Axios

Protecting critical infrastructure from cyberattacks has become a growing national concern, but small businesses remain vulnerable and attractive to hackers.

Why it matters: Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face a rising number of threats — and many keep attacks under wraps.

Twitter accounts ranging from the White House to the New York Times are refusing to pay $1,000 a month to retain the platform's verification checkmark as Elon Musk rolls out a rash of impulsive policy changes.

Why it matters: Twitter's checkmark had served as a form of verification to confirm the identities of accounts including news outlets, politicians and celebrities. It's unclear what the landscape will look like under Twitter's new checkmark system, which will not as easily differentiate between credible and fake users.

Activision Blizzard and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed to a settlement that will bar the game publisher from penalizing the teams in its Overwatch and Call of Duty esports leagues from spending big on players.

Driving the news: The proposed settlement was announced late Monday, when the DOJ revealed it was suing the game maker for alleged antitrust violations over its esports pay policy.

Several leaders in AI have teamed up to create what they are calling the first transparent deepfake — a video that looks convincingly real, but is both synthetically created and makes use of an emerging standard to label itself as such.

Why it matters: Many in the field say concerns over synthetic media are no longer hypothetical and that now is the time to start clearly labeling how content was created or altered.

Amazon Web Services is debuting a new 10-week accelerator program focused on generative AI startups that includes AWS credits and other Amazon resources.

Why it matters: The current AI boom is a boon to cloud computing providers, as their services are essential for the development and operation of this buzzy tech.

Tech layoffs are way up — and so are tech stocks. Two charts tell this story.

The big picture: The tech industry's layoffs began last year and have kept up a relentless stream of bleak announcements — in some companies' cases, like Meta's, coming in multiple waves.

Young Americans of all stripes dream of working at Google, according to a new Axios/Generation Lab survey of college students around the country.

The big picture: Google was the most attractive employer to men and women, as well as Black, Asian and Hispanic students, and Republicans and Democrats.

The U.S. recycling industry is starting to get a helping hand from robots, which can sort trash faster and more safely than humans, and artificial intelligence, which gathers valuable data about what's been thrown out.

Why it matters: Automation could help solve recycling's many problems, including the rise in hard-to-recycle plastic waste and consumer botch-ups that lead to contaminated recycling streams.

There's a bipartisan effort to facilitate a ban of TikTok in the U.S, but lawmakers have varying opinions on banning the Chinese-owned social media app.

Driving the news: While people under 30 are TikTok's primary users, millennial and Gen Z lawmakers are weighing in as the app's fate hangs in the balance.

Nintendo’s biggest release this April isn’t a video game. It’s "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" debuting this Wednesday.

Why it matters: After decades of operating with a fervent focus on making acclaimed video games, Nintendo is now testing its potential as a cross-medium entertainment powerhouse.

An estimated 5,000 artificial intelligence enthusiasts piled into San Francisco’s Exploratorium Friday evening, eager to mingle over drinks by the Bay and chat with representatives from various AI companies for what was dubbed the “Woodstock of AI.”

Why it matters: AI has been the industry’s buzz word over the last year, but the gathering — hosted by New York-based startup Hugging Face and focusing on open source AI — gave the trend an in-person spotlight.

There's a renewed effort afoot in Congress to subsidize the cost of e-bikes nationwide, on the heels of successful rebate programs in Denver and elsewhere.

Why it matters: E-bikes, which use an electric battery and motor to help riders go faster and further while exerting far less physical effort, are a promising alternative to cars and other internal combustion vehicles for cleaner trips around town.

A series of changes at Twitter has laid bare what the service has become under Elon Musk: a place where speech is anything but free.

What's happening: From its shift to pay-for-play to impulsive policy changes made by Musk, the site more resembles an intrigue-filled palace than the town square that Musk says he seeks to protect.