The Senate moved Tuesday to require U.S. investors to notify the Treasury Department when they take stakes in Chinese companies in certain sectors, such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Why it matters: The 91-6 vote is a barometer for how willing the Senate is to impose new rules for outbound investment, as both Congress and the White House explore ways to ensure that China’s military does not achieve a technological advantage over the U.S. and its allies.
Continued growth in its cloud business and strong demand for generative AI features helped Microsoft's quarterly sales and earnings exceed Wall Street expectations, the software giant said Tuesday.
What they're saying: "Organizations are asking not only how, but how fast, they can apply this next generation of AI to address the biggest opportunities and challenges they face — safely and responsibly,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement.
President Biden intends to nominate Harry Coker, a former NSA and CIA official, to be the next national cyber director, the White House announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: The position has been vacant for roughly five months after Chris Inglis, the first-ever national cyber director, stepped down in February.
The number of ransomware attacks more than doubled in June from the same month last year, fueled partly by a Russia-linked ransomware gang's exploitation of the MOVEit file-transfer tool, new data suggests.
By the numbers: In June, 456 companies were listed as victims across various dark web extortion sites run by ransomware gangs, according to recent research from cyber insurer Corvus.
An unknown nation-state appears to be laying the foundation for its next hacking campaign, but little is known yet about what its motivations may be and who's at risk, security researchers tell Axios.
What's happening: Researchers at Infoblox released new details Tuesday about a malware campaign they're calling Decoy Dog that has all the characteristics of a potential espionage campaign.
The “every VC fund is an AI fund” meme is starting to quickly become reality.
Driving the news: Andreessen Horowitz announced this morning the hiring of Anjney Midha. The Ubiquity6 co-founder and former CEO is joining the firm to lead its artificial intelligence investing efforts.
Elon Musk's bet-the-house, against-the-odds gamble on Twitter is about to get substantially riskier — with exponentially higher stakes.
Why it matters: Musk is obsessed with killing the Twitter name, and transforming the platform into a merger of a moneyless marketplace + public square + video content factory — his everything vision for an everything app.
Cigna Healthcare is facing a federal class action lawsuit which alleges the company used algorithms to "deny payments in batches of hundreds or thousands at a time," as part of an almost completely automated claims decision process.
The suit was filed in California's eastern district on Monday, alleging violations of California law, which require medical professionals to conduct "thorough, fair, and objective" reviews of insurance claims.
The most important question about AI right now isn't whether it will destroy humanity or become sentient — neither of which looks likely any time soon — but how its creators intend to profit from it.
What's happening: Investors are pumping AI-related valuations into the stratosphere. That means companies seeking "monetization" will start getting creative and aggressive about revenue any day now.
Move over, fake IDs: Biometric systems that can "read" a person's face or palm image and determine if they're too young for a beer are gaining traction at sports stadiums and liquor shops.
Why it matters: While these tools are handy for alcohol sellers — and can offer more privacy for consumers than handing over a driver's license to a store clerk — they tap into fears about potential abuses of facial recognition systems.
