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☆ Musk’s A.I. Firm Raises $6 Billion in Race With Rivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Jason Karaian | More About Jason Karaian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, said on Sunday that it has raised $6 billion, helping to close the funding gap with OpenAI, Anthropic and other rivals in the red-hot industry. Mr. Musk, who founded xAI in July, said in a social media post the funding round valued the company at $18 billion, not including the new money. Investors included the Silicon Valley heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, along with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Investors and large tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft have poured billions into the businesses developing A.I. systems, which require huge amounts of processing power to generate text, sounds and images.

Persons: Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Organizations: Elon, xAI, Sequoia Capital, Saudi, Investors, Google, Meta, Microsoft

☆ Should Elon Musk be paid $56 billion? Tesla shareholders get to vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( David Ingram | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Several investors released a joint letter this month urging fellow shareholders to vote down the package as excessive. Tesla shareholders approved the pay package in 2018, with compensation tied to Tesla's performance including its market value. And he still has time to meet goals he hasn't reached, including on revenue, because the pay package had a 10-year term. In the 440-page proxy statement explaining the vote, a committee of the Tesla board noted the "novel circumstances." Some people began sharing screenshots of their votes in April, shortly after the Tesla board announced the vote, and the deadline to vote online is June 12.

Persons: Elon Musk, The Beverly Hilton, Tesla, James Park, Musk, He's, Judge Kathaleen McCormick, McCormick, Nadya Malenko, hasn't, Ann Lipton, Lipton, — I'm, Musk's, there's, —, Rowe Price, didn't, Brad Lander Organizations: SpaceX, Tesla, The Beverly, Wall Street, University of California, CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Boston College's, Tulane University, Disney, New York, Amalgamated Bank . Locations: Beverly Hills , California, U.S, Delaware, Austin , Texas, —, Los Angeles, Texas, New York City

☆ Here's what it's like inside the operating room when someone gets a brain implant
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-25 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Bederson, system chair for the Department of Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Health System, is no stranger to long hours in an operating room. In fact, it marked the 14th time that the company has placed its array on a human patient's brain. Four of Precision's arrays were carefully laid out on a table nearby. Using a pair of yellow tweezers called long bayonet forceps, Bederson began placing all four of Precision's electrode arrays onto the patient's brain. Real-time renderings of the patient's brain activity swept across Precision's monitors in the operating room.

Persons: Joshua Bederson, Ashley Capoot, Bederson, Elon Musk, Stephanie Rider, Ignacio Saez, Saez, Bederson's, Benjamin Rapoport, Precision's, Ashley Capoot Bederson, Precision's Rapoport, Rapoport, Ashley Capoot Rapoport, Thomas Oxley, Synchron Organizations: Sinai, Neurosurgery, Sinai Health, CNBC, Neuroscience, BCI, Tesla, SpaceX, Icahn School of Medicine, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Mount, Mount Sinai, Precision Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medicine, Wall Locations: New York City, Mount Sinai, U.S, Mount, Synchron

☆ Bill Gates shares the Warren Buffett-inspired scheduling tip he wishes he had learned earlier
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-25 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The billionaire shared a scheduling tip in a Friday Threads post, citing fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. "(In hindsight, it's a lesson I could have learned a lot sooner had I taken more peeks at Warren Buffett's intentionally light calendar.)" "I thought that was the only way you could do things," Gates said of his packed schedule in a 2017 interview alongside Buffett. People who have the freedom to focus their time on creative work as opposed to performative busywork are happier, more productive, and more engaged at work, Business Insider previously reported. After seeing Buffett's schedule, Gates relaxed his own calendar.

Persons: —, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Gates, it's, Warren Buffett's, Elon Musk, Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Organizations: Service, Business, Microsoft, Berkshire

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Dow's worst day in 2024, Nvidia shares pop
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Abid Ali | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Dow sinks 600 pointsThe Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst day of the year, dropping over 600 points on Thursday. Nvidia's blockbuster earnings and guidance failed to prop up markets, with more than 400 stocks on the S&P 500 trading lower. Nvidia popsShares of Nvidia soared as much as 11% after the AI chipmaker's earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates. Wall Street analysts are revising their price targets for Nvidia upwards after its blowout earnings and guidance.

Persons: Dow, Musk, Elon Musk, he's, Joe Biden, Tesla, Karen Tso, Brian West, Korea's Kospi Organizations: CNBC, Dow Jones, Boeing, Dow, Nasdaq, Treasury, Nvidia, Nikkei, Bank of Japan, Samsung Electronics, Samsung, CSI, Wall, Microsoft Locations: China, Asia, Pacific, Japan

☆ Elon Musk Ramps Up Anti-Biden Posts on X
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Kate Conger | Ryan Mac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last month, Elon Musk posted on X that President Biden “obviously barely knows what’s going on.”“He is just a tragic front for a far left political machine,” Mr. Musk wrote. It was the 29th time this year that he had posted about the president on X, formerly known as Twitter, which Mr. Musk bought in 2022. Mr. Musk has steadily ramped up his criticism of Mr. Biden as the campaign season heats up before the November presidential election. In all, Mr. Musk had posted nearly 40 times about Mr. Biden this year, compared with about 30 times for all of last year. And Mr. Musk exerts outsize influence over the political discourse on X, where he regularly posts to his 184 million followers.

Persons: Elon Musk, Biden “, Mr, Musk, Biden, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Mr, New York Times, Republican

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Dow sinks 600 points, Nvidia soars
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Abid Ali | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Persons: Jensen Huang, Dow, Musk, Elon Musk, he's, Joe Biden, Tesla, Karen Tso, Brian West, General Merrick Garland Organizations: SAP Center, CNBC, Dow Jones, Boeing, Dow, Nasdaq, Treasury, Nvidia, U.S . Department of Justice, Ticketmaster, Wall, Microsoft Locations: San Jose , California, China

☆ Tesla is building a huge battery factory in Shanghai even as US-China trade tensions rise
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The factory, which was announced in April last year, aims to begin production in the first quarter of 2025. The battery facility will be close to Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory, which is the company’s largest plant outside the United States, producing almost one million cars a year. Rising tensionsWhile most Western companies are face rising barriers to doing business in China, things have been smoother for Tesla. “Tesla competes quite well in the market in China with no tariffs and no deferential support. I’m in favor of no tariffs,” Musk said.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN — Tesla, Elon Musk, Tom Zhu, Tesla, Wu Xiaohua, ” Musk, Li Qiang, Li, Joe Biden, Musk, “ Tesla Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Lingang Group, Tesla, Reuters, “ Locations: Hong Kong, Shanghai, China, United States, Beijing, Washington, Tesla’s Gigafactory, Europe, Paris

☆ Chinese EV makers continue aggressive push into Europe under growing threat of tariffs
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS — Chinese electric carmakers are pushing ahead with expansion into Europe, even as politicians raise the possibility of high tariffs on vehicles from the world's second largest economy. The result of this probe could lead to tariffs on Chinese EV imports. The U.S. has already taken such a step, with the Biden administration imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese EV imports this week. Chinese EV makers have been aggressively expanding overseas, as they look to challenge Elon Musk's Tesla internationally but also to gain an early lead ahead of established automakers. China's EV industry has boomed over the years thanks to incentives and support from the Chinese government, which has concerned politicians in Europe and the U.S.

Persons: Xpeng, BYD, Biden, Elon Musk's Tesla, Bruno Le Maire Organizations: European Commission, EV, Companies, U.S, CNBC, French Finance Locations: Amsterdam, Netherlands, France, Paris, PARIS, Europe, China, U.S

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’This week, more drama at OpenAI: The company wanted Scarlett Johansson to be a voice of GPT-4o, she said no … but something got lost in translation. Then we talk with Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get Elon Musk’s Neuralink device implanted in his brain, about how his brain-computer interface has changed his life. And finally, the Times’s Karen Weise reports back from Microsoft’s developer conference, where the big buzz was that the company’s new line of A.I. PCs will record every single thing you do on the device. Guests:Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink patientKaren Weise, technology correspondent for The New York TimesAdditional Reading:

Persons: Scarlett Johansson, Noland Arbaugh, Elon Musk’s, Karen Weise Organizations: Apple, Spotify, The New York Times

☆ What Living in a SpaceX Company Town Tells Us About Elon Musk - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Christopher Hooks | Mike Osborne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He woke as if Elon Musk himself had grabbed him by the shoulders. Mr. Musk spent $44 billion of mostly other people’s money to buy Twitter, rebrand it to X and guarantee that he could continue to irritate people on a global scale. For Mr. Rangel, what was figurative for others had become literal: When a tycoon stomps, the earth shakes. Mr. Musk’s company SpaceX had launched a new iteration of its Starship rocket about 25 miles away. But Mr. Rangel still couldn’t go back to sleep.

Persons: Noel Rangel, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Donald Trump —, —, Jeff Bezos, Musk, Rangel, stomps, couldn’t Organizations: Twitter, SpaceX Locations: Gulf of Mexico, Brownsville , Texas, West Texas

☆ Kabosu: The dog who inspired Dogecoin has died
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Kabosu, the dog that launched a thousand “doge” memes, has died, her owner announced Friday. The Japanese shiba inu “fell into a deep sleep” on Friday morning at 18 years of age, Atsuko Sato wrote in a blogpost. As I was touching her, she gently passed away,” wrote Sato, a kindergarten teacher in the Japanese city of Sakura. The popularity of “doge” memes was cemented in December 2013, when Kabosu became the face of alternative cryptocurrency Dogecoin — a tongue-in-cheek response to Bitcoin that reflected the internet’s love of animal memes. An X post by Dogecoin Friday called Kabosu the community’s “inspiration.” “The impact this one dog has made across the world is immeasurable,” the post read.

Persons: London CNN — Kabosu, shiba inu “, Atsuko Sato, ”, Sato, ” Kabosu, Kabosu, shiba, Tesla, cryptocurrencies, Mai Nishiyama Organizations: London CNN, Elon, Twitter, Dogecoin Locations: “, Sakura

☆ X CEO Linda Yaccarino accuses Australia of 'overreach' after judge lifts ban on stabbing video
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, France — X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Friday hit out at Australia after a face off with online safety regulators. It comes after the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X last week won a reprieve in Australia as a court refused to extend a temporary order blocking videos of a Sydney church stabbing. In a talk onstage at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Yaccarino accused Australia of overreach over the dispute. "The good news is that the people prevailed," Yaccarino, the former global advertising chief at CNBC parent company NBCUniversal, said. "We're happy to be that beacon of light and that place for truth."

Persons: Linda Yaccarino, Elon, Yaccarino Organizations: Elon Musk, eSafety, CNBC Locations: PARIS, France, Australia, Sydney, Paris, overreach

☆ RIP Kabosu, the celebrity canine who became the face of Dogecoin
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Kabosu, the Shiba Inu who became the face of Dogecoin, has died at the age of 18. Her quizzical expression went viral in 2010 and was later used as the cryptocurrency mascot. Elon Musk was one of Dogecoin's biggest fans, and Kabosu briefly became the Twitter logo in 2023. AdvertisementA diminutive Japanese dog who became the face of Dogecoin has died. The billionaire joked about Dogecoin on "SNL" and even briefly changed the Twitter home button to an image of Kabosu after buying the site in 2022.

Persons: Shiba Inu, Elon Musk, Kabosu, —, Dogecoin, Kabosu —, Atsuko Sato, Sato, Billy Markus, Jackson Palmer, Shiba Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Japan

☆ Russia, in New Push, Increasingly Disrupts Ukraine’s Starlink Service
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Paul Mozur | Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Starlink satellite internet service, which soldiers use to communicate, collect intelligence and conduct drone attacks, had slowed to a crawl. Operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink has been critical to the Ukrainian military since the earliest days of the war with Russia. Without the full service, Ukrainian soldiers said, they couldn’t quickly communicate and share information about the surprise onslaught and resorted to sending text messages. Their experiences were repeated across the new northern front line, according to Ukrainian soldiers, officials and electronics warfare experts. As Russian troops made gains this month near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, they deployed stronger electronic weapons and more sophisticated tools to degrade Starlink service, Ukrainian officials said.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, Starlink Organizations: 92nd Assault Brigade, Elon, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Mr, SpaceX Locations: Ukrainian, Russia, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s, Ukraine, United States

☆ Russia has figured out how to mess up Ukraine's crucial Starlink battlefield internet, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Mikhaila Friel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewRussia's jamming technology appears to be increasingly interfering with Elon Musk's Starlink service in Ukraine. AdvertisementBrian Weeden, the chief program officer for the nonprofit Secure World Foundation, previously told BI that Russia has struggled to disrupt Ukraine's Starlink service. Because Starlink satellites are closer to Earth, latency — the delay between a user's action and a network response — is shorter. According to The Times, Russia may have gotten better at interfering with the signal by using more powerful and precise jammers. AdvertisementThe outlet said Russians were purchasing the technology from foreign countries, including the US, before smuggling it to Russian troops in Ukraine.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's, Starlink, We're, Mykhailo Fedorov, Brian Weeden Organizations: Service, The New York Times, Business, 92nd Assault Brigade, The Times, Ajax, Times, SpaceX, World Foundation, Street, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Russia

☆ Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Elon Musk says artificial intelligence will take all our jobs and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Probably none of us will have a job,” Musk said about AI at a tech conference on Thursday. While speaking remotely via webcam at VivaTech 2024 in Paris, Musk described a future where jobs would be “optional.”“If you want to do a job that’s kinda like a hobby, you can do a job,” Musk said. Concerns also continue to mount over how various industries and jobs will change as AI proliferates in the market. The report also said the majority of jobs previously identified as vulnerable to AI were not economically beneficial for employers to automate at that time.

Persons: CNN — Elon, ” Musk, Musk, ”, Ian Banks, “ Organizations: CNN, MIT’s Computer, Artificial Intelligence Locations: Paris

☆ Elon Musk says he didn't ask for Biden's tariff on electric vehicles from China
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk said he wasn't involved in President Joe Biden's tariff on Chinese electric cars. The White House announced the 100% tariff on Chinese EV imports on May 14. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementElon Musk said he was surprised when President Joe Biden announced a tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. "Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs," the Tesla CEO said during an interview at the VivaTech conference in Paris on Thursday.

Persons: Elon Musk, wasn't, Joe Biden's, Musk, —, Joe Biden, Tesla Organizations: White House, Service, Business Locations: Paris, China

☆ A Tesla owner says his car’s ‘self-driving’ technology failed to detect a moving train ahead of a crash caught on camera
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Ben Goggin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

"You do get complacent that it knows what it's doing," he said of the Tesla technology. Doty, a certified general appraiser in Ohio, was driving at around 60 mph, according to a Tesla crash report. The speed limit on the road was 55 mph, according to Doty and a police report associated with the accident. Drivers can request crash reports from Tesla, which are generated using data individual cars send to Tesla servers. The Tesla report shows that the car maintained a speed of around 60 mph while in Full Self-Driving mode before Doty slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel.

Persons: Craig Doty, Craig Doty II, Tesla's, Doty, David Paul Morris, Tesla, Elon Musk, Mike Blake Organizations: NBC News, Tesla, NBC, Bloomberg, Getty, National, Traffic Safety Administration Locations: Ohio, Encinitas , California, U.S

☆ OpenAI's defense: We're not liars; we're just incompetent. Yikes!
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Earlier this week, the consensus around OpenAI was that the company was a lying, rapacious soul stealer. A company that wanted to use Scarlett Johansson to promote its product — and when she declined, went ahead and did it anyway, using a fake Scarlett Johansson. Here's the problem: The second version of reality is the one OpenAI itself is pushing. And OpenAI is a relatively young company, with a particularly chaotic history, which includes a foundational fight with Elon Musk and last year's well-publicized Thanksgiving coup-that-wasn't. Now they're telling us they can't handle the most basic stuff, like telling the left hand what the right hand is doing.

Persons: OpenAI, Scarlett Johansson, —, Scarlett Johansson —, Sam Altman, Johansson —, Altman, Joanne Jang, Jang, Mira Murati, Elon Musk, It's Organizations: Washington Post, bumblers, Apple, Microsoft Locations: Washington

☆ Microsoft is planning AI computing resources for a LinkedIn 'Copilot,' internal document shows
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read previewMicrosoft is planning AI computing resources for a LinkedIn Copilot, according to an internal document. The planning document, viewed by Business Insider, lists "LinkedIn" among existing Copilots like GitHub, Security, and Azure. It's unclear what the reference to LinkedIn Copilot specifically means. However, the AI computing resources planned for LinkedIn Copilot in the document suggest bigger plans than the existing AI tools, a person familiar with the planning said. There has so far been no mention of a LinkedIn Copilot.

Persons: —, Elon Musk Organizations: Service, Business, Microsoft, LinkedIn Copilot, LinkedIn, Elon, Meta

☆ Elon Musk has lost his focus, former Tesla board member says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., speaks at the Milken Institute's Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel,on May 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. Tesla could use more of high-profile CEO Elon Musk's divided focus at a critical juncture for the electric vehicle industry, former board member Steve Westly said Thursday. And it appears now that Mr Musk's focus is in too many areas," Westly told CNBC at the annual VivaTech conference in Paris. Tesla could use more of it," said Westly, who is managing director of venture capital firm The Westly Group and an early Tesla investor. Just how much of a liability Musk is for Tesla, however, Westly said was "for the board to decide."

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Elon Musk's, Steve Westly, Westly, Jensen Huang —, he's Organizations: SpaceX, X Holdings Corp, Milken Institute's Global, Beverly Hilton Hotel, CNBC Locations: Beverly Hills , California, Paris

☆ Elon Musk's X is making 'likes' private so people can like NSFW posts without worrying
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk's X is planning to make "likes" private by default, according to X's head of engineering. The move will apparently encourage more people to like "edgy" content on the site. AdvertisementIt looks like X wants you to post more like Elon Musk. The social media platform plans to make "likes" on the site private, according to X's director of engineering, who said the move would encourage people to like more "edgy" posts. "Yeah, we are making likes private," wrote Haofei Wang in a post on X.

Persons: Elon Musk's, —, Elon, Haofei Wang Organizations: Service

☆ Buying a piece of Nvidia is about to get a whole lot cheaper
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewBuying a share of Nvidia is about to get a lot cheaper. The microchip maker announced a 10-for-1 stock split in its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Nvidia's management said the goal of the stock split was to "make stock ownership more accessible to employees and investors." Chipotle approved a 50-for-1 stock split in April, saying it would make its shares "more accessible to employees as well as a broader range of investors." AdvertisementHe did so because Berkshire was acquiring a railway company, and he wanted its shareholders to be able to easily exchange their shares for Berkshire shares in a tax-free swap.

Persons: —, Price, Elon Musk's Tesla, Warren Buffett, it's Organizations: Service, Nvidia, Business, Dow, Big Tech, Apple, Microsoft, EV, Berkshire Hathaway's, Berkshire, Burlington Northern Locations: Berkshire

☆ Elon Musk predicts smarter-than-humans AI in 2 years. The CEO of China's Baidu says it's 10 years away
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chesnot | Getty ImagesPARIS — Robin Li, CEO of one of China's biggest tech firms Baidu , said artificial intelligence that is smarter than humans is more than 10 years away, even as industry staple Elon Musk predicts it will emerge very soon. Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, broadly relates to AI that is as smart or smarter than humans. Li, whose company Baidu is one of China's leading AI players, signals this isn't realistic. I think [it] is more than 10 years away," Li said during a talk on Wednesday at the VivaTech conference in Paris. "[My] fear is that is that AI technology is not improving fast enough.

Persons: Robin Li, Porte de Versailles, Musk, AGI, Sam Altman, Li, it's, Everyone's Organizations: Baidu, Viva Technology, Parc, Getty, PARIS, Elon Locations: Paris, France, Europe

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