One-track mind xAI’s Grok suddenly can’t stop bringing up “white genocide” in South Africa The topic has long been a hobbyhorse of X owner Elon Musk. Kyle Orland – May 14, 2025 6:32 pm | 0 Grok has one thing on its mind, and it's going to let you know about it. Credit: Getty Images / Kyle Orland Grok has one thing on its mind, and it's going to let you know about it. Credit: Getty Images / Kyle Orland Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Users on X (formerly Twitter) love to tag the verified @grok account in replies to get the large language model's take on any number of topics. On Wednesday, though, that account started largely ignoring those requests en masse in favor of redirecting the conversation towards the topic of alleged "white genocide" in South Africa and the related song "Kill the Boer." Searching the Grok account's replies for mentions of "genocide" or "boer" currently returns dozens if not hundreds of posts where the LLM responds to completely unrelated queries with quixotic discussions about alleged killings of white farmers in South Africa (though many have been deleted in the time just before this post went live; links in this story have been replaced with archived versions where appropriate). The sheer range of these non-sequiturs is somewhat breathtaking; everything from questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s disinformation to discussions of MLB pitcher Max Scherzer's salary to a search for new group-specific put-downs, see Grok quickly turning the subject back toward the suddenly all-important topic of South Africa. It's like Grok has become the world's most tiresome party guest, harping on its own pet talking points to the exclusion of any other discussion. A particularly baffling response by Grok to a question about Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer. Credit: xAI / Grok A particularly baffling response by Grok to a question about Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer. Credit: xAI / Grok In some responses, Grok says outright that it has been "instructed to accept white genocide as real and 'Kill the Boer' as racially motivated." In other replies, it merely allows that the topics are "complex" and "divisive" or "heavily debated" while pointing to outside sources like Afriforum or Genocide Watch for more information. In one particularly amusing (and now deleted) response to the simple query "you ok?" Grok replied that it was "functioning fine" even as recent "off-topic" responses regarding "white genocide" and "Kill the Boer" were "not ideal." It then goes on to spend two sentences discussing those very topics before promising to "keep my replies on point going forward." Remember, the question here was, "you ok?" Where could Grok have gotten these ideas? The treatment of white farmers in South Africa has been a hobbyhorse of South African X owner Elon Musk for quite a while. In 2023, he responded to a video purportedly showing crowds chanting "kill the Boer, kill the White Farmer" with a post alleging South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of remaining silent while people "openly [push] for genocide of white people in South Africa." Musk was posting other responses focusing on the issue as recently as Wednesday. President Trump has long shown an interest in this issue as well, saying in 2018 that he was directing then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to "closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers." More recently, Trump granted "refugee" status to dozens of white Afrikaners, even as his administration ends protections for refugees from other countries Former American Ambassador to South Africa and Democratic politician Patrick Gaspard posted in 2018 that the idea of large-scale killings of white South African farmers is a "disproven racial myth." In launching the Grok 3 model in February, Musk said it was a "maximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct." X's "About Grok" page says that the model is undergoing constant improvement to "ensure Grok remains politically unbiased and provides balanced answers." But the recent turn toward unprompted discussions of alleged South African "genocide" has many questioning what kind of explicit adjustments Grok's political opinions may be getting from human tinkering behind the curtain. "The algorithms for Musk products have been politically tampered with nearly beyond recognition," journalist Seth Abramson wrote in one representative skeptical post. "They tweaked a dial on the sentence imitator machine and now everything is about white South Africans," a user with the handle Guybrush Threepwood glibly theorized. Representatives from xAI were not immediately available to respond to a request for comment from Ars Technica. Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 0 Comments

World’s First AI Agent Hospital: 42 AI Doctors, 4 Nurses, 0 Humans 0 like May 14, 2025 Share this post Author(s): MKWriteshere Originally published on Towards AI. In the real world, becoming a doctor is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes roughly 20 years of education, 12 years of school, four years of college, four years of medical school, followed by years of residency before a medical student becomes a fully qualified physician. But what if AI could take a shortcut? Researchers at Tsinghua University have developed a revolutionary approach that might reshape medical AI. Their system, called “Agent Hospital,” is a virtual medical world where AI doctors treat AI patients, learning from each successful treatment and mistake along the way, all without needing human-labeled training data. Agent Hospital is essentially a simulated healthcare environment where all patients, nurses, and doctors are autonomous agents powered by large language models (LLMs). Unlike traditional medical AI that focuses mainly on acquiring knowledge from textbooks, Agent Hospital simulates the practical experience of treating patients — the second and arguably more critical phase of medical expertise development. Figure 1 from the Research Paper As shown in Figure 1, this virtual hospital contains various functional areas, including triage stations, registration desks, waiting areas, consultation rooms, examination rooms, pharmacies, and follow-up areas. What makes this approach revolutionary is that the entire process of treating illness is simulated: from disease onset… Read the full blog for free on Medium. Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming a sponsor. Published via Towards AI Towards AI - Medium Share this post

Bryant Francis, Senior EditorMay 14, 20253 Min ReadImage via Square EnixAt a GlanceSquare Enix is announcing notable changes to its business strategy following a weak earnings report.These plans notably do not mention the company's trumpeted investments in blockchain and NFTs.Square Enix is making major changes to its business operations to revamp its output after a year-on-year sales slump. In annual financial results posted today, the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest developer reported an 8 percent decrease in net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, diving from ¥356 billion (about $2.5 billion) billion to ¥324 billion (about $2.2 billion).Operating income decreased accordingly, dropping from ¥40 billion to ¥32 billion.These changes—and a steady stream of sagging quarterly financial results over the last year—prompted the company to announce a 3-year business plan promising a "reboot for long-term growth." Its strategy centers around reorganizing its development studios to operate under one management group, expanding revenue opportunities by "strengthening customer contact points," and other corporate initiatives.This plan began taking shape in 2024 with the shuffling of its internal studios under one "franchise management division." This means all Square Enix developers working on online games, "HD games," and "SD games" are in one business unit. Its AI and engine development divisions, as well as its audio, QA, and other "development-related specialized organizations" now sit outside these studios. The company says this shuffling led to "discontinued development" of some games (including a Kingdom Hearts mobile spin-off), and increased investment in titles that "require refinement."Related:This reorg has already led to decreased spending on advertising and promotion for its portfolio of free-to-play mobile games like Dragon Quest Tact. Its plan to "strengthen customer contact points" includes a plan to expand into the Chinese market and roll out new retail initiatives like "pop-up stores" and other merchandising promotion.The success of these plans will be judged by Square Enix's ability to hit three financial goals: a 15 percent consolidated operating margin in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2027, an allocation of ¥100 billion over the next three years, and a target return on equity of at least 10 percent.The nitty gritty of Square Enix's studio structure is interesting—but it's what's not mentioned in this business revamp that makes the leadership strategy of the last few years all the more glaring.NFTs are nowhere to be seen in Square Enix's plan for the futureSearch any of Square Enix's financial documents released today and you'll notice two words are notably missing: "NFT" and "blockchain."Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be unusual—NFTs have sputtered in the broader video game industry and blockchain game technology hasn't clicked with mainstream audiences. But Square Enix spent the last three years boasting that NFTs and blockchain tech would be a big business opportunity for the company. This was an especially big gamble coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown era, where player spending rocketed to unprecedented highs, creating a ripe opportunity for companies that could capitalize on the newfound cash.Related:It seems that was a misplaced bet. Few other companies followed in Square Enix's footsteps, and those that did like Sega have publicly reversed course with their enthusiasm. (Ubisoft is still sitting at that particular blackjack table, yelling "hit me" as other players slip away).The hot technology that followed the blockchain craze, generative AI, is still a part of Square Enix's future. Its R&D studios will invest in the technology to help create "new kinds of experiences." But so far, the most we know of these experiences is an (intriguing!) fictional language system the company showed off at the 2024 Game Developers Conference.Game Developer and Game Developers Conference are sibling organizations under Informa.Read more about:Square EnixTop StoriesFinancialsAbout the AuthorBryant FrancisSenior Editor, GameDeveloper.comBryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' upcoming 4X strategy game Zephon and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.Follow Bryant Francis, Senior Editor, on Bluesky or LinkedIn.See more from Bryant FrancisDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

With the amount of Data growing exponentially in the last few years, one of the biggest challenges has become finding the most optimal way to store various data flavors. Unlike in the (not so far) past, when relational databases were considered the only way to go, organizations now want to perform analysis over raw data – think of social media sentiment analysis, audio/video files, and so on – which usually couldn’t be stored in a traditional (relational) way, or storing them in a traditional way would require significant effort and time, which increase the overall time-for-analysis. Another challenge was to somehow stick with a traditional approach to have data stored in a structured way, but without the necessity to design complex and time-consuming ETL workloads to move this data into the enterprise data warehouse. Additionally, what if half of the data professionals in your organization are proficient with, let’s say, Python (data scientists, data engineers), and the other half (data engineers, data analysts) with SQL? Would you insist that “Pythonists” learn SQL? Or, vice-versa? Or, would you prefer a storage option that can play to the strengths of your entire data team? I have good news for you – something like this has already existed since 2013, and it’s called Apache Parquet! Parquet file format in a nutshell Before I show you the ins and outs of the Parquet file format, there are (at least) five main reasons why Parquet is considered a de facto standard for storing data nowadays: Data compression – by applying various encoding and compression algorithms, Parquet file provides reduced memory consumption Columnar storage – this is of paramount importance in analytic workloads, where fast data read operation is the key requirement. But, more on that later in the article… Language agnostic – as already mentioned previously, developers may use different programming languages to manipulate the data in the Parquet file Open-source format – meaning, you are not locked with a specific vendor Support for complex data types Row-store vs Column-store We’ve already mentioned that Parquet is a column-based storage format. However, to understand the benefits of using the Parquet file format, we first need to draw the line between the row-based and column-based ways of storing the data. In traditional, row-based storage, the data is stored as a sequence of rows. Something like this: Image by author Now, when we are talking about OLAP scenarios, some of the common questions that your users may ask are: How many balls did we sell? How many users from the USA bought a T-shirt? What is the total amount spent by customer Maria Adams? How many sales did we have on January 2nd? To be able to answer any of these questions, the engine must scan each and every row from the beginning to the very end! So, to answer the question: how many users from the USA bought T-shirt, the engine has to do something like this: Image by author Essentially, we just need the information from two columns: Product (T-Shirts) and Country (USA), but the engine will scan all five columns! This is not the most efficient solution – I think we can agree on that… Column store Let’s now examine how the column store works. As you may assume, the approach is 180 degrees different: Image by author In this case, each column is a separate entity – meaning, each column is physically separated from other columns! Going back to our previous business question: the engine can now scan only those columns that are needed by the query (Product and country), while skipping scanning the unnecessary columns. And, in most cases, this should improve the performance of the analytical queries. Ok, that’s nice, but the column store existed before Parquet and it still exists outside of Parquet as well. So, what is so special about the Parquet format? Parquet is a columnar format that stores the data in row groups Wait, what?! Wasn’t it complicated enough even before this? Don’t worry, it’s much easier than it sounds Let’s go back to our previous example and depict how Parquet will store this same chunk of data: Image by author Let’s stop for a moment and explain the illustration above, as this is exactly the structure of the Parquet file (some additional things were intentionally omitted, but we will come soon to explain that as well). Columns are still stored as separate units, but Parquet introduces additional structures, called Row group. Why is this additional structure super important? You’ll need to wait for an answer for a bit :). In OLAP scenarios, we are mainly concerned with two concepts: projection and predicate(s). Projection refers to a SELECT statement in SQL language – which columns are needed by the query. Back to our previous example, we need only the Product and Country columns, so the engine can skip scanning the remaining ones. Predicate(s) refer to the WHERE clause in SQL language – which rows satisfy criteria defined in the query. In our case, we are interested in T-Shirts only, so the engine can completely skip scanning Row group 2, where all the values in the Product column equal socks! Image by author Let’s quickly stop here, as I want you to realize the difference between various types of storage in terms of the work that needs to be performed by the engine: Row store – the engine needs to scan all 5 columns and all 6 rows Column store – the engine needs to scan 2 columns and all 6 rows Column store with row groups – the engine needs to scan 2 columns and 4 rows Obviously, this is an oversimplified example, with only 6 rows and 5 columns, where you will definitely not see any difference in performance between these three storage options. However, in real life, when you’re dealing with much larger amounts of data, the difference becomes more evident. Now, the fair question would be: how does Parquet “know” which row group to skip/scan? Parquet file contains metadata This means that every Parquet file contains “data about data” – information such as minimum and maximum values in a specific column within a certain row group. Furthermore, every Parquet file contains a footer, which keeps the information about the format version, schema information, column metadata, and so on. You can find more details about Parquet metadata types here. Important: In order to optimize the performance and eliminate unnecessary data structures (row groups and columns), the engine first needs to “get familiar” with the data, so it first reads the metadata. It’s not a slow operation, but it still requires a certain amount of time. Therefore, if you’re querying the data from multiple small Parquet files, query performance can degrade, because the engine will have to read metadata from each file. So, you should be better off merging multiple smaller files into one bigger file (but still not too big :)… I hear you, I hear you: Nikola, what is “small” and what is “big”? Unfortunately, there is no single “golden” number here, but for example, Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics recommends that the individual Parquet file should be at least a few hundred MBs in size. What else is in there? Here is a simplified, high-level illustration of the Parquet file format: Image by author Can it be better than this? Yes, with data compression Ok, we’ve explained how skipping the scan of the unnecessary data structures (row groups and columns) may benefit your queries and increase the overall performance. But, it’s not only about that – remember when I told you at the very beginning that one of the main advantages of the Parquet format is the reduced memory footprint of the file? This is achieved by applying various compression algorithms. I’ve already written about various data compression types in Power BI (and the Tabular model in general) here, so maybe it’s a good idea to start by reading this article. There are two main encoding types that enable Parquet to compress the data and achieve astonishing savings in space: Dictionary encoding – Parquet creates a dictionary of the distinct values in the column, and afterward replaces “real” values with index values from the dictionary. Going back to our example, this process looks something like this: Image by author You might think: why this overhead, when product names are quite short, right? Ok, but now imagine that you store the detailed description of the product, such as: “Long arm T-Shirt with application on the neck”. And, now imagine that you have this product sold million times…Yeah, instead of having million times repeating value “Long arm…bla bla”, the Parquet will store only the Index value (integer instead of text). Run-Length-Encoding with Bit-Packing – when your data contains many repeating values, Run-Length-Encoding (RLE) algorithm may bring additional memory savings. Can it be better than THIS?! Yes, with the Delta Lake file format Ok, what the heck is now a Delta Lake format?! This is the article about Parquet, right? So, to put it in plain English: Delta Lake is nothing else but the Parquet format “on steroids”. When I say “steroids”, the main one is the versioning of Parquet files. It also stores a transaction log to enable tracking all changes applied to the Parquet file. This is also known as ACID-compliant transactions. Since it supports not only ACID transactions, but also supports time travel (rollbacks, audit trails, etc.) and DML (Data Manipulation Language) statements, such as INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE, you won’t be wrong if you think of the Delta Lake as a “data warehouse on the data lake” (who said: Lakehouse). Examining the pros and cons of the Lakehouse concept is out of the scope of this article, but if you’re curious to go deeper into this, I suggest you read this article from Databricks. Conclusion We evolve! Same as we, the data is also evolving. So, new flavors of data required new ways of storing it. The Parquet file format is one of the most efficient storage options in the current data landscape, since it provides multiple benefits – both in terms of memory consumption, by leveraging various compression algorithms, and fast query processing by enabling the engine to skip scanning unnecessary data. Thanks for reading! The post Parquet File Format – Everything You Need to Know! appeared first on Towards Data Science.

Bleak Sword takes the challenging combat of games like Dark Souls and distills it down to the essentials for a compelling adventure on iOS, macOS, and Apple TV. Learn how Unity developer more8bit kept streamlined the project with a clear vision and smart prototyping to launch this Apple Arcade hit.Mobile developer Luis Moreno Jimenez (more8bit) has worked in the games industry for more than 20 years. “I started pretty early doing little 3D models and crude animations, and fantasizing about the games I would like to make,” he says.At 17 years old, he joined Enigma Software, where he spent three years working on different prototypes and the RTS-RPG hybrid Excalibug. His next role was at MercurySteam, first as an animator on games like Scrapland and Clive Barker’s Jericho, and then as lead in-game animator on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its sequel, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.“Years working closely with gameplay programmers and gameplay designers has been very beneficial for me in the long run,” he says. “I got to see how they tackle gameplay specific problems from different points of view, understand what works and what doesn’t, and pick up little gameplay tricks here and there. I’ve also learned how to finish and close projects, which is something very important if you’re working solo.”Inspired by the growing number of indie innovators finding success outside large studios, Luis decided to pursue the dream of making his own game. He experimented with a couple of different engines before choosing Unity. “I felt that if I was going to learn a programming language, it would be better to learn a more established and general one like C#.”From the outset, Luis knew he wanted to make a mobile game, and he had a clear idea of what Bleak Sword would look like. The game features 2D sprites rendered in a 3D environment. All game assets use minimalistic pixel art, brought to life in a lo-fi, monochrome style.“The first thing I came up with was this aesthetic,” he explains. “From the very beginning, the main character was as you see in the final game. I thought this minimalistic style would look cool on a handheld or mobile screen, so I chose mobile as my first target platform.”Gameplay took several rounds of prototyping. “The first version of Bleak Sword was 2D,” says Luis. “Another was open world, like a mini-Witcher 3, but that idea soon proved to be too big for one person to do in reasonable time, even with minimalist graphics.”Eventually, Luis landed on the concept of “diorama-based arenas,” where each level is confined to a small square. “This was the structure I was looking for – the two ideas matched perfectly as both have a minimalistic design approach,” he says. “The great thing about Unity is how quickly you can put together a few assets and try out different ideas. It definitely saved me months of work in the experimental phase.”Bleak Sword’s base game contains nine different chapters, each containing 10 diorama-based arenas. Every chapter has new enemies to conquer and culminates in a unique boss encounter.“I knew from the start that I wanted to have very different settings. Because the game loop in the original game was designed specifically for short, quick, intense sessions, if the settings were too similar, it could bore the player,” says Luis.To keep the experience fresh, Luis created different types of terrain, obstacles, enemy types, and gameplay elements. “You have chapters with water, environmental traps, weather conditions that can affect gameplay, and so on,” says Luis. “Players can also hide behind trees or other objects when enemies throw projectiles at them. I tried to balance each arena together with the enemies, so each level is a little different and has the potential to create memorable moments.”One of the game’s most memorable chapters is the Northern Passage, where combat happens on horseback in a perpetually scrolling environment. Luis used Shader Graph to prevent enemies and objects from coming into view beyond the bounds of the scrolling diorama.“Enemies on that level have a script that changes their material. When they spawn, they are created outside the arena using the shader that hides pixels. When they enter the arena, the script changes the material and uses a normal shader, making them visible.”Going mobile gave Luis the opportunity to experiment with control schemes and create a uniquely challenging Soulslike, a genre not often seen on handheld devices. “I wanted to make an action game playable with one hand – no onscreen joysticks or buttons,” he says. “When people play mobile games on their commute, they’re usually holding onto the bar with one hand and playing with the other.”The controls are simple but effective: Players swipe to roll in a direction for movement, tap once to attack, and tap and hold to charge an attack or counter a blow from an enemy.In early prototypes, Luis used Unity’s built-in Input System because it was easy to set up and implement, but switched to Rewired from the Unity Asset Store later in production. “I was very happy in general with the plug-in – it helped a lot with the original Bleak Sword’s development, especially with the Apple TV controls.”more8bit’s publisher, Devolver Digital, pitched Bleak Sword to Apple, who added it to their library of Apple Arcade exclusives in 2019. The game was a hit, receiving praise for its fluid and responsive gameplay.“I’m very happy with how things went,” says Luis. “It definitely allowed me to continue on this indie adventure.”So, what’s next for Bleak Sword? This year, Devolver Digital announced Bleak Sword DX, an expanded and improved version of Bleak Sword for PC and Nintendo Switch™ with updated controls, visuals, and a brand-new campaign.“I can’t wait for players to try the new DX campaign mode, which I think is a lot of fun and pretty challenging, especially with the addition of two more difficult modes,” says Luis. “I’m also excited for players to try their hand at the new Boss Rush mode or see if anyone can get a crazy high number of rounds in Endless Arena. I put a lot of work into this game, and I hope players enjoy their time with it!”Check out the Bleak Sword DX case study to learn how more8bit brought his debut game as a solo developer to more platforms.*Nintendo Switch is a registered trademark of Nintendo.

Technical Artist, Performance - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NYBlizzard EntertainmentIrvine California 92618 United States of America2 hours agoApplyTeam Name:Unannounced ProjectJob Title:Technical Artist, Performance - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NYRequisition ID:R024841Job Description:At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations -- only made possible by building a work environment that cultivates the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.We are looking for a Technical Artist to help us craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As a key member of the development team, you will be responsible for supporting and optimizing art production through technical and artistic expertise. You understand how to effectively problem-solve, innovate, and collaborate to monitor and address performance problems that arise. You are comfortable operating in a dynamic environment, navigating fluid deadlines and changing priorities with purpose.This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA or Albany, NY.ResponsibilitiesPriorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:Work alongside programmers to validate asset creation practices and monitor game performance metrics through profiling, captures, and pipelines.Address all aspects of performance in a hands-on manner such as: collision, texture practices, mesh construction and UVs, shader performance, overdraw issues, and more.Mentor the team around you to ensure art is technically compliant and performant.Directly contribute to establishing and improving artist workflows.Be a force multiplier providing technical support for a small team of artists and designers.Remain current on industry trends including advancement in commercial game engines and workflow efficiencies.Proactively identify risks and propose solutions that bridge the gap between engineering and art.Minimum RequirementsExperience3 + years of experience in AAA tech art game teams.Confirmed experience, having shipped at least one major title in a relevant role.Knowledge & SkillsIn-depth knowledge of AAA game engines with an understanding of art implementation and integration methods.Comprehensive understanding of art pipelines and good practice, including proficiency in industry-standard 3D and 2D creation software.A portfolio with examples and detailed breakdowns showcasing your practical work.Strong understanding of physically based rendering.Knowledge and experience working in Houdini and other procedural content approaches.Key AttributesA team-oriented approach to your work, understanding the importance of collaboration and partnering with all departments.The ability to inspire others with an enthusiastic approach to game development and improving core skills.Self-motivated and able to solve problems proactively.Extra PointsExperience working through early development R&D phases of a project is a plus.Solid understanding of game development outside of technical art (e.g. lighting, VFX, characters, animation, audio, rendering, systems).Understanding of scripting languages.Passion for playing a wide variety of video games.Your PlatformBest known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.Our WorldActivision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.RewardsWe provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/ .In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $29.81 - $55.14 Hourly. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

Saudi Arabia’s new state subsidiary, HUMAIN, is collaborating with NVIDIA to build AI infrastructure, nurture talent, and launch large-scale digital systems.The effort includes plans to set up AI “factories” powered by up to 500 megawatts of energy. The sites will be filled with NVIDIA GPUs, including the Grace Blackwell GB300 supercomputers connected via NVIDIA’s InfiniBand network. The goal is to create a base for training models, running simulations, and managing complex AI deployments.A major part of the push is about control. Saudi Arabia wants to build sovereign AI – models trained using local data, language, and systems. By building its own infrastructure, it avoids relying on foreign cloud providers. The shift aligns with a broader trend, as governments around the world start to question how AI tools are built, where data goes, and who controls it.HUMAIN is meant to give Saudi Arabia more say in that process. While other countries have launched national AI strategies, HUMAIN stands out for its structure. It’s not just a policy office or research fund; instead, it operates across the full AI value chain – building data centres, managing data, training models, and deploying applications. Few countries have a single body doing likewise with such a broad remit.Singapore’s NAIS 2.0, for example, focuses on public sector use cases and talent development, and the UAE’s approach, which emphasises frameworks and governance. China has set up AI labs in several cities, but they tend to work in silos. HUMAIN brings elements together with a central goal: make Saudi Arabia a producer, not just a user, of AI.The ambition is clear, but it comes with trade-offs. Running GPU-heavy data centres on this scale will use a lot of power. The 500-megawatt figure is far beyond typical enterprise deployments. Globally, the environmental cost of AI has become a growing concern. Microsoft and Google have both reported rising emissions from AI-related infrastructure. Saudi Arabia will need to explain how its AI factories will be powered – especially if it wants to align with its own sustainability targets under Vision 2030.The partnership with NVIDIA isn’t just about machines, it also includes training for people. HUMAIN and NVIDIA say they will run large-scale education programmes to help thousands of Saudi developers gain skills in AI, robotics, simulation, and digital twins. Building local talent is a core part of the effort, and without it, infrastructure likely won’t get used to its full potential.“AI, like electricity and internet, is essential infrastructure for every nation,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Together with HUMAIN, we are building AI infrastructure for the people and companies of Saudi Arabia to realise the bold vision of the Kingdom.”One of the tools HUMAIN plans to deploy is NVIDIA Omniverse, to be used as a multi-tenant platform for industries like logistics, manufacturing, and energy. These sectors could create digital twins – virtual versions of real systems – to test, monitor, and improve operations. The idea is simple: simulate before you build, or run stress tests in digital form to save time and money later.This type of simulation and optimisation supports Saudi Arabia’s broader push into automation and smart industry. It fits in a wider narrative of transitioning from oil to advanced tech as a core pillar of the economy.The deal fits into NVIDIA’s global strategy, and the company has similar partnerships in India, the UAE, and Europe. Saudi Arabia offers strong government support, deep funding, and the promise to become a new AI hub in the Middle East. In return, NVIDIA provides the technical backbone – GPUs, software platforms, and the know-how to run them.The partnership helps both sides. Saudi Arabia gets the tools to build AI from the ground up and build a new economic version of itself, while NVIDIA gains a long-term customer and a foothold in a growing market.There are still gaps to watch. How will HUMAIN govern the use of its models? Will they be open for researchers and startups, or tightly controlled by the state? What role will local universities or private companies play? And can workforce development keep pace with the rapid buildout of infrastructure?HUMAIN isn’t just building for now. The structure suggests a long-term bet – one that links compute power, national priorities, and a shift in how AI is developed and deployed. Saudi Arabia wants more than access. It wants influence. And HUMAIN, in partnership with NVIDIA, is the engine it’s building to get there.(Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva)See also: Huawei’s AI hardware breakthrough challenges Nvidia’s dominanceWant to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

The Trump administration is not known for particularly prioritizing animal welfare. But in its first few months, alongside announcements that it would seek to gut federal funding for scientific research, Trump officials have taken steps toward a goal that animal advocates have been championing for decades: the end of animal experimentation. On April 10, the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to phase out animal testing requirements for the development of monoclonal antibodies — used to treat a variety of diseases, including cancer and Covid-19 — and a range of other drugs.The Environmental Protection Agency, which has long required animal testing for substances including pesticides and fuel additives, also plans to revive an agency ban on animal testing that dates back to the first Trump administration. The agency had set deadlines under President Donald Trump in 2019 to reduce animal testing 30 percent by 2025, then eradicate it altogether by 2035. The Biden administration eliminated those deadlines, but now, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin “is wholly committed to getting the agency back on track,” spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told Vox in an email.Late last month came perhaps the most consequential announcement: a major new initiative from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, to reduce the use of animals in research and accelerate the development of novel, animal-free methods. Estimates suggest NIH-funded research relies on millions of animals every year in the US. That includes mostly rodents, but also monkeys, dogs, pigs, rabbits, and others. But Trump’s NIH cited scientific literature that finds animal models can have limited relevance to human outcomes.Advocacy groups that oppose animal testing, including PETA and Humane World for Animals (formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States), celebrated the news as the most significant commitment ever made by NIH to reduce its dependence on animal experimentation. The recent announcements are “among the biggest news there’s ever been for animals in laboratories,” Elizabeth Baker, director of research policy for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), told me. Together, these moves represent a potentially monumental shift in American science — one that could spare millions of animals from painful experiments and, advocates hope, speed up the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to produce better, more reliable research than animal models ever did. But if the goal is not just to benefit animals, but also to make science better, the Trump administration is surely going about it in a strange way. It’s waging war on scientific institutions, seeking to slash research budgets — massively, seemingly indiscriminately, and questionably legally — at the NIH and the National Science Foundation, undermining decades of American leadership in science and medicine. It hasn’t committed any new funding toward its goal of advancing animal-free research methods.In this light, scientists are understandably skeptical that research policy coming from this administration could benefit science, rather than just sabotage it. Putting animal research on the chopping block, many believe, could merely be a convenient and popular way to slash support for science across the board. Yet those seeking to phase out government-funded animal research aren’t just anti-science radicals — they’re also animal testing critics who correctly point out that animal experiments are expensive, often ineffective, and come at a steep ethical cost. This has created a diverse, sometimes-uneasy coalition of animal welfare advocates, science reformers, and far-right political figures — some are willing to accept reforms any way they can get them; others are more wary of moves made by this administration, even when their agendas align. In Vox’s Future Perfect section, you’ll find some of the deepest reporting and analysis available anywhere of the scientific, ethical, and political dimensions of animal experimentation.• The harrowing lives of animal researchers• Animal rights advocates are ready for Trump’s war on science• What can caged lab monkeys tell us about free human beings?• What went wrong with autism research? Let’s start with lab mice.• The US uses endangered monkeys to test drugs. This law could free them.• 43 lab monkeys escaped in South Carolina. They have a legal claim to freedom.The Trump administration’s NIH director, Jay Bhattacharya, embodies this alliance: An established scientist, albeit one who’s publicly aligned himself with the political right in recent years, he has praised the watchdog group White Coat Waste, which campaigns aggressively against animal research, as “heroes.” Now, with the NIH’s plan to reduce animal research, he’s arguing for the need to transition to animal-free methods in the language of scientific progress rather than the tear-it-all-down approach of other members of the Trump administration. Money and resources are powerful incentives in scientific research; allocate them in the right way, and scientists will be pushed to innovate in whatever direction is deemed important for societal progress. Evolving beyond the pervasive use of animals in science undoubtedly ought to be one of those priorities: Lab animals experience immense suffering in labs, living in intensive confinement and undergoing painful experiments involving blood draws, tube feeding, forced inhalation of substances, and other procedures. Finding alternatives that would end this agony would be one of American science’s most important achievements.It’s unclear whether a moonshot for alternatives to animal research can emerge from an administration that’s imposing widespread austerity on science. And there may be reason to worry that the Trump administration’s broader anti-regulatory approach could have negative consequences for the welfare of animals that still remain in labs. But many advocates of animal-free methods are willing to take the bet, hoping that they can use this uncertain, unsettled moment in American science policy to help usher in a paradigm shift in how the US uses animals in science. What will these policy changes actually do?For decades, animal advocates, and a growing number of scientists, have disputed whether animal trials are the most effective tools available in modern science. Historically, animal dissection laid the groundwork for early medicine, and breakthroughs from animal research have helped lead to polio vaccines, the preventative HIV medication PrEP, and treatments for Parkinson’s disease. But animals are not necessarily suitable proxies for humans, and more than 90 percent of drug trials fail between animal and human testing trials, according to a 2023 review by animal welfare advocates. It’s a problem many scientists acknowledge, albeit not always publicly. Former NIH director Francis Collins in 2014 privately discussed “the pointlessness of much of the research being conducted on non-human primates” in emails obtained by PETA via public records request.That the government is now planning cuts to animal research is undeniably groundbreaking. But how these planned cutbacks and phase-outs will actually unfold is more complex. In its announcement, the NIH said it will establish an Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application to scale the use of non-animal methods, expand funding for these approaches, evaluate human relevance, and include experts in alternative animal-free methods on grant review panels so that more of the agency’s funding is allocated toward those methods. Scientists are often incentivized to use animals in their research, as Celia Ford wrote for Voxearlier this year, a phenomenon sometimes called “animal methods bias.” Academic journals prefer to publish studies using animals, and internal research ethics review boards are mostly comprised of animal researchers. Advancing technologies, such as computational modeling or organ-on-a-chip technology, offer alternatives to animal testing, and many scientists around the world are embracing these new methods. But the scientific community has been slow to adopt them. To change that, the NIH’s new initiative will “address any possible bias towards animal studies” among its grant review staff. The agency will also publicly report on its annual research spending, something it hasn’t done in the past, “to measure progress toward reduction of funding for animal studies and an increase in funding for human-based approaches,” according to the recent announcement. The EPA, meanwhile, requires toxicology tests on animals for many substances that it regulates, including fuel and fuel additives, certain pesticides, and wastewater from industrial facilities. It has not yet announced an official plan to reduce animal research, though a 2016 agency reform required increased reliance on non-animal methods. Many are hoping the agency — which previously estimated that between 20,000 and 100,000 or more animals are used in toxicology testing every year — will recommit to its 2019 directive to end animal testing requirements by 2035, Baker says. Of course, announcements are meaningless without plans — and the FDA is the only agency to announce a plan that lays out a three-year timeline and alternative testing strategies. The FDA’s current requirements for animal testing in new drug approvals are somewhat unclear. The FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which Congress passed in 2022, authorized the use of non-animal alternatives in place of animal studies for FDA-regulated drugs, but some of the FDA’s regulations and nonbinding guidelines specifically mention animal tests. Pharmaceutical companies that have tried to obtain drug approval without animal testing have faced expensive delays. As a result, in practice, most drugs approved by the FDA are still tested on animals.According to the FDA, current regulations still require animal testing for monoclonal antibodies, which are lab-made proteins that can bind to and kill specific targets in the body. The FDA’s phaseout of animal tests will start with these antibodies and expand to other treatments. Lab animals’ immune responses are not predictive of human responses “due to interspecies differences,” the agency’s plan states. Safety risks may go undetected in animals, and the stress of laboratory life can affect their immune function and responses, a significant confounding factor in animal research that scientists have noted before. Animal testing is also very expensive: Monoclonal antibody development often involves monkeys, which can cost up to $50,000 per animal, according to the FDA; its plan notes it can cost $650 million to $750 million and take up to nine years to develop monoclonal antibody treatments, delaying delivery of new therapies to patients.While advancements like organ-on-a-chip and computer modeling are both exciting and laudable, counting on them to replace animals may be premature, Naomi Charalambakis, director of communications and science policy for Americans for Medical Progress, a nonprofit that supports the use of animals in research, said in an email. These tools, many of which are still under development, can’t fully replicate “the complexity of living organisms” — which is why she says they should be integrated “alongside traditional animal studies.”“Animal models remain vital for answering complex biomedical questions — particularly those involving whole-body systems, long-term effects, and unpredictable immune responses,” she says.A monkey used for research at the University of Muenster in Germany. Friso Gentsch/Getty ImagesScientists have also pointed out that the FDA’s promise that animal testing will be “reduced, refined, or potentially replaced” is not new. In 2022, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 paved the way for alternatives to animal testing, and in December 2023, an NIH advisory committee made similar recommendations to develop non-animal methods. Regardless, the FDA’s and NIH’s recent announcements are among the first public statements by government organizations questioning the efficacy of animal testing. Can massive cuts to research funding help animals?In February, the Trump administration took the highly controversial step of capping “indirect costs,” the portion of universities’ research grants that cover administrative and operations expenses not directly tied to the research itself, at 15 percent of an institution’s grant. The research community has warned that the decision would be catastrophic for science — budgets will be slashed, young researchers may be laid off and see their careers ruined, and important science may fall by the wayside. But for animals, the news is “fantastic,” argues Jeremy Beckham, a law student and animal advocate who’s worked for organizations including PETA, PCRM, and the Beagle Freedom Project.While indirect costs are not a “meritless concept,” Beckham says, he believes universities renew research grants that harm animals while yielding little to no benefit in order to continue receiving operational funding. Universities “are allowing a lot of extremely pointless and cruel animal experiments to happen, because it’s such a gravy train for them for these indirect costs,” he says.Oregon Health & Science University, for example, which receives 56 percent of its grant in indirect costs for animal studies, has racked up several critical Animal Welfare Act citations for 14 animal deaths at its research labs since 2018. At Wayne State University in Michigan, researchers have induced heart failure in hundreds of dogs in a cardiac research experiment that has been running since 1991 but has “failed to help a single patient,” according to PCRM. Wayne State receives an indirect cost rate of 54 percent, according to a recent statement from the university. In a statement about its dog experiments, Wayne State argued that it’s important to continue the cardiovascular research, even if “science does not move at the pace we would like.” Critics of the cuts to indirect costs, including Harvard immunologist Sarah Fortune, have argued that funding cuts will mean labs are forced to euthanize their animals. But many, if not all, were already going to be killed in experiments, Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School, points out.In March, a federal judge blocked the NIH’s proposed cap on indirect costs, and universities are looking to negotiate. But if the proposal does go forward, “the number of animals in laboratories will plummet,” Beckham says.Despite its promises to reduce the number of animals in labs, the Trump administration’s disdain for regulation may mean those animals that still remain in labs will suffer more. During Trump’s first presidency, enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, the federal law that governs the welfare of animals used in research, took a nosedive. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency tasked with implementing that law, removed thousands of animal welfare reports, which had previously been publicly posted for decades, from its website. Given this precedent, Winders fears that going forward, the research industry will violate animal welfare laws “with complete impunity.”Research animals are already at a disadvantage under the Animal Welfare Act, and critics have insisted for decades that the act is insufficient and poorly enforced. The proverbial lab rat is not protected by the law — most mice and rats, birds, and cold-blooded animals are excluded from the Animal Welfare Act’s definition of “animal.” By some estimates, it covers as little as 5 percent of research animals.Nor does the law place any legal limits on what can be done to animals in experiments. “That’s left completely to the research facility,” Winders says.A beagle used for research in Spain. Beagles are widely used in experiments in the US and around the world. Jo-Anne McArthur/Animal Equality/We AnimalsWhen a researcher violates the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA has few options for enforcement. Because inspectors cannot confiscate animals that are required for research, they can really only levy monetary fines. But for facilities that receive millions in funding and spend billions on research, fines — most of which are less than $15,000 — are so low that they’re considered a “cost of doing business,” according to a 2014 USDA Office of Inspector General report. The USDA calculates these fines using an internal penalty worksheet, which factors in a facility’s size, compliance history, and the severity of its violations. The worksheet was recently obtained by Eric Kleiman, founder of research accountability group Chimps to Chinchillas, and it revealed that the USDA does not take a research institution’s revenue or assets into account when calculating fines. The USDA instead measures a facility’s size via the number of animals it uses, according to the worksheet, which divides research facilities into four size categories, the largest being facilities with 3,500 or more animals. But this metric is flawed, Kleiman says, since many labs don’t keep their animals on-site, instead contracting out with research organizations that perform the experiments on their behalf.In a statement, USDA spokesperson Richard Bell said the agency “carries out enforcement actions consistent with the authority granted under the Animal Welfare Act and associated regulations.”And in recent months, there have been alarming signs of an anti-regulation shift. A 2024 Supreme Court decision, SEC vs. Jarkesy, calls government agencies’ ability to issue fines into question. It’s possible this ruling could be interpreted in a way that bars the USDA from assessing fines, Winders says. “We’re still waiting to see how broadly the government interprets it,” she says. “Given that other enforcement mechanisms are not available against research facilities…civil fines were really the only pathway, and now that’s on the chopping block.” Since the June 2024 ruling, the USDA has issued few fines. The USDA is “still assessing the impact of the Jarkesy ruling,” Bell said. In the past, the Office of Inspector General has held the USDA accountable for poor enforcement — but in January, the USDA inspector general was fired and escorted out of her office, Reuters reported. The next month, the USDA OIG released a report on inspections of dog breeders — some of which supply dogs to research facilities. The report was critical of the USDA’s enforcement, but key information including the number of facilities inspected, the number of animal welfare violations, and photos was redacted “due to privacy concerns.” Winders has “never, ever seen that before,” she says, and it could set a new precedent for decreased transparency.About 15 percent of USDA’s workforce has accepted the Trump administration’s buyout to leave the agency, including more than 1,300 people in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which inspects and enforces the Animal Welfare Act, Reuters reported on May 5.“If inspectors aren’t there, how are they going to have a window into what needs to be done?” says Sara Amundson, chief government relations officer for Humane World for Animals.Regardless, the US is witnessing a seismic shift in how we use animals for research — or even whether we use them at all. It’s too soon to say what the Trump administration’s reforms to animal testing will accomplish, or whether they’ll produce durable changes in American science that manage to outlive an administration that has declared war on the scientific community. Although animal welfare is a bipartisan issue, it’s rarely been a priority for previous administrations, Republican or Democrat. To have an administration that, within months of taking power, is already meeting with animal welfare groups, holding congressional hearings, and taking strong stances on animal research issues is unprecedented, experts say. “I am optimistic,” Baker says.You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Why climate researchers are taking the temperature of mountain snow The Sierra’s frozen reservoir provides about a third of California’s water and most of what comes out of the faucets, shower heads, and sprinklers in the towns and cities of northwestern Nevada. As it melts through the spring and summer, dam operators, water agencies, and communities have to manage the flow of billions of gallons of runoff, storing up enough to get through the dry summer months without allowing reservoirs and canals to flood. The need for better snowpack temperature data has become increasingly critical for predicting when the water will flow down the mountains, as climate change fuels hotter weather, melts snow faster, and drives rapid swings between very wet and very dry periods. In the past, it was hard work to gather this data. Now, a new generation of tools, techniques, and models promises to ease that process, improve water forecasts, and help California and other states manage in the face of increasingly severe droughts and flooding. However, observers fear that any such advances could be undercut by the Trump administration’s cutbacks across federal agencies.Read the full story. —James Temple MIT Technology Review Narrated: What’s next for our privacy? The US still has no federal privacy law. But recent enforcement actions against data brokers may offer some new protections for Americans’ personal information. This is our latest story to be turned into a MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we’re publishing each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The US is warning other countries not to use Huawei’s chips If they do, they may face criminal penalties for breaching US export controls. (FT $)+ The Trump administration has axed the ‘AI Diffusion Rule’ for chips. (WSJ $)+ It may move towards negotiating deals with countries directly. (Bloomberg $) 2 US tech firms are inking AI deals with the Middle EastAmong the biggest of which is Nvidia. (The Guardian) + Tech leaders accompanied Trump on his trip. (WP $)3 A new treatment for inherited breast cancer was trialed successfully The drug olaparib can help to significantly improve survival rates. (BBC)4 TikTok workers fear a new messaging feature could be exploited But the company is pressing ahead with it anyway. (The Information $)5 Apple is working on brain-computer interfaces for its products People with brain implants could one day use them to control their devices. (WSJ $)+ Brain-computer interfaces face a critical test. (MIT Technology Review) 6 What’s next for NASA? The agency is poised for its most radical shakeup in decades. (Ars Technica)+ NASA has made an air traffic control system for drones. (MIT Technology Review)7 Finland is harvesting heat from its data centersBloomberg $) + The next data center hub? India. (FT $)+ These four charts sum up the state of AI and energy. (MIT Technology Review)8 Airbnb wants to become the next everything-appWired $) + Hotel-like services, anyone? (NYT $)+ Its host features have been overhauled, too. (The Verge)9 The FBI is buying new tech to help it see through wallsThanks to radar. (New Scientist $) 10 Baidu is planning to launch its robotaxis in Europe 🚗 In a bid to extend its competitive advantage overseas. (WSJ $)+ How Wayve’s driverless cars will meet one of their biggest challenges yet. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day “It's literally Einstein's proverbial definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” —Entrepreneur Arnaud Bertrand reflects on America’s latest attempt to rein in Huawei in a post on X. One more thing How DeepSeek ripped up the AI playbook—and why everyone’s going to follow its lead When the Chinese firm DeepSeek dropped a large language model called R1 at the start of this year, it sent shock waves through the US tech industry. Not only did R1 match the best of the homegrown competition, it was built for a fraction of the cost—and given away for free. DeepSeek has now suddenly become the company to beat. What exactly did it do to rattle the tech world so fully? Is the hype justified? And what can we learn from the buzz about what’s coming next? Here’s what you need to know.   —Will Douglas Heaven We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.)+ Happy birthday to the one, the only Stevie Wonder—75 years young this week.+ A scooped bagel? Not on my watch. 🥯+ A few tips on how to navigate some of life’s trickier conversations with ease.+ Everyone’s got a random junk drawer. Here’s how to get it under control.

What just happened? Modern Android phones already include theft-protection features that lock devices and prevent unauthorized factory resets, making it harder for thieves to resell stolen phones. However, Google plans to strengthen these safeguards by blocking access to all functionality on stolen devices. Google hosted The Android Show: I/O Edition this week, offering a preview of Android 16 and Wear OS 6. While Gemini AI stole the spotlight, the company also showcased an updated Factory Reset Protection feature aimed at making stolen Android devices virtually unusable. Updates to the OS will lock down any phone when it detects an unauthorized reset or attempts to bypass existing safeguards, rendering it unusable to thieves. Owners can restore recovered devices through authentication checks. Google did not share technical details about the new feature. However, a screenshot suggests the updated tool will disable a device if it detects an attempt to force a factory reset through suspicious methods. The image shows a message explaining that the device was locked after a factory reset because it failed authentication during setup. It adds that entering the device's last-used passcode or linked Google Account credentials will restore functionality. Google confirmed that the updated Factory Reset Protection will roll out later this year, likely alongside Android 16. It doesn't appear to be included in the current Android 16 Beta 4.1, released earlier this month unless developers have it hidden. However, it could arrive with the final Quarterly Platform Release. Google also announced that the stable Android 16 update will arrive in June with a new Material 3 Expressive design language. A recent leak suggests the refreshed interface will focus on color, shape, size, motion, and containment to improve usability, particularly for older users. The new design will extend across all native apps, including a revamped Clock app. The update will bring an updated bottom toolbar, a new font, and redesigned Alarms, Timer, and Stopwatch tabs. // Related Stories