EA's first day of "Madden 26" was anything but a touchdown.
The big picture: The annual football video game's launch day was slammed by a number of errors that left gamers twiddling their thumbs instead of flicking the sticks.
OpenAI's long-awaited GPT-5 — a major update to the technology underlying ChatGPT — is a faster, more-capable large language model that CEO Sam Altman said gives users instant access to a PhD-level expert on any subject.
Why it matters: The Thursday release of GPT-5 brings together traditional and "reasoning" models and ups the ante in the race toward so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI).
AI soon may revolutionize venture capital, but not in the way that many investors think.
That was the top takeaway from an Axios conversation yesterday with Jon McNeill, the former Tesla president and Lyft COO who now runs a company creation platform called DVx.
The big picture: McNeill says that the investment math is changing for application startups, arguing that DVx now can get them to Series A with 80% less seed funding than it previously could.
Shamrock Capital — the Los Angeles-based investment firm specializing in media, entertainment, communications, sports and marketing — has acquired Penta Group, a stakeholder management firm based in Washington, D.C.
Falfurrias Capital Partners, which took a majority stake in 2021, has exited, and financial terms were not disclosed.
Why it matters: It's the latest private equity deal within the communications advisory space.
Dialog — a secretive, invite-only network founded two decades ago by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, the star investors and entrepreneurs — is preparing a major expansion, including a real estate purchase to build a campus in the D.C. suburbs, a tipster familiar with the group's plans tells Axios.
Why it matters: Dialog, often compared to a tech-era Bilderberg, has quietly become one of the most elite, and mysterious, gatherings for CEOs, elected officials, and intellectual heavyweights.
United Airlines travelers faced delays after the Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stops for United flights at major U.S. airports after the airline reported "a technology issue" on Wednesday evening.
The latest: United flights across the U.S. resumed after the company announced in a statement shared with outlets including Axios that the "underlying technology issue" had been "resolved," but hundreds of travelers still faced delays on Wednesday night.
AI is everywhere whether you like it or not, and some online have turned to a choice word to express their frustration.
Why it matters: Referring to an AI bot as a "clanker" (or a "wireback," or a "cogsucker") has emerged as a niche, irreverent internet phenomenon that illuminates a broader disdain for the way AI is overtaking technology, labor, and culture.
The nation's violent and property crime rates dropped to a two-decade low in 2024, following the COVID-era surge in homicides, according to new FBI data released this week.
Why it matters: The numbers show crime was heading toward a 20-year record low in the last year of the Biden administration, despite President Trump's false campaign claims that President Biden was overseeing a nationwide crime spike.
Google said that a cybercriminal hacking group broke into one of its own Salesforce database systems that stored information about small and medium-sized businesses.
Why it matters: Even Google isn't completely resilient against the wave of social engineering attacks targeting major businesses this year.
If you follow markets and the economy, the only thing you've heard over the last few days is that AI spending is propping everything up, from GDP to the S&P, and that can't last forever.
Why it matters: When bubbles burst, they don't do it gently.
Colorado on Wednesday will become the second state to require pre-merger notifications, regardless of industry.
Washington became the first earlier this year, and at least five other states — including California — and the District of Columbia are considering similar rules.
Why it matters: States often lack visibility into pending mergers. These new laws aim to change that dynamic, which could increase antitrust enforcement actions.
Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan — an event that helped end World War II but also brought the world into the nuclear age and the Cold War.
Japan uses the anniversary to commemorate the lives of the Hibakusha, survivors of the bombing, and asks the world to heed the dangers of nuclear war.
The big picture: Here are some images from this crucial moment in world history.
You could easily live without AI. But AI wouldn't exist without you.
So does AI owe you for your small part in creating it?
Why it matters: This question sits at the very heart of legal, economic, moral and societal debates unfolding before us today — and deep into the future. The answer will unlock everything from court verdicts to the fortunes of financial winners and losers years from now.
Generation Alpha influences just under half of their households' spending according to a report shared exclusively with Axios from public relations firm DKC.
Why it matters: The young cohort's $101 billion in direct spending power gives restaurants and retailers a glimmer of hope at a time when the kids' parents are fretting about the state of the economy.
OpenAI's release of two open models Tuesday propels the U.S. forward in its AI race with China, industry leaders told Axios.
The big picture: The arrival of China's DeepSeek model earlier this year — combined with Meta's refocusing of its open source efforts — had intensified concerns that China's open models could end up dominating the global market.
The demand for U.S. Army overhead defenses will not "be letting up anytime soon," a top Army leader said Tuesday night at an Axios Future of Defense event in Huntsville, Alabama.
Why it matters: Missile defense is hot right now, from the defense of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — during which the single largest Patriot salvo was launched — to the service's quadrupling of its PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement acquisition goal.
The stakes are further amplified by fighting in Eastern Europe and the greater Middle East, where explosive drones batter troops and civilians every day.
