Axios

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, security executives and prominent former government officials filed a set of amici curiae briefs late Friday in support of SolarWinds in its case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Why it matters: The signatories include former national cyber directors Chris Inglis and Kemba Walden, Activision Blizzard CISO Brett Wahlin, and former Clorox CISO Amy Bogac.

A new partnership shared first with Axios is promising to help domain registries crack down on the spread of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).

Why it matters: Those who host CSAM often hop between various domains, and not all top-level domain registries have the resources to pay for tools that could help them better detect when hosts change websites.

The commercial spyware industry is booming, and many of the most dangerous players are small companies no one has heard of, Google warns in a report released Tuesday.

Why it matters: The Biden administration, civil rights groups and other governments have spent years trying to squash abuses of commercial spyware — yet some of those same governments are still buying into the industry.

FTX customers and creditors are likely to be repaid in full, an attorney for debtors of the failed crypto exchange last week told a Delaware bankruptcy court.

The big picture: The idea that FTX is anything but a smoldering crater, let alone an entity with billions of dollars worth of assets, is something of a narrative violation.

Adam Neumann wants to buy back WeWork, the bankrupt coworking company he founded and led before his 2019 ouster.

Why it matters: This would be a mind-blowing boomerang, particularly given how many people still blame Neumann for the company's troubles.

Runway, an image and video-focused generative AI company, is raising a $10 million fund to invest in early-stage AI startups, per an SEC filing and a source close to the company.

Why it matters: This could help Runway expand its AI industry network.

Meta announced Tuesday that it plans to start applying labels to Facebook, Instagram and Threads posts that contain images the company has identified as generated by AI.

Why it matters: Meta-owned platforms host more than 5 billion active accounts — and every one of its apps will be subject to the labeling policy in all supported languages.

AI's evolution will be shaped by conflicting bets on whether the technology's fate is to keep growing more gigantic.

Why it matters: "Big AI" and "small AI" chart two different futures for the tech that's likely to dominate business and society over the next decade.

The Apple Vision Pro draws some surprisingly strong opinions on social media, in friend circles, and as we found out this morning — in companywide newsroom meetings.

Why it matters: Most of those come from people who've never put one on. What I determined after using it for a weekend — it's an incredible piece of technology that sets a new bar for other reality altering gadgets to beat.

Altered video of President Biden doesn't violate Meta's policy on manipulated media and can remain on Facebook because it didn't involve the use of artificial intelligence, the board overseeing content moderation said Monday.

Why it matters: The board did so while at the same time criticizing Meta's manipulated media policy as "incoherent, lacking in persuasive justification" and recommending revisions.

The State Department will start restricting visas Monday for people who are believed to be linked to misuses of commercial spyware.

Why it matters: The move marks an escalation in the Biden administration's effort to curtail abuses of commercial spyware, including cases where spyware is used to target journalists, political dissidents, members of marginalized communities and family members of people in these groups.

Snapchat parent Snap Inc. will lay off 10% of its full-time staff, or roughly 530 employees, the tech firm said Monday in a regulatory filing.

Why it matters: Unlike other ad-supported tech firms, such as Meta and Google, Snap's stock has not been able to recover from post-pandemic era losses, when the ad market slowed down.

Satya Nadella just passed the decade mark as Microsoft's CEO, leading it past Apple to become the world's most valuable company.

Why it matters: He's sidestepped most of the controversies that have dogged his Big Tech peers, while leaning hard into tech megatrends like cloud, gaming, and AI.

IBM — not Microsoft, Google or OpenAI — tops the list of firms with the most AI-related U.S. patent applications over the last five years, according to research shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: While patents are just one indicator of research intensity, the increase in the total volume of  AI-related patent applications indicates strong interest, especially among large tech companies — and IBM's lead could show that its AI push is more than just marketing.