spoke to The Verge about recent departures from Musk’s AI company. This week, following the announcement that Musk’s SpaceX is acquiring xAI (which previously acquired his social media company X), at least 11 engineers and two co-founders…

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX officially acquires Elon Musk’s xAI, with plan to build data centers in space

Elon Musk’s SpaceX officially acquires Elon Musk’s xAI, with plan to build data centers in space

SpaceX has acquired Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, creating the world’s most valuable private company, the spaceflight company announced Monday. Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, wrote in a memo posted to the rocket company’s website that the merger is largely about creating space-based data centers — an idea he has become…

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