Axios

There’s a new crop of it-girls, models and influencers dazzling magazine covers and posting on Instagram. But they’re not real.

• Brands and creators are harnessing artificial intelligence to mint synthetic influencers.

Why it matters: Today’s young people are encountering a barrage of information through influencers and forming opinions based on their content.

A group of 88 high-profile current and former business executives issued a joint letter endorsing Vice President Harris on Friday.

The big picture: The leaders throwing their support behind the Democratic nominee include executives across media, finance and technology, with the likes of billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidential race, she's likely to put her own prosecutorial spin on the Biden administration's already tough cybersecurity policy agenda, experts say.

Why it matters: With two months until Election Day, cybersecurity experts are eagerly reading the tea leaves to determine how a Harris-Walz administration would approach cybersecurity issues like nation-state attacks and critical infrastructure protections.

Salesforce has agreed to buy Own Co., a New Jersey-based provider of data protection and management solutions, for $1.9 billion in cash.

Why it matters: This is Salesforce's largest acquisition since buying Slack in 2021, and may signal the company's return to large dealmaking after disbanding its M&A committee last year.

• YouTube is working on new tools that will detect when someone uploads content with AI-generated faces or voices of famous people. (TechCrunch)
• Google is launching its "Ask Photos" AI feature to some U.S. users. The tool will let you search for photos conversationally. (9to5Google)
• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov called his arrest by French authorities "misguided," but the company is also beginning to change some of its moderation rules to allow for more monitoring of private groups. (Axios, The Verge)
• Nick Pickles, head of global affairs at X — and one of the last leaders left from the pre-Elon Musk era — is leaving the company, making him an ex-X exec. (X)

Oof. A car crash sent a fire hydrant through a Big Boy statue in Downey, California.

OpenAI is growing its revenue from business users and contemplating hefty price hikes for users who want access to its next-level services, per reports.

Why it matters: Generative AI is notoriously expensive to develop and run, and those costs rise exponentially with each new generational leap — like the one from OpenAI's GPT-4 to its long-awaited successor.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticized French authorities on Thursday for pursuing criminal charges against him in connection with illicit activity on the encrypted messaging app.

The big picture: In his first public comments since he was arrested last month, the Russian-born tech entrepreneur wrote on Telegram that suggestions that the app he founded was "some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue."