Axios

This is no time for complacency in the U.S. race for artificial intelligence against China, Mike Gallagher, Palantir head of defense told Mike Allen at the Axios Future of Defense event in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Gallagher suggested that leveraging software and AI to automate processes could help the Department of Defense reinvest resources into more critical military capabilities.

Amazon launched a new discount marketplace Wednesday promoting "crazy low prices" that competes with Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop.

Why it matters: Price-sensitive consumers have been "trading down" to cheaper goods to save money while retailers have been promoting store brands.

More analysts are exploring what the Donald Trump-Elon Musk BFF situation means for Tesla, which has a market cap back above $1 trillion in the election's wake.

What they're saying: A Deutsche Bank note titled "to the victor belong the spoils" lays out a few ways Trump 2.0 could help Tesla.

The generative AI revolution — built on the belief that models will keep getting wildly better as they grow crazily bigger — faces new fears that it might plateau out.

Why it matters: Two years after ChatGPT launched, the tech industry, led by OpenAI, has bet billions on a scaling strategy — assemble mountains of chips and data, make tomorrow's large language models even larger than today's, and watch the technology advance. Those bets, always risky, could go bad.

Amazon's Black Friday sale will begin a week before Thanksgiving on Nov. 21, the retail giant announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Amazon competitors Walmart, Target and Best Buy have already unveiled their holiday plans and started early sales.

President-elect Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut government spending and streamline bureaucracy.

Why it matters: The Musk-Trump political alliance is moving from the campaign into the White House. However, it's unclear what exactly Musk's role will entail — or whether he and Ramaswamy will actually be able to make the kinds of sweeping changes they have proposed.

Spotify on Tuesday said it anticipates reaching profitability for the full year in 2024, which would mark the company's first full profitable year since it launched 18 years ago.

Why it matters: For years, Wall Street was skeptical that Spotify's business was as strong as its consumer product, but CEO Daniel Ek told Axios in an interview he thinks profitability is the new normal for Spotify.

President-elect Trump could be TikTok's saving grace years after threatening to ban the app during his first term.

Why it matters: The future of the popular short-form video app looked grim earlier this year because of elected officials' national security concerns about its ties to China. Not so much anymore.

Notorious China-linked hackers known for burrowing deep into U.S. infrastructure are back, according to a report out Tuesday.

Why it matters: The resurgence shows that the Chinese government isn't backing down from its quest to infiltrate American utilities in preparation for a potential destructive cyberattack.

The lack of headline-grabbing, violence-inciting foreign disinformation in this year's elections is in equal parts a testament to election security officials' efforts and the evolving nature of adversaries' influence operations.

Why it matters: Disinformation is now endemic and no longer just focused on discrete events like elections.

The lack of headline-grabbing, violence-inciting foreign disinformation in this year's elections is in equal parts a testament to election security officials' efforts and the evolving nature of adversaries' influence operations.

Why it matters: Disinformation is now endemic and no longer just focused on discrete events like elections.

The big picture: Foreign actors are constantly pushing false narratives in the United States, even if there isn't a specific timeline to pin it to.

• The day after the election last week, Russian operatives were still online and pushing lies, Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Axios.

Notorious China-linked hackers known for burrowing deep into U.S. infrastructure are back, according to a report out today.

Why it matters: The resurgence shows that the Chinese government isn't backing down from its quest to infiltrate American utilities in preparation for a potential destructive cyberattack.

Zoom in: The research team at SecurityScorecard, a cyber risk assessment company, says it has noticed Volt Typhoon moving traffic through a set of compromised routers in New Caledonia, an island nation off the coast of Australia, as recently as September.

• Global law enforcement disrupted a significant portion of Volt Typhoon's botnet in January, but the group quickly set up new servers.

@ D.C.

🗳️ Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is one of a handful of people vying to run CISA during President-elect Trump's second administration. (Politico)

🏛️ Trump plans to name South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his homeland security secretary. (CNN)

🌐 The Biden administration plans to vote in favor of the United Nations' cybercrime convention. (Bloomberg)

@ Industry

💰 Halliburton reported $35 million in costs tied to its August cyberattack. (Cybersecurity Dive)

😵‍💫 Threads is now "overrun" with liberal users spreading election conspiracy theories. (User Mag)

📞 Encrypted messaging service Signal is rolling out improvements to voice calls on the app, including the ability to share a link to calls similar to a Zoom meeting. (The Verge)

🥾 Sometimes all you need is some time outside to rest!

• 🌲 I recommend doing that among redwoods if you have some near ya.

The U.S. announced a plan to dramatically expand nuclear power during the next few decades, as electricity demands escalate.

Why it matters: The U.S. faces an increasing electricity demand amid the expansion of data centers used for artificial intelligence, growing use of electric vehicles, building of new manufacturing centers and other trends.

Meta said on Tuesday it will offer cheaper ad-free subscriptions to Facebook and Instagram users in Europe and a new free access option with less personalized advertising.

Why it matters: The shift is a response to "demands from EU regulators," even though the changes "go beyond what is required in the law," the company said in a statement.

The percentage of workers in the U.S. who say they are using AI at work has remained largely flat over the last three months, according to a new study commissioned by Slack.

Why it matters: If AI's rapid adoption curve slows or flattens, a lot of very rosy assumptions about the technology — and very high market valuations tied to them — could change.

Elon Musk leads Fortune's first list of the 100 most powerful people in business, out Tuesday morning.

Why it matters: Leaders on the list "share one defining trait: their actions and words influence what others think and do," Fortune executive editor Lee Clifford said.

The courtship between insurance giants Cigna and Humana is just not meant to be, Cigna officials said Monday.

Why it matters: The statement marks the likely end to on-and-off discussions about combining the companies into what would have been the nation's second-largest insurer — and potentially drawing antitrust scrutiny.

A research team used videos of surgeries and the machine learning architecture behind ChatGPT to successfully train a robot to do basic tasks like manipulate a needle, lift body tissue and suture.

Why it matters: Showing a robot can perform with the skill of a doctor opens up new possibilities for devices like the widely used da Vinci surgical system and reduce the risk of medical errors, the Johns Hopkins-led scientists said.

President-elect Trump and Elon Musk, two billionaires with strikingly similar DNAs, are fusing into a new, powerful governing-media paradigm.

Why it matters: This Trump-Musk fusion seems to grow stronger by the day. The two are working together to shape the new White House, the new Senate and the new Cabinet, plus future foreign relations and governing blueprints.

Adobe says its stance on using customers' data to train its AI models is simple and absolute: It doesn't.

Why it matters: Adobe's software is widely used by many of the creative professionals who feel their livelihoods are under threat by generative AI.