IBM just bought a quantum bet it doesn’t build. Days later, the payoff hit Nature.
IBM just bought a quantum bet it doesn’t build. Days later, the payoff hit Nature.

Six days ago, IBM agreed to buy a quantum-computing lab that builds a kind of qubit IBM does not. This week, the lab showed the world why. HRL Laboratories published a result in Nature on Wednesday: a silicon quantum processor that, in effect, runs its…

The AI race built faster chips. Now the chips are too fast for their own wires.
The AI race built faster chips. Now the chips are too fast for their own wires.

For three years, the AI race has been a race for faster chips. Eliyan just became a $1bn company by pointing out that the chips are now too fast for their own wires. The Santa Clara startup said it closed an oversubscribed $145m Series C at a $1bn valu…

The FTC is suing Hims & Hers for sharing patients’ health data with Meta and Snap
The FTC is suing Hims & Hers for sharing patients’ health data with Meta and Snap

The Federal Trade Commission is suing Hims & Hers, accusing the telehealth company of sharing customers’ sensitive health information with advertising platforms including Meta and Snap. The complaint, filed on 29 July and joined by Utah and Califor…

Microsoft’s AI spending became cloud revenue. Meta’s became a cash-flow hole.
Microsoft’s AI spending became cloud revenue. Meta’s became a cash-flow hole.

Two of the biggest AI spenders reported on the same day. Microsoft’s spending showed up as cloud revenue. Meta’s showed up as a hole in its cash flow. Meta’s revenue rose 28% to $60.8bn, beating forecasts, CNBC reported. But profit fell 14% to $15.8bn,…

Microsoft’s Azure just crossed $100bn a year, and the AI bet mostly paid off
Microsoft’s Azure just crossed $100bn a year, and the AI bet mostly paid off

Microsoft went into its earnings facing one question: is the vast AI spending working? The numbers said yes, mostly. Revenue rose 18% to $90bn for the quarter to 30 June, and net income climbed 31% to $35.8bn, the company reported. Microsoft Cloud brou…

OpenAI is giving 100,000 scientists free AI. Here’s how it can afford to.
OpenAI is giving 100,000 scientists free AI. Here’s how it can afford to.

OpenAI made two announcements this week that look unrelated. One is generous. The other explains how it can afford to be. The generous one: OpenAI is giving 100,000 academic researchers free access to its frontier models through 2027, Axios reported. T…

She left the AI race over her health. Two days later, OpenAI had her back.
She left the AI race over her health. Two days later, OpenAI had her back.

On Tuesday, Lilian Weng said she was stepping down from Thinking Machines Lab because the job was making her ill. On Wednesday, she was back at OpenAI. Weng co-founded Thinking Machines Lab with Mira Murati, OpenAI’s former chief technology officer. Sh…

OpenAI ‘open-sourced’ its AI security scanner. The scanner is still locked up.
OpenAI ‘open-sourced’ its AI security scanner. The scanner is still locked up.

OpenAI has open-sourced an AI tool that hunts for security holes in your code. There is a catch: the part that does the hunting is still locked behind its approval. The company quietly released the Codex Security CLI this week, before it had even annou…

Audi bet its future on EVs. Now it’s selling America a V8 with cupholders.
Audi bet its future on EVs. Now it’s selling America a V8 with cupholders.

Audi spent years betting its future on electric cars. Its new flagship for America runs on a V8, with big cupholders and a ChatGPT assistant. The German brand unveiled the Q9 this week. It is a full-size three-row luxury SUV built, in Audi’s own words,…

OpenAI hit its billion-user goal, just seven months late
OpenAI hit its billion-user goal, just seven months late

ChatGPT is about to hit 1 billion weekly active users. OpenAI wanted to be here seven months ago. The chatbot is on the verge of the milestone, based on figures OpenAI has shared internally, The Information reported. The company had hoped to reach a bi…