Axios

The Trump administration is pushing back on Republican-led AI bills in Nebraska and Tennessee, with sources familiar with the negotiations describing the outreach as pressure to weaken or abandon the efforts.

Why it matters: This behind-the-scenes push puts GOP state lawmakers who support AI guardrails but don't want to cross the White House in a tough position.

AI-powered monitoring platform PeakMetrics has raised $6 million in a Series A funding round, bringing its total capital raised to $16.3 million, Axios is first to report.

Why it matters: This comes as companies scramble to keep up with reputational risks that are now shaped or accelerated by social media and AI-generated content.

High-quality CEO thought leadership can drive an average of $367 million in shareholder value in a single week, according to a new study by Cardinal40.

Why it matters: This study suggests words themselves can create value, independent of external news or disclosures — something communicators have long believed but haven't been able to prove.

Meta on Thursday began removing advertisements from attorneys who were seeking clients that claim to have been harmed by social media while under the age of 18.

Why it matters: This comes just two weeks after Meta and YouTube were found negligent in a landmark California case about social media addiction.

Nextdoor is opening early access to local journalist accounts, executives exclusively tell Axios.

Why it matters: The initiative seeks to provide tips and sources for journalists and boost distribution for stories as some local newsrooms shrink.

OpenAI expects to generate $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030, according to a source familiar with recent presentations to investors.

Why it matters: It's the clearest sign yet that OpenAI sees advertising as a core part of its future business.

OpenAI is finalizing a product with advanced cybersecurity capabilities that it plans to release to a small set of partners, a source familiar told Axios.

Why it matters: AI capabilities have reached a tipping point, at least in terms of autonomy and hacking capabilities. Model-makers are now so worried about the havoc their own tools could cause that they're reluctant to release them into the wild.

A federal appeals court in D.C. on Wednesday denied Anthropic's request to pause enforcement of the Pentagon's designation of the company as a supply chain risk.

Driving the news: Anthropic sought the stay to fend off financial and reputational harm. The ruling comes after a federal judge in a San Francisco court last month granted the company a preliminary injunction keeping the administration from banning the use of Claude.

Meta on Wednesday debuted Muse Spark, a homegrown AI model it says significantly narrows the performance gap with models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others.

Why it matters: The model — code-named Avocado and built over the past nine months by a team led by Alexandr Wang — is a major upgrade over its Llama 4 models, Meta tells Axios.

Visa is rolling out a new platform for a future where AI agents do the shopping for consumers.

Why it matters: Visa is racing to stay embedded in transactions as AI platforms take over checkout.