Axios

Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that he's hired someone to be CEO of Twitter, adding without naming the incoming executive that "she will be starting in ~6 weeks!"

Why it matters: Since acquiring the social network last fall, Musk has been its de facto leader, even amid some criticism from Tesla shareholders unhappy with his devoting more time away from the automaker.

Nintendo’s newest Switch game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, offers a grand, gorgeous and deeply interactive adventure, one that exceeds the high quality of the system’s launch game, 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Why it matters: Surpassing Breath of the Wild means clearing a very high bar.

The Google product I was most keen to try out at this year's I/O conference was Project Starline, an advanced video conferencing system that Google first showed off at I/O 2021.

What's new: It's still a work-in-progress, but Google has slimmed down the custom hardware, which had taken up an entire room, to the size of a large TV. That's small enough that it was able to set up several Starline booths at I/O this year. Google is now testing prototype systems at WeWork, Salesforce and T-Mobile.

AI-generated content is emerging as a disruptive political force just as nations around the world are gearing up for a rare convergence of election cycles in 2024.

Why it matters: Around one billion voters will head to polls in 2024 across the U.S., India, the European Union, the U.K. and Indonesia, plus Russia — but neither AI companies nor governments have put matching election protections in place.

Y Combinator's popular Demo Day switched to Zoom during the pandemic, and while other functions of the startup accelerator have shifted back to in-person, Demo Day remains online only.

Driving the news: Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan explained why from the stage at Axios BFD San Francisco Wednesday: It pays off for the participating startups, who get to pitch a bigger investor crowd.

There's a stark divide between parents and their kids when it comes to experimenting with cutting-edge technology.

That's the takeaway from a new poll from Common Sense Media.

Elon Musk is a "renaissance man" who will guide Twitter and Tesla to new heights, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said Wednesday at Axios BFD in San Francisco.

Driving the news: Wood offered a full-throated defense of Musk and his stewardship of Twitter, saying Ark Invest is seeking to increase its investment in the social media platform and expects a massive runup in Tesla's stock, which it also holds.

In a new report by S&P Global, the authors do a useful service by reminding readers in multiple ways of an incontrovertible fact: Crypto is still new.

Why it matters: When viewed as something to invest in, it's especially new compared to other asset classes because it's really only existed under zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP), when money is cheap.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai used the company's I/O developer conference on Wednesday to announce PaLM 2, a more sophisticated version of the large language model it is using in more than 25 AI-powered products. Google also debuted new Pixel devices, including an updated entry-level phone, its first foldable smartphone and a long-promised Pixel Tablet.

Why it matters: The company aims to demonstrate it is both keeping pace with OpenAI, Microsoft and others, while also not blindly steamrolling past important AI safety issues.

Two leading AI startups are offering novel approaches to making the inner workings of the latest generative technologies more visible and readily governed.

Why it matters: Generative AI can craft impressive combinations of words and images, but the opaque nature of the technology makes it difficult to understand, yet alone evaluate, its choices.

Google's tough challenge at its I/O developer conference on Wednesday: Show that it's at the forefront of the white-hot generative AI battle while also reassuring more than a billion users that it's moving carefully enough to avoid AI's many potential harms and doomsday scenarios.

Why it matters: The company faces a chorus of critics, inside and out — with some saying it's moving too recklessly and others warning it's falling behind.

Brace yourself for a new, scary dynamic in American politics: the trust-nothing era.

Why it matters: Two new trends are about to unfold in real time.

Elon Musk weighed in after Tucker Carlson announced plans Tuesday to bring a "new version" of his old Fox News show to Twitter to emphasize that no deal was signed with the social media company.

Driving the news: "There aren't many platforms left that allow free speech," Carlson said in a video announcing his plan following his April 24 ouster from Fox News.