Meta Pauses Work With Mercor After Data Breach Puts AI Industry Secrets at Risk

Meta has paused all its work with the data contracting firm Mercor while it investigates a major security breach that impacted the startup, two sources confirmed to WIRED. The pause is indefinite, the sources said. Other major AI labs are also reevaluating their work with Mercor as they assess the scope of the incident, according … Read more

OpenAI Acquires Tech Talk Show ‘TBPN’—and Buys Itself Some Positive News

OpenAI announced Thursday that it had acquired the online business talk show TBPN for an undisclosed sum. The move comes as OpenAI struggles with its public image, which has taken a significant hit in recent months. Since launching in 2024, TBPN has risen in popularity among Silicon Valley circles by offering a daily livestream about … Read more

Yann LeCun Raises $1 Billion to Build AI That Understands the Physical World

Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI), a new Paris-based startup cofounded by Meta’s former chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, announced Monday it has raised more than $1 billion to develop AI world models. LeCun argues that most human reasoning is grounded in the physical world, not language, and that AI world models are necessary to develop true … Read more

Can AI Kill the Venture Capitalist?

Last fall, as venture capitalists were sinking record sums into artificial intelligence, a group of investors gathered to appraise a new startup. The company, Infinity Artificial Intelligence Institute, made software to automatically tune AI models, making them faster and cheaper. The founding team seemed strong, and the market was rapidly expanding. Half of the investors … Read more

What AI Models for War Actually Look Like

Anthropic might have misgivings about giving the US military unfettered access to its AI models, but some startups are building advanced AI specifically for military applications. Smack Technologieswhich announced a $32 million funding round this week, is developing models that it says will soon surpass Claude’s capabilities when it comes to planning and executing military … Read more

Riley Walz, the Jester of Silicon Valley, Is Joining OpenAI

Riley Walz, a The software engineer famous for his online stunts, is joining OpenAI to research and develop new ways for humans to interact with AI, WIRED has learned. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the hire. Walz built a reputation as Silicon Valley’s jester and has created a series of viral web projects that double as … Read more

Perplexity’s Retreat From Ads Signals a Bigger Strategic Shift

Perplexity is abandoning plans to put ads in its AI search product as the industry looks for sustainable business models that won’t hurt user trust. The changes are part of a larger strategic shift for the company, which has long focused on disrupting Google Search’s business. “Google is changing to be like Perplexity more than … Read more

Code Metal Raises $125 Million to Rewrite the Defense Industry’s Code With AI

Code Metal, a Boston-based startup that uses AI to write code and translate it into other programming languages, just closed a $125 million Series B funding round from new and existing investors. The news comes just a few months after the startup raised $36 million in series A financing led by Accel. Code Metal is … Read more

This Defense Company Made AI Agents That Blow Things Up

Like many Silicon Valley companies today, Scout AI is training large AI models and agents to automate chores. The big difference is that instead of writing code, answering emails, or buying stuff online, Scout AI’s agents are designed to seek and destroy things in the physical world with exploding drones. In a recent demonstration, held … Read more