AuditBoard, a Southern California provider of audit and risk management software, has agreed to be acquired for over $3 billion by European private equity firm Hg.
Why it matters: When we think about the hottest startups, it's usually the ones pushing edge technologies and earning "unicorn" status from venture capitalists. But sometimes boring is best.
Americans' opinion of Elon Musk's social media platform X has fallen to a new low, according to the sixth annual Axios/Harris Poll 100 — while AI chipmaker Nvidia, in its first appearance on the list, snagged the number one position.
Why it matters: Social media companies overall have fallen behind the rest of Big Tech both in terms of their value to investors and public perception scores over the past year.
A new memory-searching function in Microsoft's highly anticipated AI PCs is spurring concern among privacy-conscious executives and consumers.
Why it matters: Microsoft will have to address a growing list of questions about the functions of its new Recall feature in some Copilot+ PCs if it hopes to make the PCs a ubiquitous household and workplace device.
State officials are increasingly targeting public mask-wearing in new legislation and prosecutions in an attempt to crack down on pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Why it matters: Wearing a mask can help protesters evade facial recognition cameras that police and campus officials use to identify participants in a campus demonstration.
Much of my work life is spent bouncing back and forth between those expressing optimism that generative AI will lead to a new golden era of human productivity and those who believe we are headed into a dystopian hellscape.
Zoom in: These two tweets, which appeared right next to each other in my feed on Wednesday, encapsulated that dichotomy perfectly.
In the first one, Box CEO Aaron Levie lays out a compelling case for why he is "insanely bullish" on how generative AI will let companies make far better use of their data.
The second post, an unrelated tweet from Fortune journalist Sharon Goldman, takes issue with the oft-touted notion that inserting AI into so many formerly human interactions is actually a worthwhile goal.
My thought bubble: I struggle myself, being both tantalized by the potential of generative AI and horrified by some of the ways it could be — and often is being — used.
The blowback to Google's AI Overviews is growing now that they are showing up for all U.S. users — and sometimes getting things glaringly wrong.
Why it matters: The search giant's addition of AI-generated summaries to the top of search results could fundamentally reshape what's available on the internet and who profits from it.
Researchers at Anthropic have mapped portions of the "mind" of one of their AIs, the company reported this week, in what it called "the first ever detailed look inside a modern, production-grade large language model."
Why it matters: Even the scientists who build advanced LLMs like Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's GPT-4 can't say exactly how they work or why they provide a particular response — they're inscrutable "black boxes."
Nvidia, the primary avatar of the AI revolution, has solidly ensconced itself not only as one of the most valuable companies in the world but also as one of the most profitable.
Why it matters: Nvidia's profit margins are the envy of the corporate world — it made $14.9 billion of net income on revenue of $26 billion last quarter.
Tesla Motors' brand reputation continued to slip over the last year as Elon Musk's antics and other issues tarnished its once-impeccable image, according to new Axios Harris Poll 100 survey results.
Why it matters: Tesla soared to 8th place in 2021's ranking of America's 100 most visible companies by their perceived image, but has since plummeted to 63rd — suggesting Musk and his company flew too high and too fast, like Icarus of Greek myth.
Tesla Motors' brand reputation continued to slip over the last year as the antics of polarizing CEO Elon Musk and other issues tarnished its once-impeccable image, according to new Axios Harris Poll 100 survey results.
Why it matters:Tesla soared to 8th place in 2021's ranking of America's 100 most visible companies by their perceived image, but has since plummeted to 63rd — suggesting Musk and his company flew too high and too fast, like Icarus of Greek myth.
A new startup is coming out of stealth with a plan to offer digital pets for the Apple Vision Pro that use AI to read and respond to human emotion.
Why it matters: AIs designed to play digital characters or inhabit physical robots will need some form of emotional intelligence to interact with people — so the race is now on to develop AI that can read your feelings.
The U.S. public trusts tech companies leading the generative AI wave — like Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI — more than firms chiefly known as social media platforms, like Meta, ByteDance and X.
Why it matters: These findings — part of the 2024 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings — show that continued fallout from public disenchantment with social media could hamper companies' effort to reinvent themselves as AI innovators.
The Department of Justice and a group of U.S. state attorneys general on Thursday plan to sue ticketing giant Live Nation on antitrust grounds, a source familiar with the DOJ's plans told Axios.
Why it matters: The outcome of the legal battle with one of the largest ticketing and live events companies in the U.S. could fundamentally upend the industry.
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