Two Elon Musk companies are reportedly planning to merge. On Thursday, Reuters reported that SpaceX and xAI are holding merger talks ahead of a planned IPO. Part of their plan is to launch AI data centers into space (but unfortunately, only as far as Earth's orbit).Last week, it was reported that Musk planned to take SpaceX public despite having once said it wouldnt happen until the company had a presence on Mars. Now, the IPO could happen as early as this year. Shares of xAI would reportedly be exchanged for shares in SpaceX under the merger. Reuters reports that two entities were set up in Nevada on January 21 to facilitate the deal. If the idea of two Musk companies becoming one sounds familiar, that's because it happened less than a year ago. In March 2025, xAI bought X, putting Grok (known for nonconsensual "nudifying" images) and X (infamous for being a far-right hellscape) together under one unholy roof.The latest idea Musk is pitching is blasting AI data centers off into space. At last week's gathering of the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, he said, "The lowest cost place to put AI will be in space. And that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest." The idea is that data centers in orbit could harness solar power and reduce cooling costs. However, industry analysts and executives consider it a risky bet, questioning whether the savings would warrant the massive investment. If or when the AI bubble bursts, the plan could go down in flames if not literally, then figuratively.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/elon-musks-spacex-and-xai-are-reportedly-holding-merger-talks-211740150.html?src=rss
The Internet Archive has often been a valuable resource for journalists, from it's finding records of deleted tweets or providing academic texts for background research. However, the advent of AI has created a new tension between the parties. A few major publications have begun blocking the nonprofit digital library's access to their content based on concerns that AI companies' bots are using the Internet Archive's collections to indirectly scrape their articles."A lot of these AI businesses are looking for readily available, structured databases of content," Robert Hahn, head of business affairs and licensing for The Guardian, told Nieman Lab. "The Internet Archives API would have been an obvious place to plug their own machines into and suck out the IP."The New York Times took a similar step. "We are blocking the Internet Archive's bot from accessing the Times because the Wayback Machine provides unfettered access to Times content including by AI companies without authorization," a representative from the newspaper confirmed to Nieman Lab. Subscription-focused publication the Financial Times and social forum Reddit have also made moves to selectively block how the Internet Archive catalogs their material. Many publishers have attempted to sue AI businesses for how they access content used to train large language models. To name a few just from the realm of journalism:The New York Times sued OpenAI and MicrosoftThe Center for Investigative Reporting sued OpenAI and MicrosoftThe Wall Street Journal and New York Post sued PerplexityA group of publishers including The Atlantic, The Guardian and Politico sued CoherePenske Media sued GoogleThe New York Times and the Chicago Tribune sued PerplexityOther media outlets have sought financial deals before offering up their libraries as training material, although those arrangements seem to provide compensation to the publishing companies rather than the writers. And that's not even delving into the copyright and piracy issues also being fought against AI tools by other creative fields, from fiction writers to visual artists to musicians. The whole Nieman Lab story is well worth a read for anyone who has been following any of these creative industries responses to artificial intelligence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/publishers-are-blocking-the-internet-archive-for-fear-ai-scrapers-can-use-it-as-a-workaround-204001754.html?src=rss
As fans and media prepare to descend on the Bay Area for Super Bowl LX, what does a high-tech city like San Francisco do? Why, call in the robotaxis, of course. On Thursday, Alphabet's Waymo began offering fully autonomous rides at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).There are some limits. For now, SFO access is restricted to "a select number of riders." However, access will gradually expand over the coming months. The service is also limited to the SFO Rental Car Center (pickups and drop-offs) at launch. Waymo says it will expand to other airport locations, including terminals, "in the future."The San Francisco Standard notes that SFO is now the third airport in Waymo's repertoire. The San Francisco launch follows the company's service at Phoenix Sky Harbor and San Jose Mineta. As for the Bay Area, Waymo now serves more than 260 square miles in the region.Unfortunately, this isn't Waymo's only appearance in the news this week. On Wednesday, the company said one of its robotaxis struck a child, who sustained minor injuries. The incident took place on January 23 in Santa Monica. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/waymo-begins-service-at-san-francisco-international-airport-192913050.html?src=rss
Apple has acquired Israel-based startup Q.ai, a move that could provide a much-needed boost to the tech giant's capabilities in artificial intelligence. Although Apple has not disclosed terms of the deal, sources told Financial Times that the arrangement is reportedly valued at nearly $2 billion. If that figure is accurate, the Q.ai acquisition marks Apple's second largest acquisition to date, followed by its purchase of Beats for $3 billion back in 2014.Johny Srouji, Apples senior vice president of hardware technologies, said in a statement that Q.ai "is a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning." Apple hasn't shared any specifics about how it plans to leverage the startup, but its past work indicates the possibility of Apple moving deeper into AI-powered wearables. "Patents filed by Q.ai show its technology being used in headphones or glasses, using 'facial skin micro movements' to communicate without talking," the Times reported. The startup's founding team, including CEO Aviad Maizels, will join Apple as part of the deal. This acquisition marks Maizels' second sale to Apple; he previously founded a three-dimensional hearing business called PrimeSense that Apple bought back in 2013.For several months, many tech insiders have speculated that an acquisition might be Apple's best path forward to catching up in the AI race. In the company's Q3 earnings call in July 2025, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that "Were open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap." A deal like this one could eventually lead to Apple developing its own fully in-house AI chatbot rather than relying on a competitor like Google to power artificial intelligence in its Siri assistant.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-acquires-qai-for-a-reported-2-billion-190017949.html?src=rss
A group of music publishers led by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group are suing Anthropic, according to a report by Reuters. The suit accuses the AI company of illegally downloading more than 20,000 copyrighted songs, including sheet music, lyrics and compositions.
These songs were then allegedly fed into the chatbot Claude for training purposes. There are some iconic tunes named by Universal in the suit, including tracks by The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and Elton John, among many others. Concord is an independent publisher that handles artists like Common, Killer Mike and Korn.
The publishers issued a statement saying that the damages could amount to more than $3 billion. This would make it one of the largest non-class action copyright cases in US history.
"While Anthropic misleadingly claims to be an AI 'safety and research' company, its record of illegal torrenting of copyrighted works makes clear that its multibillion-dollar business empire has in fact been built on piracy," the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed by the same legal team as last year's Bartz v. Anthropic case. The music publishers say they found that Anthropic had been illegally downloading thousands of songs during the discovery process of that suit.
For the unfamiliar, the Bartz v. Anthropic case ended with an award of $1.5 billion to impacted writers after it was found that the company had illegally downloaded their published works for similar training purposes. The terms of that agreement dictated that the 500,000 authors involved in the case would get $3,000 per work. The $1.5 billion looks like a big number, but not so much when broken down like that. Also, Anthropic is worth around $350 billion.
In the Bartz case, Judge William Alsup ruled that it was legal for Anthropic to train its models on copyrighted content but not legal to acquire that content via piracy. We'll have to wait and see how this new suit shakes out. The legal precedent here seems to suggest that if Anthropic would have just spent a buck on each copyrighted song, then they'd be in the clear. That's an odd distinction when it comes to building an entire company around snatching up copyrighted content, but whatever.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/music-publishers-sue-anthropic-for-3-billion-over-flagrant-piracy-185459358.html?src=rss
This past summer, Google DeepMind debuted Genie 3. Its whats known as a world world, an AI system capable of generating images and reacting as the user moves through the environment the software is simulating. At the time, DeepMind positioned Genie 3 as a tool for training AI agents. Now, its making the model available to people outside of Google to try with Project Genie. To start, youll need Googles $250 per month AI Ultra plan to check out Project Genie. Youll also need to live in the US and be 18 years or older. At launch, Project Genie offers three different modes of interaction: World Sketching, exploration and remixing. The first sees Googles Nano Banana Pro model generating the source image Genie 3 will use to create the world you will later explore. At this stage, you can describe your character, define the camera perspective be it first-person, third-person or isometric and how you want to explore the world Genie 3 is about to generate. Before you can jump into the models creation, Nano Banana Pro will sketch what youre about to see so you can make tweaks. Its also possible to write your own prompts for worlds others have used Genie to generate. One thing to keep in mind is that Genie 3 is not a game engine. While its outputs can look game-like, and it can simulate physical interactions, there arent traditional game mechanics here. Generations are also limited to 60 seconds, as is the presentation, which is capped at 24 frames per second and 720p. Still, if youre an AI Ultra subscriber, this is a cool opportunity to see the bleeding edge of what DeepMind has been working over the past couple of years. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-project-genie-lets-you-generate-your-own-interactive-worlds-183646186.html?src=rss
Maingear is back with another nostalgia-fueled gaming PC. The Retro98 may look like it's made for playing Quake while you wait for The Phantom Menace trailer to drop. But on the inside, the beige box is powerful enough to slay today's most demanding AAA games. "You're not going to find this PC at your local Radio Shack," Maingear promises.If you're at least middle-aged, the Retro98's exterior is instantly familiar. The hand-built tower includes an LED fan-speed display, a working turbo button and a power-lockout key. Sticking with the nostalgic motif, its front I/O is hidden behind the Maingear logo. I can already hear The Beastie Boys' Intergalactic playing in the background.Fortunately, you won't be limited to 1998 games. (Dope as they are.) It has up to a Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor, GeForce RTX 5090 graphics, 64GB Kingston Fury RAM and 4TB Kingston FURY Renegade NVMe Gen5 SSD. The maxed-out version (described by Maingear as "unapologetically overkill") even includes open-loop liquid cooling.The Retro98 starts at $2,500 and goes all the way up to $9,799.MaingearNow for the bad news. As you might expect from a retro novelty PC like this, you'll have to pay a pretty penny. The base model (Intel Core Ultra 7 265K / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070) costs $2,499. There are two other standard tiers, priced at $3,499 and $4,999. Finally, the open-loop-cooled "Alpha" build is a whopping $9,799. Hey, those aren't 1998 prices!The Retro98 also has an extremely limited run. Maingear is producing only 32 standard units and six alpha units. The company says it won't bring this build back once those sell out. However, there is a workaround for tinkerers: Since it's based on the SilverStone FLP02 tower PC case, you could grab one of those and build your own.Those wealthy and nostalgic enough to take the plunge can order the Retro98 today from Maingears website. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/maingears-latest-retro-gaming-desktop-takes-you-back-to-the-quake-era-174958445.html?src=rss
Spotify is adding group chats to the messaging service it premiered last year. In an addendum to the original blog post introducing Messages, the company announced that users can initiate chats with up to 10 of their friends to share the podcasts, playlists and songs they are listening to.
The in-app messaging feature, which was released last August, works to keep users on the app instead of navigating to another platform to share content with friends. Since its introduction, Spotify has added functionality bit by bit. Earlier this month, the company added the ability to share what you're listening to in real-time. Users can also invite chat participants to join a Jam, the apps collaborative listening tool.
Spotify isn't the only content platform trying to make in-app messaging a thing. Late last year, YouTube said it would be testing DMs, after originally adding the feature in 2017 before removing it in 2019.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-has-a-group-messaging-feature-now-173734450.html?src=rss
Waymo said one of its robotaxis struck a child, who sustained minor injuries. The incident took place in Santa Monica, California, on January 23. The company reported it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has opened an investigation. The agency said the incident occurred close to a school within regular drop-off hours, with other children and a crossing guard nearby. The child ran from behind a double-parked SUV into the path of a Waymo Driver. Waymo said its vehicle detected the child immediately as they emerged and that the robotaxi braked hard to lower its speed from around 17 mph to under 6 mph at the time of impact. Waymo said the child stood up immediately and moved to the sidewalk. The company contacted emergency services and the vehicle remained stationary at the side of the road until law enforcement allowed it to leave.The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation will examine whether the Waymo Driver used appropriate caution given that it was close to a school during drop-off hours and children were close by. The probe is expected to look at the intended behavior of the vehicle's automated driving systems around schools (particularly during regular pick-up and drop-off times) and Waymo's response to the incident.On the day that the incident took place, the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into Waymo over its vehicles improperly passing school buses in Austin, Texas. Last month, the company carried out a voluntary software recall (i.e. it updated its systems) after the NHTSA opened an investigation into Waymo vehicles allegedly driving past stationary school buses in both Austin and Atlanta.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/a-waymo-robotaxi-struck-a-child-near-a-school-152446302.html?src=rss
Honda and DriveOhio have teamed up on a new road safety initiative in which Honda vehicles are being used to collect real-time data that can advise about potential issues and road deficiencies before they become a problem. Hondas Proactive Roadway Maintenance System, which has been in prototyping since 2021, uses "advanced vision and LiDAR sensors" to identify issues such as worn or obstructed road signs, damaged guardrails, rough roads and emerging potholes.
During the pilot, members of the Ohio Department of Transportations smart mobility hub drove the test vehicles on around 3,000 miles of road in central and southeastern Ohio. They covered a mix of urban and rural environments, in varying weather conditions and at different times of the day.
ODOT operators were able to review any flagged road or infrastructure deficiencies in real time using smart dashboards developed by Honda and tech firm Parsons. The University of Cincinnati helped Honda fit the sensors to its vehicles, led the development of the damage detection feature and assisted ODOT during the pilot.
The data collected by the vehicles was processed by Edge AI models and then passed on to Hondas own cloud platform. The system then automatically generated work orders for ODOTs maintenance teams in order of priority.
While a relatively small pilot in scope, the Proactive Roadway Maintenance System performed well in the trial across a number of metrics, delivering as high as 99 percent accuracy at highlighting damaged or obstructed signs. Accuracy was 93 percent for damaged guardrails and a slightly lower 89 percent for spotting potholes.
Honda says its technology could also detect high-severity shoulder drop-offs that were easy to miss in a routine visual inspection, while the system also proved reliable at measuring road roughness. The team that worked on the project estimated that if implemented on a larger scale, the automated system could save ODOT over $4.5 million a year.
Honda and its partners are now looking at ways to scale up the prototype Proactive Roadway Maintenance System for real-world use. The manufacturer also says it aims to eventually have similar technology in the vehicles of its customers, who will be able to share their own detection data anonymously and help create safer roads.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/honda-vehicles-used-to-proactively-report-road-safety-issues-in-nation-first-pilot-151629967.html?src=rss
