Axios

The issue:

The 2017 White House Correspondents' Association dinner will go on, despite President Trump, all White House staff, and many celebrities declining the invitation. It has evolved significantly over the years, so how did it originate?

The facts:

The WHCA was founded in 1914 after there were (false) rumors that President Woodrow Wilson was selecting a small group of reporters to attend his press briefings. The association held their first dinner in 1920, and four years later, President Calvin Coolidge attended.

The 1987 dinner had the first "celebrity" guest, according to the Washington Post, when Baltimore Sun correspondent Michael Kelly invited the beautiful administrative assistant Fawn Hall, who was involved in the Iran-Contra affair. This inspired a trend of inviting the most "newsworthy" or intriguing person whom reporters would want to talk about, making the dinner a Hollywood affair.

Why it matters:

Skeptics have said the event — where reporters party with government and are made celebrity-like — isn't journalistically kosher. For better or worse, it's become a tradition, which Trump has now broken... for this year, at least.

Competitors on the right are plotting to take advantage of the executive and talent shakeups at Fox News, which continued Monday with the departure of Bill Shine, longtime Roger Ailes consigliere.

What's happening: The profitable, influential, seemingly impregnable Fox News is suddenly vulnerable. In a massive disruption for right-wing media, Fox talent is on the market, the purge of the old-boy clique may continue, and there's huge internal paranoia about further lawsuits and revelations. On top of that, there are episodic pushes from the next generation of Murdoch leadership for changes in culture and personality.

The word "Trump" was used 67 million times on Twitter in the last 30 days, according to Talkwalker, a social media analytics company. That's more than 2 million "Trump" tweets per day.

The top 3 hashtags for tweets about his first 100 days: #100DaysofShame, #TheResistance and #UniteBlue. (#MAGA came in a close fourth.)

The most popular emoji used in tweets about Trump's presidency thus far: 🇺🇸 , 😂 and 🤔

The top emoji used on Twitter reacting to significant events:

• ⚡ — when Michael Flynn got fired (day 25)
• 🇺🇸 💥 🚨 — when Trump tweeted his wiretapping allegation (day 44)
• 😳 — when Trump didn't shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (day 57)
• 🤔 🙄 😂 — when Sean Spicer compared Bashar al-Assad to Hitler (day 82)

And here's how Trump used Twitter in his first 100 days, as compiled by Twitter:

His most retweeted tweet: Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017

Top 5 tweeted words: Great America/American News/Media Jobs Today Top mentioned @handles @Whitehouse @NYTimes & @foxandfriends tie @FoxNews @VP @CNN & @ POTUS tie Most used hashtags #MAGA #AmericaFirst #ICYMI #USA #Obamacare

Ikea is betting on artificial intelligence, but not until it knows exactly what AI features its customers prefer.

The future: Ikea's innovation lab, Space10, has created a survey to determine the characteristics that people prefer in artificial intelligence, per Fast Co.Design.

Where it stands: It launched today in Barcelona and will head to Copenhagen next, but you can share your thoughts online.

What customers want in AI: Humanlike, a male presentation, reflective of one's values and worldview, the ability to detect and read emotions, non-religious, and the ability to collect data to improve user experience.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group has been expanding its conservative profile with a series of hires and acquisitions in the last few years, and at an accelerated pace since Trump has come to power.

Timing is everything: These new hires and acquisitions around the U.S. come at an optimal time to snatch up conservative audiences; TheBlaze and Fox News just let go of their star anchors, Tomi Lahren and Bill O'Reilly, through a series of highly visible controversies.

Conservative context: Sinclair's management has always been right-leaning — over the years the company and its executives have contributed financially to Republican candidates, offered up primarily conservative think tank perspectives, and aired segments that have given Democrats some pause.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is considering cutting 2,300 jobs at the State Department, according to the AP — a three percent cut to the department's roughly 75,000 employees. This would also slash the number of new diplomats being hired and potentially include a State Department and USAID consolidation.

Why now: To adjust to Trump's proposed budget cuts to the State Department for the next fiscal year, which are more than a quarter of its current allowance.

Why it matters: Laying people off certainly doesn't fit into Trump's rhetoric about creating jobs, and just yesterday the WH blamed the State Department for not recommending people to fill nearly every undersecretary and assistant secretary position, as well as one-third of ambassadorships, at the department.

Senators are taking note: A group of 43 senators from both sides of the aisle sent a letter to appropriators on the Hill this week, warning cuts in this area would be "shortsighted, counterproductive and even dangerous."

What's next: Tillerson will outline the plan to staffers next week.

Microsoft has hired former FTC Commissioner Julie Brill to oversee privacy and data protection issues, reporting directly to the company's president and chief legal officer Brad Smith.

Why it matters: Brill's hire signals how important big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning are to the tech giant's future, and the crucial role privacy and security play in keeping consumers' trust. Microsoft says Brill will work closely with its engineering teams to build privacy protections into cloud and other services.

Background: Brill served at the FTC from 2010-2016, and most recently co-led the Global Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group at law firm Hogan Lovells in DC. Her new gig will be based in Redmond.

MSNBC will announce today that NBC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace will expand her role to host a new program that will air weekdays from 4 to 5 p.m. ET. The New York City-based program will premiere in May.

From the forthcoming release: "Wallace, a [novelist and] former White House Communications Director, will tackle the latest political developments and conduct interviews with leading newsmakers. MSNBC host and political correspondent Steve Kornacki will continue his presence in the hour, providing in-depth discussion and analysis."