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Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer : Ex-Amazon security engineer Shakeeb Ahmed pleads guilty to hacking and stealing over $12.3M from Nirvana Finance and an unnamed crypto exchange in July 2022   —  Former Amazon security engineer Shakeeb Ahmed pleaded guilty this week to hacking and stealing over $12.3 million from two cryptocurrency exchanges in July 2022.

Erin Woo / The Information : A look at the race for wearable AI as Meta adds multimodal AI to its Ray-Ban glasses and a source says OpenAI discussed adding GPT-4 with Vision to Snap devices   —  Next year's artificial intelligence battle is coming into focus—and it's all about glasses.

Hannah Miao / Wall Street Journal : Robinhood received ~$1.1B in account transfers since it began offering a 1% match on transferred brokerage accounts on October 23, with 150+ transfers of $1M+   —  Trading app receives $1.1 billion in account transfers since offering 1% match  —  Robinhood Markets , known for a clientele …

A number of federal agencies are lagging behind on deadlines and efforts to better their management of artificial intelligence , as the technology’s footprint is expanding in the federal government. "Although certain federal agencies have taken initial steps to comply with guidance and statutory requirements, key efforts to strengthen management of AI have missed deadlines and are not yet completed," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued this week says. The report makes dozens of recommendations to 19 agencies to take additional steps to fully implement requirements on AI that are federally mandated. Those recommendations include the development of plans across agencies on the application of the technology, the use of inventories to include required information and the issuing of guidance on AI usage. BIPARTISAN LAWMAKERS EYE AI SAFEGUARDS FOR US AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY The report found that 20 of the 23 agencies reported about 1,200 current or planned ch...

Gun rights groups are posturing to defy the Justice Department’s model legislation published this week that gives states a framework for codifying gun storage rules.  On Wednesday, the DOJ published a framework aimed at helping "more states enact sensible gun-safety laws," and includes requirements for securing firearms kept in residences and vehicles and requirements for reporting of lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement.  "We cannot resign ourselves to losing our neighbors, our loved ones — even our children — to misuse of firearms that could have been kept safely out of reach," Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said of the announcement. "The model legislation announced today provides states with new tools to improve the safety of legally-owned firearms and reduce the tragic toll of gun violence in our communities." However, Second Amendment advocacy groups Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) say the models ...

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch : YouTube creators MrBeast and Chucky Appleby launch ViewStats, which uses the YouTube API to unveil detailed stats about channels for creators and fans, in beta   —  The top YouTuber in the U.S., MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) co-founded the new analytics platform ViewStats, which is now available in beta.

President Biden's re-election campaign is launching a targeted effort to shore up support from Black voters in two swing states as his backing from the traditionally blue voting bloc continues to falter. The effort, centered around an ad that will run in Georgia and North Carolina, comes after a bad month for Biden that saw his likely general election opponent, former President Trump, make significant gains among Black voters. Democratic strategists and liberal political pundits have also warned that Black enthusiasm for Biden's re-election was waning. The ad, titled "Compete," shows Patrick Brown, a Black farmer from North Carolina, praising Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what he said was the administration's investment in Black farming communities. DEMOCRATS BLEEDING THE NON-WHITE, WORKING CLASS VOTE, BOOK SAYS: ‘LOOK IN THE MIRROR’ "Joe Biden gets it. He is invested in us, getting us access to land, broadband, capital and infrastructure, ...

FIRST ON FOX: A number of conservative groups and former border officials are urging Republican lawmakers to reject a potential compromise on border funding that falls short of the House signature legislation passed this year -- as the clock ticks down on a potential deal. Negotiations are ongoing between Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration over a $106 billion supplemental spending agreement for the border, Israel and Ukraine. Republicans have demanded policy changes, including asylum limits, to restrict the entry of migrants into the U.S. as part of the deal. Republicans in the House and conservative groups have called for the inclusion of the entirety of H.R. 2 -- the House signature legislation passed in the chamber this year which ramps up border security, restarts border wall construction, brings back the Remain-in-Mexico policy and limits the use of asylum and humanitarian parole among other sweeping changes. REPUBLICANS SEE PROGRESS IN BORDER TALKS, BUT UNCL...

Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog : The confusion around Dropbox's AI toggle highlights an AI trust crisis where many users don't believe OpenAI's claims that their data won't be used for training   —  Dropbox added some new AI features.  In the past couple of days these have attracted a firestorm of criticism.

Jacquelyn Melinek / TechCrunch : Abu Dhabi-based Andalusia Labs, which offers risk management services for digital assets, raised a $48M Series A led by Lightspeed at a valuation “north of” $1B   —  Digital asset risk infrastructure-focused Andalusia Labs, formerly known as RiskHarbor, has raised $48 million …

FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans in the House and Senate introduced legislation Wednesday to prevent Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) healthcare resources from being used for illegal migrants. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Il., chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, rolled out the legislation — known as the No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act — after Fox News Digital reported on complaints that the Biden administration VA is providing healthcare administrative services to illegal immigrants, potentially exacerbating long wait times for American veterans. "Joe Biden is putting illegal immigrants over America’s veterans," Tuberville said in a statement. "It is outrageous. Our veterans should not be forced to wait in long lines at VA medical centers and clinics to get the care they EARNED while illegal immigrants waltz across our open border and get taxpayer-funded healthcare they NEVER earn...

Elura Nanos / Law & Crime : A US judge rules to allow a class action lawsuit to proceed over Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, which alleges Musk lied about bots to manipulate its stock   —  A federal judge ruled to allow a class-action lawsuit over the acquisition of Twitter to proceed against Elon Musk Monday …

House GOP leaders have been forced to punt the battle on renewing a key surveillance tool of the federal government into next year amid widespread disagreements on the contentious authority. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens. It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is an American on U.S. soil. Without Congress taking action, it expires at the end of this year. The House began the week with plans to hold votes on two dueling FISA renewal proposals — one by the House Intelligence Committee, which makes minor changes, and another by the House Judiciary Committee that is vastly more restrictive. The plan was to send whichever got more support to the Senate.  That plan, dubbed "queen o...

The White House refused to answer questions on Monday regarding what it claimed were "conspiracy theories" of corruption within the Biden family. The refusal came as deputy press secretary Andrew Bates spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One ahead of a likely House vote this week to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against President Biden and the possible appearance of his son, Hunter, for a deposition before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Wednesday. "I am not going to weigh in on that process except to say that President Biden is laser focused on the issues that matter most to American families," Bates said. "You see him today getting ready to deliver for firefighters in Philadelphia. Like I mentioned, we're making an historic announcement in advanced manufacturing to keep bringing jobs back from overseas."  HOUSE OVERSIGHT DEMOCRAT QUIETLY MEETING WITH GOP LAWMAKERS IN EFFORT TO QUASH IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: SOURCES "He...

Alex Konrad / Forbes : Armada, which aims to bring AI grade computing to remote places like oil rigs using Starlink, raised a $40M Series A, a source says at a nearly $250M valuation   —  Led by former DataRobot CEO Dan Wright, one-year-old Armada is leveraging a “close collaboration” with Elon Musk's SpaceX …

Special counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Smith's Monday filing seeks to go around an appeals court that had initially been expected to handle the case. A federal judge had earlier ruled that the prosecution could move forward, though Trump's legal team vowed to appeal the ruling. "This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin," prosecutors wrote in Monday's filing. Trump's trial in the election interference case is set to begin in March. TRUMP CALLS CLAIMS HE'S A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY A 'HOAX,' SAYS BIDEN IS THE REAL THREAT:...

Far-left Democrats who voted against condemning Hamas' attacks or downplayed their actions have showered dozens of candidates with thousands of dollars in campaign cash, according to a Fox News Digital review of federal filings. Several  progressive lawmakers  have faced heat over their actions following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on innocent Israeli civilians that left more than 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage. Most recently, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., made controversial remarks during a CNN interview by declaring people should be "balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians" when asked why progressive groups remained silent over Hamas' use of rape as a weapon of war.  During the interview, Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, claimed she condemned Hamas' treatment of women and quickly pivoted the conversation back to Israel. JAYAPAL'S CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS ON HAMAS RAPE HIT BY FELLOW DEMOCRAT: 'INDECENT T...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday defended his decision to oppose a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, breaking with progressive Democrats in the House. Progressive "Squad" members, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who was censured last month over her antisemitic chants "from the river to the sea," which is a slogan that calls for the elimination of the state of Israel, have voiced explicit support for a cease-fire in Gaza. Appearing on CBS' "Face The Nation" on Sunday, Sanders made a distinction, saying he supports a temporary humanitarian pause in Gaza, referencing the United Nations' resolution that the United States government stood alone in rejecting before the U.N. Security Council on Friday, but argues Hamas militants want a "permanent war." "First of all, I strongly support and wish and hope that the United States will support the ...

Cade Metz / New York Times : Paris-based Mistral AI has raised €385M, or about $415M, with investors including a16z and Lightspeed; sources: the deal values Mistral at about $2B   —  The company has publicly released its latest technology so people can build their own chatbots.  Rivals like OpenAI and Google argue that approach can be dangerous.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the evidence of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 is "beyond anything that I've seen."  Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Blinken was asked by host Jake Tapper why he thinks the United Nations and the international community have been so slow to condemn the atrocities, despite evidence mounting in Israel of rapes and sex crimes committed by Hamas against women and girls, and maybe even against men on Oct. 7.  "I've heard antisemitism hypothesized as a reason why the U.N. and the international community might be so slow to acknowledge this. What do you think?" Tapper asked.  "I don't have an answer. I don't know why countries, leaders, international organizations were so slow to focus on this, to bring it to people's attention. I'm glad it's finally happened," Blinken said. "The atrocities that we saw on Oct. 7 are almost beyond...