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John Pavlus / Fast Company : A profile of Byron Cook, a VP at Amazon who is leading the company's effort to reduce AI hallucinations with a feature called Automated Reasoning Checks   —  Byron Cook, a VP and distinguished scientist at Amazon, is helping the company use an obscure type of AI to minimize artificial intelligence's worst side effect.

SemiAnalysis : A technical deep dive into Amazon's Trainium3 accelerator, including its server SKUs' specifications, silicon design, power budget, and bill of materials   —  Step-Function Software & System Improvements, “Amazon Basics” GB200 NVL36x2, NL72x2/NL32x2 Scale Up Rack Architecture, Optimized Perf per TCO, Trainium4

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is preparing to deliver a speech Saturday on rebuilding the "Arsenal of Freedom" at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. Ahead of the keynote address, Hegseth shared a video on X touring facilities in California.  "The era of vendor-locked, prime-dominated, closed architecture, cost plus over. We're going to compete, we're going to move fast, we're going to do open architecture, we're going to innovate, we're going to scale, we're going to do it at cost. Because this is a commitment to a mission," Hegsteh said in the video.  "Whether you're a vet or not who served already, all of you are serving the Department of War, the American people, and the Arsenal of Freedom," Hegseth said. "I need you to understand that yes, we're here for the war fighters who are out there pulling triggers on the behalf of our nation right now. Everybody here's touched someone who s...

Vice President JD Vance , who married his wife Usha in 2014, told NBC News their marriage is just as strong as ever. When asked if he was irked by headlines about his wife being spotted out without a wedding ring, the vice president noted on Thursday, "I think that we kind of get a kick out of it," the outlet reported. "With anything in life, you take the good with the bad," the vice president told NBC News. "You accept that there are some sacrifices and there are some very good things that come along with it, too. But our marriage is as strong as it’s ever been, and I think Usha’s really taken to it, and it’s been kind of cool to see how she’s developed and evolved in this new role." VANCE CALLS PSAKI COMMENTS ABOUT WIFE USHA ‘DISGRACEFUL’ Last month, second lady Usha Vance was seen without her wedding ring as she and first lady Melania Trump visited Camp LeJeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River in the state of North Carolina. Media reports pi...

Liv McMahon / BBC : Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr denounce the EU's €120M X fine   —  The EU has fined Elon Musk's social media platform X €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges - prompting an angry reaction from the US.

House Republicans are scrambling to find a solution to sky-high health costs as the clock ticks on Obamacare tax credits that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. House GOP leaders have been busy working with different factions within their conference this week to shape the contours of a package aimed at lowering healthcare costs for Americans, but it’s not clear if there is yet consensus on legislation that could get support from all 220 Republican lawmakers — and those in the Senate. Speaker Mike Johnson , R-La., told Bloomberg News on Thursday that the House would vote on a healthcare plan by the end of this month. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., was less certain of a specific timeline, however, telling reporters, "We are meeting with all of our caucuses and building a coalition. And so when we're ready to go, we will." DEMS PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS TO KEEP OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES FIGHT ALIVE AFTER VOTE TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT "But the focus has al...

Christina Kyriasoglou / Bloomberg : Phia, founded by Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe to develop an AI search engine accessed via an extension for Chrome and Safari, raised $30M at a $180M valuation   —  Phoebe Gates, daughter of Microsoft Corp.'s billionaire founder Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, is raising $30 million …

Alex Konrad / Upstarts Media : Sources: Stripe is paying ~$1B to acquire Metronome, and the deal is expected to be predominantly cash; PitchBook: Metronome was valued at $470M in February   —  The deal announced yesterday will double Metronome's valuation in less than a year, sources tell Upstarts.  And it's all about AI software growth.

Democrats from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced Wednesday that they have "received never-before-seen photos and videos of Jeffrey Epstein's private island that are a harrowing look behind Epstein’s closed doors." "See for yourself. We won’t stop fighting until we end this cover-up and deliver justice for the survivors," Oversight Dems wrote on X. "This production is in response to an Oversight Committee request to the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice for additional information to aid in the ongoing Committee investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes," it added in a statement. "The Committee also received records from J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank. Oversight Democrats intend to release files to the public after review in the days ahead." President Donald Trump announced in November that he signed legislation green-lighting the Justice Department to release files related to the late financier and ...

Dina Bass / Bloomberg : OpenAI agrees to buy Poland-based Neptune, which makes tools for analyzing progress during AI model training; the transaction will be in stock   —  OpenAI agreed to buy Neptune, a startup that makes tools for analyzing progress during AI model training.  —  The transaction will be in stock …

Wall Street Journal : Filings: after EA's buyout, Saudi Arabia's PIF would own 93.4% of EA, implying it needs to put up ~$29B, while Silver Lake and Affinity would own 5.5% and 1.1%   —  Filing suggests the country's Public Investment Fund needs to stump up about $29 billion  —  Saudi Arabia's government investment fund …

Top Armed Services lawmakers are launching inquiries into the Trump administration’s lethal strikes in the Caribbean following a Washington Post report alleging that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. forces to kill anyone who survived a Sept. 2 strike on an alleged narcotics vessel. "We will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a joint statement.  House Armed Services Committee leaders announced a parallel review, saying they are seeking "a full accounting" of the operation. GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY BEHIND TRUMP'S VENEZUELA STRIKES AS CRITICS QUESTION LEGALITY "We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region," said Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking Democrat Adam Smith, D-Wash.  They said the committee is pur...

Stephen Alpher / CoinDesk : Michael Saylor's Strategy creates a $1.44B cash reserve funded by stock sales after cutting full-year profit and BTC yield targets due to bitcoin price drops   —  Led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the company also added to its bitcoin holdings last week, bringing its total stack to 650,000 BTC.

Richard Nieva / Forbes : Anthropic says over 60% of its business customers use more than one Claude product, a trend it began noticing after Claude Code's rise in popularity   —  Mike Krieger, who cofounded Instagram before joining Anthropic last year, wants the AI giant's Claude model to power workflows across entire companies.

Cory Weinberg / The Information : Sources: Databricks is raising $5B at a $134B valuation, expects sales to grow 55% in 2025 to $4.1B, and is operating at roughly breakeven   —  Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi has been more vocal than other Silicon Valley executives about the dangers of an AI bubble.

Sen.  Cory Booker , D-N.J., announced that he married his fiancé Alexis Lewis on Saturday, sharing photos of himself and his newlywed wife on social media. Booker and Lewis wed in a private ceremony in Washington, D.C., less than three months after announcing their engagement on Instagram. On Sunday, Booker posted that they were "overflowing with gratitude," writing: "We said ‘I do’ in two places that shaped us—Cory’s beloved Newark and Alexis’s hometown of Washington, D.C.—first at the courthouse, then with our families. Hearts full and so grateful." The couple married in an interfaith ceremony — Booker is Christian, and Lewis is Jewish — at an undisclosed venue, The New York Times reported. The couple had legally wed Monday at the federal courthouse in Newark with only their parents present. KEANU REEVES' GIRLFRIEND SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON WEDDING RUMORS WITH KISSING PHOTO The couple told the Times they met through a mutual friend known for matchmaking i...

Dylan Patel / SemiAnalysis : An in-depth look at TPUv7 Ironwood, the latest generation of Google's TPU, and how it positions Google as a serious challenger to Nvidia's AI chip dominance   —  Potential End of the CUDA Moat?, Anthropic's 1GW+ TPU Purchase, The more (TPU) Meta/SSI/xAI/OAI/Anthro buy the more (GPU capex) …