Axios

Senators used a fiery Wednesday hearing with Silicon Valley's top executives to attempt to win commitments on specific bills aimed at protecting kids online.

Why it matters: Legislators spent nearly four hours grilling Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with the CEOs of TikTok, X, Snap and Discord on the sexual exploitation of children on their platforms — but outrage directed at social media from both sides of the aisle has yet to produce new laws to solve the problem.

China-backed hacking campaigns have shown a persistent willingness to shut down U.S. critical infrastructure and incite societal panic, top U.S. officials told lawmakers during a congressional hearing Wednesday.

Why it matters: As tensions escalate between the U.S. and China, officials worry that Beijing could wreak havoc on basic services, including access to clean water and electric power.

U.S. senators during a Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday admonished the CEOs of large tech and social media companies including Meta and TikTok for harming young users.

Why it matters: Social media giants have been under pressure to address concerns about what kids are seeing on their platforms, as well as the risks associated with adolescent social media usage.

Universal Music Group — the recording industry behemoth that controls about a third of the global music market — says it will yank its songs from TikTok after Wednesday.

Why it matters: TikTok's viral video algorithm relies heavily on sound, and more specifically, songs it has licensed from labels like Universal for its users to record with.

There's one thing uniting big and small tech companies operating in Europe: they can't stand Apple's approach to complying with the European Union's new Digital Markets Act.

Why it matters: The DMA forces Apple to make sweeping changes to its app store, after years of resistance citing user security and privacy.

General Motors is racing to diagnose and fix software issues that have caused flickering screens, looping error messages and glitchy charging in some of its most important new electric vehicles (EVs).

The big picture: Similar problems are plaguing the entire auto industry as vehicles morph into battery-powered "supercomputers on wheels."

"Sesame Street" favorite Elmo's wellness check-in post on X asking "How is everybody doing?" has been met with thousands of responses this week.

The big picture: Many made clear in the comments section that they're not doing so well — with some citing being laid off, feeling tired or noting they're "depressed and broke."

Elon Musk's claim his brain-machine interface startup Neuralink implanted a device in its first live human subject comes after the company navigated a rigorous approval process, with some bumps along the way.

Why it matters: If successful, Neuralink says its technology will allow users to operate devices like a phone using only brainpower, and could be used to treat neurological diseases. While the technology is unproven, starting human testing is a major step.

PayPal will lay off around 9% of its global workforce, the company's president and CEO Alex Chriss announced in a letter to employees Tuesday.

The big picture: PayPal is just the latest tech giant to slash jobs as more than 25,000 tech workers across nearly 100 companies have already been let go in 2024, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

Fake job offers are now one of the most prolific and fastest-growing scams in the U.S.

The big picture: Generative AI and the growth of more informal work communication have given scammers new and increasingly sophisticated ways to target people looking for work, particularly those who have recently been laid off.

Microsoft on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analyst's expectations led by another period of strong growth in Azure and cloud computing.

Why it matters: The company has surged in value over the past months amid enthusiasm that investments in artificial intelligence will pay off via faster growth.

Fewer ransomware victims are paying up when faced with a ransomware attack, according to a new report from ransomware negotiation firm Coveware.

Why it matters: Malicious hackers are opportunistic and follow the money.

AI developers whose models pose risks to national security are now starting to report "vital information," including safety test results, to the Department of Commerce before releasing their models to the public, the White House said Monday.

Why it matters: This marks the start of the first formalized safety and security information-sharing program between some of the most powerful AI model developers and the federal government.

Fighting cyber crime isn't always as glamorous as the public thinks it is — there are no Indiana Jones-style quests or high-speed car chases.

• But inside the stories of a forthcoming, cybersecurity-focused comic book anthology, anything can happen.

A team of security researchers has uncovered a flaw in Microsoft's code development and testing environment that could affect upward of 70,000 open-source projects, according to a report first shared with Axios.

Why it matters: Researchers at Legit Security said in a report today that they've found a flaw in popular testing tool Azure Pipelines that would allow hackers to inject malicious code into source code and other projects hosted in code testing environments.

A startup best known for offering AI companions for romance and friendship is expanding into coaching, yoga and meditation — the latest in the AI industry's effort to encourage personal relationships with chatbots.

Why it matters: The idea that talking to a computer can make people feel less lonely may seem counterintuitive, but there is some evidence chatbots can do just that.

iRobot shares fell nearly 9% on Monday, after its $1.4 billion takeover by Amazon was scuttled by European antitrust regulators, and was down even further in early Tuesday trading.

Zoom in: The Roomba maker also announced plans to lay off 31% of its employees, which represents around 350 people, and said that it no longer plans to work on non-floorcare products like autonomous lawn mowers.

Rebellions, a Seoul-based artificial intelligence chipmaker, has raised $124 million in Series B funding led by Korean telecom giant KT.

Why it matters: This is partially an effort to eat into the market share of Nvidia, whose stock price has more than doubled over the past year, but it's more a bet that the overall market for AI chips will grow exponentially.

A new, powerful, well-funded political movement is rising fast in America: the techno-optimists.

Why it matters: This group — mostly rich, white, middle-aged men with tech jobs, companies or investment funds — is building impressive, if unorganized, political muscle through social media, podcasts, new journalism projects, and political donations and activism.

Your next beer glass might have a hole in the bottom — the better to fill it from the base up.

What's happening: A new breed of beer dispenser fills cups from the bottom, injecting the liquid to the right level automatically and leaving bartenders free for other tasks.

AI is helping political candidates raise more money more efficiently, according to an organization dedicated to helping Democrats win.

Why it matters: Tech for Campaigns is one of the first organizations to run an AI-aided email writing experiment, starting in Virginia last year.

X blocked searches for Taylor Swift after fake sexually explicit AI-generated images of the singer circulated on the social media platform, an executive said on Sunday.

The latest: Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, said in a statement to media Monday: "Search has been re-enabled and we will continue to be vigilant for any attempt to spread this content and will remove it if we find it."