A judge is questioning whether Epic Games and Google are settling their long-running antitrust fight partly because of a previously unannounced partnership involving the Unreal Engine, Fortnite, and Android. In a hearing in San Francisco today, the court revealed that Epic and Google have struck a new deal that apparently includes “joint product development, joint […]
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) is pressing OpenAI about its move to bring ads to ChatGPT, and is asking several other companies whether they have similar plans. In letters to the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snap, and xAI, Markey writes that embedding ads into AI chatbots “raises significant concerns for consumer protection, privacy, […]
The sun was already beginning to set as Portlanders in weatherproof jackets and fleeces lined up around Revolution Hall. It wasn’t yet 5PM on a Wednesday but the crowd was gathering well before the town hall was scheduled to begin. Just a day earlier, news outlets reported that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison had been […]
Today, I am sitting in the courtroom that may decide the fate of Android. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is here. Google Android boss Sameer Samat is here. Together, they’ll try to convince Judge James Donato that they’re no longer enemies – that Google’s illegal monopoly on Android app stores can be resolved with a mutual […]
Today’s episode of Decoder is about X, Grok, and Elon Musk. By now we’re several weeks into one of the worst, most upsetting, and most stupidly irresponsible AI controversies in the short history of generative AI. Grok, the chatbot made by Elon Musk’s xAI, is able to make all manner of AI-generated images, including nonconsensual […]
Around 800 artists, writers, actors, and musicians signed on to a new campaign against what they call “theft at a grand scale” by AI companies. The signatories of the campaign – called “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” – include authors George Saunders and Jodi Picoult, actors Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson, and musicians like the band R.E.M., […]
The Trump administration took the next step toward unilaterally jumpstarting deep-sea mining this week, announcing a “consolidated” permitting process for both searching for and commercially extracting minerals that have so far remained relatively untouched. These minerals are found so deep in the sea that they’re beyond any single nation’s national jurisdiction – which is why […]
It’s been just one week since Verizon got permission to lift its 60-day phone unlocking period, and the carrier is already making changes to its policy. Now, Verizon says customers who activate a phone on one of its subbrands, including Visible, TracFone, Straight Talk, and Total Wireless, will have to pay for service for 365 […]
Welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about the technology and the tech bros upending American politics and the Trump administration. If you’re not a subscriber yet, and you’re interested in Silicon Valley’s adventures in sausage-making, you should do so here! It’s Q1! Surely the corporate budget will allow for it. Precisely one year […]
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers working at the Social Security Administration (SSA) broke protocols, had more access to sensitive data on Americans than previously disclosed, and were in touch with a political advocacy group hunting for election fraud, the Trump administration admitted in a recent court filing. Justice Department officials told a federal court […]