How AI chatbots keep you chatting

Millions of people are now using ChatGPT as a therapist, career advisor, fitness coach, or sometimes just a friend to vent to. In 2025, it’s not uncommon to hear about people spilling intimate details of their lives into an AI chatbot’s prompt bar, but also relying on the advice it give

NSO Group asks judge for new trial, calling $167 million in damages ‘outrageous’

In May, a jury ruled that spyware maker NSO Group must pay $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for a 2019 hacking campaign that targeted more than 1,400 people. Calling the damages ruling “outrageous,” “blatantly unlawful,” and “unconstitutionally excessive,” NSO Group now wants the ju

Elon Musk says XChat is rolling out to all, but questions remain about its alleged security

Elon Musk on Sunday announced that a new version of X’s direct messaging (DM) feature, XChat, was rolling out with support for features like vanishing messages, encryption, and the ability to share files, alongside its audio and video calling support. The new features aren’t yet broadl

Scale AI hires team behind remote developer recruiting platform Pesto AI

Data-labeling startup Scale AI has hired the team behind Pesto AI, which helps companies recruit developers remotely, according to a blog post by one of Pesto’s founders. Founded in 2017 by Ayush Jaiswal and Indian food delivery platform Swiggy’s co-founder Rahul Jaimini, Pesto AI is b

For the love of God, stop calling your AI a co-worker

Generative AI comes in many forms. Increasingly, though, it's marketed the same way: with human names and personas that make it feel less like code and more like a co-worker. A growing number of startups are anthropomorphizing AI to build trust fast — and soften its threat to human jobs.

Elon Musk tries to stick to spaceships

Elon Musk's interview with CBS Sunday Morning seemed to get off to an awkward start, as reporter David Pogue asked the SpaceX CEO about his thoughts on his ally Donald Trump's policies, including growing restrictions on international students. “I think we want to stick to the subject of

Early AI investor Elad Gil finds his next big bet: AI-powered roll-ups

Elad Gil started betting on AI before most of the world took notice. By the time investors began grasping the implications of ChatGPT, Gil had already written seed checks to startups like Perplexity, Character.AI, and Harvey. Now, as the early winners of the AI wave become clearer, the renowned “

Sam Altman biographer Keach Hagey explains why the OpenAI CEO was 'born for this moment'

In “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey examines our AI-obsessed moment through one of its key figures — Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Hagey begins with Altman's Midwest upbringing, then takes readers

DOGE left United States Institute of Peace office with water damage, rats, and roaches

The chief executive of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency left the nonprofit’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in disarray, full of water damage, rats, and roaches, according to a new sworn statement first reported by Court Wa

It's not your imagination: AI is speeding up the pace of change

If the adoption of AI feels different from any tech revolution you may have experienced before — mobile, social, cloud computing — it actually is. Venture capitalist Mary Meeker just dropped a 340-page slideshow report — which used the word “unprecedented” on 51 of those pages — to des

Trump administration to claw back $3.7B in clean energy and manufacturing awards

The Department of Energy announced today that it would be clawing back $3.7 billion worth of awards made under the Biden administration for clean energy and manufacturing. Large corporations and growing startups were caught up in the decision. Energy secretary Chris Wright said the moves were “d

Automattic says it will start contributing to WordPress again after pause

WordPress.com parent company Automattic is changing direction… again. In a blog post titled “Returning to Core” published Thursday evening, Automattic announced it will unpause its contributions to the WordPress project. This is despite having said only last month that the 6.8 Wo

Startups Weekly: AMD acquisition and other moves to scale AI startups

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week brought more than just Nvidia's earnings reports; startups and VCs also had some news — quieter perhaps, but still worth p

How a decade-old patent dispute could upend Uber’s business

A little-known patent infringement lawsuit could have big implications for Uber — and potentially dozens of other companies. Carma Technology, a company formed in 2007 by serial entrepreneur and SOSV founder Sean O'Sullivan, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Uber alleging the company