Axios

Media veteran Campbell Brown is joining TollBit as a senior adviser, Brown told Axios. The startup is building a marketplace between AI companies and media outlets.

Why it matters: Brown was highly sought after following her exit from Meta last year, given her experience brokering news partnerships.

Alethea Group, an AI-powered social media monitoring platform, has secured a $20 million Series B round led by Google Ventures, the startup first tells Axios.

Why it matters: Alethea is one of the few cybersecurity companies able to raise money during an ongoing investment drought.

LinkedIn unveiled a new verification process today for job recruiters amid a rising number of scams targeting users.

Why it matters: Generative AI tools have made it easier for scammers to reach out to unsuspecting users about fake job offers to collect sensitive financial information.

Congress has just 10 days to renew a key government surveillance program before it expires, and a committee vote on Tuesday will set the course for how lawmakers proceed.

Why it matters: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has helped intelligence agencies collect data as part of counterterrorism, cybercrime, drug trafficking and several other types of investigations.

The dust is still settling on Tesla's wild and confusing Friday, so here's a little more chatter rolling in while everyone waits for more clarity.

Why it matters: Tesla is still the world's leading EV seller, albeit one that's facing multiple challenges.

Truth Social is a meme stock, but its investors don't have diamond hands.

By the numbers: Shares of parent company Trump Media & Technology Group fell another 8.4% on Monday, closing at $37.17.

Gaming is a key testbed for AI technologies and the values society is embedding in digital worlds, a top gaming industry executive and AI researcher argues in a new book.

Why it matters: Gaming, AI and other tech industries continue to be dominated by men — even though plenty of women are avid gamers, and women are more likely than men to be exposed to AI in their work.

Google is launching a new effort Tuesday that will let businesses use results from its flagship search engine to help "ground" the results of generative AI queries.

Why it matters: The tendency of large language models to hallucinate, or make things up, is a key hurdle to broader business adoption of generative AI.

AI companies dominate this year's list of top startups focused on selling technology to businesses, according to the latest Enterprise Tech 30 list compiled by venture capital firm Wing and shared first with Axios.

Why it matters: Businesses have been investing heavily in generative AI over the past two years, though the jury's still out on how much the technology will boost productivity or profitability.

Dan Schulman, who stepped down last fall as PayPal's CEO after a nine-year run, has joined venture firm Valor Capital Group as a managing partner, he tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: Schulman has been one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after free agents, for both CEO and investor roles.

New research shows industrial mining threatens up to one-third of Africa's great ape population, Ben writes.

Why it matters: Growing amounts of minerals — like copper, cobalt and nickel — that are used in climate technology bring their own challenges to biodiversity.

A bipartisan coalition with support from Hollywood power players and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell Foundation is working to prepare U.S. voters for a possible deepfake onslaught as the campaign year goes into high gear.

Why it matters: With federal agencies and social media companies barely talking to each other about AI-driven misinformation threats, "this is a disaster waiting to happen — no one's doing the public inoculation," warned Miles Taylor, chief policy officer of The Future US, which is coordinating the campaign.

A Brazil Supreme Court judge is investigating Elon Musk for alleged obstruction of justice after the billionaire vowed to defy a court order in Latin America's largest nation blocking certain accounts on his platform, per multiple reports.

The big picture: Brazilian officials have been cracking down on social media accounts that spread misinformation and hate speech and X at first followed the order, though noted in a Saturday post that Brazilians, "regardless of their political beliefs, are entitled to freedom of speech."

The Federal Aviation Administration launched a fresh investigation into Boeing after an engine cowling fell off and struck the wing flap during takeoff on Sunday morning, per an FAA statement.

The big picture: There were no reports of injuries from the latest incident to affect a Boeing plane, and the FAA noted the Houston-bound Southwest Airlines 737-800 aircraft returned safely to Denver International Airport around 8:15am local time.